A quiet fishing village like this is not a common image that most Malaysians have of Perak, but the state government aims to change this with its efforts to revive the tourism industry in the state. - Picture by Choo Choy May
IPOH, Feb 15 — Every Chinese New Year, the Plus tolled expressway records a 20 per cent increase in traffic volume entering the state capital of Ipoh from the south, or nearly 6,000 vehicles more than the daily 28,000.
The surge in volume in the south is also repeated in the northern entrance and the trunk roads, explaining the bumper-to-bumper crawl at the toll exits and in the city centre itself during the festive season.
It also means a lot more people are in Ipoh, returning to their hometown to celebrate the lunar new year with their family and to catch up with friends who have also returned or stayed back to make their fortune.
What about the other towns in Perak then? More importantly, what does this indicate?
The whopping figures show that Perak, once a vibrant tin-rich state where the first car in the country was registered, is still suffering from a major brain drain and has lost its human capital to other states in Malaysia.
Figures from the state Statistics Department show that among all 13 states in the country, Perak, despite being the second largest state in Peninsular Malaysia, suffers from the lowest population growth rate of just 1.8 percent from 2008 to last year.
It shares that position with Negeri Sembilan, which however has a population size of less than half of Perak’s 2.4 million people. Surprisingly, the states of Kedah and Terengganu have the highest growth rate at 2.4 per cent.
Perak state executive councillor Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon told The Malaysian Insider that the state government is aware of the difficult task to turn the bleak situation around.
“We know of all this, that we have been losing out to the other states. It is not easy to retain the people here – many of them leave in search of better opportunities elsewhere. The problem here is that the outside pull factor from other states are too strong so we need to tackle that,” the first-term assemblyman said.
Dr Mah expressed confidence that the Barisan Nasional administration is already on the right track and was capable enough to achieve its goals, saying it is just a matter of time before the people will begin to see the changes in Perak and reap the fruits of their labour.
“We have been working since we took on government in February last year and we have drawn up a comprehensive plan on how to revive the state,” he said.
Dr Mah pointed out that many acclaimed universities and colleges have set up campuses in Perak in recent years, including institutions like Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Teknologi Petronas and others.
“We also have other universities to be set up soon, like the defence university in Segari and then we have the Perak Medical College and many others.
“Through these educational centres, we can generate the human capital and skilled labour. The next step is to retain these talents and convince them to stay,” he added.
To do that, Dr Mah said the state government needs to create more job opportunities and boost its service sector.
“Attracting more foreign investments is one way to go. Like we announced recently that Perak has managed to attract a total of RM11.6bil in investments for the whole of last year.
“However, we also need to look at the kind of job opportunities that these investments can create – we need to increase the demand for professionals and talented youths and not just for manual labour,” he added.
Dr Mah stressed that Perak’s strong points lies in its agricultural, manufacturing, foundry and tourism sectors and there was a need for people to capitalise on them.
“We have so many tourism products that I feel have yet to be tapped into so what we are doing now is to revive our state tourism council so that we can create better packages to attract more tourists into Perak.
“Many people do not even know about the kind of products that we have – the Lost World of Tambun, the Royal Belum State Park, white water rafting in Gopeng, the Rajah Brooke Birdwing butterfly sanctuary, the Sam Poh Tong temple... there are so many places,” he said.
Dr Mah also noted that food tourism iss one of Perak’s strong points that needs to be capitalised.
“Now, many tourists just stop over here to eat our good food and then leave. We need to package our tourism products in such a way that can make them to stay not only for the food,” he said.
In the agricultural sector, Dr Mah pointed out that Perak was the country’s biggest exporters of ducks and one of the largest pig breeders.
“This is a multimillion ringgit industry that we are talking about. The potential is great,” he said.
He revealed that the state government was now working to find ways to legalise all farmers in the state as well as those working in the cottage industries without permits.
“Why not legalise these people so they can help us to facilitate this development. Look at our shoemakers. We have over 500 of them in Menglembu and Lahat alone and these shoemakers make high-quality shoes for famous brands like Primavera and Bonia for example,” he said.
Dr Mah disclosed that the state government under Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir is looking to stimulate the economy further by improving its connectivity.
“We were talking about increasing our population density for the purpose of further development. However, to facilitate this density, we will need connectivity. To do this, we have to improve our public transportation system,” he said.
He said that apart from the new Meru Raya bus terminal, the state government also planned to redevelop the old and dilapidated Medan Kidd bus station to create “Ipoh Sentral”, similar to KL Sentral that will function as a seamless, integrated public transportation hub for Perak.
“All the transport services will merge in this hub – the double tracking railway line, the bus services for intercity and intracity travels and then the taxi services.”
Dr Mah added that to add even more value to the project, the state government could create a tourist square or plaza near the proposed hub.
“We have the Majestic Hotel at the old train station, the High Court complex and the town hall in the surrounding areas and these are all heritage sites.
“We could put up monuments depicting the history if Ipoh and allow vendors to set up stalls,” he said.
But Dr Mah admitted that Ipoh, once popularly known for its dodgy massage parlours and spa services that sprouted at the height of the tin boom, is lacking in entertainment outlets such as shopping malls, bars and clubs
“It is true that we need these outlets to draw in more youths and expand our expatriate population.
He however noted that the state government will not close its doors to entrepreneurs who are willing to open up such outlets in the city, provided that no hanky-panky is involved and all strict procedures were followed.
“Why not, if they are sincere and they can help the state government, I think it is good to encourage businessmen to open up these entertainment outlets,” he said.
He believed that the current and future proposals show that Perak is on the right path to development which has seen Ipoh expand to include new commercial area such as Greentown and Ipoh Garden East.
“I am proud to say that over the past few years, not a single hotel has shut down. In fact, more hotel outlets, inns and budget motels have been set up.
This tells you that people are coming back here these days. We just need to get them to stay,” he said.
For now, the traffic congestion in Ipoh and other towns only happens during the lunar new year but Dr Mah is confident proper planning will eliminate such congestion and attract more to return to Perak and Ipoh, the city that tin built.
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