Batu Gajah

Batu Gajah

Batu Gajah (population 34,000) is a municipality in Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the capital of Kinta District.

Etymology[]

The name Batu Gajah ('batu' is stone and 'gajah' is elephant in the Malay language), is presumably derived from two large boulders that resembled elephants found along the Kinta River. Folklore claims that huge elephant figures were made of stones to scare away the elephants that destroyed the villagers' sugar cane crops.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

Famous for its tin mining long before the Independence Day of Malaya,^[1] Batu Gajah had been an ideal place for Chinese immigrants to stay and work during those years. This contributes to a significant percentage of Chinese in the population of Batu Gajah today. The Indian Settlement village at Changkat has a large Indian population of Tamils and also small minority of Punjabis who built one of the oldest Sikh temples in Perak.^{[citation needed]}

Batu Gajah had an established pre-war British English school, which was renamed Sultan Yussuf School (SYS) after the war. The Sultan of Perak DYMM Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah Ibni Almarhum Sultan Yussuf Izzuddin Shah Ghafarullahu-lah is an alumnus of this school. Formerly known as the Government English School (GES), it was founded by Mr. Malai Perumal Pillay in 1907. The school was built from the rubble of an old jail. Over the years, it has produced many successful students.

Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Resort Clubhouse

Batu Gajah since lies on the bank of Sungai Kinta, a little downstream from the major confluence of Sungai Raya. It started out as one of the many villages of mukim Sungai Terap, developed under its titular chief, the Sri Amar DiRaja, the early 19th century.

Features[]

The attractions here include two golf courses, Kinta Golf Club and Clearwater Sanctuary Golf Course, and nearby pre-independence castle built by a Scottish rubber plantation owner, Sir William Kellie Smith: Kellie's Castle.

There are many hawker stalls and restaurants serving food such as noodles, laksa, and Indian-Muslim mee goreng and mee rebus. Youths spend time at cybercafés and around the local supermarket. In recent years, Western style food franchises such as 7-Eleven, KFC, Marry Brown, OldTown White Coffee and Pizza Hut opened branches in the town. A supermarket named TF has opened and is in business.

Development[]

In recent years, Batu Gajah has seen a lot of improvement. In September 2012, Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd., one of the major electric locomotive manufacturers in China, agreed to build a rolling-stock factory in Batu Gajah.^[2]

Transport[]

Batu Gajah railway station

In 2007, Batu Gajah received a new Batu Gajah railway station. Near Kampung Pisang at the southern end of town, it replaced the old station at Jalan Pusing which is being turned into a museum and then foodstalls.

In addition, the Malaysian railroad operator, Keretapi Tanah Melayu, is constructing a new central workshop in the vicinity of Batu Gajah to replace its facility in Sentul. Located near the new railway station, the centre will house repair workshops, training facilities and staff quarters. The center was scheduled for completion in August 2009 at a projected cost of RM 430 million.^[3]

A new four-lane highway connects to the Ipoh-Lumut Highway at Seputeh and ties to the North–South Expressway at Gopeng. The highway passes near the new railway station through Bemban at the West side of town.

Education[]

Primary schools[]

SK Sultan Yussuf
SK St Bernadette's Convent
SK Toh Indera Wangsa Ahmad
SK Pusing
SK Tanjung Tualang
SK Seri Jaya
SK Bakap
SJK(T)Changkat
SJK(T)Ladang Kinta Valley
SJK(C)Yuk Kwan
SJK(C)Thung Hon
SJK(C)Bemban
SJK(C)Bandar Seri Botani

Secondary schools[]

SMK Sultan Yussuf^[4]
SMK St Bernadette's Convent^[5]
SMK Toh Indera Wangsa Ahmad
SMK Dato' Bendahara CM Yusuf
SMK Pusing
SMK Tronoh

Notable people[]

David Fasken (1932–2006), English cricketer and businessman^[6]
Des Lock (born 1949), New Zealand Olympic rower, was born in Batu Gajah^[7]
Amy Mastura, a pop artist and actress, was born in Batu Gajah
Yuna, a musician, who has been popular after her single hit song was born in Batu Gajah. Her grandparent live in Kampung Sungai Terap, Batu Gajah.
David Tibet, a British poet, singer (Current 93), outsider artist, and painter was born in Batu Gajah
Dato' Dr Afifi al-Akiti, the first Malay to hold a chair at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford was born in Batu Gajah
Raja Zarith Sofia, Permaisuri of Johor and also Perak royal family member was born in Batu Gajah Hospital
Sultan Azlan Shah, 34th Sultan of Perak was born in Batu Gajah

Landmarks[]

Kellie Castle

Some heritage buildings and landmarks in Batu Gajah that are famous throughout Perak:

Kellie's Castle (an old unfinished castle built by a Scottish rubber tycoon)
Sri Maha Mariamman Hindu Temple of Kinta Kellas Estate
Tanjung Tualang Tin Dredge No. 5
Sultan Yussuf School or SMK Sultan Yussuf, the oldest school in Batu Gajah, established in 1907
Batu Gajah Prison, the second oldest in Malaysia after the Taiping Prison.
Batu Gajah old courthouse established in 1892^{[citation needed]}
St. Joseph Catholic Church
Kinta Golf Course
Batu Gajah Hospital
God's Little Acre: A cemetery for the British pioneers, military servicemen, policemen, tin miners, planters and civilians named after the memorial cross erected by the Perak Planter's Association and others to commemorate their lives in fighting the Communist Insurgency 1949–1960.^[8]