Wanted: New Image of Ipoh

By Victor Chew

Friday August 1, 2008

I READ with interest the news that Ipoh may appoint a Deputy Mayor. Here we go again; political interest is being placed ahead of the needs of the people.

Ipoh does not need another office-bearer. It needs a new image. It does not need to be another Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, George Town or Kuantan. We do not want and cannot hope for rapid economic development within the city limits.

As a resident here for over 50 years, I want Ipoh to project an image that other cities in Malaysia and maybe even in Asia cannot duplicate.

This will put us in a unique position to compete with other cities by being successful yet not following the pathway set by economically industrialised cities.

If one takes a good look at Ipoh, one will realise that it has great intrinsic beauty.

It is surrounded by highlands and dotted with amazing limestone hills filled with caves, tunnels, subterranean caverns, underground rivers, mining pools, streams, rivers, hot springs, equatorial forests boasting flora and fauna that can equal any national park in the world.

It is time the authorities clean up our city which used to be the cleanest in Malaysia. The first and most important step that must be taken is to move polluting industries out of the city limits.

I want Ipoh to have air that everyone in the world will envy. After all, many entrepreneurs have already written off Ipoh as having potential for industrial growth. So why try to compete with industrialised cities?

We may as well aim for something unique.

Have only clean industries in Ipoh.

Remove every industry that emits smoke and air pollutants.

Clean industries are factories using electrical power, especially those using hydroelectric power, that Ipoh has from nearby sources like those generated in Temenggor and Hulu Perak.

If this is not enough, we have other untapped hydroelectric power sources just outside our city.

Another source of clean electricity is wind-generated. Ipoh being in a valley gets lots of wind blowing up and down the mountainsides.

The large population of Ipoh can also be tapped to produce products at home.

Outsourcing of piece work to housewives is the surest way of sending money to homes so that housewives can shop at the shopping complexes.

To keep the city clean, reduce the number of vehicles using the roads.

We should embark on a clean public transport system, using electric light railway transport or trams and convert all buses and taxis into either electrical, or liquid gas engine ones.

We have beautiful rivers running through this city, so clean them up, increase the volume of water in them and use them for water sports and transportation.

Once we achieve the cleanest air status, tourists and expatriates will come automatically.

Then we go to the next step – develop our medical tourism business.

With clean air, Ipoh should attract private hospitals to set up here to give medical care to foreigners.

Also with a large elderly population of local pensioners and expatriates who retire here, this business will be very lucrative.

We can make Ipoh the centre for healthcare and recuperation.