Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur
Coordinates: 3°08′52″N 101°41′37″E / 3.147749°N 101.693497°E
Merdeka Square (Malay: Dataran Merdeka) is a square located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is situated in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building. Literally Independence Square, it was formerly known as the Selangor Club Padang or simply the "Padang" and was used as the cricket green of the Selangor Club (now Royal Selangor Club). It was here the Union Flag was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted for the first time at midnight (time: 12:00 AM) on 31 August 1957. Since then, Merdeka Square has been the usual venue for the annual Merdeka Parade (National Day Parade).
In the early days of Kuala Lumpur, the Chinese and Malay communities settled along the east bank of the Klang River. To the west of river was land originally owned by Yap Ah Loy and was used to plant vegetables. In 1880, the state capital of Selangor was moved from Klang to Kuala Lumpur by the colonial administration. The then British Resident William Bloomfield Douglas decided that the government buildings and staff living quarters should be located to the west of the river to keep away from what he considered the unsanitary condition of the town and the possibility of uprising from the locals. The government offices and a new police headquarter were built on Bukit Aman, with accommodation for the police located on Barrack Road (now Jalan Tangsi and part of Jalan Raja). A patch of swampy and uneven ground immediately to the west of Klang River was then leveled and drained to be used as training ground for the police. The land was acquired from Yap by the British Resident Frank Swettenham for $50 per acre in 1882. This patch of land, originally named the Parade Ground, would become the Padang. Ten years later in 1892, the Acting British Resident Ernest Birch who was a keen cricketer then started to smooth over the ground so that it may be used as a cricket ground and other sports.
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