Even though you are from Ipoh, I bet you don't know all about Ipoh, especially when it comes to little facts.
Yea, it's not necessary for you to know this before you visit Ipoh. But, it's still worth to get to know more about Ipoh.
Especially the history of Ipoh, I've got feedbacks from my friends that don't know about this at all. They feel great to know about it from this website. And, I'm glad for that. So, I hope you enjoy too.
Here we go...
This is the Perak state flag, which divided into three horizontal bands of equal size.
The upper band in white stands for Sultan, the center band in yellow stands for Raja Muda and the lower band in black stands for Raja DiHilir.
The throne is shared in rotation amongst these three branches of the royal family.
The Perak emblem is a combination of the crest, the crescent and the rice flower.
The crest worn by the Ruler on his tengkolok symbolizes his sovereignty.
The crescent stands for Islam, the official religion.
The rice flower stands for paddy-planting, the prime occupation of the people.
Lastly, the emblem in yellow color is the color of the royal family.
Ipoh is named after a local tree known as "pokok Ipoh" (Ipoh tree) that can be found abundantly around Ipoh some time ago. Its tree sap is poisonous and therefore is used by the "orang asli" (native) on their blow darts as weapon.
There was also an old nickname for Ipoh, which is "City of Millionaires". This is because Ipoh is located in the rich tin-bearing valley of the Kinta River.
Vast fortunes were made in this mining town, especially in 1920s and 1930s. My grandfather, uncle and my father were into this tin mining business too.
In the late 1970s, tin trade had ended as a result of the collapse of tin prices. Since then, Ipoh's growth had slowed down but it keeps moving on and bustles with activity from education to social to commerce and construction.
Finally, in May 27th 1988, Ipoh was awarded city status. It's the third place awarded city status after Kuala Lumpur and Penang. As the hub for the Perak state, Ipoh's citizens' lifestyle remains calm and steady despite the rapid growth of their surroundings.
State capital of Perak
Latitude 4.60°N, Longitude 101.07°N; approximately 200km (125 miles) to the north of Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia)
137.5 square kilometer
Zambry Abdul Kadir
637,200 (2004) and urban are population of 798,800 (2004); approximately 69% are of Chinese descent
Cantonese (mainly - many Indians and Malays speak Cantonese fluently too); Malay; English; Mandarin; Tamil; Hakka; Hokkien; TeoChew
Dato Michelle Yeoh