Pasquale remembers that it used to be Jalan Tun Dr Ismail, in memory of the country's charismatic second Deputy Prime Minister. Somehow, someone has dropped the "Dr" on the road sign and it's now become known as Jalan Tun Ismail!
Rocky!
Now that I have the avenue to vent out my anger and frustration I have one for you!
Did you know that Jalan Tun Dr Ismail behind the Mall near PWTC has now been changed to Jalan Tun Ismail for many years now! This is not right, now everyone will think that the road is named after Tun Mahathir's brother-in-law who was the governor of Bank Negara at one time. I know the road since I was in primary school at Princess Road School, Batu Road School and when I attended Maxwell School, the road is known as Jalan Tun Dr Ismail! Can someone put the "Dr" back on to the road SVP! This happened under Tun Mahathir regime and it must be corrected, just to be on the record!
Happy Deepavali! -Pasquale
Thanks, Pasquale. We'll follow up with City Hall tomorrow, if the papers haven't beaten us to it!
Rocky Hey!
ReplyDeleteThank you for making Jalan Tun (Dr) Ismail as your new posting. Can I indulge a bit more and talk about road names? Okay, Thank you! Let me tell you this much, I just got an e-mail from someone signing himself as SM and he said that names of patriots and nationalists are important, names like Yap Ah Loy, Sambanthan, Loke Yew, Tun Razak etc. He also sent me an article about Jalan Maarof and who this Maarof fellow was. And below are the excerpt of that article, he said which appeared in your Business Times when you, Rocky, was the editor, and I have no way of knowing if you can check if this is true, here is the excerpt from this article:
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We drive through it everyday to Bangsar for a night out, but I'll bet nobody ever asks who is this "Maarof" guy was. I am talking about Jalan Maarof which was named after an early Malay lawyer who went to London to
see the Queen and came back a radical lawyer. This was way back in the early 50's.
The late Maarof and the late Pak Sako were both lawyers whom the British thought could be lackeys of the British Empire. Both came back and found their destinies were not as pleasant, at least to the naked eye.
I am more interested in talking about a Minangkabau lawyer by the name of Maarof, who was also a very close friend of my late father. I recalled my father's narration of what had happened to him.
One-day lawyer Maarof was approached by two men and taken away. My father said one of the men - whom he knew very well - was thought to be a policeman from the Special Branch.
Well, said my late father, lawyer Maarof was found hanged the next day somewhere in Gombak. They found him dangling from under a tree with his pair of shoes neatly arranged on the ground. The verdict was suicide.
Prior to that, said my late father, many attempts were made on lawyer Maarof's life. Once a car came careening in front of his house as he was about to leave, and an unidentified man pulled out a gun and shot him, but missed.
No one knew then why anybody would want him to suffer a fate of an
extreme prejudice. Or to put it simply why would anyone want him dead. My late father had a theory. Upon arriving home from London, lawyer Maarof understood the meaning of the phrase "abject poverty", which was prevalent
among the Malays then.
Lawyer Maarof had suggested to the British-influenced government of this period, for the setting up of banks to be owned by the Malays. On this score the British-influenced government, and their lackeys, disallowed thoughts of any Malay harbouring ideas of trying to dabble in economic and
financial matters.
"I never for once believed Maarof committed suicide. He was murdered
just to shut him out completely," said my father, may he rest much more in peace. ends.
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Rocky, if the verdict of his death was suicide, since when does the authority name after someone who took his own life. I hope some one can come out with more on this mystery. By the way this Maarof was the father of the Malay movie star Mustapha Maarof!
Cheer!
Bro,
ReplyDeleteWe need more of Allayarham Maarof.
Any friend of Pak Sako is a friend of mine.
Thanks pasquale.I learn history today.
Al Fatiha to both of them.Semoga ditingkatkan ke darjat para syhuhada.Amin
Bro,
ReplyDeleteWe need more of Allayarham Maarof.
Any friend of Pak Sako is a friend of mine.
