Masjid Negara - Half a century down the road

For over a large portion of a century, Masjid Negara has remained as one of the nation's most famous historic points. Focusweek meets the man who worked the iconic landmark from ground up, Datuk Baharuddin Abu Kasim.

The whole idea of a national mosque was proposed by the Federal Executive Council in July 1957, a month prior to the first Independence Day celebration.

The impression to build a national mosque was that it would stand as an icon for the independence of the then Malaya.

There was an initial proposal that was agreed upon to name the mosque as Masjid Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj but it was respectfully turned down by the Father of Independence.

Tunku Abdul Rahman instead named the mosque as Masjid Negara as a grateful appreciation of a peaceful independence.

Structures of more amazing building designs and sizes have risen. Yet the mosque, finished in 1965, remains among the top of the most visited tourists spots in Kuala Lumpur.  

Early points

A three-member team of architects was appointed prior to the development of the national mosque.

The team include UK architect Howard Ashley, and Malaysians, Baharuddin Abu Kassim and Hisham Albakri.

Baharuddin begun working with the Public Works Department when he was called upon by the director-general to present his ideas for the architecture outline of the National Mosque.

"It happened not long after Independece. Tunku Abdul Rahman desired a mosque to be constructed to symbolise the appreciation we felt for having the capacity to accomplish independence through tranquil means," he says.

At that point of time, Baharuddin was in his mid-30s and had just recently completed his studies in the United Kingdom.

He recalls that Tunku Abdul Rahman wanted the mosque to be at the focal point of the developing city of Kuala Lumpur. Tunku wanted it accessible for everyone.

“Tunku wanted the mosque to be close to the train station so that it may benefit travellers from far off,” he adds.

To Baharuddin’s delight, the appointment was exactly what he had been longing for since his childhood. Prior to the appointment as architect, he had been interested with mosques’ structural outlines.

During his years in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, he frequently set aside the opportunity to think about the structural engineering of the Ubudiah Mosque in Bukit Chandan.

He even stepped in into the development of a mosque in his school.

In planning what might soon be the National Mosque, Baharuddin looked for inspiration from the designs of mosques in India, Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Peculiar umbrella-like roof

One of things that vibrantly stand out about Masjid Negara is that its rooftop is not a common semi-spherical dome, as what is normally found in the plans of mosques around the globe.

Many of us today would not have speculated that the outline was really in view of an expanded umbrella, which symbolises the power of a nation under the Yang di-Pertuan Agong ruling.

Baharuddin remembers being inspired by how royalties were escorted with an umbrella when venturing outside.

"I thought an umbrella would be a great symbol. Since we only had cement, I could not design a round umbrella. So we had to settle with straight lines,” he says.

At that point he thought about the ‘payung kertas’ (paper umbrella) — a collapsible umbrella, which has the straight lines he required."

The umbrella rooftop was constructed with a diameter of almost 40 metres and is upheld by 16 fortified solid columns.

As the architect for the National Mosque project, Baharuddin recalls when Tunku Abdul Rahman first visited the mosque.

“The first thing Tunku asked was ‘Where is the Dome?’ Tunku was expecting a semi-spherical dome,” he elatedly remembers.

50 years down the road, the umbrella dome remains the most striking feature of the National Mosque.

Contrary to the roof design of an expanded umbrella, the minaret's top was designed from the configuration of a collapsed umbrella that symbolises the quality and solidarity of the general population.

The 74.7 metre high minaret is outfitted with a lift that could bring visitors to the “azan” stage.

Working ground up

Baharuddin tells Focusweek that the development journey of the RM10 million structures was one that he would always remember.

Although RM10 million was a considerable large amount of money back then, he remembers that it was very much a challenge to construct an iconic landmark within the accessible spending plan.

A few alterations were made to move around the cost. Baharuddin says for example, instead of using marble for ground surface, they ended using terrazzo.

“There were not many choices when it comes to construction materials in those days,” Baharuddin says.

“During that time, the only material accessible to us was cement. That was what we had. Forget about aluminium or steel. Those had yet to exist during the years,” he adds.

As a result, almost every parts of the mosque, from top to bottom were made of cement. Pink tiles were used to decorate large parts of the walls and roof.

Many young Malaysians today may not know that the National Mosque was once coloured in pink.

The mosque had been pink throughout many years and it was only in 1987 that the mosque had a make-over, having its colour changed into blue along green-shaded glass tiles that can be seen today.

For reasons remain unknown, Tunku had asked for a mausoleum for seven tombs to be built together with the main mosque structure.

It later became “Makam Pahlawan” (Heroes’ Mausoleum) and turned into a cemetery for a number of statesmen.

Projecting Racial Unity

Baharuddin depicts the whole development of Masjid Negara as an image of solidarity among the multi-ethnic society of Malaysia.

“For Tunku Abdul Rahman, the mosque projects the solidarity of all Malaysians,” says Baharuddin.

"Our test was to plan a mosque that was cutting edge yet still had impacts of customary Malay building design."

“We were still so young at the time, as individuals, as a state. Having quite recently gained our independence, we did not rely on much support at that time. However, we managed to build the mosque on time,” he says.

He adds that they had to spend wisely over the development of the mosque since the fund not only comes from the government, but from the people as well.

Out of the RM10 million allocated for the mosque, RM3 million came from Malayans of different races and religions. Even Malayans abroad helped in raising fund for the mosque.

“Can you imagine those days when people gives 5 sen, 10 sen or even one ringgit. The biggest donation we had was just RM10. To gather RM3 million from ordinary people was such a feat,” Baharuddin says.

The National Mosque took five years to complete; its opening was officiated by the third Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Putra.

Today, the national landmark can accommodate up to 15,000 worshippers and each year the mosque welcomes over 240,000 domestic and international visitors.

For the architecture buffs

The mosque’s large late minimalist style building is known as the 60s contemporary style.

The main building has a series of small roof line peaks on a round main building which has been referred to as carousel style and is a hallmark of this kind of contemporary architecture.

In the 1960s this was common among shopping centres, some churches and public buildings although it is not identified for preservation and examples are disappearing.

Contemporary style was a more light heater and fun version of the minimalist style and preceded Brutalism of the 1970s which was a much heavier, concrete based variation of the minimalist style.

The National Mosque is the best example of the combination of a modernistic reinterpretation of traditional Malay Architecture with a folded plate ‘dome’ with a metaphor of a royal umbrella signifying the importance of the building as a national monument.

The Masjid Negara uses an extensive set of veranda space with light courts and air wells to provide ample day-lighting and passive cooling to the building.

It is by far the best example of a building infused with the technological and spiritual qualities of architecture with a true Malaysian identity.