SS Quah's Anything Goes: Petaling Jaya, section 8

When I went down to Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago with my friends, we stayed at a place known as the Chrisenbel Suites, located off Jalan Utara in Petaling Jaya. The studio apartment that we checked in was quite decent except that the bathroom on the lower level lacked a water heater. There were two beds and a sofa that could be converted into a third bed. So it was quite all right for the three of us although there wasn't much privacy. But who cared? Not us! Checking in and out of the place was contactless and we had to follow a series of instructions to get the access keys and even to open or shut the front door. It was a lot of hassle to us but eventually, we got the hang of handling this electronic door!

Viewwise, it was quite spectacular from the 13th floor. From the window, the PJ Hilton was to my left. It took me a while to realise that right before me was the part of Petaling Jaya known as Section 8. From 1973 till 1976, this was my old hunting ground when I studied at Tunku Abdul Rahman College. The place I stayed was a single-storey house along Jalan Tengas 8/8. One of them was rented by my foster parents while I rented a room in another house two doors away. Those years living away from my own parents were very interesting. For the first time in my life, I had the freedom to move about freely. One end of Jalan Tengas 8/8 looked over the Federal Highway and I remember standing there one day in Jalan 1976 when s convoy of police vehicles travelled at high speed to accompany the body of Abdul Razak Hussein who had died in London.

But back to the present moment. I strained my eyes trying to see this road but with the foliage being so thick, I just couldn't. My eyes then strayed nearer towards the traffic lights at the Federal Highway. There, right in front was Jalan Barat, and the first building I recognised was the old Thrifty Supermarket building. The supermarket had long closed down. In fact the whole building is now empty. But in its heyday, the Thrifty Supermarket was THE place to visit for PJ residents. It was a Supermarket selling medium to high-end imported items, not an Emporium selling cheapskate products, see? There was even a KFC restaurant to rival the nearby A&W drive-in restaurant in PJ State. The fried chicken were chunky and served on heavy porcelain plates with metal cutlery. If anyone wanted beer, KFC had it. The restaurant was a perfect place to hangout because we could see the girls that flocked in and out of the Stamford College on the upper floor of this building.

And then further back along Jalan Barat. at its corner with Jalan 8/1E, was a four-storey commercial block that was once used by the Petaling Jaya branch of Ban Hin Lee Bank. This building looked worn but there were construction hoardings around it. A new lease of life soon, I suppose. I should also mention that Jalan Sungai Jernih divides Section 8 into two halves. Both areas were mainly residential although towards the Jalan Penchala end of Jalan Sungai Jernih, businesses and small industries had sprung up. I remember a restaurant there selling hokkien mee at night: not the soupy Penang-style hokkien mee but the thick black KL-style braised hokkien mee.

Further afield from my old haunt was PJ New Town, sometimes known as State, the administrative and business centre of Petaling Jaya in those days. Why was this small area of roughly eight hectares called State? I've no idea but the smaller roads here are named as "Jalan 52/something" which implies that this should rightly be known Section 52. The iconic State cinema is located here and the land on which it sits on must now be worth several tens of millions. By the way, the State cinema has ceased functioning and the business now operates under another name. As far as I know, other businesses in this small area that use the word "State" in their names are State Tailor and State Hotel.

Let me try to recall a bit of this area since it is adjacent to Section 8. Jalan Barat bends to join up with Jalan Sultan which must be considered the main thoroughfare here. At the bend was the prominent Wearnes building. The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was one of the most prominent businesses along Jalan Sultan. Possibly Public Bank too and the United Overseas Bank. Today, there are five banks - HSBC Bank, CIMB Bank, RHB Bank, Hong Leong Bank and Public Bank - completely hogging up that short stretch of Jalan Sultan, pushing UOB Bank, AmBank, Standard Chartered Bank, Malayan Banking and Affin Bank to the fringe areas. Was there a market here? I can't remember but I know there was a food court. It's hard to imagine that I had my first taste of thosai at 19 years old, and not in Penang but in Petaling Jaya!

The interior of the studio apartment at the Chrisenbel Suites. I occupied the bed downstairs but had to keep the sliding doors open to enable the air-conditioning to reach the living area.