Kampar, Perak

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Kampar (Chinese:金宝）is a town in the state of Perak, Malaysia. Founded in 1887, the town lies within the Kinta Valley and located in the newly-created Kampar District, an area rich with tin reserves. It was a tin mining town which boomed during the height of the tin mining industry. There were many tin mines on the outskirts of Kampar during the height of the mining boom. Most of them were established in the late 19th century, flourished in the 1900s, only to stagnate and decline after World War I, with the exception of an exhilarating boom in the 1920s. Most have closed down following the collapse of the industry.

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[edit] Geography

Kampar is situated in the Kinta Valley, which was well-known for its high tin ore reserves. Many KLites spend their weekends here. Its vast surroundings as well as abandoned mining-ponds are suitable for fishing.

Kampar town can be broadly divided between the 'old town' and 'new town' areas. The old town consists of two main streets of charming pre-war shophouses, the fronts of which are still mostly in its original unrenovated appearance. Commerce in the old town area mainly consists of coffee shops, goldsmiths and local retailers. The new town area mainly consists of new residential developments and some commerce servicing the burgeoning education industry in Kampar. As of 21 May 2009 the Sultan of Perak declared Kampar the state's 10th district.

[edit] History

Based on Datuk Hashim Bin Sam Abdul Latiff's article, early settlements in Kampar relate to the historic event of the murder of the British Resident in Perak, JWW Birch, as Ngah Jabor who was one of the early settlers in Kampar was amongst those connected to murder, together with the others who include Maharaja Lela, Datuk Sagor, Si Putum and others. However, Ngah Jabor escaped sentence when Raja Idris (Dris), who later became Sultan of Perak in 1887 presided over the case involving those accused of Birch's murder in 1876.

Raja Idris and Ngah Johor have family ties and share milk mothers since as an infant, Raja Idris was taken care of by Ngah Jabor’s mother, which is common amongst royal families to send their children to other families, particularly amongst the aristocrats, to feed.

There is a possibility that between the years 1876 to 1886, Ngah Jabor went into hiding to equip him with spiritual skills and reappeared in public with a new identity as Mohamad Jabor. It is possible that during his hiding, he had opened a new settlement in Kampar to elude the British.[1]

Kampar had its share of war during the Japanese Occupation between 1941 and 1945. From December 30, 1941 to 2 January 1942 the Battle of Kampar occurred. An estimated 3000 British soldiers defended the Kampar area against over 6000 Japanese soldiers. The British Army inflicted serious casualties on the Japanese and only retreated when their flank and rear was threatened by Japanese seaborne landings on the coast south of their position. This battle was documented by the famous Kampar historian, Chye Kooi Loong. (See link below)

Kampar Independence Clock Tower

[edit] Origin of name

One plausible theory is that Kampar is named after the Kampar River (north of the current township). The river itself got its name from immigrants from the Kampar Regency in Riau Province, in Sumatra, who used the river to navigate upstream. This predates the large-scale mining of tin in Kampar, so it is likely that the Cantonese words "kam pou" were derived from the word Kampar, rather than the other way around. Curiously, Kampar Regency in Sumatra was where the 1st Sultan of Perak (Sultan Mudzaffar Shah) was based before becoming Sultan of Perak in Perak (his highness was a son of the last Sultan of Malacca).

The local Chinese community had the impression it came from the Cantonese word kam pou as it means "precious gold" (referring to the town's previously large tin reserves). This is misleading as they were not aware of the history of the area and its historic relation to Kampar (Riau) as stated in the paragraph above.

[edit] Transportation

Kampar express buses which have direct buses to Butterworth, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are located in the town area. The Kampar local town bus stop which serves Ipoh, Teluk Intan, Tapah, Malim Nawar and other areas in the vicinity is located within walking distance of less than 100 meters from the express bus stop. UTAR and TAR college buses are also available for pickup service for their students around the vicinity.

Bus company from Pudu Sentral, Kuala Lumpur with direct bus from Kuala Lumpur to Kampar are Edaran, Super Ria, Konsortium and Parit Express. Bus tickets are around RM15.10. The ride takes about two and half hours.

Taxis are available around the local town bus stop.

The Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) has previously introduced a shuttle train between Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur Sentral. It would take two and half hours.

[edit] Ammenties

Grand Kampar Hotel front view

[edit] Demographics

Kampar has a population of around 67,000 over a land mass of 39,000 hectares [2]. The majority of the town's population is of Chinese descent. Other races such as Malays and Indians make up the rest of Kampar's population. The town also has a sizable Punjabi community. There is a large student population with the TAR college and TAR university operating in new town.

[edit] Economy

In the 19th and most of 20th century, the economy of Kampar revolved around tin-mining. However, many tin-mining companies were forced out of business during the economic recession in the 1980s. Nevertheless, the town's economy recovered slowly by the end of 1980s.

Since the completion of the North-South Expressway, Kampar's status as a bustling town has declined rapidly. Travellers stopped frequenting the town as they chose the more convenient highway. The nearest exit from highway is in Gopeng and Tapah, which is pretty inconvenient for travellers.

