Photos

This is part of the Masjid Jamek, or the Jamek Mosque. It was a very hot mid morning when we visited this mosque.It was an architecturally interesting building, but the way non Muslims are received by the attendants there, leaves one with a sad feeling.Despite the fact that on official tourist publications it is said that visitors are welcome if they dress appropriately, I saw a number of people being abused by the cleaner for stepping onto the marbled prayer hall seen in my photo. I stopped a young American couple from experiencing the wrath of the said keeper by telling them to keep only to the paths if they were not Muslim.All that unpleasantness could be avoided if some signs were erected in languages other than Bahasa.

Many middle-aged non Malays kept telling me that back in their youth there was greater appreciation of non Muslims in Malaysia.Yet despite what I witnessed at this place of worship, the many ordinary Malays I met in shops, trains, restaurants and kampongs were the friendliest and most charming people one could meet.

As for the mosque this is some information I found:

Masjid Jamek is located on a triangular piece of land in Jalan Tun Perak. This mosque is built on the birth-place of Kuala Lumpur where the two rivers Klang and Gombak meet. The mosque, which dates from 1908, is the oldest in the city. Masjid Jamek is the main mosque of Kuala Lumpur till The National Mosque was built in 1965 near the railway station. It was designed by Arthur Benison Hubbock, who was intrigued and inspired by the Mogul architecture of India.