NewYorker 002 - Kajang

This year is the year of tourism for Malaysia. Overseas tourists are expected to tour popular attractions such as Batu Caves, or Genting Highland, or Melaka.. Eventually every tourist will need to go to KLCC and take a snap shot of the Twin Tower before going home. That’s probably about it. Malaysia, strictly speaking, is completely devoid of interesting stuff.

Some time ago, I read about a tour package designed to show the scary side of KL. One of the stopovers is the Guang Dong cemetery, 10 minutes from KLCC. The tour guide was presumably bullshiting about all the local ghost tales, and about the Japanese cruelty during ww2. I thought that was quite innovative. I do not know whether such tour package is still on going.

So what other interesting thing can we do in Malaysia?

Now, some friends might also suggest, what about having Satays at Kajang ? I would say Kajang is great to showcase, but definitely not for the reason of Satay. Satay is so trivial compared to what I’m going to propose below.

When the New Yorker Magazine 2006 ran a story on the communication breakdown between CIA and FBI, it became clear to me that Malaysia was very important in the whole development of September 11^th attack.

On Jan. 5, 2000, the top management of Al-Qaeda was having a corporate conference to plot the September 11^th attack. They were not having this meeting in Pakistan or Afghanistan or Saudi. They were having this meeting right here, in Kajang. To be exact, they met at Hazel Evergreen Park condominium, in Kajang. And according to the magazine, this condominium is next to a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, one of the best golfers of all time, according to wikipedia.

This meeting is now being labeled infamously as the Malaysia meeting. It's hard to tell whether the original idea of airplane attack grew from this meeting, but it's certainly true that they brainstormed about the attack, and worked out the logistics, and after this meeting, two of the meeting attendees flew to San Diego and waited until September 11th. This meeting simply was a project kick-off meeting for September 11th.

It is hard to imagine now that the two hijackers, which slammed into World Trade Centre, were here, in Kajang. And very likely they have also tasted our infamous Satays. If I were to make a movie, I would shoot them discussing about the plot at the Satay joint. One guy was holding up two sticks of Satay to symbolize the twin towers, while the other guy was using his two fingers to pierce through the Satays to symbolize an attack.

In almost all countries, the original venues that hosted important meetings were important tourist attractions. Ministry of Tourism should realize that Hazel Evergreen Park condo is not a normal condo anymore, but rather, it is the place that kicked off September 11th attack. It is therefore a place of huge significance. Establish a monument there. Set up a billboard that tells the stories of the meeting. List down all the names of the attendees. Establish a place for people to drop flowers. I am sure such a place is of significant historical and sentimental values to a lot of visitors, especially those from the States. I am ready to bet with you that any American would rather go to Kajang to visit the condo than going to see the 30-million Eyes of Malaysia.