Chemor

Chemor is a main town in Kinta district Perak, Malaysia. Nearby towns include Sungai Siput, Salak and Kuala Kangsar. Lafarge Malayan Cement has a big limestone quarry near Chemor. Chemor is also means "Mud" in Indian Sanskrit Language, while in the Chinese phonetics it means "Jewel". About 12 km to the north of Chemor is a small town named Sungai Siput. 16 km south of Chemor is Ipoh city.

Chemor is a multiracial small town which was once famous for tapioca plantations. Many of these planters are Hakkas. In the 1980s, Chemor boasted of being the biggest tapioca producing town in the world.

In the late 1980s, the tapioca plantations gradually disappeared as heavy industrialization took place. "Silicon Valley" was the nickname given to Ipoh by early 1990s and the main income was from electronic industry. The bulk of the investment were mostly from Taiwanese entrepreneurs taking advantage of the lower cost structures as well as abundance of skilled labors.

Chemor town remains the same as it was from 1974 until around 2007. The main difference is there are many housing areas around here. Most of the youth during the downfall of the silicon industries in 1996 moved to bigger cities since all the silicon factories were closed down due to currency depreciation during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.

After the downfall of the electronic industry, the majority of people worked elsewhere. Chemor was notorious for a large number of illegal workers working in New York's and San Francisco's Chinatown, having gone there on the pretext of 'tour' but not making the return trip. The locals affectionately called this practice "jumping the plane".

Rubber plantations were the second primary investment which started in 1970s and suspended in 1991. The reduction in the rubber market made a great impact on the rubber tappers and income was reduced heavily. Most of the rubber trees were chopped down and were used for carpentry works.

Chemor lies on the west coast railway line, but the 1896 station is not in use and is likely to be demolished (2011).

External links

Coordinates: 4°43′N 101°07′E / 4.717°N 101.117°E / 4.717; 101.117