The most beautiful Mosque in Malaysia

This is our heritage indeed.

Without a doubt of the intrinsic beauty and at RM700,000.00, it was well worth it. Many times over, I must add.

You won't get a more beautiful mosque at less than a million ringgit. In fact, you can't ge a bungalow at RM1 million. For that reason alone, I think we should have more of such designs in the future.

It is now well and alive, and in full 3 dimensional splendour, that one can touch and feel; that is not only confined to the frames of pic sold at the souvenir shop at the Craft Centre at Jalan Conlay.

I am ecstatic; I am a very happy man, so much so that I drove 300 km just to record this beauty.

I saw it last Raya, but being very tight with my primary school reunion, I just did not have the time to stop over and enjoy it.

It has just been officiated by Prof Zuraina, and hence I have not heard much on the news. I thought it should have been officiated by Dr Rais Yatim, not so much that he was an important man, but at least the camera would follow him, I guess.

Apparently Jabatan Warisan commissioned Asli Bina Jaya to rehabilitate this 1938 building to its full glory, and it is now completely done. Well, almost. According to the draftsman of Asli Bina Jaya, the original building is yellow and not the natural wood colour that we can see in the previous entry.

According to Imam Adnan, the building were in the state of disrepair since the mid 70s, and since the mosque was surrounded by durian orchard, quite a bit of the roof were broken especially during the durian seasons, and it gradually got deteriorated over the years, and by the 70s, it was abandoned.

It was easier to get funding for a new nondescript mosque than to repair the old mosque and he said then too the interest and awareness were not there. At one stage, it was even decided they were going to pull it down and let the wood get rotten. I am so glad that they didn't go through with that idea.

Fortunately someone from Jabatan Warisan saw it fit to rehabilitate the mosque.

I am quite sure by the time it was mentioned in my blog, Jabatan Warisan had decided to hire the conservationist to do the work on the mosque. But still, I am proud to have mentioned it in my blog and pretend that I have a say on this conservation.

For the record, those usable items were re-used while many new materials were used to. Part of the wall had to be re-sculptured all over again. The roof was made longer to minimize seeping of rain into the main hall, though Jabatan Warisan want to ensure originality, but relented to request on practicality.

Now that it is in livable condition, Imam Adnan told me they will hold Zohor and Asr prayers daily there, while the 'newer' mosque will hold the remaining prayers. They are also requesting the contractor to provide with a PA as it will take ages for JAIP to come up with the funding if they were to request through JAIP.

Honestly, this mosque has no need for air conditioning. By virtue of it 'kelarai' wall, you could get a constant breeze coming through all day. It is ideal for the tropics; our forefather knew about this.

I salute those involved and I hope to see many more of our old mosque will get rehabilitate.

AllahuAkbar.

If you wish to see the mosque in its full splendour, please visit my fotopages rahmanhariri.fotopages.com and akmal-hariri.fotopages.com. All pics were taken by Arif, Akmal and yours truly. Of course the most beautiful ones were taken by yours truly! ;-) I wish.

Not all things must come to an end (as advocated by a commentator more than a year ago). Especially old mosque.

Like good old soldiers, they will not die. In fact unlike good soldiers, they will not even fade away.

EPILOGUE

For the record, the mosque is in Padang Asam, at the outskirt of Kuala Kangsar. We used to pass this mosque years ago in the 70s and 80s, and didn't bat an eye-lid then. Well, time has changed, and so too my perspective in life, I guess.

I feel relieved and satisfied that this old mosque has been fully restored. I know I have little say on this, but nonetheless I feel good about it since it was highlighted in this very blog more than a year ago.

Now if only I have the time to move around the country and record old buildings worth remembering. I personally most old buildings are worth recording. There are always stories behind it.

There is this Rumah Kutai in Kota Lama that should be restored, and of course many more that I will try and highlight in Time in a Bottle.