Thanks pasquale.I learn history today.
Al Fatiha to both of them.Semoga ditingkatkan ke darjat para syhuhada.Amin
Brother Pasquale,
ReplyDeleteYes, of course I remember the story about Maarof, the man whose road I still travel every day. I wrote a piece for Sunday Times, when Rocky's Bru was not what Rocky's Bru is today, about the need to name our schools after the local legends and greats instead of something totally uninspiring like "Sekolah Kebangsaan Sekyen Dua Bandar Kinrara". [But after someone, under the posting "Dewan Seri Endon", suggested renaming KLIA as Kamal Luddin International Airport and KLCC as KJCC, I must think again].
Bru,
ReplyDeleteI don't know la nowadays! They change things anytime they like. After changing the road name, they'll change the name of the country alsolah! I dah fed up! When will they change the Merdeka Stadium to Stadium Malaysia? Y don't they change the name of the New Straits Times to new singapore time? Or Berita Harian to Brendan's Heralds? Kah kah kah
Dear Rocky,
ReplyDeleteI've lived in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail almost all my life and I've just found out who are the people behind the road names in my kampung, like Athinahapan, Datuk Sulaiman and Leong Yew Koh, in the past 2-3 years. Very interesting indeed.
Hi all, I am a niece of the late Tun Ismail Mohd Ali, first Malay Governor of Bank Negara who was renowned for his integrity throughout his 16 years at the Bank. While I do think that he deserves a street named after him because of his distinguished service and not because he was the brother-in-law of Tun Dr Mahathir, I can confirm that the road in question here was named after another great Malaysian, the late Tun Dr Ismail, and not my uncle.I think people are confused between the two Tun Ismails ( Taman Tun Dr Ismail is clearly named after the former DPM) so it is perfectly fine to correct the street name so that people know exactly who it is meant to honour.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
hi niece of tun ismail ali. i was a reporter when your uncle was still around. fierce man but he was up there, icon of icons. he deserves a highway named after him, if someone asks me.
ReplyDeleteit's good sense if there are two greats, such as this case, that the authorities give the full name of the individual. taman tun dr ismail rahman and jalan tun dr ismail rahman.
for example if you call it jalan ramlee, how many people would know it's P. ramlee (because ramlee, like ismail, is a common malay name).
kalau mahathir, lain lah. if you want to name the expressway to cyberjaya after abdullah because he is bapak K-ekonomi katakan, make sure you give full name as in abdullah badawi or abdullah ahmad badawi. otherwise other abdullah (abdullah ang, too) will claim that expressway is named after him!
Pasquale, Rocky and all,
ReplyDeleteCould it be just the work of some alec in the City Hall ? Anyone noticed that Bulatan Edinburgh is now spelt "Bulatan Edinburg" which is how most Malaysians pronounce it ? Perhaps the guy in City Hall thought that the original spelling was wrong and he just wanted to make it right but of four signages I have spotted, one is spelt correctly.
Hey rocky maybe instead of complaining about roadsigns here is an even more stupendous news coming from the state where the MB got stood up by mr PM.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6051382.stm
Note that in the news it mentioned that the MB changed the mascot to a fish. First one wanted to change the kris, then the other wanted to make position for life now this. It seems that our MB is getting dumber by the day.
Rocky and Pasquale,
ReplyDeleteYou guys are dreaming. You are living in the past. This is the Hadhari era; the Endon era, the KJ era, the Kamal era, the Scomi era, the ECM Libra-Kali era.
Who cares about Tun Dr Ismail? Who cares about heroes who died in order we can live?
Tun Dr Ismail is dead and gone. Tun Razak is dead and gone. Even his children are killing his legacy like Bank Bumiputera. Now they are killing Mahathir's legacy.
These people have no respect for the past. They have no sense of history. These are rootless, money- and power-driven political and corporate zombies. They have no souls.
