Kangar (

Kedah Malay Kedah Malay or Kedahan (; also known as ''Pelat Utara'' or ''Loghat Utara'' 'Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay ( ''Phasa Malāyū Saiburī'') is a Malayic language mainly spoken in the northwestern Malaysian state ...

: ''Kangaq'') is the state capital and the largest town in

Perlis Perlis (Kedah Malay language, Kedah Malay (Perlis dialect): ''Peghelih'') is a Negeri, state of Malaysia in the northwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. The state borders the Thai ...

, Malaysia. It has a population of 48,898 and an area of 2,619.4 ha. It is located next to the Thailand border, in the northernmost point of

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

. It is situated by the Perlis River. The town is also a gathering centre for the paddy rice production of the surrounding district. Its municipal government is unified with that of the neighbouring communities of Arau and Kaki Bukit. The centre of Kangar is Sena Province. The town is the smallest state capital in Malaysia and its inhabitants are mostly farmers and civil servants. Its industries include cement, saw milling, rubber, paper, and processing of sugar and prawns.

History

Kangar existed from about 350 years ago, that is since 1653 when Kota Sena was built as the administrative centre for the 14th

Sultan of Kedah The Kedah Sultanate () is a Muslim dynasty located in the Malay Peninsula. It was originally an independent state, but became a British protectorate in 1909. Its monarchy was abolished after it was added to the Malayan Union but was restored ...

, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansor Shah. Kangar was then a land port or ''pengkalan'' where boats and tongkangs anchor at the confluence of Perlis River, which runs through Kangar town to

Kuala Perlis Kuala Perlis ( Kedah Malay: ) is a suburb of Kangar and the second-largest town in and the main port of Perlis in Malaysia. It is in extreme northwest Peninsular Malaysia, near the border with Thailand. The older part of town has houses and mosq ...

. The name ''Kangar'' was derived from a type of tree. It was here at the port that trading was done, under a big tree that gave shade and respite to the traders. This tree that became a "witness" to many business deals was called ''Pohon Kangar''. Every trader and merchant who came and went to this place began calling it the ''Pohon Kangar'' Port, in honour of the tree.

Demographics

The majority of Kangar's population speaks Perlis Malay which is a sub-dialect of Kedah Malay but also has its own unique features compared to those of neighbouring Kedah. The

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, the second largest community in Kangar are primarily

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

speaking, with the language serving as the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

of the city's Chinese population. In addition, significant knowledge of

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and English is also present amongst them. Other languages spoken in Kangar includes

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, Telugu,

Malayali The Malayali people (; also spelt Malayalee and sometimes known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its south ...

as well as Punjabi and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

among the Kangar Indian population and Southern Thai by the Kedah-Siamese community.

Places of interest

Downtown Kangar is a mixture of old and new shophouses, and has an elegant colonial State Secretariat Building and clocktower from the 1930s. Other major landmarks are: * PKENPS Tower @ K-PARC Kangar, the tallest building in Perlis * Dato' Wan Ahmad's House * Kubu Hill Recreational Park * Malay World Weaponry Museum * Medan Mountain * Perlis Craft Cultural Complex * State Museum and Heritage Hall * Alwi Mosque, the former state mosque built in 1910 * Tuanku Syed Putra Stadium * Gua Kelam, a cave in Kaki Bukit * Snake Farm of Sungai Batu Pahat * Bukit Ayer Recreational Park * Wang Kelian - Next to Thai border * Padang Besar Shopping Arcade - Duty Free Zone * Royal Palace of Arau * Fish Grill Food Court,

* Mini Putrajaya - State Assembly Building * Gua Cenderawasih Park - Look out point * Perlis State Library (), main public library of the State of Perlis and the headquarters of the Perlis Public Library Corporation (, abbreviated as PPANP).

Notable natives

* Queenzy Cheng

References

External links

Municipal Council of Kangar
{{coord, 6, 26, N, 100, 12, E, type:city, display=title Northern Corridor Economic Region State capitals in Malaysia