By Rakuram Gandhi
Stumbled upon this beautiful charcoal drawing on an aging concrete wall opposite the Sg. Way market in Petaling Jaya this morning. Over breakfast, it stared back at me as if it wanted me to take notice: a massive tin dredge, tilted and half-submerged, evoking the raw power and relentless grind of Malaysia’s tin-mining era.
Those bucket ladders and towering structures once floated across rivers and ponds, scooping earth day and night to fuel an industry that made the country the world’s top tin producer.
Many workers, often migrants who left hardship behind in search of opportunity, endured grueling shifts, isolation, and uncertainty for the promise of a better life for them and their families. Looking around the many having breakfast alongside the restaurant owners at that bustling mini food court, all enjoying their breakfast in a peaceful manner, I knew then that the promise of better life was fulfilled for that painter who drew that tin-dredge and his family and friends in Malaysia.
The unsigned artwork feels deeply personal, perhaps created by someone who lived that life or inherited its stories. It captures not just machinery, but the pain of toil, the quiet joy of perseverance, and the echoes of sacrifice that built so much of what we have today.
In a rapidly modernizing world, these hidden murals remind us to pause and remember the hands that shaped our foundation, the immigrant grit, industrial ambition, and the cycles of boom and decline. Sungai Way’s history corridor keeps these memories alive; this one stopped me as I was about to take my next Kopi-o sip.
So, I will now end with my heartfelt wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.
Happy Chinese New Year to all!
The article contributed by Weekly Echo reader – Rakuram Gandhi, who is author of Connecting Malaysia – A Telecom Engineer’s Journey – originally appeared in LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakuram-gandhi-03378434