Batu Gajah

Batu Gajah (population 34,000) is a town located in the state of Perak in Malaysia, about 24 km from Ipoh, the Perak state capital.

Origins and History

The name "Batu Gajah", which literally means "elephant stone" in the Malay language, is presumably derived from 2 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 villager's sugar cane crops. Famous for its tin mining long before the Independence Day of Malaya, 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 population of Indians and Punjabis who built one of the oldest Sikh temples in Perak.

Batu Gajah had an established pre-war [British] English [school] , which was renamed Sultan Yussuf School (SYS) after the war. The current Sultan of Perak is a former student 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, the school has produced many successful students.

Features

Batu Gajah is a very quiet town, ideal for pensioners and young families. The attractions here include two golf courses - Royal Golf Club and ClearWater Sanctuary Golf Course, and nearby pre-independence castle built by a Scottish rubber plantation owner, Sir William Kellie - Kellie's Castle. There are also 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, and Pizza Hut had opened up branches in the town.

Development

In recent years, Batu Gajah has seen a lot of improvement. Recently, a new beautiful post office has been built and the scenery around Batu Gajah has been greatly improved. MDKB has greatly enhance the scenery of this town by planting trees, applying a new paint job and keeping this town clean on a continual basis.

In 2007, Batu Gajah got a new operational railway station. Located near Kampung Pisang at the Southerly end of town, it replaces the old station at Jalan Pusing which is being planned into a museum.

In addition, the Malaysian railroad operator, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), is currently constructing a new central workshop within the vicinity of Batu Gajah to replace its existing facility in Sentul. Located near the new railway station, the centre will house repair workshops, training facilities and staff quarters. The center is scheduled for completion in August 2009 at a projected cost of RM$ 430 million. [ [http://www.ktmb.com.my Keretapi Tanah Melayu Infrastructure Development in Batu Gajah] ]

A new four lane highway is currently under construction that connects to the Ipoh-Lumut highway at Seputeh and ties to the North South expressway at Gopeng. The new highway will pass near the new railway station thru Bemban at the West side of town.

A new district land office is being constructed in Changkat and should be operational before the end of 2008.

Landmarks

Some heritage buildings and landmarks in Batu Gajah that are famous throughout Perak and even the whole country are:

*Kellie's Castle (an old unfinished castle built by an Scottish rubber tycoon)
*An old tin mining dredge (resembling a large 'boat')
*Sultan Yussuf School, the oldest school in Batu Gajah, established in 1907
* [http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Overseas/batugajah.html Batu Gajah Prison] , the second oldest in Malaysia after the [http://www.perak.info/Larut_Matang_Selama/Taiping_Prison.htm Taiping Prison] .
*Batu Gajah old courthouse established in 1892
*St. Joseph Catholic Church

References