Contributed by Stephen Chin
Read More on: What is Environology?
An aerial view of Old Klang Road. GUAN/The Star
The Old Klang Road (OKR) is believed to be the oldest and first significant road in the Klang Valley. It was constructed by the British Federated Malay States government in 1905 and was completed in 1908. Yes, it is 110 years old.
The then Klang Road linked Kuala Lumpur to Klang and its port. As with naming conventions in the past, the road was christened after its destination. When our highway systems improved with additional connections between the two, the road was given the “Old” prefix.
Old Klang Road was the seed to the Klang Valley’s Western Corridor of development. Many satellite towns sprouted over the decades along this route. Two of these towns have since been elevated to city status, namely Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam.
Part of the road follows the Klang River’s southern bank. Typically, no development is allowed near riverbanks due to flood concerns. Thus, many squatter settlements took root in the spaces between the river and road.
These settlements created a congested highway. Today, despite significant upgrades and widening works, travellers from Kuala Lumpur to Petaling Jaya still have to cross at least seven sets of traffic lights!
In 1965, a by-pass was constructed between Seputeh and Sungai Way, leading to the creation of the Kuala Lumpur-Klang Highway. This was necessitated by the elevation of Port Klang (then Port Swettenham) as the national port, following Singapore’s exit from Malaysia. The bypass was upgraded in 1997 and became the Federal Highway.
Today, Old Klang Road begins from Seputeh, just off the Mid Valley Megamall. In 2000, “Jalan Klang Lama 2”, from the Jalan Templer intersection in Petaling Jaya to Sungai Way, was annexed by the New Pantai Expressway.
Despite numerous other highways in the Western Corridor today, Old Klang Road is still a busy and essential artery and remains just as congested as ever, especially during rush hours.
The terrain along Old Klang Road comprises the Klang River to its north and some hills to the south. The river crosses the road near the Jalan Puchong intersection. Most of the development along Old Klang Road was to its south. The north side was relatively underdeveloped until recent years, and there is a reason for that.
In landform Environology (or Feng Shui), we examine the movement of earth forces (also known as “qi”).
The ancient Chinese considered invisible forces as “breath” and thus the term “qi” is used as a one-size-fits-all terminology. When they described cosmic energy, such as gravitomagnetic fields of the nearby planet, solar radiation and cosmic waves, they called it “qi”.
“Earth qi” may be a conflation of gravity, magnetism, vibrations, radiation and other unseen-but-real forces. It is believed to originate from the peaks of mountains. It flows below the surface of the ground and moves downhill along solid ground.
When the qi reaches a medium of water, such as a river, lake or even monsoon drain, it is prevented from going forward. Water is a liquid medium and cannot transfer the forces from a solid. This qi then can “leak” under the water, be diverted along the edges of the water or be reflected.
Where such reflected forces are collected in a gentle, homogeneous pool, the area is very harmonious and conducive to success. The trick is to identify these spots and construct homes, offices or factories here in a way that taps into these pools.
At the Seputeh end of Old Klang Road, there is a sliver of land between the road and river.
There are some wood-and-brick houses here, accessible via Jalan Halimahton, which leads to Jalan Chekor, Penghulu Mat, Lorong Serai and Lorong Halia. One can see that things have not changed much over the past few decades. Despite their location along riverbanks, these properties need to be facing the river to enjoy the harmonious forces.
There is a caveat for riverbanks. Though the forces stop here, they have the unfortunate side effect of attracting the unsavoury side of human nature. Gambling, gangsterism and prostitution are usually more pronounced in such areas.
At Taman Bukit Desa, there are several houses and condominiums and a large furniture mall here. Overall, the landform here is quite good. The area is embraced by a confluence of highways and backed by a hill. However, there are also some minuses, namely the relative location of the Klang River to this area, the presence of railways and the orientation of the East-West Link nearby.
These dilute the positives. The ideal facing direction is the northwest. Unfortunately, most properties here face north, south, east or west. Hence, this area will do relatively well but comes with a mix of good and evil. It is busy and yet feels a little rundown.
Properties that face a hill will be the ones that suffer the most. They bear the brunt of the barrage of earth forces coming from the mountain. Properties that face lower ground will do much better.
On the hilly side of Old Klang Road, there are several properties such as the Intec College which has a very eye-catching façade, Bangunan Tan Lai Kim and two petrol stations. These road-side properties have a conducive orientation, with the hill at its back and the road and river in front. They will likely do well.
The Shell station will fare better than the BHP despite its “more ideal” location as the latter is located at the elbow or convex bend of Old Klang Road. Convex or elbows are not ideal because they disperse and scatter earth forces bouncing off them.
Behind these properties, the terrain climbs quite steeply. There are several houses here, along roads such as Jalan Meru, Jugra and Morib (obviously inspired by Klang). Many of these branches into dead-end streets.
The nearby Taman Shanghai shares similar traits of steep slopes and dead-ends. Steep terrain is not ideal because earth forces are flowing rapidly. They are not very beneficial, compared to forces that rebound off water and form gentle, homogeneous pools. Hence, properties here will not get as much benefit. Nevertheless, those facing downhill will fare better than their uphill-facing neighbours.
Dead-end roads are also not ideal. This is where forces tend to be trapped and will stagnate. Properties located at the tip of dead-ends or cul-de-sacs are typically considered prime estate because of the privacy and larger land area. However, from an Environology perspective, they are not ideal.
Over time, such properties will get run down – which suggests the dwellers are not faring well and may eventually put them up on the market.
Read More on Part II: Environology and Property column: The Old Klang Road’s Qi Flow
About the Contributor
Stephen Chin
Stephen Chin is a consultant and director at Environology dot com Sdn Bhd.
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