Ipoh Was Once A Kampong - Heritage Lost Is Gone Forever

The house of Dato Mohd Euosoff the 14th Dato Panglima Kinta

  Another old house was lost last week. It was old, naturally but who was its owner and its location was what made it a huge loss.

The house in Taman Istana. On right is Kinta Riverfront Hotel

 The house was located in Jalan Istana, Taman Istana immediately behind the State Secretariat. It was a wooden house painted in black and white with the garden being overgrown. It was surrounded by modern brick homes, the gargantuan State Secretariat and the Kinta Riverfront Hotel nearby. Despite its age it blended in nicely.

 Each time as I passed this road I would look out to see if it was still around. Imagine my horror when I saw an excavator on its bare garden.

The house of Dato Mohd Euosoff' taken with the caretaker. It blended in with the  modern houses

The house belonged to the 14th Dato Panglima Kinta, Dato Mohd Euosoff bin Mohd Yusof (1897-1957). He was married to Toh Puan Ann binti Jeragan Abdul Shukor his second marriage after the death of his 1st wife. In all probability that was the reason the area was named Taman Istana. 

Taman Istana was originally known as Kampung Pisang. In fact it was one of 16 or more kampongs in Ipoh.  Its borders would have been between Wisma Taiko and St Michael’s Institution on Jalan S.P. Seenivasagam (formerly Clayton Road), Jalan Panglima Garang till Medan Istana and the Kinta River.

 

St Michaels Institution started in 1912 housed  in a Malay bungalow at Kampong Pisang

St.Michaels Institution started in 1912 when Fr. Copin persuaded the LaSalle Brothers to purchase ‘a piece of land along Clayton Road, Kampong Pisang.

 “The first day of school at St. Michaels began on a rainy morning of 4^th December 1912 with groups of boys in twos and threes coming through a coconut plantation, the ground still soggy from last night’s downpour, to run up the steps of a Malay bungalow"

Ipoh at the beginning of the 20^th century was very much a kampong. Picture the Kinta River with clear flowing water and lots of coconut trees on either side of its banks and wooden kampong houses nestled within. 

A bungalow across the river at Kg Jawa..year 1980's

 On the opposite bank of Kg Pisang was Kg Java with equally impressive kampong homes. 

The kampongs around Ipoh in the 1930's. From the notes of Fazil Shuhaimi Talib

But alas nothing remains of the kampongs that used make up Ipoh such as Kg Pisang, Kg Jawa, Kg Dato Laxamana,  Kg Masjid Lama and even Kg Paloh except for the idyllic remains of Kg Kuchai and maybe Kg Kepayang further north of the Kinta River.

 As for Kg Kuchai once the ownership issues are resolved it will go the way of progress and development then Kg Ipoh will be totally lost for good.

 

Heritage Lost is Gone Forever

Well at least some of us will have a memory but it will be a matter of time when all will be forgotten.

 JAG