Kuala Dungun’s wooden shophouses keep its trading past alive

Long before concrete shoplots and modern commercial centres became the norm, rows of two-storey wooden shophouses formed the heart of trade in Kuala Dungun, Terengganu.

Known locally as “kedai kayu”, many of these buildings date back to the 1930s and still stand today, their timber structures offering a glimpse into the town’s commercial past.

Trader and longtime resident Ang Ah Kiang, 76, said Kuala Dungun grew from a fishing settlement into an important trading centre, with economic activity expanding further alongside the rise of iron ore mining in nearby Bukit Besi.

The mining industry developed rapidly from the 1930s to the 1960s before the mine closed in 1970, bringing workers and business activity into the district.

“The economic growth also indirectly spurred trade in Kuala Dungun, including the emergence of various shops supplying the needs of residents and workers,” Ang told Bernama.

He said some of the wooden shophouses were built between 1930 and 1960, with about 100 units constructed during that period.

Many continue to serve the same basic purpose today, housing restaurants, hardware and electrical shops, motorcycle dealers, grocery stores, photo shops and other small businesses.

Among them is the restaurant operated by Kamal Hamid, 59, who has been renting one of the more-than-90-year-old premises since 1986. Prior to which, his father rented the same shop.

Although the building has undergone several renovations over the decades, Kamal said its original structure has largely been retained.

“I was told that the original owner was a former employee of the iron ore-mining company in Bukit Besi, and that the building was purchased in the 1930s,” he said.

The story of the shophouses is closely tied to the development of Kuala Dungun itself.

Wan Rosli Wan Ngah, honorary secretary of the Dungun chapter of the Malaysian Historical Society, said the Dungun district office reorganised the town in 1933, creating wooden shoplots to support growing trade.

More Chinese residents settled during that period, buying land and newly completed shophouses. Malay residents living in the area were relocated to Kampung Tanah Lot.

Wan Rosli said Hokkien migrants from southern China had begun arriving in the district as early as 1922, with many settling around the Sungai Dungun estuary.

They opened businesses selling groceries, seafood and rubber before becoming closely associated with the wooden shophouses after the town’s reorganisation.

Today, the businesses may be different and the buildings altered in places, but the surviving kedai kayu remain part of Kuala Dungun’s everyday streetscape – reminders of how trade helped shape the town nearly a century ago.

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