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| JB Cool, the article in August 2014 issue of Going Places |
Last
August while travelling to the UK for my nephew’s wedding, I was delighted to
discover that Pages 76 to 81 of Going
Places, the Malaysia Airlines’ in-flight magazine, was devoted to a feature
on Johor Baru’s Jalan Tan Hiok Nee entitled, “JB Cool.”
It warmed my heart that our very own JB was
truly “going places” and gaining exposure among international travellers on
board our national carrier.
As I scanned
the photos with the feature, I recognised the faces and places because I’m
familiar with the merchants who are injecting new life into the heart of JB
with their new businesses in old buildings.
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| My friends from Canada visiting Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk |
I
didn’t think it was wrong for me to feel a prickle of pride because this
charming part of JB that I frequent to introduce its uniqueness to my visitors,
was being featured in this prestigious magazine.
Since Jalan Tan Hiok Nee was declared a
Heritage Walk in 2009, the network of nearby roads that link Jalan Trus and
Jalan Dhoby have been developing into a popular destination for locals and
tourists.
With weekend cultural events
and daily night markets in the adjacent Bazaar JB, this area is drawing in
throngs of people.
Then
two arches at each end of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, one near OCBC Bank and the other
opposite HSBC Bank, were built as landmarks for visitors to identify this heritage
destination.
As the twin arches
complimented the roads which were already paved, the heritage identity of this
area attracted self-motivated young people to start businesses here.
It organically developed into an exciting
community with traditional businesses like tailors, dhobis, kopitiams and
bakeries thriving alongside specialty coffee cafes, a pop-up cafe, chic boutiques,
art galleries, antique dealers and an established corner café renowned for its
chicken chop!
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| My friends from Australia were forced to walk on the road because the pavements were blocked by cars! |
While
the aim of creating a destination to bring life back into the old part of the
city is being met, some situations have arisen that were probably not
anticipated and if they go unresolved, I’m concerned that this destination will
no longer be attractive.
Recently, the
JB Bazaar started to occupy a wider area with more stalls mushrooming next to
registered traders.
Now the rampant illegal
parking by businessmen and other drivers along the paved streets have destroyed
the pavements and created potential traffic and fire hazards.
A larger bazaar also resulted in more
vehicles belonging to traders and shoppers choking up the heart of the city,
especially in the evenings.
The
Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) recently held a “Go Green” event with a
recycling campaign, music festival and a Vehicle-Free Day in some parts of the
city. Going Vehicle-Free is an excellent
idea that should be adopted permanently for visitors to enjoy the sights with
walking tours in the city.
For a start,
I humbly suggest to gazette Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk as a “Strictly No
Parking Zone” so that the pavements are freed up for pedestrians and traders to
do more to promote JB’s culture and heritage.
This one-way street should allow vehicle drive-through only while business
owners and traders who show proof of their business addresses here, should be offered
a low flat rate for season parking in the car-park at nearby Jalan
Ibrahim.
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| Heritage Turned Hip, the article in the December 2014 issure of Fireflyz |
Incidentally,
Jalan Tan Hiok Nee was also featured in the December 2014 issue of Fireflyz, Firefly airline’s in-flight
magazine, and the popularity of this destination continues to spread to
travellers who are on this low-cost carrier’s routes.
The publicity in airline magazines will
probably result in more visitors from abroad but the question now is, “Is Johor
Baru ready for international travellers?”
At
the moment, the information centre at Laman Sri Lanang seems to be
underutilized even though it was designed for ambitious purposes.
This building should be properly manned by
trained personnel to provide information and any emergency help. The visible presence of Tourist Police will
be deterrents to petty criminals and the Police may also double up as Courtesy
Ambassadors to answer any queries and equipped to be a “Walking Directory” to
help visitors with directions to places of interest and the nearest hospital or
Police Station, if the need arises.
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| Members of Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk Committee with Johor Tourism Director, Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim [seated 3rd from Left] and Asst Director, Amirrul Asyraf Ibrahim [Left] and some traders at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee |
Recently
I was at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee with visitors from the Johor Tourism Department and
also met several businessmen who lamented about the problems they faced after
the nightly crowds leave at the close of business.
I regret to learn that they not only leave a
trail of garbage in their wake but also a stinky stench from stale urine. We know that everyone has to answer the call
of Nature and it appears that in the dark of night, people have been using the
street as their toilet!
Cleanliness
and security are vital to making a destination attractive to visitors. But the sad truth is how this popular
destination does not have any public toilets and those that were available for
visitors in shops will be closed after business hours.
This toilet issue is only the tip of the
proverbial iceberg because a great deal more needs to be done to make our city
ready to welcome visitors.
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| The utter waste of a Tourist Information Centre that is virtually always closed! |
We urgently
need a concerted effort by the relevant authorities to work in cooperation with
the MBJB, Tourism Department, Police and Traffic Police as well as the
committed participation of every individual who is proud of JB as our home,
because it will go a long way to improve the image of our city.
The
start of 2015 is a good time to reflect on the past and take stock of our
successes and failures so that we can do better in the future.
So let’s begin, if possible, with better law
enforcement with “No Parking on Pavements” at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, proper
parking in designated areas and more rubbish bins so that the public have no
excuse for littering.
The time is ripe
for us to do something constructive to improve the situation so that visitors,
whether local or foreign, will take home a positive impression of Johor Baru.
A version of this was published in the January 2015 issue of The Iskandarian
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