It Was The Rakyat Who Decided On ‘Bulatan Dato Lau Pak Khuan

Bulatan Lau Pak Khuan located in Ipoh Garden in the vicinity of Maybank and CIMB Ipoh Garden

Late December 2024 I was alerted of a signage bearing the name Dato Seri Lau Pak Khuan being erected at his road/ circus junction of Canning Estate and Jalan Dato Lau Pak Khuan. I was glad that Council remembered him for he was a revered community leader of the early independence years.

I was determined to enquire with the council which department was responsible for this wonderful gesture. A quick check with Project Planning department drew a blank and similarly with the Special Dept and even Landscape Department. Only the mayor’s office remained and that is where I got my answer. 

Mayor Dato Rumaizi said the signage was decided at the 2019 Town Hall meeting  

According to Mayor Dato Rumaizi Baharin the decision “to construct the signage ‘Bulatan Dato Lau Pak Khuan’ was the result of a town-hall discussion in 2019. It was the participants who attended the town-hall meeting and proposed the signage. The participants decided that the council give appreciation to Dato Lau Pak Khuan and name a circus after him. Most of the circuses were named after Sultans as such we supported the motion. The majority wanted it and so it unanimously agreed”.

About Lau Pak Khuan from Wikipedia:: Lau was awarded the title Officer of the Order of the British Empire by King George V for public service. He was awarded the Datuk title in 1963 and Datuk Seri three years later by then Sultan of Perak, Sultan Idris Shah. He was the first Chinese to be conferred the Datuk Seri title. (MBI might want to consider amending the signage again). A street was named after him in Ipoh Garden, Perak. He served as President of Chinese Chamber of Commerce for 33 years, Perak Chinese Assembly Hall for a similar period, Perak Kwantung Association for 30 years and Perak Chinese Mining Association for 25 years. He was president of the associations for so many years as no one wanted to challenge him. They had such faith in him to lead the community. He died in 1971.

The Town Hall Meeting of 2019 / Ipoh the 2^nd Poorest City and Upgrading Canning

Rumaizi who became the Mayor in 2020 added that in the 2019 minutes Ipoh was ranked as the 2^nd poorest of 17 cities in Malaysia beating only Kuala Trengganu.

His 1^st priority at the time was how to eradicate poverty in Ipoh specifically ‘urban poverty’. One of the areas was to improve our services in tourism and the subsector within tourism. Another was to develop an expanded Ipoh which, besides just Old Town and New Town was to include Canning, as one area.

This would include the infrastructure at Canning which included improving the street lighting, roads and 5G which is a necessity to make tourism more viable.

Currently our ranking has improved, added Rumaizi, and our position lies in the Top 10 of twenty cities of Malaysia. We made the right decision then and it has helped Ipoh.

..the circus at sundown ....

Syabas Mayor Rumaizi!

KK