When an official document rewrites the origins of the nation’s capital, factual accuracy is not optional; it is a public duty. As French military officer and explorer Pierre Le Moyne reminds us, “Truth is the very soul of history.”
The Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2040 (KLSP 2040), prepared under the authority of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL), contains an account of the city’s beginnings that is incomplete and historically contentious.
Its timeline on page 2-4 states that the “Development of Kuala Lumpur [was] initiated by Sutan Puasa”, principally through the construction of irrigation canals and other amenities.
It adds that Sutan Puasa cleared the jungle upstream and prepared irrigated paddy fields, particularly in Setapak.
Under the 1857 entry in its timeline, the plan states that “Kuala Lumpur was formerly a tin mining centre pioneered by...