The silver state has made commendable progress this year
Source of long-term income: MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek handing over an allocation of RM600,000 to Chinese Independent schools in Ipoh this year. — filepic
A LOOK back at 2012 in the silver state offers the best moments for nine independent Chinese schools as they moved towards having a regular source of long-term income.
The schools would be jointly getting an average of RM3.6mil a year for the next 30 years beginning this year from an oil palm joint-venture project.
The state government has also generously donated 1,011.7 hectares of land with a 99-year lease to the nine schools for the project.
Great loss: Family members and relatives paying their last respect to the late Chong. — filepic
Fortune also smiled on ornamental fish breeders in Gopeng as they woke up one day to good news almost 30 years in the making.
Having toiled on land there without proper documents and the danger of eviction staring at them, some 375 farmers, including 163 ornamental fish breeders, obtained the green light to lease a combined land area of 521ha in Teja from state government-linked companies.
On June 30, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) declared Lenggong Valley in Hulu Perak, where the Perak Man was discovered in a cave, as a world heritage site.
The timing could not have been better, halfway through Visit Perak Year 2012, during which more than six million tourists would have visited the Land of Grace.
That's it: Hew showing a replica of a tin mine on display at the Kinta Tin Mining Museum in Bandar Baru Kampar. — filepic
The year also saw Perak folk, as with the rest of the country, divided over the Automated Enforcement System (AES) cameras, which came into force in September.
The cameras were installed in seven spots in Perak under Phase 1 and those who opposed it did not hide their feelings when at least four AES cameras were vandalised.
All four cameras, however, have since been repaired and are functioning again.
World heritage site: Participants of the Perak Heritage Society's Lenggong Valley Trail admiring the cave where the skeleton of the famous Perak Man was found in Gua Gunung Runtoh, in Lenggong, about 100km from Ipoh. — filepic
On a sombre note, folks of Perak also paid their last respects to Perak Chinese Assembly Hall president Tan Sri Chong Chin Shoong, who passed away at the age of 75 in November due to fungal infection in his blood.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir described his passing as a great loss to the Perak Chinese community.
A notable figure in the Chinese community, Chong left behind RM1mil to needy Chinese students in the country, a fitting legacy of his lifelong devotion to help the poor further their education.
Good news: Ornamental fish dealer Lee Ah Let netting Chinese New Year's favourite Oranda goldfish from his pond. — filepic
Earlier in March, forces of nature wreaked havoc as massive flashfloods hit Gugusan Manjoi, causing some 500 people to flee their homes on Feb 20.
At least another 100 households in surrounding neighbourhoods including Kampung Mat Said Tambahan 3, Taman Muhibbah, Lim Garden, Taman Suria and Taman Merdeka were also affected.
Floods also brought destruction to Kuala Dipang folks in April, forcing 1,140 people from seven villages out of their homes and destroying their belongings.
A brick house next to Sungai Dipang, which caused the flood, remains derelict to this day as a mute testimony of the fury that unleashed when the river broke its banks.
The riverbank has since been repaired and life returned to normal, as with the rest of the world, which have outlived the doomsday scenarios associated with the end of the Mayan calendar on Dec 21.
At the end of October, the Kinta Tin Mining (Gravel Pump) Museum in Bandar Baru Kampar in Kampar opened its doors to the public.
The RM2mil museum is the brainchild of former tin miner Tan Sri Hew See Tong, who banked on his four decades of experience in the industry (1949-1989) to come up with the idea of the museum, the first of its kind in the country.
Visitors are greeted with replicas of dulang washers hard at work in a man-made lake and heavy machinery-like gravel pumps upon their arrival.
-The Star-
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