GAN SZE HOOI: The Making of Into The Jail

4月2015年我完成了十人聯展後，重新把心思集中回"蘇丹街啓示錄"的脈絡內。自從個展結束後，我一直都不斷思考及好好整理一些思緒，這段時間也沈澱出一些想法。建築本身就是一個時代性的語言，語言一直不停累積無數個記憶，最終凝聚成為一體，形成我們共同擁有的集體記憶。每片土地上的人事物，不管是任何一座建築物或是一棵樹，都有它的存在意義，雖然有一天它突然消失了，但是在某個層面上還是依舊存在，只不過它變成一種"延伸"。這個"延伸"就好像一條河，河并沒有一個永恆的實體，每分每秒都在變化，人事物也是一樣。所以我把創作路線從地理位置上延伸，由蘇丹街至獨立公園至國家體育館，最後來到了半山芭監獄。如今我站在這座荒廢了的監獄門下，當我重新省視它時，又有一些全新的存在意義。

INTRODUCTION

Based on the title of this exhibition is to explore the post-colonial in urban everyday life in Malaysia. Although the colonisers left, the buildings and structures are maintained and we are still following the old format. Pudu Jail is a good example, it was built by British empire at first and second the Japanese occupation forces imprisoned a large scale of English prisoners in world war II, and now the present authorities imprisoned anyone who is politically against them. There are some implications even the Pudu Jail does not exist any more.

The definition of historical building of Pudu Jail, I shall start recall from the memories of my younger days, in 1980’s, I used to stay at lorong meranti 3, kenanga, where my father started his ladies garment business. I was playing with friends along the abandoned tracks ( presently it is LRT line) , and the Pudu Jail is just 500m away . From my childhood memory, I often passed the Pudu Jail on my way to Bukit Bintang or Pudu Raya to shop, sometimes, I could hear painful cries from inside the prison, I was wondering what was really happening behind the wall. My mother often warned me that I would be locked into the jail if I didn’t finish the homework or I did anything naughty. So that is my first impression for the Pudu Jail.

Now, back to 2015, I review to this ruined land, I have a strong inspiration of making Art work. It was our historical heritage but governor decided to demolish it to make way for a new tunnel, road expansion and mix-development of Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC), because they said that the Pudu Jail is nothing to be proud of. I was so wondering that should we be proud of the mega shopping mall instead?

History of Pudu Jail

Pudu jail, also know as Pudu Gaol or Penjara Pudu, is a historic prison located at the heart of Kuala Lumpur. It was built in 1895 by the British state engineer and director of public works department, Charles Edwin Spooner, at a costs of RM138,000. It’s design was copied from the kandy prison in Bogambia, Africa, and shaped like a butterfly or X structure. It originally had 240 cells on three floors, but more cells were added over the years. The prison’s gruesome condemned cell is located at block D where these death row were prepped before being hanged at the execution room in the same block. Between 1960 and 1993, 180 convicts were hanged there.

In the early 1980s, aprominent feature of the prison are the mural paintings on its outer walls done by a former inmate Khong Yen Chong. The wall murals of tropical scenes painted by the prisoners took them over a year to paint using 2000 litres of paint. The murals entitled the inmates to win a place in the Guinness Book of Records, for painting the world’s longest mural along the prison’s wall stretching out to more than 860 feet long and 14 feet high.

In 1981, there was a execution of legendary robber Wong Swee Chin or “Botak Chin”. The incident happened on Oct 17,1986, six prisoners held a laboratory technician and a doctor hostage. It was settled after six days of negotiation when the UTK officers stormed the building and rescued the hostages with no bloodshed. In 1986, Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, both Australian nationals, were the first westerners to be hanged in Malaysia for the drug trafficking of heroin.

The colonial era prison was officially closed in November 1996. Next year 1997, Pudu jail was opened for a short while for public tours of its cells and viewing of its facilities. Lastly, the pudu jail was demolished in 2012, only the old prison mosque will be maintained. The demolition was carried out to make way for a proposed multi-billion ringgit mix-development, the Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC).