Sometimes when you revisit a place close to your heart, you’ll get overwhelmed with emotions. Surprise and nostalgia are some of the things you’d felt.
A few days ago, I revisited such a place; the first Sekolah Agama (Malay for religious school) I went to. Sekolah Agama Bukit Zaharah is located within the compounds of Kebun Bunga DiRaja, also known as Istana Gardens.
Along with the two emotions I mentioned earlier… I was also saddened by the state of my alma mater. The school building still stood; but like many buildings in Johor Bahru, it is left decrepit.
The picture below shows what used to be the school canteen. I distinctly remember buying gula tarik (literal Malay translation is pulled candy; made from palm sugar) and kacang sambal (peanuts mixed with hot sauce) from this place.
After taking some photos of the canteen, I turned and faced the main school building itself. I barely contained the tears that began to swell my eyes… composed myself and took a photo of the rear facade.
Although it is technically the rear entrance of the school, it is the most often used by students. This is because it is nearest to the main road. For more than two years, this is the entrance that greeted me every afternoon from Sunday to Thursday.
During my time here, Johor was still observing the Friday to Saturday weekends.
As I stepped inside the unguarded compound, I immediately recalled the fun times I had in this place. It never occurred to me back then that this place is ancient… it was constructed in 1858!
As old as the building is, it’s architecture is simply breathtaking. This made me wonder why the authorities left the building to rot. Surely this place is worthy of being gazetted as a heritage site.
I explored the place further and soon found the class I had studied in. The door has a broken panel but it still clung to its frame by the sturdy hinges.
I peeped inside and was greeted by an unfamiliar sense of emptiness. You see, during my days here this class can pack up to 40 students… it’s large compared to the classrooms of modern school buildings. I can still imagine my friends reading books and reciting Quranic verses in here… whatever happened to them? Do they know the state of our beloved school now?
As I continued my trek within the school compound, I wondered how long this building will last. I doubt that it would be demolished as technically, it’s still on royal palace grounds.
I might as well snap as many pictures of the place as I can… at the very least, I can share them with my wife and son. That’s when I decided that I absolutely must write something about Sekolah Agama Bukit Zaharah and post it on my blog.
The picture below pretty much sums up the desolation of this place. Compare it to the thriving and healthy trees in the background.
As I went full circle around the building, I came to a place that I’m unfamiliar with; the front entrance. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve always used the rear entrance to get to class. I couldn’t recall a time when I actually went to the front entrance. The gate was massive as you can see below:
As I wrapped up this visit, I took another picture of the rear section of my formerly glorious school. Just hoping that I can see it restored to its former glory in my lifetime.
If you love old architecture, you should give Sekolah Agama Bukit Zaharah a visit when you’re in JB. I have no idea how long the place would last… but looking at its current state, I don’t give it much hope.
It is near the car park entrance of Istana Gardens and is quite a popular spot for wedding photography. Check out Wikimapia for its exact location.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Nice coverage of our beloved religious school, my friend. I am disheartened and sad to see the photos. It does have a lot of my younger days memories, this place that is. Like you said, hope we can see the heritage goes on, with its wonderful architecture. If you happen to get a chance to pass thru this building via air, you will see actually the English constructed this building with a shape of ‘T’ to depict Christianity. However a building is a building, Hospital Sultanah Aminah original building is constructed that way too.
August 5th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Don’t need to see from air to see the T shape, the Wikimapia link I provided already shows this:
http://wikimapia.org/5424796/Bukit-Zaharah
I never thought that the cross shaped architecture depicted Christianity. I’ve always thought that British architecture in the 1800s uses the concept of “wings”; ie. main building + east wing + west wing.
As for Hospital Sultanah Aminah, in addition to the wings, it also has “subwings” for the two main wings.
Thanks for visiting my humble blog bro HitManSnr; hope you’ll visit again
August 6th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
salam,
many thanks for highlighting and nice clear shots. i’d posted this link on my FACEBOOK status and fwd this link to all my old friends , families. you definitely get more hits soon. perhaps you should start a group on preserving this nice building ?
thx.
ezzuddin
August 7th, 2009 at 10:39 am
W’salam Ezzuddin,
I appreciate your link to this post. I’ve also added you as a friend on FB.
Thanks!
August 7th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Balai Zahara was also known as Balai Cengkih, this was due to its design theme which was based on the Clove plant. The clove design can be seen in the wall decorations, column capitals and iron work in the gate at the main entrance. The cross shape layout of the building then probably was based on the cross shape of the stem of the clove.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
I never had the privilege to go to sekolah agama here but all my other 8 siblings did. Becoz it had such a big influence n remained so special to thm it had sorta rubbed off on me. My brothers n I went 2 the museum at the Istana Besar last month and it was quite enlightening. As far as i can recall it was known Istana Cengkih as it was supposed to look like a clove frm the air but now tht i’ve had a look at the aerial view i dont think it looks anything like a clove n definitely more like a cross. But thank u for ur write up n pictures. It strengthens the ethnocentric me even more;P. Btw, i am the youngest daughter of Pak Samad, drebar bas sekolah. U might have heard of him. Salam n tq.