Seri Kembangan, formerly known as Serdang New Village, is a New Village located in Selangor, Malaysia. The village can be seen on the North-South Expressway Southern Route.

History

Seri Kembangan was established as the Serdang New Village in 1952 when the British moved Malaysian Chinese villagers living around Sungai Besi to a centralised location due to the communist threat during the Malayan Emergency following the Briggs Plan.

In its early days, the village had 50 houses and all were built from scratch because the British only provided empty plots of land. The area was close to rubber estates and the jungle posed dangers of a different kind. Most of the 15,000 inhabitants earned meagre incomes as mining workers and rubber tappers.

At one point, the Seri Kembangan New Village was known for cottage industries like shoe-making but this has been overtaken by more profitable ventures.

There are now 2,500 houses with only a smattering of the original wooden houses left and the population is estimated to be 150,000, largely made up of entrepreneurs, businessmen and professionals.

A network of roads forms the 13 sections of the village and commercialisation has come to this sleepy hollow in a big way.

Landmarks

Located nearby are the Mines Resort City and Serdang township. It has many garages and empty shop lots indicating that the land price is low. There is a KFC located on the centre of Jalan Besar and is part of the highest point on Jalan Besar. Jalan Besar has a large market which hides a small road.

Pasar Malam (night market) in Seri Kembangan is on every monday. As a result, it has always caused traffic jam during that night.

References

• Seri Kembangan - from village of 50 houses in 1952 to 2,500 now, The Star, April 18, 2008.