Beauty of Life with Jo: Batu Arang

Saturday, August 31, 2024

Batu Arang

Merdeka Day 2024

6 years had passed so it was time to revisit and see what’s new with this village.

Once upon a time, it was Selangor’s 2nd busiest town. It was once the centre of the country’s coal mining industry.

Batu Arang means ‘charcoal’ in Malay. The town started in 1913 when the British operated their charcoal factory. Mining activities ended in 1960.

This time we met with a Mr Choo, the owner of a 50 year old kopitiam, who sat with us and told us stories of Batu Arang when he was a little boy.

Told us that the roundabout with the column in the middle of town used to be a supermarket and some more shophouses.

The police station used to be across the road from his shop then moved uphill across the road. But there’s only 4 police officers who usually let the village run by itself. I remember walking into the police station 6 years ago asking about the tall kiln of their brick factory. Nobody could answer me!!! Then I read that it was demolished only a year before; I was so mad.

Told us about the coal tunnel that we went to was a real one and that there used to be water on the sides where he went fishing. Today it’s grassland.

Imagine, there are hundreds of underground coal mine tunnels stretching this entire town. The villagers today don’t even know where the tunnels have extended to. No data about the dug tunnels.

He said when he was young, he was not allowed to sleep on the floor; his grandmother would scold him. Batu Arang used to be hotter than other places. Today, no more.

Apart from coal, Batu Arang had a huge brick manufacturing factory. The old houses there were built with bricks. I found an abandoned house that’s fully built in bricks. Gorgeous. Hope they don’t bring that down. It’s still standing; could be made into a museum.

I remembered Batu Arang because of this yellow car that was ‘parked’ in the sky 🤣 6 years ago, it was sitting on a tall pile of planks. Today it sits on a hut with a roof over its top!