By David Koh and Joe Choo | May 15, 2009
The other Taman Maluri
Mention Taman Maluri and the first thing that comes to most KL-lites’ minds would be Cheras. However, there is another Taman Maluri – and its neighbour, Taman Bukit Maluri – in the Kepong area. This township tends to be overshadowed by and sometimes mistaken for Kepong or Bandar Manjalara. (For Google map reference, please log on to http://maps.google.co.uk/ and search for “Kuala Lumpur”.)
Bandar Manjalara is better known because of its relative newness and its proximity to the Damansara-Puchong Highway or LDP. The main access road into this township actually piggybacks on the older townships: the road is called Jalan Taman Bukit Maluri.
This is an important access road that connects to Kepong via Jalan Burung Hantu, and Segambut through Jalan Lang Emas. By that token, it also enables access to Kampung Segambut Dalam and Mont Kiara. Jalan Taman Bukit Maluri is distinguished by three small roundabouts. The first, coming from the Middle Ring Road 2, branches off to Manjalara; the second connects the road to Kepong, and the third leads out to Segambut.
From a landform perspective, this area is surrounded by high land to the north (where the Main Range is), south (Bukit Penchala) and south-west (Sungai Buloh and Sri Damansara). Kepong Baru is situated in the valley between these highlands. The Keruh River flows through the area in a south-east direction. The Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) commuter train line also runs through this valley.
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| Trains slow down as they approach a station, which means that wind turbulence is less here. |
When we toured Kepong previously, we discussed the factories of Jalan Kuang Bulan, located north of the railway track. On the south side, there are more avian street names, the common theme for Taman Maluri and Bukit Maluri.
DOMINANT LANDFORMS
Given that these townships are sandwiched between the Keruh River and Bukit Penchala and Sungai Buloh, they are influenced by these dominant landforms: high south and west, low north (up to Keruh River). Generally speaking, ideal facing directions for properties here are north, north-east, east and south-east.
Such orientations mean the properties either have a high back and low front, or follow the direction of the Keruh River. There is a monsoon drain that flows from SK Taman Bukit Maluri into the Keruh River in a north-east direction. This is also good for properties facing north-east.
That is the good news. There are several options to get a conducive orientation. However, town planning does not necessarily conform to environology, particularly because planners are either not aware of it or simply choose to dismiss it as superstitious hocus-pocus. We have certainly seen plenty of evidence for this in our tour of the Klang Valley so far.
Here are some of our concerns. There is the matter of the railway line and the Komuter train services that run on it. Fast-moving trains create wind turbulence. As a train moves forward, it displaces the air in front and creates a vacuum in the rear, which sucks the surrounding air in. Strong turbulence disrupts earth energy, as written in ancient texts.
Earth energy flows from the mountains to low land. They are stopped or deflected by water and can be dispersed by strong winds. The goal of environology is to find or create pools of gentle, homogenous energy and tap into it.
LIFE ATTRACTION
Such pools are created naturally by rivers, lakes and seas where the land is embraced by the curvature of the riverbank, lakefront or seafront, whichever the case may be. This attracts life and the area is usually fertile and vibrant. Even people find such areas very prosperous and many of today’s cities started from such landforms.
Energy pools get disrupted or dispersed by strong winds. This is why homes, offices or factories should not be built on hilltops: the winds are strong and there is no inflow of energy to boot (remember, energy flows downhill). People who live or work here will not enjoy any beneficial energy.
Instead, they will be drained of energy. By that same token, properties near railway lines are also likely to experience a lack of earth energy. Therefore, they are not likely to fare as well compared to properties located further away. Of course, from a sociology perspective, noise and air pollution from trains also make life more unpleasant and stressful. Whichever reason you choose, it is bad nonetheless.
We are not against railway lines as they fulfil the need for mass public transportation. The KTM Kepong station is a convenient point for transporting workers to the factories of Taman Kepong, and residents to other parts of the Klang Valley for work. Traffic and life here would be more unbearable if this station is not here.
Still, it would have been ideal if a wider setback is imposed – properties should and could be built further away from the tracks. In any case, a small consolation is that trains need to slow down as they approach a station, and take some time to accelerate to cruising speed upon leaving. The wind turbulence is likely to be less here than at other parts of the track.
