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Petaling Jaya (commonly called "PJ" by locals) is a Malaysian city
originally developed as a satellite township for Kuala Lumpur
comprising mostly residential and some industrial areas. It is
located in the Petaling district of Selangor with an area of
approximately 97.2 km². On 20 June 2006, Petaling Jaya was granted
city status.
History
It was first developed by the British on the former 486 hectares
Effingham Estate, as an answer to the problem of overpopulation in
Kuala Lumpur in 1952 and has since witnessed a dramatic growth in
terms of population size and geographical importance. The
development of Petaling Jaya commenced in 1952 with the construction
of 800 houses centered around the area currently known as “Old Town”
today.
Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Templer (then the British High
Commissioner of Malaya and Petaling District council chairman)
planned for Petaling Jaya to be a satellite town to prevent people
from assisting the communists and the earlier housing areas were all
fenced up. The first two main roads built in Petaling Jaya were
simply called "Jalan 1" or Road 1 and "Jalan 2" or Road 2. Road 1
was later named Jalan Templer while Road 2 was named Jalan Othman.
Until the end of 1953, the town was administered by the Kuala Lumpur
District Officer. The Petaling Jaya Town Authority headed by Mr.
N.A.J. Kennedy commenced administrating Petaling Jaya in 1954. On
24th August 1959, Encik Abdul Aziz bin Haji Mohd Ali became the
first Malayan to head the PJ Authority. Administratively and
historically, it was considered part of Kuala Lumpur. However,
Petaling Jaya ceased to be part of Kuala Lumpur when the latter
became a Federal Territory on February 1, 1972. It then became a
township in its own right within the state of Selangor.
PJ South (also known as PJS), from Section 8 until PJ Old Town, had
the first settlements, which were established around 1953. As
development progressed, PJ North, located on the other side of the
Federal Highway, was developed.
The first shopping complex in Petaling Jaya – Jaya Shopping Centre
(better known as Jaya Supermarket) – was built in 1974 in Section
14.
On 1 January 1977, the Petaling Jaya Town Authority was upgraded to
become Petaling Jaya Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran
Petaling Jaya (MPPJ). Petaling Jaya progressed rapidly due to the
massive rural-urban migration. As more people from rural areas
immigrated, Sungai Way and Subang districts along with new areas
such as Subang Jaya,
Seksyen 52 (New Town or colloquially known as
State; the name of the first, former cinema in the area) developed
in areas under the jurisdiction of the municipality.
Eventually, in a boundary realignment exercise in early 1997, parts
of Petaling Jaya such as Subang Jaya, Sunway, Puchong and USJ were
placed under the jurisdiction of the newly formed Subang Jaya
Municipal Council or MPSJ.
Petaling Jaya also acts as one of the centre hubs of Klang Valley
(comprising of Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya
and surrounding areas) for industry. True to its name "Jaya" (Malay
for success), Petaling Jaya quickly became the most prosperous
municipality in Selangor.
City Status
On 20 June 2006, Petaling Jaya was granted city status and Dato'
Ahmad Termizi Puteh, a former Yang di-Pertua MPPJ, automatically
became the first mayor (Datuk Bandar) of Petaling Jaya. Petaling
Jaya's local authority changed its name to Majlis Bandaraya Petaling
Jaya (MBPJ) or Petaling Jaya City Council following the granting of
city status. On 15 August, Dato' Ahmad Termizi Puteh retired from
the post of mayor and he was later replaced by Tuan Hj. Mohamad
Roslan Sakiman.
City Sections
Petaling Jaya is divided into several sections. Some sections
themselves are subdivided into smaller neighborhood (kejiranan), for
example SS5D. Some sections have their own names (SS1 as Kampung
Tunku), while other sections are grouped together (SS5,
SS6 as part
of Kelana Jaya).
These sections names are used in the addressing format for locations
in Petaling Jaya.
No. xx,
Jalan SS3/5,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor.