At present, the commercial and industrial sectors are main driving forces of Kampar's economy. More recently, its economy is further driven by the construction of the new Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) campus. Besides that, a Tesco Hypermarket is being built (opens on 13 August 2008) nearby UTAR area.

Apart from that, Kampar is well known for its freshwater fishing spots as most of the its surrounding covered by old man made lakes; centuries old abandoned tin mine which turned into natural lakes. Tilapia, Pangasius, Kaloi, Tutu, Tongsan, Catfish, and many kinds of freshwater fish flourish abundantly in these lakes. Much of the lakes are also converted into fish farm, duck farm or other horticulture produce. Some are even converted into recreational area for the public. Currently available supermarkets in Kampar are Minat Supermarket and Target Supermarket. Located witin 300 meter of each other. It is near the bus stop. Besides, these supermarkets daily consumables can be obtain conveniently from the many Chinese retail shops located all over Kampar. Some are as good as small scale supermarket with modern shop design.

Major banks are available such as Maybank, CIMB, Public Bank, AmBank, Agro Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, RHB.

[edit] Education

Kampar is a centre of tertiary education with a campus of Tunku Abdul Rahman College and a new campus of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Kampar is also served by various primary and secondary schools. With an estimated combined capacity of more than 20,000 students, these two institutions are touted to be the two instruments that will restore the town to its former glory. Other private institution of higher learning are Kolej Menara Jaya and Kolej Sri Ayu.

Overview of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

Notable government schools around are:

  • SMK Methodist ACS Kampar

  • SMJK (C) Pei Yuan

  • Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

[edit] Notable residents

[edit] Politics

(P70) Kampar is a Parliament seat under the Election Commission of Malaysia. Under this parliament seat, there are 3 state seats namely (N40) Malim Nawar, (N41) Keranji and (N42) Tualang Sekah.

The parliament seat is a traditional fight between the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Barisan Nasional (represented by Malaysian Chinese Association, MCA). The current member of parliament is Lee Chee Leong from Barisan Nasional. In the last election he won with the statistics of


Parliament seat (P70)

  • Total Voter  : 59,784
  • Spoilt vote  : 1,048
  • Total ballot paper issue : 38,953
  • Unreturned ballot paper  : 350
  • Percentage vote  : 65.16%
  • Majority  : 2,697


State seat (N40)

  • Total Voter  : 23,276
  • Spoilt vote  : 364
  • Total ballot paper issue : 14,647
  • Unreturned ballot paper  : 43
  • Percentage vote  : 62.93%
  • Majority  : 1,362


State seat (N41)

  • 1. CHEN FOOK CHYE (DAP): 8,459
  • 2. CHONG MUN WAH (BN)  : 4,024
  • Total Voter  : 19,857
  • Spoilt vote  : 212
  • Total ballot paper issue : 12,738
  • Unreturned ballot paper  : 43
  • Percentage vote  : 64.15%
  • Majority  : 4,435


State seat (N42)

  • 1. NOLEE ASHILIN BINTI MOHAMMED RADZI (BN) : 6,366
  • 2. NADARAJAH A/L MANIKAM (PKR)  : 4,797
  • Total Voter  : 16,651
  • Spoilt vote  : 361
  • Total ballot paper issue : 11,578
  • Unreturned ballot paper  : 54
  • Percentage vote  : 69.53%
  • Majority  : 1,569

[edit] Food

Kampar is famous for its food. For example, fish ball noodles, chicken biscuit, claypot rice, prawn mee, rice noodles ("Lai Fun" in Cantonese), char kuay teow, wan tan mee, lor mai fan (glutinous rice), and ham kok chai. Two types of food that made their way out of Kampar town itself and is synonymous with Kampar are chicken biscuit and fishball noodle. The Kampar chicken biscuit is famous that it has spawn a whole series of 'chicken biscuit' producers.

Other local cuisine includes the chee cheong fun, where curry is often the preferred condiment. Chee Cheong Fun is a noodle made from rice flour which is steamed into sheets and chopped up into noodle like slivers. In Kampar it is frequently served with 2 types of tofu, along with assorted fish balls or pig skin in curry. Chee cheong fun is commonly eaten for breakfast or supper where a couple of stores are set up at the local market.

Kampar is also credited for the invention of `chicken in a bread'[citation needed]. `Min pau kai', literally `chicken bread' in Cantonese, is so sought after by tourists.

  • Kampar chee cheongfun

  • Kampar curry chicken bread

  • Deep-fried fishball

[edit] Pictures of Kampar, Perak

  • The man runs a bicycle repair shop in Kampar Old Town

  • The busy morning market in Kampar old town

  • The busy morning market in Kampar old town

  • Kampar old town

  • Homeless man

  • Homeless man

  • Woman

  • Waterfall

[edit] References

  1. ^ Based on historical book under title "Buku Orang Biasa Diraja, Hayat dan Zaman Imam Perang Jabor (1858-1921)" – wrote by Hashim Sam. These book is produce by Malaysia Historical Association and the copies have been translated to English version by National Library of Malaysia under the title of "The Royal Commener; The Life and Times of Imam Perang Jabor, (1858-1921)"

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Coordinates: 4°18′N 101°09′E / 4.3°N 101.15°E / 4.3; 101.15

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