ROAD LAYOUT
Another concern is the layout of the roads here. Most of them are in parallel grids, while some – such as Jalan Burung Kasawari, Burung Balam and Burung Tekukur – are curving roads. The straight grid-roads have properties on both sides, which means one side has properties facing north-east (good) while properties on the other side face south-west (not so good). Properties that face the embracing curve of the road will also fare well, provided that they also face a good direction.
The “good” side will likely be conducive for the success of the occupants while in stark contrast, the opposite side will see houses that are more rundown and poorly maintained, suggesting that success is not easy for the occupants. There would also be the occasional newly renovated house on the “not-so-good” side. They could be new owners moving in.
They could also be existing occupants trying to mitigate the negative effects of “poor feng shui”. To be honest, there is no mitigation for poor orientation. Whatever measure taken is likely to be a temporary or a stop-gap measure. Even if there were some improvement after renovation, we would advise relocation.
Make hay while the sun shines and then get the heck out of there! Any success experienced in non-conducive locations is temporary at best and may not be able to last beyond the next generation.
Between Taman Maluri and Segambut, there are several small housing estates that line Jalan Lang Emas: Taman Sri Bintang, Indah, Sri Sinar, Indah Murni, Sri Kepong Baru, Segambut, Segambut Muda and Kampung Segambut Tengah.
The general landform is similar to that of Taman Maluri but Bukit Penchala to the south is the closest highland. Therefore, north and north-east are considered the most conducive facing direction for homes, offices and factories here.
GOLDEN EAGLE
Jalan Lang Emas is laid out in an almost parallel direction as the Keruh River and KTM tracks. That also influenced the road grids of the housing estates. Many of the buildings here face north - north-east or south - south-west. The former is considered conducive while the latter is not ideal.
Quite a few roads here are perpendicular to Jalan Lang Emas; they run downhill and houses along them are orientated to face west - north-west or east - south-east, with the high land on one side of the houses and the river on the other.
West and north-west facing houses are not ideal because they go against the flow of the Keruh River. Environology practitioners advocate orientating buildings to either face an embracing river or to follow its downstream direction.
Not all ancient texts spell it out that way but a learned practitioner can discern it. Chinese feng shui texts recommend east-facing houses because practically all rivers originate from the west and flow eastward. Hindu texts also recommend ideal directions which happen to follow the flow of the Indus and Ganges rivers.
Even the Malay pawangs’ tajul muluk, practised on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia suggest east-facing houses, simply because most of the rivers there flow east. It is not surprising that tajul muluk is not as well known or practised on the west coast since rivers on this side flow west and thus home dwellers who comply with the “Look East policy” end up faring poorly and dismissing tajul muluk as hocus pocus.
MENTAL DISTRESS
Properties that face upstream tend to attract mental distress. Occupants in such buildings are likely to experience stress and short tempers. The danger is, without clarity of thought and purposeful action, they may not even be able to make the decision to move out!
Finally, we come to Bandar Manjalara. A strange name, if ever we heard one. “Menjalara” with an “e” describes the spread of creeping plants, while “manja” suggests pampering. This housing estate is located on the opposite side of Jalan Taman Bukit Maluri from Taman Maluri.
The main road is Jalan 1/62 which crests over a small ridge that comes from Bukit Penchala to the south. Section 62 is located north of this road. The MRR2 is located on its northern perimeter. The land is higher than its surroundings and only slightly exceeded today by a flyover that connects traffic from the LDP to MRR2. This section is ringed by Jalan 1/62 and 2/62. Properties embraced by this ring and facing outwards are generally in a conducive location under normal circumstances. However, this entire area sits on the outer elbow of the MRR2 as it merges with Jalan Kuala Selangor.
Within this not-so-conducive area, those that are located within the ring formed by 1/62 and 2/62 and face the embrace of the curved road should do better than the rest of the neighbourhood.
Section 62A is located deeper into Manjalara and the land slopes downhill from south to north (to Jalan Taman Bukit Maluri). The ideal orientation would be to face north.
*This series on feng shui and real estate properties appear courtesy of the Malaysia Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS). You can send in your queries on feng shui and properties via our feedback link at the bottom of the page. David Koh is the founder of MINGS and has been a feng shui master and teacher for the past 35 years.
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