Lahat Town - An Glimpse Of A Tin Mining Town.

Lahat Market

This is the Lahat Market, well in 2008 when it was still around. The Kinta Valley was rich and supported a multitude of people, migrants no doubt and also the local population.

Towns like Lahat grew due to the economy just as did Papan, Tronoh and even Menglembu.  Did each town have a predetermined layout such as Police Station, Post Office,  the town Market to one side  and around it the town like in Menglembu. 

Lest we forget in pre-war days there was a railway that ran from Ipoh to Tronoh before it was all carted away by the Japs for their infamous Death Railway.

Wouldn't it have been nice that had we preserved Lahat for its Cultural Heritage, part of the Kinta Valley's Tin Mining Heritage and a microcosm of the many Mining Towns?

Just take a look at the layout .....

the Police Station ..... 

good paint, everything spick and span... 

and the Post Office next door .....

well then it had shifted to Menglembu just over 2Km before Lahat....

the Police Station, Post Office then the town were on the same street

still on the same street was the Assembly Hall and 

...... the Play Ground, a full sized basketball court....Looks quaint almost like in the comic book.

a block away was this town market

possibly where they sold vegetable produce from the nearby farms

the flow was quite quaint ......

part of the market area .... 

and then back into the town ......

at the time the family that lived here who .....

very graciously allowed me to photograph their home. It was lovely house, very neat and would have been considered grand .... the tiles was a give away

in 2008 this was very well maintained ....

and even the kitchen .... well everything neat and in its place... just like the town.

This year, 2018 i went back one evening and this was what greeted me.

the Police Station was still neat well maintained...

the Post Office top suffered the fate of the elements ..

the nice family home looked fine ... 

the Assembly Hall now had a signboard calling it the 'Dewan Orang Ramai' and belonged to MBI

The basket ball court was still there but the grass needed a trim .. however a disappointing sight was the .....

MARKET ....It had been demolished and in its place was this 'enclosure' with a pink sign that said 'LAHAT' 

how disappointing .... a sad day indeed

...like I said ...very disappointing but .....

that is progress. The town has now been boxed in.... made way for development of this .... 'Waterfront City@ Lahat Mines' development ....

a huge development stretching around the Lake that was once the Lahat Mine 

Lahat looked like a 'Resettlement Village' once again. My dream of Lahat showcasing a Mining Town in the Kinta Valley disappeared with a Puff.

The End