This system would point to house number xx, 5th street, section
SS3, Petaling Jaya. This would remove the need to have an additional
address line for the housing estate name like most addresses used
for the rest of the country.
The city sections are numbered as such that the older sections have
no prefixes to their section number (Seksyen 1,
Seksyen 9) while
later sections have prefixes such as SS (Sungei Way-Subang), PJS (Petaling
Jaya Selatan) and PJU (Petaling Jaya Utara).
Demographics
As of 2000, Petaling Jaya claimed 355,530 inhabitants within the
area of 51.4 sq.km. The actual population by 2003 would have been a
little over 450,000 inhabitants without taking into account the
total population of the Kuala Lumpur-Petaling Jaya conurbation which
would have resulted in a total population of 1.5 million. Its
population is made up of 55% Chinese, 30% Malays, and 13% Indians,
whereas the remainder consists of other races. Petaling Jaya
residents are served by four Members of Parliament, DAP's Tony Pua
in PJ Utara, PKR's Hee Loy Sian in PJ Selatan, PKR's R. Sivarasa in
Subang and PKR's Loh Gwo-Burne in Kelana Jaya....
Landmarks
The Kota Darul Ehsan arch over the Federal Highway, as seen from the
Kuala Lumpur side.A prominent landmark is the Kota Darul Ehsan arch
which symbolically marks the boundary between Kuala Lumpur and
Petaling Jaya. This arch straddled the Federal Highway (Lebuhraya
Persekutuan) which was originally the only highway link between
Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. However, many links now exist as
alternatives to the congested Federal Highway.
Close to the Kelana Jaya Line's Taman Jaya Station is the Thai Wat
Chetawan temple. This ornate building is probably the only
authentic-design Thai temple in the Klang Valley and is very popular
amongst the Buddhist community. A short drive ahead is PJ State, the
nickname for the Central Business District of Petaling Jaya with the
landmark Menara MBPJ as a focal point. PJ State is more formally
referred to as PJ New Town.
Commerce
Residents of Petaling Jaya have a wide selection of traditional
shops as well as a choice of several medium to large shopping
complexes. The shops are situated at various strategic locations
such as
SS2, Damansara Utama, Kelana Jaya, Damansara Jaya, Taman
Megah,
SS3,
Section 14, SEA Park, PJ New Town and PJ Old Town.
During Petaling Jaya's early days, local shopping mostly meant
patronizing the shops at either PJ Old Town, New Town or
Section 14. PJ New Town is also commonly referred to as PJ State or simply
State.
The first institution that resembled a shopping centre in Petaling
Jaya was the Thrifty Supermarket that used to operate along Jalan
Barat. However, the very first supermarket to operate in Petaling
Jaya is perhaps either Ben's Mini Market or Pok Brothers Mini
Market, both of which operated in PJ New Town.Not too long
afterwards, Fitzpatrick's Supermarket commenced operations at the
Asia Jaya Complex.
A while later, during the mid-seventies, Jaya Supermarket commenced
operations at
Section 14. It was closed down and demolished in 2008.
Most of the shops in the supermarket are being relocated to the
nearby Jaya 33 supermarket on Jalan Semangat. The Fitzpatrick
Supermarket did not survive the 1980s recession. The Asia Jaya
Complex itself was transformed to become the Armada Hotel during the
mid-1990s. Thrifty Supermarket did not survive the 1990s economic
recession.
Today Court's Mammoth is operating at this Jalan Barat location. In
SEA Park, the Emporium Supermarket operated during the 1970s in the
premises located above the SEA Park wet market. The Emporium too did
not survive the 1980s economic downturn.
By the 1980s, the Daya and Fajar Supermarkets had commenced
operations at
SS2 and Damansara Utama respectively. Daya did not
survive the 1997 economic crisis whereas Fajar relocated to Banting
in 2006. Fajar's former Damansara Utama location was extensively
renovated and by early 2007 became Uptown 37. This location is today
occupied by upmarket tenants such as HSBC and Starbucks. At
SS2, the Savemart Supermarket has been a popular choice for groceries since
the 1980s.
