KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- Bandar Tun Razak, a parliamentary constituency located nine kilometres from the capital was once a village with a squatter settlement inhabited by only about 100 families.
It was formerly known as Kampung Congo and renamed Bandar Tun Razak in 1981.
Today, the constituency has a multi-racial population of over half a million and a wide range of public facilities, educational and healthcare institutions, including the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (PPUKM).
Ab Aziz Zainal, 84, one of the pioneer residents of the constituency, said seeing all the developments that had taken place in Bandar Tun Razak over the past six decades had indeed brought a smile to his face.
Ab Aziz or fondly known as Pak Aziz, a former Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) mechanic at the Batu Kentonmen camp in Jalan Ipoh, said he named the place Kampung Congo as he was involved in maintaining MAF vehicles deployed along with the Malaysian contingent under the United Nations Operation in Congo in October 1960.
"My friends and I, the 12 of us, we found and explored this place and thought that it was a good place to build a settlement and they also agreed to the idea of naming the place Kampung Congo," he told Bernama recently.
Pak Aziz said the area that they explored in 1960s only covered the sites of PPUKM, the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium, the Kuala Lumpur Swimming Complex and the Kuala Lumpur International Youth Centre.
The father of seven, who now has 15 grandchildren and the two great-grandchildren, said at that time, building a simple one-bedroom-and-one-bathroom house only cost about RM300 and needed only two days to be completed.
Twenty years later, the population of Kampung Congo increased to 500 families and that prompted the government to turn the area into a proper housing estate, said Pak Aziz, who hails from Taiping, Perak.
Following the development, he said each family received a single-storey terrace house in Taman Jujur, about three-kilometre from the original settlement, and the area was renamed Bandar Tun Razak after the second Prime Minister of Malaysia.
"From that moment on, I have witnessed the many development projects and facilities brought by the government to Bandar Tun Razak," he said.
Pak Aziz's wife, Mariam Kadir, 74, said local residents should be grateful with the various facilities and job opportunities provided by the government in Bandar Tun Razak.
"I used to wash other people's clothes in Taman Midah and earned only RM60 per month, but today there are many job opportunities being offered in this constituency and it is also very easy to seek medical treatment here," she said.
Besides PPUKM, which was opened in 1998, a number of public and private clinics and hospitals had also been built in Bandar Tun Razak, including the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital and the Bandar Tun Razak Health Clinic.
Another resident, Mohamad Zain, 61, said that in line with the rapid growth and increased population, prices of properties in Bandar Tun Razak were also on the rise.
"In 1978, a single-storey terrace house in Taman Jujur worth only RM9,800. Today, the market price of that house has reached RM300,000, while the price a brand new terrace house is probably more than RM1 million," he said.
The retired soldier, who is known as Pak Malau, said he was pleased to see the development, as well as efficient public transportation system made available in Bandar Tun Razak, such as the Light Rail Transit, Mass Rapid Transit, the South Integrated Terminal in Bandar Tasik Selatan and Express Rail Link services.
Mohamad also recalled the time when he had to walk about one kilometre from Kampung Congo to the bus station located in front of the Special Education Teachers' Training College if he wanted to go to the capital.
"At that time, the bus service between the capital and Bandar Tun Razak was provided by only Tong Fong dan Foh Hup buses," he said.
He said as the original settlers of Bandar Tun Razak, he always appreciated the efforts made by the federal government in developing the area.
As such, he also hoped that those who would contest the Bandar Tun Razak parliamentary seat in the 14th General Election on May 9 would not only be good at making promises, but must also capable of fulfilling them.
-- BERNAMA
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