The Merdeka Interviews: Architects, Engineers and Artists of Malaysia’s Independence

by Lai Chee Kien, Ang Chee Cheong

Between 2001 and 2006, architectural historian Lai Chee Kien conducted a series of interviews with the key architects, engineers and artists who contributed to the landscape of Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts at the time of Independence. The ten projects — Merdeka Stadium, Merdeka Park, University of Malaya, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Stadium Negara, Muzium Negara, Parliament House, Masjid Negara and Subang Airport — endowed the capital city with key structures for a functioning nation, and created fervour towards the sense of citizenship in Malaysia.

The Merdeka Interviews, a collaboration between Lai Chee Kien and Ang Chee Cheong, brings together for the first time in a single volume, 17 interviews which reveals not only the protagonists’ roles and work in shaping these architectural icons, but also the milieus, circumstances and larger historical contexts during which they practised. The publication of these interviews is relevant and timely, as we look back in time to discover the courage and spirit that forged a nation of peoples from multiple origins in the first decade of Independence, and their endowments on the landscape of Kuala Lumpur today. As a group of voices, it tells not only a history of the nation’s architecture and buildings at its birth, but altogether the story of Malaysia.

Interviews with the Architects, Engineers and Artists

Kington Loo
Philip Chow
Ronald Pratt
Baharuddin Kassim
Hisham Albakri
Ivor Shipley
Chuah Thean Teng
Ho Kok Hoe
Waveney Jenkins
Cheong Laitong
Dudley Pritchard
Lai Lok Kun
Raymond Honey
George Atkinson
Ismail Mustam
Lee Kwok Thye
Stanley Jewkes

668 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Chee Kien writes about the histories of art, architecture, settlements, urbanism, and landscapes in Southeast Asia. He muses on their ineluctable effects on contemporary life, and traverses its times and spaces whenever he can. His publications include A Brief History of Malayan Art (1999), Building Merdeka: Independence Architecture in Kuala Lumpur (2007), Cords to Histories (2013), Through the Lens of Lee Kip Lin (2015) [Best Non-Fiction Title, 2016], Building Memories: People, Architecture, Independence (2016) [Book of the Year], and The Merdeka Interviews: Architects, Engineers and Artists of Malaysia’s Independence (2018, co-authored with Ang Chee Cheong).

Reviews

[Ee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 660 plus pages thick book full of invaluable insights into the lives of various expat and local architects who worked on building modern architecture into the Malaysian urban fabric.