Legendary Malaysian art house continues on

Soprano Angela Chock holds a record that she recorded 40 years ago. Chong Keat Aun "rescued" it in a street near Jalan Petaling. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At 6:20 on September 30, 2013, Uncle Lee, who had served coffee at Lok Ann Kopitiam for around 30 years, closed the metal folding door of the coffee shop. Lok Ann, with a history of 75 years, had to bid goodbye to its guests. It was forced to close due to the construction of the MY Rapid Transit (MRT). Chong spent the whole day with Lok Ann and for the first time he uploaded the music video "Rasa Sayang Julan Sultan" contributed by 12 Malaysian artists.

"Ku Terdengar keluhanmu/ Tangisan jadi bisu / Kisah silam kian hilang / Di pinggir Jalan Sultan…"

Another sad scene came to Jalan Sultan after less than a month. A bulldozer leveled the "Love Jalan Sultan"?wall replete with best wishes for the ancient street to make space for the construction of a hotel. "Construction is important, but a city cannot be short of her own story. A city cannot lose her historic heritage," Chong said. To Chong, the Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan area is like a history coursebook, which indicates that Malaysian Chinese have also put a lot of effort into the early construction and development of Kuala Lumpur. Chong knows very well the urgency of heritage preservation. Actually, his cultural preservation campaign had already begun long before Petaling Street Art House was founded. His journey began in 2005, when he started recording increasingly marginalized and fast disappearing Malaysian Chinese dialects and ancient accents.