‘Seventeen’ steps to a bittersweet PJ corner

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The Seventeen business and residential complex.

SEVENTEEN. It’s not about a birthday or the numbers 1917 or 2017, but a special and sometimes bittersweet corner, known as Section 17, in Petaling Jaya (PJ), Selangor.

Single-storey private homes which rented out rooms to university students.

For many students from the Borneo states studying in Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, whether on scholarships or self-funded, it was a peaceful abode for a year or two while pursuing higher education in the peninsula.

In the 70s, Section 17, PJ, was made up of semi-detached and terraced houses, bungalows, shoplots, and even wooden houses with mud floors.

These offered twin sharing or single rooms to out of town students who needed lodging for failing to qualify to stay in the residential colleges of the University of Malaya.

University accommodation was limited in those days, so only those with extracurricular points and scholarships were given priority.

Off campus student-tenants

Undergraduates from Sarawak and Sabah in Peninsular Malaysia found living in a new place and the culture shock a little daunting.

From the comfort of their homes, they had to rent rooms from multiracial landlords. These rooms were no home away from home. To many, the rental terms were harsh.

If they rented a room for only RM60, they could not use electric coils to boil water for their instant noodles, watch TV, or use the washing machine.

They had to observe a no-noise rule after a certain time at night and were also not allowed to hang their underwear or even socks anywhere in the house and had to send everything to the laundry.

Rents must be paid at the beginning of the month and no friends could sleep over.

But the terms would be different for groups of students renting a whole house. Chinese boys and girls, for example, could rent a three-room house, shared by up to nine students.

The Faculty of Economics and Administration at University Malaya.

Each had to only pay a portion of the RM600 rent. It was easier for Chinese students to rent as more often than not, the advert displayed on the gate would reportedly specify “Only for Chinese students”.

Forty years later, in PJ, the rent for one cubicle, created from dividing a room, was RM450 per month and the mono-culture rule still applied. Fire was always a hazard if the electrical wirings were faulty.

But not all landlords or landladies were mean people.

Former student G Wong said in 1972, a landlady rented out three upstairs single rooms without cooking facilities.

The Memory Lane of Universiti Malaya.

He and his friends paid RM80 each for their rooms. They had a good relationship with the owner and her family.

There were some restrictions – like no TV and laundry but overall, the landlady was accommodating and generous. Wong remembers that at the end of the month, she would treat them to a scrumptious home cooked meal.

He and his friends did well in their studies and, to him, that was what really mattered.

Off-campus student

Lily Tang (name has been changed) stayed for two years as an off-campus student. Later, she accumulated enough points to move into an MU Residential College – albeit for only one year.

She found life a bit difficult, especially during the second and final years of her degree course.

Besides sharing a room with a course mate, she had to make sure both had a similar timetable and went back to Section 17 together on a bus. Sometimes, they missed the bus and had to walk half an hour home.

Tang’s irregular meals caused the pimples to break out, and she also fell sick after frequently getting caught in the rain.

Memories of meals

The steamed egg is still around.

However, Tang said seeing other university students in the evenings in Section 17 and exchanging news of home in Foochow made life more bearable.

“The food was okay but we would really have liked some Foochow chicken soup after having been away from home for several months.

The food stalls are still the same but not all are built of stainless steel.

“All the food served seemed to be Cantonese. But we were often in a hurry and weren’t very fussy.”

The economy food stalls in the New Section 17 are still the same. Back in those days, a plate of economy food was RM3 – very affordable, especially when it came with free iced Chinese tea.

“Most of us would have rice with a scoop of steamed egg and green vegetables. Any extra portion of meat would cost more. In fact, many university students lived on RM100 to RM150 food allowance per month. So our budget was rather tight,” Tang recalled.

She added that it was good the Cow Shed, the students’ Arts Concourse canteen, offered 15-cent kopi O and 10-cent curry puffs.

“That saved our lives. Of course, we could not hutang. All food served was COD. Regardless, we have very fond memories of eating cheaply at the Cow Shed.”

According to Tang, meal times were quite tough for off-campus students, especially if they did not have their own motorbikes. But for those who owned cars, they had more choices.

“Besides struggling for an education, off-campus students also had to juggle their ringgit and sen.

Economy food at Section 17, Petaling Jaya.

“Most Bumiputera students had the benefit of Mara sponsorships for scholarship and non-scholarship holders, including the provision of lodging like flats or hostels.

“In fact, some states gave special loans to their Bumiputera scholars,” she said.

New Section 17

Even though times have changed, many familiar places are still around.

The tyre shop is still there, a place where friends from Sarawak used to meet. Next to it was the bus terminus which is now gone and new shoplots have sprouted in its place.

There used to be an open space but that too has been built up. And the old, albeit small market, selling all sorts of goods and veggies, has also disappeared.

“Perhaps, some of the old hawkers have moved to other places in Selangor while some are operating at the sides of the Seventeen block,” Tang surmised during a stroll down memory lane.

“Our favourite dobi is also gone. There are more trendy shops amidst some of the remaining old lots – and a pharmacy as well. In the old days, we had to make do with a small sundry shop for their cough mixtures and Panadol.”

The old drains and the old roads like 17/36, 17/22, 17/21, can still be seen. The roads have become narrower. The houses are run down and could certainly do with a new coat of paint.

To spend a memorable time in Section 17, Tang said they went for their favourite char kueh tiaw, chicken rice, and kopi O for brunch in an atmosphere of familiar sights, smells and sounds – transporting them back to their student days.

She marvelled at how time has stood still for some of the houses where old bougainvillea scrubs, seemingly untouched by Father Time, continue to sprinkle colours on a quiescent residential pad with their pretty hued petals.

The huge Seventeen building towers above everything, casting a long morning shadow on a landscape where high-rise structures have sprouted.

And yet in every sense, this half old and half new place is still the same Section 17 where she used to live and interact with Malaysians from both sides of the South China Sea as well as university students chasing higher education on a shoestring budget.

Tang said if she had the time, she could have talked to the old stall owners about the struggling Sarawakian students, who only ordered char kueh tiaw with a fried egg, adding that some of the food operators could be so old now that they might not remember.

“We left Section 17 with bitter-sweet memories – the university days and the pursuit of higher education that prepared us to find the meaning and purpose of life,” she said.

The background is now filled with stately high rise buildings at Section 17.