Soon Abdullah, Endon (Allah bless her soul), Khairy, Kamal, Kali will be on every wall and they are already in every juicy pie in the RM9.
Jalan Tun "Dr" Ismail?
Dead man can't give you contracts and votes.
Kawan,
ReplyDeleteOr Umno into United MatRempit Night of Orgy.
Berita Harian into Berita Hairan.
New Straits Times into Now Sapu Time.
Utusan Melayu into Utusan Merapu.
Kosmo into Cost More.
Harian Metro into Halian Manyak Teluk.
Hadhari into Had My Hari (Had My Day).
Pak Lah into Pak Mentua Khairy Lah.
PM into Pak Mentua.
Hahahahahahahahahaha..............
You are all talking about jalans..let me take a step further in pointing out the 'ignorant name game' situation in this country'.
ReplyDelete1. LRT stations are all kelam kabut. Station Titiwangsa is no where near the Titiwangsa Lake, in fact it's along Jalan Tun Razak (where the TAR or better known as the Pekeliling flats are).
2. Carried away with foriegn media, our vey own local newscasters call 'Osama bin Laden' as 'bin Laden'. Why blame the father for the son's sins. And being Malaysians, they should know better.
3. TTDI in KL and TTDI in Shah Alam (near Polytechnic Shah Alam and Montford Boys School). Which is which? Which is known as Taman Tun Dr Ismail? Is it ok to have two different townships with the same name? No other leaders punya nama untok pakai ke?
4. Ampang Road Boys School and Ampang Road Girls School. The former is now known as SMK Jalan Ampang while the latter known as SMK Puteri Ampang. Are the boys there not worthy of a 'Putera' title ke??
The list goes on...no point getting stressed out on a Monday morning :)
Cheers.
p/s: Happy Diwali and Selamat Hari Raya folks!!!
Thats what happens when you only employ one particular type of moron in all public sectors! Saja put lah... who's gonna ckecklah !after-all the Chinese and Indians are non-existence in all levels of govt. agencies.right?
ReplyDeleteAnd to think their shelf-life has expired after building this nation to this great heights and developed status....hidup Melayu !!
I think a correction is in order. I had always thought the road was named after Tun Ismail Ali.
ReplyDeleteAlthough i believe he too deserves a street named after him, the current mistake must be rectified, because a mistake in DBKL I think it is.
And Pasquale, thanks for the lowdown on the the late Mr Maarof. Very illuminating. May his soul rest in peace.
In Shah Alam, opposite the Istana, there is a posh residential area with roadnames such as Jalan Opu Daeng Chelak and Daeng Merewah.
But at least I know that these were names of Bugis warriors from Sulawesi who were the ancestors of the current Selangor royal family.
Now if someone could tell me about this road in Seremban, Negri Sembilan called Jalan Datuk Siamang Gagap. It'll be good if someone can shed light on who this person with a rather strange name is
Sdr Rocky,
ReplyDeleteJust watched Bloomberg interviews with our beloved Tun Dr M. The presenter, either by mistake (which I doubt) or purposely, mentioned LKY as the Founding Father of Singapore which I found it somewhat disturbing and amusing at the same time.
Perhaps our friend, Pasquale could help, with his elaborate and interesting narration of lawyer Maarof...
Rocky! This is to kesuma dewi!
ReplyDeleteWell if you ask me kesuma, I would say the late David Marshall was the founding father of modern Singapore. He was both an Asian and a Jew. He was described in a write up as "a flamboyant, irascible man who leapt onto the Singapore political stage at a simpler time when charisma, pure human energy, passion and perhaps romantic idealism mattered more than organisation in the political scheme of things."
David Marshall was the modern day Singapore first Chief's Minister for slightly over a year.
He lost his political power to Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP which pretty much bulldozed his political will and way on anyone who dares cross him and his zeal to make this island republic a home for displaced Overseas Chinese! To kesuma dewi, if you ask me David Marshall was the founding father of modern Singapore and not Lee Kuan Yew!
Cheers!