Kongsi Women: The females behind Malaysia's iconic landmarks

KUALA LUMPUR: Coming out as a new nation post-independence, Malaya was hard at work developing critical infrastructures for a well-functioning society.

Yet it is little known that women were at the forefront of nation-building, with strong female labourers making up 60 per cent of construction crews on site.

Known as lai sui mui for the buckets of concrete slurry they were tasked to carry around, or kongsi women, referring to the shared living quarters on building sites for labourers, these women worked tirelessly for up to ten hours a day to build a new future.

Speaking to Astro Awani, Ang Chee Cheong, architect and co-author of the book ‘The Merdeka Interviews’, said the kongsi women were estimated to carry half a ton of concrete as far as five miles a day.

“The workload was tough as you can imagine, especially out in the blazing sun. That’s why you see a lot of them dressed completely covered,” he said.

“There is this fundamental misconception that women are these fragile beings, but they actually used to do the brutal, tough laborious work, and excel at it.”

Ang also noted that kongsi women were not an uncommon sight in Kuala Lumpur during the 70's, but have since become a thing of the past.

“Women have always been a critical part of this country’s mix, from doing the hard labour and menial construction tasks to becoming the professionals and decision makers now, working at all levels. That’s good progress.”

The unsung heroes of Malaysia

Ang and his co-author, architectural historian Dr Lai Chee Kien, had wished to highlight the architects, engineers and artists who contributed to the capital city’s landscape at the time of independence, based on a series of interviews conducted by Dr Lai.

In preparation for the book, they noticed, in numerous photographs, the enigmatic presence of scores of women working in the construction sites of iconic buildings in the country including Subang Airport, Merdeka Stadium and Parliament House.

Ang explained this was because construction sites at the time, which were slowly mechanising, required an agile, mobile workforce that was the lai sui mui.

“In time, they went on to do things like laying tiles and the other stuff that goes on in the construction site. It is something that you don’t see so much of anymore.

“Seeing them again in the photographs reminded us of what an important and critical role they played in the shaping of a newly independent nation.”

Several architects featured in ‘The Merdeka Interviews’ have also highlighted the contributions of the female labour.

“On the Parliament building, I think we had a thousand people working on the site and I suppose six hundred of those would have been women,” said Ivor Shipley, the architect of the Parliament House.

“Most of them often were just girls, hardworking and cheerful girls. The buildings couldn't have gone on without them.”

Another outstanding aspect, as Shipley pointed out, was their Herculean strength and endurance.

“If they had a day off, the men would say ‘Never mind, we’ll do the work instead,' and they just couldn’t cope. These girls were not only gifted, they were strong, tremendously strong.”

Civil engineer Lee Kwok Thye, who supervised the construction of Merdeka Stadium, pointed out that the kongsi women were an important aspect of the entire building process.

He explained that they were responsible for carrying concrete up a ramp to bring it to the top of the construction.

“A man would be up there to receive the concrete, pour it in, they’d return, and then continue in a chain system.

“That was the only way it could have been done. We did not even have a crane at the site.”

Ronald Pratt, the site architect for Subang Airport, said many of the labourers were Chinese Malaysian girls who would be dressed fully covered from head to toe to protect themselves from the sun.

Decked in broad-brimmed straw hats and nun-like hoods, these women carried concrete on head pans or on a bamboo rod over their shoulders.

But come evening, these women would return to their quarters and get dressed to reward themselves with a night of fun in Petaling Jaya.

“... you’d see them come out of their kongsis, and you couldn’t believe they were the same girls. They were beautiful, slim, and there was no indication that they had been carrying concrete for two miles, half a ton all day,” recalled Pratt.

The kongsi women behind Subang Airport also took great pride in their work, having invited their families to showcase the fruits of their labour on its opening day.

“They came, and it was wonderful to watch,” said Pratt. “On Open Day, you could see these girls with their families and saying: ‘That’s the column that I polished,' showing off to their Mum and Dad and this sort of stuff.”

Despite the enormous contributions of the kongsi women towards the establishment of Malaya’s key structures, Ang said they often went unacknowledged in historical records.

“I think in this country we always like to credit the business elites and politicians for any major changes or improvements, but we often fail to credit the women and the men on the ground who built this country with their bare hands and labour,” he said.

“It’s also important to recognise their contributions because buildings are never just the work of one person with a genius vision. That’s not how architecture works, it’s really a cast of thousands.”