Education boosts town’s economy

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MANY saw Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) and Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman (KTAR) as agents that breathed new life into Kampar; but locals may have other thoughts on the impact that came along.

Ali Hassan Karam Din, 59, said he was pleased to see the sleepy town, which once strutted into Perak’s tin-mining hall of fame, was awake again.

“The education institutions have lifted Kampar’s economy. They are a blessing to businessmen who have struggled to make a living here,” said the general clerk from a driving school.

Modern: Utar’s library building.

A sundry shop owner, who only wished to be known as Zhen, said Kampar new town started to develop when two Taiwanese factories that produced electronic products started operating in the 1990s.

“Our business was very good at that time because the factory workers bought groceries from us,” she said, adding that foreign workers used to gather around her shop in the evening for a chat.

But the factories closed down about three years ago, she added.

Following KTAR’s foray into Kampar in 1998 and Utar in 2007, Kampar new town became a hive of activity with residential units and shoplots mushrooming overnight.

But Zhen’s sundry shop did not benefit from Kampar’s transformation into an education hub.

She said students somehow preferred to shop in supermarkets or the hypermarket.

Locksmith Chang Kooi Fai, 67, believed that Kampar folk who used to be simple in their outlook had became more business and money minded nowadays.

“People became more calculative, materialistic and realistic nowadays,” he added.

Retired restaurant waiter Gong Chi Fat, 65, who witnessed how Utar and KTAR brought the town alive, especially in terms of rapid township development, debunked Chang’s views.

“We should give credit where credit is due,” he opined.

Shoe shop owner Lew Kiew, 44, meanwhile believed that social changes in Kampar was something natural that came with time.

She said the price hike on goods was unavoidable as cost of production had gone up.

Lew said the fact that Utar and KTAR were aimed at providing affordable higher education for the young was indeed commendable.

“We should be grateful that Kampar was chosen to house the two institutions” she said.