History of our country up for grabs

[S V Choong 4]

Checked out Ebay the other day and found the following

 

Chinese girl labouring for Subang's Construction phase.

Photo taken during mid-1960s

 

Tawau Airport (old airport) taken soon after the official opening during the 1960s

Photo of Tawau Airport 1960s

 

Simpang Airport (Sungai Besi) during the 1950s??

Photo of Simpang Airport, Kuala Lumpur 1950s

 

 

Could someone confirm whether the third photo is Simpang (Sungai Besi)? Is the terminal still there? Didn't know Tawau airport dates back to the 1960s. All three airports have moved on and they are no longer operational as civilian airports, surprisingly. Expect Rozhan and H Azmal to participate in this

 

[H Azmal 0]

Can't confirm whether the third one is Simpang. Sorry Choong!

 

But if the claim of age is to be believed, it may as well be Simpang because as you know, Subang didn't come into operation until 1965.

[Rozhan 0]

The picture looks like Simpang alright... the last time I went there ages ago. I believe the original building is still there as sometimes on TV when they show the PM going overseas, some views of the terminal is shown. There are some additional structures added, that looks like a canopy or something like that.

 

I've come across many postcards of old Malaya / Malaysia on eBay in the past years, but the prices are a bit steep or else I would have bought some for collection purposes. At one time there was a Malaysian eBayer who listed an original booklet on the official opening of Subang, full of photos and old advertisments of the airport project suppliers. The opening price was listed as US$9.99, and so I contacted him to confirm payment and shipping costs should I win the booklet in the days to come. I suppose he sensed my keen interest, and shortly afterwards he revised the opening price to US$ 24.99. Needless to say I did not bid and he did not make a succesful sale in the end. It was not relisted since.

 

eBay is full of stuff impossible to get elsewhere but there are some sellers who employ unethical tactics. One of which is the same seller who registered under a different user name and joined the bidding process with other bidders to push up the bidding price. I think it is called shrill bidding.

[S V Choong 4]

Rozhan and Azmal, Thanks for the input. Isn't that a bit of a prick on the part of the seller? They hike up the prices and eventually they won't have their item sold. I would normally leave the items until the last moment to bid them rather than contacting them.

[Rozhan 0]

You snipe also SV Choong I do also, but my heart will sure beat faster during the final seconds of frenzied bidding. Won some, lose some anyway. But one can get carried away bidding up the price. I'm glad I lost a vintage MAS timetable that went up to above US$25 at closing when a few weeks later I won a similar vintage timetable for less than US$5. eBay is addictive!

[H Azmal 0]

Sure makes you wonder how a piece of our history is out there in some faraway country and we haven't a copy of the same thing! Sometimes we needn't go far - just take PICAS - the National Archives of Singapore Online - for example. Type Malaya/Malaysia/Kuala Lumpur etc in their search engine and see tons of photographical records of *OUR* history in *THEIR* safekeeping.

 

http://picas.nhb.gov.sg

 

Take a look at the following images I found there, below, for example:

 

Johor Bahru railway yard & causeway circa 1930

 

Aerial view of downtown Johor Bahru circa 1930s

 

Now how many of you even know that the causeway used to have a retractable bridge?

 

Panoramic view of Kuala Lumpor

 

Campbell Street, Penang, 1901.

 

Shame Arkib Negara ain't doin' nothin' - we lose out to our neighbour in keeping our own history!

Edited September 17, 2005 by H Azmal

[Rozhan 0]

Fabulous pics there. There are lots of rare pictures and other historical documents about Malaya on eBay, and these are priceless pieces that should be acquired for safekeeping. I think the New Straits Times Press is more proactive in getting the public to view part their archives through special pullouts in newspapers, especially during the recent Merdeka celebrations.