Have you ever wondered how the origin of Kelana Jaya came about? In this feature, we shall solve that mystery for you.

Kelana Jaya is a township under Petaling Jaya, that has grew rapidly over the years. It is a well-planned suburb with the latest infrastructure, facilities, and conveniences. It certainly has bloomed as a recreational, commercial, industrial and institutional zone.

With approximately eight square kilometres of land, the suburb covers the area of SS5, SS6, SS7 and SS8 as well as parts of SS3 and SS4. These sections are grouped to form Kelana Jaya and could be subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods such as SS5D. The abbreviation ‘SS’ stands for Sungei Way- Subang, implying the lands in between these two locations, of which the sections are situated at. The Damansara-Puchong Expressway runs through the neigborhood.

From the redistribution of the parliament in 1984 up until 2004, the suburb was a state constituency of Selangor and was represented in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly by Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas and subsequently, his successor, Mohd Mokhtar Ahmad Dahalan. The state constituency was first contested in 1986 at the seventh assembly and was last contested in 1999 at the tenth assembly.

If you did not already know, Kelana Jaya was not named Kelana Jaya until February 10, 1983. Previously, the location was known as Sea Port Estate. However, the late Sultanate of Selangor, Sultan Sallahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah did not agree with the westernised name as it did not reflect the intricacy of the Malay culture and its people. So, it was renamed to what it is now after the king’s uncle, Kelana Jaya Putra. The renaming of the city was done during the inauguration of the Complex of Jemaah Haji at Seri Setia. The Sultan has desired for both happenings to build a good reputation for the city with more development prospects.

The two major landmarks of modernization in Kelana Jaya are the LDP and LRT, which have transformed the landscape of the township significantly. In 1998, the Kelana Jaya LRT line initiated operation to provide connectivity with five stations of Taman Bahagia, Kelana Jaya, Lembah Subang, Ara Damasara and Glenmarie. The MRT was integrated into the LRT to connect Kelana Jaya with major districts and facilities at Klang Valley. On the other hand, the LDP established connections to Petaling Jaya, Subang, Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur. In 2012, the opening of a renowned shopping complex in SS7, named Paradigm Mall, increased the popularity of the suburb once more. Another major attraction here is the Kelana Jaya Lake Park, with community recreational facilities built next to it. The Petaling Jaya stadium, which could house 20, 000 people at once is also a big landmark of the city.

As Kelana Jaya continues to undergo development, more and more car services centres emerged. One of such example would be the Coolshield Car Tinting Specialist service centre which provides reasonable and high quality car window tinting services.

However, due to all the urbanization, Kelana Jaya has been exposed to some drawbacks such as environmental pollution and heavy traffic jam.

Kelana Jaya has many more potentials to be discovered and is set for much more growth in the future.