Promise delivered: Bangsar South reverts to its former name Kg Kerinchi
The Kuala Lumpur neighbourhood of Bangsar South has been reverted to its previous name Kampung Kerinchi, fulfilling one of the election campaign promises of PKR's Fahmi Fadzil.
Fahmi, the Lembah Pantai MP, had campaigned for the name reversion, citing the historical significance of the area, which was settled in the 1870s but was later renamed without local consultation...
The Kuala Lumpur neighbourhood of Bangsar South has been reverted to its previous name Kampung Kerinchi, fulfilling one of the election campaign promises of PKR's Fahmi Fadzil.
Fahmi, the Lembah Pantai MP, had campaigned for the name reversion, citing the historical significance of the area, which was settled in the 1870s but was later renamed without local consultation.
“Kampung Kerinchi is a local historical heritage that we should defend and be proud of […]
“Kampung Kerinchi has existed before the Federal Highway came along, before Malaya became independent. Therefore, what we are fighting for today is not the eradication (of Bangsar South), but to strengthen the history of our culture and nation,” he said, stressing that development and heritage can coexist.
He said this during a ceremony to officiate the reversion, as well as to launch his service centre.
Kampung Kerinchi was renamed as Bangsar South in 2012 as the area was being gentrified. The name alludes to the nearby, but not adjoining, affluent neighbourhood Bangsar.
Fahmi said that following his victory, he had met various stakeholders including Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the developer UOA Development, the Persatuan Waris Kerinchi Kuala Lumpur, and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka on the name change.
Meanwhile, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, who is an alumnus of the nearby Universiti Malaya and a former student activist, reminisced the hospitality of the Kampung Kerinchi folk.
“Kampung Kerinchi has a history that is very close to the hearts of us student leaders in the 1960s and 1970s. Each time when we held a demonstration and come under attack, we sought refuge in Kampung Kerinchi.
“The Kampung Kerinchi villagers at the time managed to hide us in their homes for several hours because whether they support the ruling party or not, they have strong sympathies for students fighting for the people’s welfare,” he said.
In addition, he said many Universiti Malaya students developed close ties with the Kampung Kerinchi villagers because they had lived among them.
Anwar said this was why when he became finance minister and began pushing for a large-scale public housing project, Kampung Kerinchi was one of the areas that he insisted should benefit from the project despite difficulties in securing land for it.
“That was when we started large-scale People’s Housing Projects (PPR) in Kampung Kerinchi and I myself officiated it,” he said.
In his speech, Anwar stressed the importance of development but said it should not leave the poor behind, nor come at the cost of the denizens’ culture, religion, history, or courtesy.
Otherwise, doing so would lead to a situation akin to novelist Charles Dickens’ book A Tale of Two Cities, where the rich and poor lead completely different lives although they live within the same city, and the rich are uncaring towards the plight of the poor.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said he had not only been working on restoring Kampung Kerinchi to its former name, but he also has other initiatives in the pipeline.
Among others, he said, he is in discussion with DBKL to expand the GoKL free bus service to include the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency.
He said he is also in talks to have a government health clinic set up in the area, and to build more PPRs.
