Lorong Hajil Jamil & Jalan Kampong Tiong

There are a lot of mentions in the records regarding Lorong Haji Jamil. It is actually a back lane for Jalan Kampong Cina. Since the day I started schoolings in 1949, from Ah Hwa Lorong (Tau Kay Wee Sin Hee Lane), I passed through this back lane and came out at Jalan Banggol to go to Chung Hwa Wei Sin School in Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin. This lane connects Jalan Banggol to Jalan Kampong Cina through the side lane of Meng Huat Trading. It was a narrow dirt track then. In  1950`s it was tarred with drains on both sides and this Lorong Haji Jamil is about 15 ft. wide. There are a couple of sharp corners making it difficult for cargo vehicles or busses to negotiate.

In mid 1970`s, a new road was constructed connecting Kampong Cina through the side lane of Meng Huat Trading straight to Jalan Banggol. As it is going to be a proper road, two small brick houses by the side of the Ho Ann Keong and the 2 street stalls selling drinks had to make way for a wider road. Of the two bricks houses, one belonged to a tailor (whose daughter sells local delicacies in the morning and newspaper at No. 203) and another one was that of Ah Phong fried mee; one of the drink stall was that of Sin Bu, father of Bu Wan coffee stall in Kampong Tiong and another one belonged to Ah Pek Lau, father of  Lee Leng Seng of Public Works Department.  Many wooden houses of the village  had to be sacrified. One of the houses was that of Po Mek Lor, a local delicacies maker and seller. Her great-grandson owns one of the 2 ornamented electric lamps shops near Chinese Primary School in Jalan Sultan Mohamad.

When Jalan Kampong Tiong was completed in early 1980`s. a glutton square with parking lots was build. There are two rows of stalls, one row for Muslim foods and another row for non-Muslim. Every morning, few shades are put up, by the side of the drain, for the sale of local delicacies. During the week-ends, the travelling businesses vans would put up canopies to display their goods, such as kitchen wares and ladies` clothing. By 11.00 am. this parking lots will be cleared of morning businesses. By the side of the Jalan Kampong Tiong in the parking compound is the over century old famous “Low Tiey” well. Another famous well was the one behind Sultana cinema known as `Hong Guan` well. Many households which did not have wells of their own, especially the 3 rows of wooden houses standing on stilts over the river bed near the bridge, depended on those 2 wells for their daily needs of water.  The individual who carried the water to the household would charge 20 cents for every `pikul`. Each `pikul` consisted of two 4 gallons (16 litres) tin containers filled with water hanging on both ends of 5 foot long pole and carried across the shoulder. Once the supply of pipe water by the Government was implemented in the 1950`s, those 2 wells were no more utilised. `Low Tiey` well is preserved for historical and heritage purpose. The `Hong Guan` well was covered up when Sultana cinema was demolished to turn into The Store parking lots. If I am not mistaken, the parking lots guard house is the spot where the Hong Guan well was. `Low Tiey` well was dig by Low Tiey Lim Keng Hoon (1820-1882) in 1875. `Low Tiey` was actually the title bestowed to the leader of Hokkien community in those days. Nothing much is known of `Hong Guan` well, except that Hong Guan was the name of a very rich individual who owned the land.

The area along Jalan Kampong Tiong 2 was a squatter area. There was a lady known as `Po Chai Sim` with a substantial piece of land which she cultivated `sayour rampai` (a variety of different edible plants), the mixture of their leaves together with mash grill fish are used for cooking porridge – `bubur lambut` or spicy `sayour rampai` soup. Talking of these 2 dishes, I always think of my dear mother. When I was small, I used to accompanied her to `Po Chai Sim`s place to buy `sayour rampai`. My mother always warned me not to touch any plant of this `po`. She was very grumpy and always complained of headache which I think could be the cause leading to her behaviour. Due to obvious reason, she passed her property to her daughter. When Jalan Kampong Tiong 2 was open in early 1980`s, the land of `Po Chai Sim` became a gold mine as the road pass in front of her land. A row of 5 shop houses of 4 stories high was built and the daughter/grand-daughter of the old lady had the share of shop houses. WAN HAI coffee shop and CLINIC KOH are among the occupants of the houses.

The electric supply to the Town was in early 1950`s. In the initial stage, the supply was for 12 hours only during the night.