MALAYSIANS KINI The Sungai Buloh leprosy settlement has long closed its doors to new ‘residents’ who suffer from what was once believed to be an incurable disease.

Located 25.6km from Kuala Lumpur, the second largest settlement of its kind in the world was officially opened by the British colonials on Aug 16, 1930.

Its main function was to enforce a centralised forced segregation policy as outlined under the British’s Leper Enactment Act 1926.

Patients during that era were segregated and confined to numerous leprosaria (leper asylums) scattered round the country - the Sungai Buloh settlement being one of them. The oldest was located on Pulau Jerejak, Penang, in operations since 1871.

At the height of its operations, there were 2,440 residents seeking treatment from the Sungai Buloh settlement, which eventually became known as the National Leprosy Control Centre in 1969, and placed under the administration of the Health Ministry.

Today, there are only 138 survivors left in the settlement, living either in single-storey run-down brick houses, or within the confines of hospital wards.