Current Developments
The 1980s saw the establishment of the Atria in Damansara Jaya and
Subang Parade in Subang Jaya. The Atria provided the opportunity for
residents to patronise either the Japanese Kimisawa or the French
Printemps department stores. Both of them did not survive the 1980s
economic recession. By the mid-1990s, One Utama had commenced
operations at Bandar Utama. Jaya Jusco, a Japanese Department Store
which had operated since the late 80s at Taman Tun Dr Ismail later
relocated as one of the anchor tenants of 1 Utama.
Tesco Supermarket commenced operations at Mutiara Damansara in 2003.
This was quickly followed by the Ikano Power Centre in 2004 and the
Curve in 2005. The Ikano Power Centre houses South East Asia's
largest IKEA Swedish furniture store. IKEA had previously operated
at the nearby 1 Utama. At about the same time, the 1-Utama new wing
had commenced operations. By 2006, these establishments had
synergised to make Bandar Utama and adjacent Mutiara Damansara to
become very popular shopping destinations in the Klang Valley.
In 2004 the Giant Mall commenced operations in Kelana Jaya. This
complex houses the Giant Hypermarket which is off the
Damansara-Puchong Expressway.
Transport
Transportation facilities and infrastructure are well developed in
Petaling Jaya. Bus services since Petaling Jaya's early days until
the early 1990s were provided by Sri Jaya. Some SEA Park residents
may recall the old Sri Jaya Leyland Albion buses on the No.241
service struggling to climb the relatively steep Jalan 21/1. The
mid-eighties saw the introduction of mini-buses. For the first time
then, Petaling Jaya residents had a quick means to travel to Kuala
Lumpur. Waiting time for a mini-bus to arrive was often less than 10
minutes. The introduction of the IntraKota bus system by DRB-Hicom
saw the replacement of Sri Jaya and the mini-buses by the early
1990s. At the same time, some of the Petaling Jaya-Kuala Lumpur bus
routes were also serviced by Metrobus. The demise of the mini-buses
meant that the waiting time for buses was back to the 30 to 60
minutes regime.
The introduction of the Putra LRT service in the late 1990s saw the
addition of the Putraline feeder bus services. The combination of
Putraline and Putra LRT brought a relief to many Petaling Jaya
residents especially those who had had to rely on public
transportation. In 2005, the Triton buses briefly supplemented the
Putraline feeder services.
In 2006 RapidKL took over the operations of IntraKota as well as
both Star and Putra LRT. Today, public transportation is provided by
RapidKL in the form of buses as well as the KL Light Rail Transit
System - Kelana Jaya Line, which extends slightly into Petaling
Jaya.There are five Kelana Jaya Line stations in Petaling Jaya.
Petaling Jaya has three access points to the national highway system
North-South Expressway via Kota Damansara, Damansara, and Subang.
Internally, highways such as the LDP or Damansara-Puchong
Expressway, Sprint Expressway and the Federal Highway also exist.
By 2010, the extensions to the existing Klang Valley light rail
transit network will be completed and this will include a new 30 km
line from Kota Damansara in PJ North all the way to Cheras (South KL)
with stops in Mutiara Damansara and Taman Tun, to name a few.
Another line will connect Subang Jaya to the Kelana Jaya Line via an
extension from the Kelana Jaya station.
Education
There are more than 23 colleges and universities in Petaling Jaya
including the International Islamic University Malaysia
matriculation campus in Section 17, MARA University of Technology (UiTM)
campus branch on Jalan Othman in Section 1, Tunku Abdul Rahman
University (UTAR) campus branch in Section 13, Tun Abdul Razak
University (UNITAR) main campus in SS6 Kelana Jaya, Food Institute
of Malaysia (FIM) in SS6 Kelana Jaya, Malaysia University of
Science, Technology (MUST) main campus in SS7, Kolej Damansara Utama
(KDU) in Damansara Jaya, Kolej Bandar Utama (KBU) in Bandar Utama
and IACT at Damansara Utama. International University College Of
Technology Twintech a private college at Bandar Sri Damansara.
