INGENIEUR
Mountbatten Road, Kuala
Lumpur, 1960
By Cheo Hong Keyong
Mountbatten Road, 17.5.1960 (Photo courtesy of Jabatan Penerangan)
M
ountbatten Road is among the oldest
roads Kuala Lumpur. It was originally
called Java Street and was initially
settled by people from Java. Java Street was later
renamed Mountbatten Road in 1961 and later
renamed again in 1981 as Jalan Tun Perak which
it is called to this day.
Indian Chettiars and Indian Muslims were
among others that settled in the area and a Malay
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JUNE 2013
cemetery was located close by. Masjid Jamek,
which was built in 1909 and is among the oldest
mosques in Kuala Lumpur, sits on the site of the
cemetery.
At the turn of the 20 th century the road was
situated in the centre of a busy commercial
district with many major colonial venues such as
St Mary’s Church, Government office buildings, a
cricket ground, the British Library and the Selangor