Fahmi Fadzil speaks to Malay Mail in Kuala Lumpur May 31, 2018. — Picture by Zuraneeza Zulkifli

KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Fahmi Fadzil said the reverting of Bangsar South to its original name of Kampung Kerinchi will be one of the first pledges that he intends to fulfil after winning the Lembah Pantai constituency.

With the cooperation of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the first-time MP said he hopes he can get this done within his first 100 days in office.

“I raised a number of issues and one of my key promises was to return the name Kerinchi to Bangsar South. That, for me, is quite important.

“The process needs to be done through DBKL I have to work with DBKL and they have expressed their readiness to work on this,” he told Malay Mail.

Fahmi said the matter had been raised in a meeting with KL Mayor Tan Sri Mohd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz on May 31.

“There is a process for it, which needs to be done via the OSC (One Stop Centre) where we have to submit a request for the name change.

“During the course of the meeting, DBKL senior officials told me that even the council itself had disagreed with the name change. According to its rules or standards, they must keep current local names, especially Malay names.

“The question is why was this allowed or rather who allowed the name change? I have yet to find out, but I am keeping a close eye on this matter,” he said.

Fahmi said that during the course of his GE14 campaign, the locals, who have resided in the area for decades, said they were not consulted over the name change.

He said the residents have a strong sense of identity and belonging, and that the pledge he made to rename Bangsar South was one of the important platforms during his campaign.

“After I won, I remember a man came to me and cried uncontrollably when he told me about the rebranding of Kampung Kerinchi. It is a very sentimental thing for the people here.

“Kampung Kerinchi was formed by the urban pioneers in the 1870s. People who are part of the Kerinchi group still speak to one another in the Kerinchi dialect they still have their sense of identity. Who are we without our sense of history? That is why we must not easily change place names,” he said.

Kerinchi was renamed Bangsar South six years ago.