Batu Gajah (population 133,422) is the seat of Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. It is administered by the Batu Gajah District Council (Malay: Majlis Daerah Batu Gajah), formerly known as Kinta West District Council (Malay: Majlis Daerah Kinta Barat).
Etymology
The name Batu Gajah in Malay means "elephant rock", it is presumably derived from two large boulders (batu, 'stone') that resembled elephants (gajah, 'elephant') 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.[2]
History
Famous for its tinmining long before the Independence Day of Malaya,[3] 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 (the name was changed to Kampung Baru Desa Changkat) at Changkat has a large Indian population of Tamils and also a small minority of Punjabis who built a Sikh temple which becomes the pride of the residents and a landmark in the village today.[4]
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 opened branches in the town. A supermarket 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.[5]
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 railway 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.[6]
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.
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.[14]
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