Tracking history: Kluang's modernist landmarks documented in new book

The Star

a day ago

How do you document a place you barely know?
This was the challenge faced by Kuala Lumpur-based E9A Architecture when tasked with capturing the story of Kluang's Pasar Awam, the heart of the quiet town just 90 minutes from Johor Baru.
'Last year, we were invited by Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi to come and visit the town. At the time, the Pasar Awam, which is kind of a modernist building, was under threat of being demolished,' recalled Nazmi Anuar, one-third of E9A Architecture.
'So we went there to have a look and what we found was that there is already a grassroots movement aimed at revitalising the building, so we decided that, as outsiders, we should not interfere. Instead, we decided to look beyond the Pasar Awam, at the town's other buildings, and we uncovered the charm of its collection of modernist buildings,' he added.
From there, the team pitched the idea to produce a book about the modernist architecture of Kluang, resulting in Between Rail And River, Notes In Time On Kluang , released under Suburbia Projects, a Petaling Jaya-based publisher.
'This is not a complete history of Kluang, but a selective documentation that leaves space for other stories,' says Nazmi.
Recently, Suburbia Projects and E9A Architecture held a dialogue at Tintabudi bookshop in KL, on the year-long process of creating the book, attended by Wong, the team, and Kluang residents.
During the discussion, Nazmi noted: 'This is not a complete history of Kluang, but a selective documentation that leaves space for other stories.'
Naadiya Hani, co-founder of Suburbia Projects, said that 'Kluang has this sort of nostalgic feel to it', making the book project accessible to a wide audience.
'Everyone's heard of Kluang, be it for its coffee or its railways. If this sort of documentation can be done in Kluang, it can easily be replicated in any other cities,' she added.
Attention to detail
The book's design reflects the team's attention to detail: its cover, embossed with Kluang's railroad tracks and Mengkibol River, is based on a 1945 British Army Corps of Engineers map.
The cover's blue hue – that E9A co-founder Hazazi Hamzah, who is from Johor, insisted on – lends an 'official' look to the publication.
Published by Suburbia Projects, the book is designed to look like a project dossier.
Inside, the book gathers diverse materials to tell Kluang's story – a historic town on the brink of change, with a new elevated railway station opened in late 2024 and its 1915 predecessor preserved as a heritage site.
In 2022, the Malaysia Book of Records officially named Kluang Rail Coffee, the iconic kopitiam located inside the original rail station, as the country's oldest railway kopitiam.
The second phase of KTMB's Gemas-Johor Baru electrified double-track rail project, covering Segamat to Kluang, is expected to be launched before the end of the month, marking a new beginning.
'Kluang's history has always been driven by the railway – from its colonial-era growth with the Johor and Malayan lines to the likelihood that the new line will spark another wave of development.'
'However, with growth comes the risk that certain things might be wiped away or destroyed. So I think this is a timely point in Kluang's history to document the town as it is today,' said Nazmi.
Sia's illustrations are reimaginings of Kluang's buildings, going beyond current uses and exploring possibilities.
The book weaves together Aiman Mos Johari's photos of present-day Kluang with archival images, newspaper clippings, interviews with residents, Daryln Sia's imaginative illustrations, E9A's reflective writings, and a 15-point summary of key insights.
'We were all doing different things in parallel, so we decided to just assemble everything together like a sandwich – the text in the middle is basically sandwiched by Aiman's images, so the contemporary, in a way, sandwiches the historical,' said Nazmi.
'For the middle section, featuring archival material from the National Archives, Johor state archives, and Kluang public library, we used Japanese Bible Paper for its delicate transparency – hold it to the light and you can see the page behind it,' he added.
Rethinking 'development'
Interestingly, most of the team had never been to Kluang before the project.
For Sia, who illustrated the town's buildings and their uses without ever visiting, it was a unique challenge.
'I've drawn places I've never visited before – during the MCO, as an architecture student, we learned to study sites remotely. For this project, I did the same, using Google Earth and insights from teammates who visited Kluang,' she said.
'I didn't focus on capturing Kluang's essence directly, but on the quirks and scenes in and around each building – how a hypermarket feels, its rhythms, and how vegetation grows around it.'
E9A Architecture's Alia Ahamad said that for the team, its goal for the book was to document the beauty of Kluang through its architecture and stories.
'We hope that this book will encourage people to take a closer look at places that are somewhat off the beaten track and pique their interest in visiting Kluang themselves,' she said.
The recent book launch at Tintabudi in KL drew architecture and heritage enthusiasts, along with curious readers.
Wong shared that her motivation behind producing a book on Kluang was to trigger more conversations around it.
The book is written in both English and Bahasa Malaysia, as she wanted to reach a wider readership.
'I'm grateful that E9A Architecture was able to use their professional language and viewpoints to show residents and those not from Kluang that the town is beautiful. We need to rethink what we view as 'development' – many people think it's about building something new and shiny, but that's not always the case.
'There are so many abandoned, unused private and public properties that can be put to good use to help revive our towns and cities. I think finding new uses for old buildings would be more meaningful than building something new altogether,' she concluded.
Between Rail And River, Notes In Time On Kluang is available in all good bookstores. More info: suburbiaprojects.com.