Sungai Siput (U) (Malay for 'snail river') is a town andmukim inKuala Kangsar District,Perak,Malaysia, covering 155,141 hectares, 61.5% of the total area of Kuala Kangsar. Sungai Siput falls under the management of theKuala Kangsar Municipal Council.
The earliest settlement in Sungai Siput was situated at Pelang, about 2 kilometres from the current town. The settlement was populated by villagers ofMinangkabau origins who had earlier settled inSayong. The settlers were from the family of Malik and the son Tuyub, which family tomb is still visible from the roadside situated in the estate in front of the Rimba Panjang new village. One of the descendants was the late Imam Jusuh, one of the firstimams of the Alghufraniah Sungai Siput Mosque and the town councillor. Sister Enson was a well-known traditional healer. One of the surviving siblings is Associate Professor Suhaimi Bin Saidin, a lecturer atUniversiti Sultan Azlan Shah inKuala Kangsar. With the arrival of British planters and tin miners in the early 1850s the focus of activity moved to the present Sungai Siput town.
Sungai Siput is notable for the incident that triggered the start of theMalayan Emergency. The Malayan colonial administration declared astate of emergency on 16 June 1948 after members of theCommunist Party of Malaya killed three European plantation managers at a plantation office twenty miles east of Sungai Siput town. The CPM was subsequently banned in July. ManySingaporean historians andanti-communists allege thatChin Peng ordered the killings. Chin Peng claims he had no prior knowledge. In fact, he says he was so unprepared for the start of hostility that he barely escaped arrest, losing his passport in the process, and lost touch with the party for a couple of days.[1]
Li Weilun, anEsperanto professor at theBeijing Language and Culture University, was born in Sungai Siput in 1936.[2]
Sungai Siput is one of the most ethnically balanced areas in the Malaysia. The ethnic breakdown shows that the three major races are almost equal in size. Non-Malays make up more than 70% of the population. Notably, Sungai Siput has one of the highest Indian percentages in Malaysia, well over 30% in 2020.
| Ethnic groups in Sungai Siput , 2020 census | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Population | Percentage |
| Chinese | 16,590 | 34.48% |
| Bumiputera | 15,615 | 32.45% |
| Indian | 14,436 | 30.0% |
| Others | 93 | 0.19% |
| Non-citizens | 1,378 | 2.88% |
| Total | 48,112 | 100% |
Sungai Siput is governed by Pejabat Daerah Dan Tanah Sungai Siput. In 2010, Sungai Siput had an estimated population density of 49,000 inhabitants. The district's population in 2010 was Malay & other indigenous (Bumiputera) 15,745 (33.1%), Chinese 18,255 (38.4%), Indians 13,439 (28.3%) and other groups 113.[3]
The Sungai Siput parliamentary seat has consistently voted forAlliance and laterBarisan Nasional candidates since independence. However, in the2008 Malaysian general election was won Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, aParti Sosialis Malaysia member who contested under thePeople's Justice Party (PKR) ticket in thePakatan Rakyat coalition. DrMichael Jeyakumar Devaraj defeated the previous incumbent, Dato SeriSamy Vellu, who had held the seat since 1974. The seat was successfully defended byKesavan Subramaniam (PKR) in the2018 Malaysian general election. As of 2022, there were 72,452 voters in Sungai Siput. Most of the voters in Sungai Siput are Chinese, followed by Malays, Indians and others.
Mahatma Gandhi Kalasalai Tamil School is the biggestTamil school in the state with over 1,000 students. The school's construction was commissioned by TunV. T. Sambanthan in 1954 and was officially opened byVijaya Lakshmi Pandit, formerIndian Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru's sister.[citation needed]
Nia samideano naskiĝis en 1936 en Malajzio, en la urbo Sungai Sipud.
4°49′12″N101°4′12″E / 4.82000°N 101.07000°E /4.82000; 101.07000