The UiTM facility in Section 1 commenced life as the Dewan Latehan
RIDA in November 1956. It was later renamed as the Dewan Latihan
MARA. This was a training centre under the auspices of RIDA or the
Rural and Industrial Development Authority. Essentially it was also
the inspiration of Dato' Onn Jaafar, the founder and former
president of UMNO or the United Malays National Organization. This
UiTM facility can be regarded as Petaling Jaya's oldest
college.
There are many secondary schools in Petaling Jaya including Bukit
Bintang Boys School, SMK Assunta,Sri Aman Girls School, Catholic
High School, La Salle PJ, SMK Damansara Jaya, Damansara Utama
Secondary School, S.M.K. Sultan Abdul Samad, SMK Taman Medan,SMK Sri
Permata, SMK (P) Taman Petaling and SMK Kelana Jaya. The oldest
school in Petaling Jaya is likely the Road 10 Primary School in Old
Town.
Malaysia's first private nursing college is located at Assunta
Hospital in Petaling Jaya. The Tun Tan Cheng Lock College of Nursing
was founded in 1961 by the Catholic Sisters of the Missionaries of
Mary.
The Deutsche Schule of Kuala Lumpur is an International School that
is located on Lorong Utara B near the Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital.
The syllabus at this school is based on the German Education
Curriculum.
The Bible College of Malaysia, a Christian theological institution,
is located on Jalan Gasing.
Places of Worship
Residents of Petaling Jaya can fulfil their religious obligations at
various places of worship .
The Muslim community can pray at mosques such as those located at
Jalan Templer,
Section 17,
Section 14,
SS3 and Damansara
Utama. A new mosque, Masjid Kelana Jaya Putera was recently
completed in Kelana Jaya. Masjid Jamek Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah at
Jalan Templer is likely the oldest mosque in Petaling Jaya. This
mosque was declared open by HRH the Sultan of Selangor on 23 October
1964. Later in 2008, the mosque was modernised and rebuilt.
The Roman Catholic Christian community can attend mass at churches
such as St Francis Xavier located at Jalan Gasing, Assumption on
Jalan Templer as well as at St Ignatius in Taman Mayang. The
Assumption church is the oldest and dates from 15 August 1959. The
Trinity Methodist church dates from 2 August 1959 and is located at
Jalan 5/37. An Anglican as well as a Lutheran church is located at
Jalan Utara. A Glad Tidings Assembly of God church is located at
Jalan Gasing. Several shophouse-based churches exist across Petaling
Jaya. In 2005, the former Ruby Cinema in SEA Park temporarily became
the Damansara Utama Methodist Church. In 2008, DUMC shifted to its
permanent location at Jalan 13/1. The Grace Assembly of God Church
is located on Jalan SS23/6E in Taman Megah
The Buddhist community can fulfill their religious obligations at
the Thai Chetawan Temple along Jalan Gasing and at the Cempaka
Buddhist Lodge in
SS23 Taman SEA. Chinese temples such as Poh Lum
Fatt Yuen along Jalan Gasing fulfill the needs of the Taoist
community. Taoist temples can also be found in PJ Old Town and in
Section 11.
The Sri Siddhi Vinayaga Temple located at
Section 4 along Jalan
Selangor serves as the main religious facility for Petaling Jaya's
Hindu community. The main God worshipped here is Ganesh, Vinayaga is
a common name for Ganesh. There is a Mariamman Temple in Jalan
17/47, and the Geeta Ashram is a north-Indian style Hindu Temple
dedicated to Krishna. The Geeta Ashram can be found in Lorong Utara
B in
Section 52.
There is also a Sikh Gurdwara located in Lorong Utara B, beside the
Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital and the Geeta Ashram.
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