Wat Meh Liew is a Thai Buddhist temple in the Pekeliling district of Kuala Lumpur near Bulatan Pahang (roundabout) on Jalan Tun Razak.
History of Wat Meh Liew
The archives of the Malaysian Historical Society provide some fascinating background to the temple and surrounding area.
Wat Meh Liew was established in the late 1920s by a Chinese-Thai woman called Madam Yap Yoke Liew originally from Phuket. She was married to a Singhalese Buddhist and they purchased a cheap plot of swampy jungle alongside the Gombak River in northern KL which came to be known as Kampung Siam and is now called Pekeliling. Some Thai monks started to migrate to Malaya at that time and she built the temple for these monks to stay. In those days there were no immigration controls and soon other Thai families settled here in search of better prospects. By 1930 there were over 300 Siamese families in Kampung Siam.
When WWII reached Malaya, the British were concerned at the failure of Thailand to oppose Japanese forces invading Malaya via Thailand. The Thai population at Kampung Siam were deemed a security risk and the young men were rounded up and deported to Madras and imprisoned for the duration of the War. When they returned after the War, life was tough and, particularly after Malaysian independence, the Thai population of the village started to dwindle.
Nevertheless the temple continues to survive and attracts Buddhists from KL and beyond with numerous Buddha, Guan Yin and other statues.
