ANOTHER ROUND ... THE FIGHT BEGINS

Well. I won't have to tell you that its really tough going on this project. Coupled with the Global Economic Downturn, I have been hearing a lot of stories of companies and organizations freezing this and that. Erm... it's disheartening, yes, but I must continue on, and fight for what I believe in.

In actual fact, I have begun to realize that people think we are in it for the money. Well, I will reiterate, we are not in it for the money or the fame. We just want to realize this project. Is that simple. Can you believe that? No?

Anyway, regardless of what you think, I will continue with another round of fights for this project. This time around, I think I will be approaching some Government Bodies and in the tradition of most of my other projects, I will be putting up my letters here. I made a promise to the Hubback family that everything will be transparent and so I am carrying out that promise. I still believe in this project and will continue to fight ... so here are the two letters I have sent out today (the original ones I made a big boo boo my putting the dates as 25 February 2008! I am still living in the past year!

At times, I really don't know what to say. Currently, only WWF Malaysia has responded and expressed interest in our project in part because Mr. Theodore Rathbone Hubback's work is still in use today. Despite The Hubback's contributions to Malaya, not many are even aware of who they are. This looks like the making of another sad tale that will vanish with time.

Anyhow, back to the present, we too won't really know what will happen to us here at The Heritage Station Hotel. We can only hope for the best and do what we can for now ... in fact this is a tale of not many people know about our efforts because we lack the economic means. But I will still continue my works and promises, until the day come when I say goodbye and return to ashes..... Take care and we will be updating our blog on The Hubback Brothers sometime soon ....

If you are interested in our other projects, please visit our other sites;

http://blog.prewedding.info
http://blog.mykenduri.com
http://www.heritagehotelmalaysia.com

ALONE AGAIN .....

Hello! It's been sometime since I have updated my blog on The Hubback Brothers. It's not like I do not want to update this blog, but I have been very busy with Hotel works and other matters related to the Hubback Project right here at The Heritage Station Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

In fact, in the recent weeks, I have had meetings with many people; I met students from Unitar, UiTM, etc, all doing projects related to the Hotel. It does not come as a suprise to me when many of the students are actually oblivious to the History of the building.... in fact they can't even tell me much about the buildings in this vicinitiy. How sad.

Today, I have also registered this blog with bloggersunited .... and strangely I have put this blog under the section 'politics'. Is it a ploy? Nope. Firstly, I have come to realise that if I don't put pictures on a blog, no one actually bothers to read it. Secondly, inept as a maybe in Blogging, I am very sure that there were politics involved even during The Hubback's time when they were here in Malaya. So 'politics' it is.

In actual fact, I have met Mr. Anuar Isa a reasearcher and representatives from the Malaysian Tourism Department to try and get this project off the ground, but as always, its really tough. I have come to the point where promises made, I dare not hope anymore. However, they did managed to recharge my batteries on this project and here I am again, trying to get it off the ground for the numerous time .... Will I succeed? Will I have to go back on my words with the Hubback Family? No. I made a promise and I will carry out that promise to the best of my efforts.

GOING, GOING ...... ALMOST GONE?

Just today I received an email from my pals in Singapore with an attachment. Normally I would ignore such kind of emails as I do not have much time to hover on such attachments but this one particularly caught my attention. The subject matter read "The Singapore We Once Knew". I have worked in Singapore for a good number of years and looking at the slide show, my mind began to wonder .... it's not like I am against development or anything, and I understand that the nations need to progress as we begin to have better city planning and such, but is there not a way where we can integrate progress with our old buildings? Much of whats happening here in this region is that progress equals to ultra modern buildings and finishing. We intend to forget about our past history and much of our National Heritage will be wiped out in due course.

Its very sad to see that the status of such old buildings and areas are taken away, until the author of the sideshow had to resort to email tactics to garner some interest amongst the people who still remember nostalgically, the areas mentioned. I am in awe yet very disappointed at whats happening today. There is so much more that can be done with old buildings instead of converting them to luxury hotels, museums and modern buildings. There is just so much more, but of course, the commercial value of land and ROI (Return of Investments) take priority over our history, in this part of the world in my humble opinion.

Again, I am beginning to wonder, is this the fate that is going to befall our own buildings in Malaysia? I dare not contemplate on the matter, its just to vast .... guess it's still back to, "Time Will Tell" .......

Please note I have edited some text as I found the language a little too strong.

I have realized too, that as we go along, we seem to be erasing our history very subtlety, all the foreign influence, contributions and whatever they did for our fledgling nations during the colonial period are going, going..... almost gone?

THE RETURN OF ARTHUR

My journey to the United Kingdom has brought me close to Glastonbury Abbey, the famous ruins where King Arthur and Lady Guinevere are rumoured to be resting. I am a great fan of mythology and theology, but I did not have time to go for a pilgrimage through Glastonbury and Salisbury Plains ... one of the 'sacred' places that holds a special place in my heart.

I did not bring back the legendary sword Excalibur but I brought back the story of the individual who also contributed much to our young nation then, Malaya. His name was aptly, Arthur as well! Brigadier General Arthur Benison Hubback, considered to be the first Architect to reach the position of Brigadier General in Great Britain and The British Colony!

So what do we plan to do in the coming future? We @THSH have plans of incorporating a Mini Museum coupled with activities in our Hotel in order to raise the awareness of our National Heritage, from Buildings to Natural Resources. Now let me test a little bit of your historical knowledge of Malaya .... how many buildings do you know that were designed by A. B. Hubback? I bet the number one building on your mind would be The Railway Buildings and Masjid Jamek. Ok. Good .... some more?

Below is the hand written copy of A.B. Hubbacks, "Candidate Separate Statement", that was submitted to The Association of The Royal Institute of British Architects (A.R.I.B.A) for his admittance as a Fellow.

Part of A. B. Hubback's personal handwritten submission.
For a bigger image, please click on the picture.
Documents courtesy of the Hubback Family, United Kingdom

Part of A. B. Hubback's personal handwritten submission.
For a bigger image, please click on the picture.
Documents courtesy of the Hubback Family, United Kingdom

Yes, amongst his most notable works which normally featured the famous neo-moorsih designs but not always just limited to that particular style, were;

• The Railway Station, Kuala Lumpur
• The Railway Station, Ipoh, Perak
• The Railway Administrative Building, Kuala Lumpur
• The Old City Hall, Kuala Lumpur (Now Panggung Bandaraya)
• Ipoh Town Hall Building, Perak
• The White House of Klang (Now Galeri Diraja Sultan Abdul Aziz, under the auspices of the Sultan of Selangor)
• Jamek Mosque, Kuala Lumpur (Masjid Jamek)
• Ubudiah Mosque, Kuala Kangsar, (Masjid Ubaidah, under the auspices of the Sultan of Perak).
• State Secretariat Building, Seremban (Now State Library)
• The Extensions of The Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur (What we see it as, today)
• Carcosa Sri Negara, Kuala Lumpur
• Numerous smaller buildings in Medan Pasar, Kuala Lumpur
• Post Office, Kuala Lumpur
• Kowloon Canton Terminus, Tsim Sha Shui, Hong Kong
  

These documents only cover A. B. Hubback's works up till 1909. His later works were not chronicled in these documents.

Since documentation in the 1890's in Malaya was in its infancy, there is much discussions amongst historians that there may have been influences from other notable gentlemen, like R.A.J. Bidwell, C. E. Spooner and of course A.C.A. Norman. Doesn't Norman's name sound familiar? Well if you don't know, he is credited to have designed the "Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad". However it is also noted that Hubback may have had a hand in it to.