So a bunch of roads in Kuala Lumpur got renamed – so there’s at least one road for each Yang di-Pertuan Agong that Malaysia has ever had. I shall shorten the title to Agong and use their common short names where possible.

Although I personally consider it an inconvenience to rename roads, I shall not be seditious.

I shall instead point out the ingeniousness of the roads renamed – to the point that I shall commend DBKL for being consistent in their ingeniousness.

1) Jalan Duta is now Jalan Tunku Abdul Halim, our 5th and 14th Agong. He is our current Agong, and the grand entrance to Istana Negara, is on Jalan Duta. If we find it hard to say the whole name we may abbreviate it to Jalan TAH. I’ll go with Jalan Duo-TAH, because that sounds like Jalan Duta, and Tunku Abdul Halim has been Agong two times. This is consistent with the very ingenious Batu Road becoming Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (Jalan TAR). When they say batu, they mean tar. Clever!

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.1589031,101.6707767,3a,75y,274.1h,88.66t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sjItqkCmBQ7_ZWjxUxTYOpg!2e0?hl=en

2) Jalan Khidmat Usaha is now Jalan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah. This road is off Jalan Duta and leads to Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur.

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.1741838,101.6707276,3a,75y,227.27h,84.18t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s31uu7hiLbbvNnP2x4_dI8g!2e0?hl=en

3) Jalan Khidmat Setia and Jalan Ibadah to Jalan Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin. Jalan Khidmat Setia wraps around the old Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (Inland Revenue Board i.e. tax department). I remember queueing up here during tax-paying month, before they started e-Filing. e-Filing is one of the few government websites that work surprisingly, relatively well!

Jalan Ibadah is the road that connects to Jalan Dutamas 1 from Jalan Khidmat Setia.

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.1754996,101.6728753,3a,75y,143.51h,78.67t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sKXShpJ7Wll_CxvVAegYLLw!2e0?hl=en

4) Jalan Ipoh (from Jalan Pahang to Jalan Segambut part) is now Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah. Sultan Azlan Shah, from Perak, was the 9th Agong, and you know how they say Jalan Ipoh leads to Perak? (Well, it doesn’t end in Perak…) So this was kinda ingenious, too. The only problem is that Jalan Ipoh is long enough that they name places along the stretch by what mile they’re on, like Batu 3 Jalan Ipoh. Batu 3 Jalan Ipoh is technically now the end of Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah! So does Batu 5 Jalan Ipoh become Batu 2 Jalan Ipoh?

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.171146,101.6932902,3a,75y,257.03h,90.01t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxjaN_GDS33TahssIy76BKg!2e0?hl=en

5) Persiaran Duta is now Persiaran Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin. You’d know this road for Hentian Duta, the big bus stop. You can take the bus to Kuala Perlis – and Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin is from Perlis!

https://www.google.com.my/maps/place/Kuala+Lumpur,+Federal+Territory+of+Kuala+Lumpur/@3.1720078,101.6744973,3a,75y,208.59h,68.28t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0AvTFjgLr7Zt5V1KevTIGw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x31cc47a8de3f55f5:0x3cbc4380ae4fd9ba?hl=en

6) Lebuhraya Mahameru is now Lebuhraya Sultan Iskandar.

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.1481501,101.6812447,3a,75y,320.64h,94.69t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sB6OH9XpSbqTaXLhYc4CB-Q!2e0?hl=en

7) Persiaran Mahameru is now Persiaran Tuanku Ja’afar. This road leads to Carcosa Seri Negara, originally Carcosa, Sir Frank Swettenham’s official residence, and Seri Negara, the Governor’s Residence (official house of the Governor of the Straits Settlement), later becoming King’s House and then Istana Tetamu.

https://www.google.com.my/maps/@3.1462637,101.68021,3a,75y,179.71h,77.12t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sVISAEOzfHGJioEZV62a6Mg!2e0

8) Jalan Semarak is now Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra. This road has Jabatan Ukur Dan Pemetaan Malaysia on it, so I guess they should be on the ball with this, since their road is affected.

https://www.google.com.my/maps/place/Jabatan+Ukur+Dan+Pemetaan+Malaysia/@3.171183,101.7173506,3a,52.5y,118.92h,85.14t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxr69BMuDyvq7fPq5kkBkog!2e0!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x31cc37ef54b9520b:0xf9eafb91b103c8d0!2sJalan+Semarak,+Kuala+Lumpur,+Wilayah+Persekutuan+Kuala+Lumpur!3b1!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x4a80677198e75bfd!6m1!1e1?hl=en

Probably the most ingenious part of this all is the junction where Chow Kit Monorail Station is – it connects Ipoh Road, Pahang Road, Princes Road and Batu Road, but they are now Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Jalan Pahang, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

Here’s a quick Google Maps Engine custom map I made that shows the various roads, covering all Agongs plus some Rajas. You’ll see they connect to each other quite well.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?mid=zA2bN0OwbSRg.kiU9ZGbWncFk