[VIDEO] People of KL: Datuk Pardip Kumar Kukreja

FIFTY years ago, on February 1, 1972, Kuala Lumpur was the first settlement in Malaysia to be granted city status, when it had a population of just 700,000 people – which has jumped to almost two million people today (with eight million calling the wider metropolitan area home) of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. 

Suffice to say, modern Kuala Lumpur is a bustling metropolis compared to the simpler city it was when Datuk Pardip Kumar Kukreja was growing up, when he ran through the streets with his friends and gawked at the first flyover being built on Jalan Kinabalu.

Today, Kuala Lumpur is all concrete, glass, and gleaming steel – a representation of the vision its town planners had to bring modernity, business and prosperity to the nation’s capital, so that it would rival that of any other country.

The Vibes Culture and Lifestyle presents a special series to show the many colours and shades of Kuala Lumpur in celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year, with a special interview with first-generation KL-ite, businessman Datuk Pardip Kumar Kukreja. 

Pardip, who was born a year after Merdeka in 1958, reminisces on his childhood when Kuala Lumpur stood as a ‘muhibbah’ developing city, where ethnicities were undivided and religion was never an issue. 

Undeniably, along the way, the people of Kuala Lumpur have seen their fair share of the troubles that have led to the divisions amongst us. These dark episodes have played out in the city streets themselves and are forever a part of our collective history. 

Pardip had front row seats to the racial riots of May 13th, 1969 – and saw how politicians have since widened that crack to sow divisions amongst us.

So many skyscrapers

Through the decades, Pradip witnessed his welcoming city develop into a hard concrete jungle right before his eyes. 

Skyscrapers… it's like a bad word today to me. 

I think we are overdoing the development that is damaging our environment. 

Malaysia has no shortage of land, so why are we just concentrating everything in one area and pushing it higher and higher?”

Apart from that, Pardip also voiced his disappointment with the trend of demonstrations that have been taking place in the heart of Kuala Lumpur since the late 1990s. 

“Dataran Merdeka was my childhood ‘playground’ and there are so many great memories… simply beautiful. Unfortunately, when the rakyat use Dataran Merdeka as a riot and gathering point for demonstrations, it saddens me,” he said. 

“Without being one as a nation, I don’t think we can go very far. So, what kind of memory do we want to leave for the future generations? What will become of their memory towards our country and nation?” – The Vibes, May 15, 2022

*This article is part of a series of content produced for Lens KL, The Vibes Culture & Lifestyle’s fortnightly series that sheds light on the past, present and future aspirations of Kuala Lumpur.