After walking my daughter to school on Friday morning, I decided to take a short-cut home. When I reached the vast parking lot between Pudu Prison and Hang Tuah LRT station, I saw an elderly Caucasian gentleman standing in front of one of the two remaining watch towers of the half-demolished prison.
He was immaculately dressed and wore a cowboy hat. In his hands were a sketch book and a pen. The weather was kind to him, it was a clear day and he was busy sketching away. Being curious of what he was drawing, I walked towards him.
“Excuse me sir, are you drawing the prison’s tower?” I asked him smilingly.
“Yes, that one with a pointed roof!” he replied amiably. “Come, have a look,” he offered me his half-finished work.
It was beautifully drawn, right to the last detail – just exactly how it looked like right in front of us. It looked real indeed. I was impressed by his artistic talent.
“What’s your name and where’re you from?” I asked, handing him back the sketch book.
“Oh, I’m Buz Walker Teach and I’m an American,” he answered casually.
“So, are you a professional artist or are you doing it as a hobby?” I queried further.
“Well, I’m an artist and I used to lecture in one of the local universities in Kuala Lumpur for a few years before I went to Singapore where I’m based now,” he revealed.
“Oh I see-so you’re an artist.”
“I’m back here for a couple of days, so I thought I better record them down before they’re gone forever a couple of years later!” he laughed lightly, shaking his head.
“You better do it fast, soon all these historical buildings will be a thing of the past,” I advised him.
“Yup, what we’re going to have later will all be like that ugly thing!” he said, pointing to the tall dark brown colored Berjaya Times Square building looming in front of us.
We both laughed.
“It’s real sad, to see you guys tearing down all these cultural and historical structures; they are your national identities, your soul, I mean, you Malaysians should have keep them for your future generations,” he said, shaking his head as his eyes kept gluing onto his sketch book.
I could detect some sadness and regrets in his gentle voice.
“Sadly those in power do not share your view. They could not see the beauty that you are seeing now. All they could see are the opportunities to make lots of money replacing these historical structures with brand new ones,” I said, feeling ashamed that a foreigner could see the need to preserve our identity when our own authorities could not.
“Yeah, it’s a pity,” he agreed.
“I have some photos of the prison’s interior, taken before they demolished the wall surrounding it. Some arches, stairs, windows and doors are very unique; perhaps you might like to draw them too. I also have the pictures of the towers facing Jalan Pudu. Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send them to you,” I made him an offer.
“Sure, that would be lovely,” he said delightedly and handed me his business card.
“Have you been to Chinatown further down? There are some interesting buildings there which could be torn down soon to make way for the MRT project?” I asked him.
“Oh yes, I intended to draw them too before going back home. In fact I have been to Penang and Malacca for the same reason too,” he said keenly.
“You mean you drew the Kek Lok Si Temple, the Khoo Kongsi clan house and those tourist attractions of Malacca?”
“Yup, all of them, they are very exotic and very Asian, you should be proud of these architectural wonders!” Buz pointed out.
“I think Penang is safe, its Chief Minister is a sensible fellow but I’m not so sure of Malacca and my hometown of Ipoh, the buildings there might be still here today but will be gone tomorrow,” I said sadly.
“Singapore fared better in its heritage preservation exercise. They managed to keep some real gems and here’s that famous Emerald Hill mansion,” he said, showing me his sketch book again.
“Oh, that’s nice,” I can’t help marveling his passion for buildings with historical flavor.
“Sorry, I got to go now, I’ll send you those photos soon,” I said and bade him goodbye.
“Thanks,” he said, “and good luck to Malaysia in preserving her rich heritage!”
I nodded and smiled as I walked away from that spot.
Thank you for recording these down for us Buz, I knew one day soon, they will all be gone!
Malaysia Chronicle
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