• Penjara Pudu (1895-2010)

“There are at present in the prison:-
- 98 Persons on long term sentences by the Japanese regime.
- 21 Persons on short terms (6 months or less to serve) left by Japanese.
- 4 Persons who were unable to pay fines left by Japanese.
- 13 Awaiting trial (looting etc.).
- 69 Military Prisoners. (Including 4 Formosans, 1 Japnaese, 4 Chinese arrested by Japanese and now moved to the Military controlled wing).”

(Sumber: PEJABAT SETIAUSAHA KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, 08/10/1945: |"REPORT ON PUDU ROAD GAOL: INFORMATION ON CASES OF PRISONERS IN PUDU ROAD JAIL AND ALSO DAILY SCALE OF RATIONS FOOD ORDERED BY THE INSPECTOR OF PRISON.").

“Korperal Hamada dan Sarjan Yamamoto, merupakan tahanan jenayah Perang Dunia ke-2 yang dijatuhkan hukuman mati oleh tribunal tentera semasa perbicaraan pada hujung Januari 1946. Mereka adalah tahanan jenayah perang pertama yang dijatuhkan hukuman di Kuala Lumpur. Hukuman gantung dilaksanakan pada 12 Mac 1946 jam 8.06 pagi di Penjara Pudu kerana kekejaman yang menyebabkan kematian orang awam. Hukuman dijalankan secara serentak oleh Indian Troops. 5 minit selepas hukuman dilaksanakan, Leftenan J.D Wilson (Royal Army Medical Corps) mengesahkan banduan telah mati selepas pemeriksaan dijalankan. Hamada yang menggangotai Kempeitai Jepun (Polis Tentera) disabitkan kesalahan menyebabkan kematian 6 orang awam di Kuala Lumpur dengan menikam mereka menggunakan bayonet dan menghumban mayat mereka ke dalam sebuah rumah sebelum dibakar. Yamato turut disabit kesalahan sama di Kuala Lumpur, menyebabkan kematian seorang awam. sumber : The Straits Times, 13 March 1946” (Megat Kucing @ Santai Sejarah, 30 Januari 2020: "Korperal Hamada dan Sarjan Yamamoto").

Selepas perang, Penjara Pudu dijadikan penjara pejuang kemerdekaan seperti ahli Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) dan Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), antaranya Idris Hakim dan Mustapha Hussain: “The post war period saw the formation of local organizations fighting for an Independent Malaya such as the The Young Malay Union (KMM) and Malay Nationalist Party. A large number of nationalists were imprisoned in Pudu Jail by the British Administration, among them Idris Hakim and Mustapha Hussain.”

Hal ini menjadi salah satu hujah penting mengapa penjara ini harus dipulihara: “It is important to realize that within 100 years of serving as a prison, Pudu Jail’s inmates were not solely convicts but also servicemen and nationalists who fought against the Japanese and British for Malaya’s liberation. The prison’s key significance is the role it played towards the emergence of Malaysia’s nationhood.”

(Sumber: Mariana Isa @ University of Bath, 2006: |"Pudu Jail Conservation Statement", m.s. 12, 15-16).

Kiri: Peta lokasi Penjara Pudu, 1950. Jalan Gaol di sebelah utaranya telah diberi nama Jalan Shaw (kini Jalan Hang Tuah): “Malaysia, Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Sheet 47, 1950, 1:7 920” (Surveyor General, Malaya. Drawn and printed by the Survey Dept: Federation of Malaya @ The Australian National University, 1950: |"Malaysia, Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Sheet 47, 1950, 1:7 920").
Kanan: “Pandangan dari Udara Penjara Pudu dalam tahun 1950” (Aku Budak Telok, 27 September 2022: |"Menyingkap Tirai Besi di Penjara Pudu: Pengenalan Merentas Masa").

Kiri: Gambar sekitar 1946: orang ramai mengerumuni jenazah pesalah yang telah dihukum mati ketika dibawa masuk ke dalam lori: “Figure 16: A crowd gathers to watch the bodies of executed prisoners carried into lorries (1946).”
Kanan: “Pudu Jail, Kuala Lumpur. 1945. Foto: Tropenmuseum” (Melayu Tempo Dulu @ Facebook, 7 Disember 2016 : "Pudu Jail, Kuala Lumpur. 1945").

“Foto 1945 - diedit semula” (Faizal Zainal @ Selangor 10, 1 Jun 2020: "Sekilas Catatan Tentang Penjara Pudu").

Antara tokoh nasionalis yang dipenjarakan ketika itu ialah Ishak Haji Muhammad atau Pak Sako: “Allahyarham (Ishak Haji Muhammad atau Pak Sako) semakin aktif dalam politik dan menganggotai Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya yang ditubuhkan dalam 1945 tetapi diharamkan tiga tahun kemudian berikutan perintah Darurat. Allahyarham ditangkap dan ditahan di penjara Pudu, Kuala Lumpur.”

(Sumber: Berita Harian, 11 November 1991, Page 10: |"Perginya sasterawan nasionalis").

Antara pemimpin gerakan buruh yang telah dihukum di Penjara Pudu ialah S.A. Ganapathy. Beliau dihukum gantung pada 4 Mei 1949.

“Many of the leaders of the labour movement were arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced. SA Ganapathy, for example, who was the first president of the 300,000-strong PMFTU, was hanged by the British in May 1949. He was said to be on the way to the police to surrender a firearm he found, when he was arrested by the police and sentenced to hang in Pudu Jail.”

