“The elderly now have a reason to come out from their house,” said Nazura Rahime. “They want to be relevant. They know how to weave the ketupat, so they come out and teach all these children who do not know how.”
This kind of scene, where different communities come together to do something in a common space, is what “Jalan Negara Kita” is all about. Once a “dodgy alley”, this is now a thriving community hub, and the beating heart of a neighbourhood.
“Those days, people used to hang out at community halls to play board games or chat with friends. But who goes to community halls for leisure nowadays? It’s not cool.
“Which is why we spoke with the municipal council, and told them we wanted to work together with them to reimagine this alley as a shared living room,” Nazura, co-founder of “Jalan Negara Kita”, shared with FMT Lifestyle.
She explained that the space came about quite organically – mostly shop owners wishing to connect.
During the pandemic, Nazura transformed an unused ground-floor lot beside the alley into an indie café called Folk Kofii. A few years later, she struck up a friendship with the owner of Weststar Art and Stationery Shop on the opposite side.
“That’s the first time that I’ve actually talked with him, and soon we realised we shared the same values. We wanted people to come together, and build a community,” Nazura, who grew up at the shophouse above Folk Kofii, shared.
She recalled how it all started with her husband just wanting to play drums in the alley. “Then another friend joined, and slowly people came together.”
Soon there were open mics, jazz nights, spoken word, and craft workshops. What used to be a forgotten back lane became a stage, a gallery, and a gathering place.
“Somehow, creative people like writers, poets, and musicians gravitated to our café and eventually the alley,” Nazura said, adding the Ampang Jaya municipal council built a roof over the alley when more and more events took place there.
And the name itself, Nazura mentioned, tells you everything. “Jalan Negara because that’s the actual name of the street and we just added kita because it’s ours.”
The “ours” is important. Unlike top-down community projects that begin with infrastructure and then scramble for neighbourhood programmes, “Jalan Negara Kita” built its soul first.
“We started with the community first, see what people actually liked, instead of imposing something on them,” Nazura explained.
“Of course, we didn’t plan this. It just happened organically, and also in hindsight, we realised this was a better approach to build a community hub.”
That approach has worked wonders. Since its official naming during the “Rahmat Bahgia” arts festival last year, the lane has hosted everything from gamelan nights to a Chinese New Year lion’s head installation.
And earlier this year, “Jalan Negara Kita” won the Placemaking for Public Space (Community-Led) award, a recognition Nazura never saw coming.
“We were very happy and pleased. Winning awards wasn’t our main goal but we’re grateful for the recognition and it goes back to the community.”
Looking ahead, Nazura said consistency is the goal. She and her team want to make the open mics, jazz sessions, workshops, and community cook-ups a regular fixture – something neighbours can count on.
“Place making in a neighbourhood requires consistency,” she said. “Because we all live here, bring up our kids here, do our groceries … this is home for many of us. That’s why it matters.”
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