Reviving Kuala Lumpur: can Malaysia modernise without pricing out its past?

A yellowing receipt, framed behind glass near the entrance of Abdul Razak Gold House, records an address that no longer officially exists: “63 Ampang Street, Kuala Lumpur (Malaya)”.The shop’s modern glass frontage, polished counters and gleaming bullion cases give little away about its history. But step inside and that simple receipt serves as a small window onto pre-independence Malaysia.For six decades, this family business has reinvented itself in step with the city around it. What began as a modest goldsmith’s counter beneath a row of old shophouses is now a brightly lit jewellery and bullion store.An old receipt from S.M. Abdul Rajak Jewellery shows the business at 63 Ampang Street, Kuala Lumpur, before the street became known as Lebuh Ampang. Photo: HandoutToday, skyscrapers and overhead train tracks loom over the capital’s commercial core, and many of the businesses along Lebuh Ampang – the modern name for Ampang Street – that the shop’s proprietor remembers from his childhood have long since vanished.