From a dirt path to thriving commercial road
KUALA LUMPUR: Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, affectionately known as Jalan TAR, is reputed to be one of the oldest shopping areas in the city.
It extends from Jalan Chow Kit to a one-way thoroughfare, covering restaurants, hotels, textile and clothing traders, commercial businesses and shopping centres before merging with Jalan Raja.
It boasts Sogo, one of the older shopping complexes in Kuala Lumpur, built on the site of the demolished Suleiman Courts’ flats. The high-rise flats, the firstof-its-kind in Malaysia, were built in 1957 and demolished almost three decades later in 1986.
The renowned commercial district in the heart of the city is commonly mistaken as named after the nation’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra.
It is, however, named after the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman Tuanku Muhammad Tuanku Abdul Rahman, who ruled from 1957 to 1960.
Its early beginnings can be traced to a dirt path leading to Batu Village, where mining was the primary activity, at the time when it was known as Jalan Batu.
It was later known as Batu Road before it was renamed Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.