The Beca / trishaw / 三輪車 is a bicycle with an extra wheel for a side or front cart that ferries cargo or passengers. There are about eight different makes of the Beca found here, all uniquely Malaysian. Beca were the people’s main transport through the early years of Malaya right up to independence, still used in community markets in the Klang Valley and Peninsular today.

The Beca maker of Kuala Lumpur, the 张 Diong family has been at this trade since before WW2, and now in their 2nd generation with Benny Diong, only until recently. Benny closed down his trade for good at the end of July 2021, along with many other traditional trades due to the prolong pandemic effect on the economy.

The Beca is an important cultural link to Malaysia’s past, to our innovative and intuitive nature in creating and building functional items during the early industrial age and development of our nation state. It is uniquely Malaysian, a traditional trade that has origins from the days of blacksmith and steel smith trades.

张 Diong family was one of the first to innovated a steel version of the radial spoke wheel. This revolutionised mobility, changing the way goods & wares and even passengers were transported. It led to the creation of the beca wheel, the beca is able to transport in excess of 300kg. 

Along with many other trades, it has declined in it’s functionality and relevance, ending it’s life and legacy, and if found important, only exist as artefacts in cultural museums and photographic archives.

This initiative was supported by filmmaker & cultural artist, Joshua Kok of Karafuru Visuals, co-producing with Jeffrey an artisanal video as a manual to the building of the Beca. And also with the support from Tetawowe Atelier with Tan Shin Jie, recreating the entire build into a digital format with technical drawings. Dennis Ong, KL Heritage Researcher, investigated the illusive past of KL Becas through archives.

An exhibition was held from the 7th to 10th April 2022, showcasing the salvaged machinery, tools, materials and artefacts, plus the finished beca. The video, technical drawings & research writings were exhibited. The first Archive Package thumb drive was presented to Benny Diong on the 3rd day of exhibition by Loke Soh Kim of Kong Kong Bread Project, containing all the documents and production of the archive. Tay Tat Sing of Tetawowe, handed the A1 printouts drawings of the beca.

The Archive Packages are being distributed at the moment. The public can access the documents at these public institutions, art & resource centres and libraries. 

The package contains a USB thumb drive holding all the documents and media, collected and made of the project. Twenty archive packages were made. There are two versions, the Standard version and an Expanded Version*, containing more files. 

Below is the list of contents:

– Documents
– Design File*
– Images
– Exhibition
– Research Writings
– Technical Drawings
– Chair Drawing*
– Video Archive
– Media Coverage
– Rumah Attap Exhibition

1. Tetawowe Atelier- patron
2. Kong Kong Bread Project- patron
3. KongsiKL – public resource library
4. Lostgens’ Contemporary Art Space
5. Diong Family
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Joshua Kok- film maker

Standard Version
11. Japan Foundation- resource library
12. Balai Seni Negara- resource centre
13. Centre of Malaysian Chinese Studies- resource centre
14. Chinese Hokkien Association
15. Rumah Attap Library & Collective 亞答屋84號圖書館
16. Ruang Kongsi 共思社
17. P320社区空间 Ruang Komuniti P320
18.
19.
20. Jeffrey Lim, Reserved