“When the Emergency period was over, the local council building at the end of Jalan Besar Pekan Ampang became a venue for functions such as classical dances, concerts and stage shows,” added Suppiah, who moved to Ampang at the end of World War II.
”The communist presence was felt all over Ampang before the British army moved back to take control of Malaya.
“During the Emergency (from 1948 to 1960), the people in Ampang had to live with rationing and adhere to curfew hours,” said Suppiah who joined the local council in 1954.
He recalled that Kampung Baru Ampang, just next to Pekan Ampang, was cordoned off and people were kept within confines to prevent communist insurgents from getting food and medical supplies from communist sympathisers.
Suppiah, who was a research assistant at the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) in Jalan Ampang, used to walk for 40 minutes from his workplace to his home in Pekan Ampang.
It was common, he said for people to walk from one place to another, as the roads were safe because there was no traffic.
Suppiah said the nights were often very still and quiet but for the sound of shooting between the British Ghurkha soldiers and the communists.
“Families were often afraid of stray bullets so we slept on the floor,” said Suppiah.
He also recalled the good times like when adults and teenagers played football in the evenings on the fields.
“There was close interaction among the races then,” he said.
Suppiah, who is responsible for setting up the SJK (T) Ampang in 1955 and Ulu Klang Recreational Club (UKRC) in 1960, said the Tamil and Chinese schools participated regularly at sports meets at the school field.
UKRC, he said was set up as a recreation and community club, with a football field and badminton court for all to use.
Suppiah said Hulu Kelang and areas surrounding Taman Kosas right up to Lembah Jaya were secondary jungle then while mining activities with dredges was a common sight in Ampang.
He said the water catchment area in Taman TAR existed since the British days with quarters built for caretakers to watch over the area.
“Back then, floods and landslides were unheard of as Hulu Kelang was still very much a jungle and there was hardly any form of development.
“Occasionally, there would be monkeys, snakes and wild boars straying out of the jungle, but people were used to seeing them,” Suppiah said.
Sungai Ampang, he said, “was wide and uncontrolled” and it was normal to see Chinese women panning for tin ore in the river.
“After the major floods that hit Kuala Lumpur in 1971, more roads were built and efforts made to mitigate floods with a bridge built over Sungai Ampang,” Suppiah said.
He said he never thought Ampang would be developed to such an extent in a 40-year span.
“Ampang has been developed with such speed that many changes have been made to its landscape.
“Things may have changed for the better but a lot of history has been buried and lost. MPASJ’s effort to preserve the past is commendable,” Suppiah said.
