
Sungai Siput (U) (
Malay for 'snail river',
Jawi: سوڠاي سيڤوت) is a town and
mukim
A mukim is a type of administrative division used in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The word ''mukim'' is a loanword in English language, English. However, it was also originally a loanword in Malay language, Malay from the Arabic word ...
in
Kuala Kangsar District,
Perak
Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, covering 155,141 hectares, 61.5% of the total area of Kuala Kangsar. Sungai Siput falls under the management of the
Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council.
History
The earliest settlement in Sungai Siput was situated at Pelang, about 2 kilometres from the current town. The settlement was populated by villagers of
Minangkabau origins who had earlier settled in
Sayong. 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 first
imams
Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, and provide relig ...
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 at
Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah in
Kuala Kangsar
Kuala Kangsar (Perak Malay: ) is the royal town of Perak, Malaysia. It is located at the downstream of Kangsar River where it joins the Perak River, approximately northwest of Ipoh, Perak's capital, and southeast of George Town, Penang, Ge ...
. 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 the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...
. The Malayan colonial administration declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
on 16 June 1948 after members of the
Communist Party of Malaya
The Malayan Communist Party (MCP), officially the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), was a Marxist–Leninist and anti-imperialist communist party which was active in British Malaya and later, the modern states of Malaysia and Singapore fro ...
killed three European plantation managers at a plantation office twenty miles east of Sungai Siput town. The CPM was subsequently banned in July. Many
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
an historians and
anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
s allege that
Chin Peng
Chin Peng (21 October 1924 – 16 September 2013), born Ong Boon Hua, was a British Malaya, Malayan Communism, communist politician, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, and revolutionary, who was the leader and commander of the Malayan Commun ...
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.
Li Weilun, an
Esperanto
Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...
professor at the
Beijing Language and Culture University
Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU; ) is a Types of universities and colleges in China, public university of linguistics in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of ...
, was born in Sungai Siput in 1936.
Demographics
In brief
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.
Politics
The Sungai Siput parliamentary seat has consistently voted for
Alliance
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
and later
Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...
candidates since independence. However, in the
2008 Malaysian general election was won Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, a
Parti Sosialis Malaysia member who contested under the
People's Justice Party (PKR) ticket in the
Pakatan Rakyat
Pakatan Rakyat (PR; ) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Par ...
coalition. Dr
Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj
Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (Tamil: மைக்கல் ஜெயகுமார்) (born 28 March 1955) is a Malaysian politician who is currently the chairperson of Socialist Party of Malaysia. He served in the Parliament of Malaysia as Me ...
defeated the previous incumbent, Dato Seri
Samy Vellu, who had held the seat since 1974. The seat was successfully defended by
Kesavan Subramaniam (PKR) in the
2018 Malaysian general election
General elections were held in Malaysia on Wednesday, 9 May 2018. At stake were all 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of parliament. The 13th Parliament was dissolved by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 7 April 2018. It would have be ...
. 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.
Education
Mahatma Gandhi Kalasalai Tamil School is the biggest
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 ...
school in the state with over 1,000 students. The school's construction was commissioned by Tun
V. T. Sambanthan in 1954 and was officially opened by
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Vijay Lakshmi Pandit (''née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician. She served as the 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman a ...
, former
Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...
's sister.
See also
*
Tamil population by cities
References
{{coord, 4, 49, 12, N, 101, 4, 12, E, type:city_region:MY_source:nlwiki, display=title
Kuala Kangsar District
Towns in Perak
Mukims of Perak