Peel Road

PEEL ROAD
By: David Koh

In the early days of Kuala Lumpur, Pudu was considered one of its boundaries. Jalan Cheras begins at this border and was part of the trunk road to Kajang and further south. (For Google map reference, please log on to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and search for Kuala Lumpur.)

Although some development took place here, as with the northern trunk roads, Jalan Batu and Jalan Ipoh, somehow it did not quite achieve the same heights of success. Many government staff quarters were located here and many remain to this day, around Jalan Cochrane and its vicinity.

There is also a heavy concentration of schools here, with no less than seven in the Jalan Peel-Cochrane area! SMK Cochrane was founded as far back as the year of our nation’s independence!

If that is any indication, it shows that this area is old. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic church was established here in 1960. Many of the features of this tiny pocket of Kuala Lumpur remain unchanged despite rapid development surrounding it.

Redevelopment efforts along Jalan Peel have so far yielded only Plaza 393, an integrated apartment and shopping mall, with the hypermarket Carrefour as its anchor tenant; and the Queen’s Park concept retail store next door.

ACTING PEEL

Peel Road was named after Sir William Peel, who was a British colonial administrator in Malaya. Surprisingly, Jalan Peel survived in the street-renaming frenzy that followed independence.

This area is surrounded by the Ampang River and Pudu’s “tai sui hum” on the north, and Kerayong River down south. These water forms flow in a southwest direction. Therefore, the ideal orientation for buildings here would be southwest.

DOWNSTREAM DIRECTION

Jalan Peel follows a roughly northwest-southeast direction, which is nearly perpendicular to the rivers. Thus, properties on one side of the road face downstream (good) and those on the other side face upstream (not so good).

Based on this observations, Carrefour is likely to do better if its main entrance were moved from its present northeast direction to southeast or south, where the apartments are located.

Queen’s Park located next door along Jalan Peel would also be likely to do better if it follows the flow of the river. In any case, individual outlets within the complex would also fare differently based on where their entrance are located.

ST JOHN AMBULANCE

Across the road behind the Shell petrol station, is the headquarters of St John Ambulance on Jalan Shelley. The St John Ambulance Association was established in Kuala Lumpur in 1908 by British civil servants and British army medical officers stationed here.

The main entrance of the headquarters faces southwest, which is ideal and may be a factor to its lasting success as a charitable organisation. However, it could do better if the building’s energy is reignited as energy tends to deplete over time in a cyclical pattern.

In other streets in this area, we can see the side that faces southwest seems to fare better than the northeast. The occupants of the former appear to prosper and spruce up their homes more than their neighbours across the road.

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Sure, we will still find the occasional home or two on the “unconducive” side looking better with extensions and renovations. This could be because they are new occupants who just bought the property and making a new start.

The current occupant would have decided to have a makeover to improve his comfort or try and fetch a higher resale price. Or it could be someone trying to implement some geomantic remedies.

KERAYONG RIVER

The next best orientation for this area is southeast toward the Kerayong River. Since this is the nearest river, its impact on the vicinity would be greater. Nonetheless, by facing Kerayong, the buildings will have theirs backs turned to Ampang River. This normally means occupants of buildings here may experience mixed fortunes.

The Cheras District Police headquarters is located at the intersection of Jalan Peel and Jalan Cheras. It has a roughly southwest facing direction. That is quite a good direction.

As we proceed down Jalan Cheras, we come across Taman Maluri, most notable by its landmark, Jusco Maluri. This is a bustling complex that does fairly good business. This part of town is very near the Kerayong River, which runs between Taman Maluri and Taman Shamelin Perkasa.

HIGH TENSION

The Jusco building has two main entrances: one follows the river flow and the other faces the river. This could be a strong factor in favour of its continued success thus far. The only downsides we can see are the high-tension power cables and LRT line that run along the river.

High-tension cables emit a field of electromagnetism. Their impact on health has been hotly debated for years and the verdict is still out. Some quarters believe that they do cause health problems.

Thankfully, these are quite a distance away and the effects may be lessened somewhat. On the other hand, there could be long-term detrimental effects arising from these.

*Log on to www.star-space.com for more. You can also e-mail questions on feng shui and properties to annieo@thestar.com.my. This series appear courtesy of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS)

Source: The Star, Friday, April 11, 2008

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