(Sumber: Charles Hector @ Malaysiakini, 18 Nov 2017: |"How the British suppressed the Malayan labour movement").

Contoh surat permohonan bertemu banduan di Penjara Pudu, serta laporan permohonan-permohonan dan status permit kebenaran bagi setiap satunya. Ketika ini Penjara Pudu masih di bawah penyeliaan tentera British (BRITISH MILITARY ADMINISTRATION, 05/02/1946: |"PERMITS TO VISIT ACCUSED PERSONS IN PRISON").

Contoh petisyen rayuan keluarga seorang banduan untuk memohon pembebasannya, serta keputusan pihak pengurusan. Ketika ini Penjara Pudu telah diambil alih oleh kerajaan persekutuan (FEDERAL SECRETARIAT, 05/07/1948: |"PETITION FOR REMISSION OF SENTENCE PASSED ON PRISONER WOON HOW S/O WOON HEE NO. A.132 OF PUDU PRISON."). Beberapa contoh banduan dan permohonan lain:-

• 23/06/1948: Lee Lip Hor: permohonan lawatan isterinya Tan Khee ("APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HER HUSBAND LEE LIP HOR AT PUDU GAOL.").

• 01/07/1948: See Toh (tidak dapat dikesan): permohonan lawatan isterinya Lim Geok Eng ("APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HER HUSBAND SEE TOH AT PUDU GAOL").

• 02/07/1948: Ng Loh Kong: petisyen permohonan pembebasan oleh bapanya Ng Teck Sum (https://ofa.arkib.gov.my/ofa/digital/asset/650962|“PETITION FOR THE RELEASE OF HIS SON NG LOH KONG DETAINED AT PUDU GAOL”]]).

• 05/07/1948: Koh Peng Choi s/o Koh Ah Kai: petisyen permohonan pelepasan hukuman oleh isterinya Boh Ah Kam ("PETITION FOR REMISSION OF SENTENCE PASSED ON PRISONER KOH PENG CHOI S/O KOH AH KAI N.A. 134/47 OF PUDU PRISON.").

• 22/07/1948: Hashim bin Samsudin: permohonan pemindahan dari penjara Singapura ("TRANSFER OF PRISONER HASHIM BIN SAMSUDIN FROM SINGAPORE TO PUDU GAOL.").

• 13/08/1948: Wong Ah Cheong dan Chong Ah Sooi: permohonan pemindahan dari penjara Taiping ("TRANSFER OF PRISONERS WONG AH CHEONG AND CHONG AH SOOI FROM TAIPING GAOL TO PUDU GAOL").

• 19/08/1948: Chen Swee Nyong: permohonan lawatan saudara kandungnya Chen Yong Kiew: “INFORMATION REGARDING AN APPLICATION FROM CHEN VONG KIEW TO VISIT HER BROTHER WHO HAD BEEN CONVICTED TO 10 YEARS OF CONFINEMENT AT THE PUDU PRISON AS WELL AS THE PERMISSION FOR HIS MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER TO VISIT THE BROTHER.” ("APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HER BROTHER CHEN SWEE NGONG AT PUDU GAOL").

• 27/08/1948: Tan Fong Piaw (Menurut rekod, ditangkap di Batu Arang pada 12/08/1948. Kemungkinan Tan Hong Pee yang ditangkap di Setapak): permohonan lawatan isterinya Lee Ah Eng (gagal dikesan): “INQUIRY FROM MRS. LEE AH ENG FOR THE INFORMATION ON HER HUSBAND BEING KEPT AFTER HIS ARREST, AND SHOULD SHE BE GIVEN THE PERMISSION TO VISIT HER HUSBAND.” ("APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HER HUSBAND TAN FONG PIAW AT PUDU GAOL").

• 30/08/1948: Cheng Ngan: permohonan lawatan ibubapanya, Cheng San dan Chop Miew Kee: “INFORMATION ON CHENG SAN'S APPLICATION TO VISIT HIS SON WHO WAS ARRESTED IN JULY 1947 AND THEN UNDERGOING IMPRISONMENT AT THE PUDU JAIL, TO THE COMMISSIONER OF PRISONS FOR HIS CONSIDERATION.” ("APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HIS SON CHENG NGAN AT PUDU GAOL").

• 05/10/1948: Chong Tong Chun: permohonan lawatan isteri keduanya, Pn. Wong Ah Sim. Tidak diluluskan oleh kerana terlalu kerap (juga khuatir ia mencetus rasa cemburu!): “THE KUALA LUMPUR SUPERINTENDENT OF PRISONS REJECTED THE APPLICATION RECEIVED FROM MRS WONG AH SIM OF 18 SULTAN STREET, KLANG TO SEE HER HUSBAND AT PUDU JAIL, KUALA LUMPUR ONCE A WEEK.” ("APPLICATION FROM MR F.H. WILLIAMS ON BEHALF OF MRS WONG AH SIM FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HER HUSBAND CHONG TONG CHUN AT PUDU GAOL.").

• 15/10/1948: Yuen Hee: permohonan lawatan bapanya Yen Fah (https://ofa.arkib.gov.my/ofa/digital/asset/650368|“APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT HIS SON YUEN HEE, PRISONER AT PUDU GAOL”]]).

Selain petikan dan sumber yang dinyatakan, rencana ini telah diusahakan oleh TMK Pulasan, di bawah kelolaan Syahrul Sazli Shaharir <sazli@pulasan.my>. Pengakuan penting: Kami bukan ahli sejarah! Sila klik di sini untuk penjelasan lanjut.