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Java Lane, or Jalan Jawa, is a small lane on the northern bank of the Malacca River. It is located on the buffer zone of the Malacca Unesco World Heritage Site. Today it is celebrated as a heritage lane due to its position as one of the earliest urban redevelopment schemes in the country. The lane can be accessed from the iron bridge across the Malacca River, or through its either ends that form a letter "C" that opens to Jalan Bunga Raya. Java Lane was built around 1880, in a project spearheaded by Tan Hoon Guan (1842-1912), a Malacca merchant, as an urban renewal effort. On both sides of Java Lane are residential houses and shophouses.
Java Lane (11 July 2005)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Java Lane is regarded as the first modern public housing scheme in Malacca, and quite likely, in the whole of Malaysia. Its construction introduced new sanitary as well as fire-prevention methods in town planning.
Before Java Lane was built, the area was already known as Campong Java. It was a Javanese settlement that had existed since the Dutch period. The settlers made a living out of fishing and trading. The Javanese had been in Malacca even earlier, since the Portuguese period, and possibly even before then. Until the Portuguese period, they had inhabited the site across the Malacca River, in the area where Bridge Street (Lorong Jambatan), Jalan Kampong Pantai and First Cross Street (Lorong Hang Jebat) are now located. However, they moved across the river during the Dutch period, possibly as their position in Malacca began to decline. Today the area between Malacca River and Java Lane is still regarded as Kampung Jawa.
Java Lane (11 July 2005)
© Timothy Tye using this photo using this photo
By the late 1880's, the expanding population of Malacca resulted in the urbanization of Campong Java, with the construction of Java Lane and the building of brick houses to replace the traditional attap dwellings. While the new houses were considered vastly more comfortable, little is documented of the unheaval forced upon the inhabitants of the kampung. In the process, many village houses had to give way. Nevertheless, there are still a few Malay houses within the Java Lane area. They are now engulfed by the urban houses and shophouses that were built since the 1880's. The Madrasah Al-Hidayah stands on the site of an old Malay mosque.
Another wave of change swept the Javanese community of Java Lane in 1920, when the British authorities decided to built a new market there. The Javanese and Malays living there were relocated to a new village called Kampung Morten, name after the Land Commissioner at that time, J.F. Morten.
Java Lane southside (2 May 2009)
© Timothy Tye using this photo
Getting there
From Dutch Square, cross Tan Kim Seng Bridge and then turn right. Walk along Lorong Hang Jebat until you reach Jalan Kampung Pantai. Java Lane is located across the bridge.Location of Java Lane in Malacca
Java Lane middle portion (2 May 2009)
© Timothy Tye using this photo using this photo
Java Lane houses (2 May 2009)
© Timothy Tye using this photo using this photo
Java Lane northside (2 May 2009)
© Timothy Tye using this photo using this photo
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