Malim Nawar chimney

Malim Nawar is a small town in the Kampar district of Perak. There is an interesting chimney in the small kampung called Kpg Tanjong Bangkong. My friend Law Siak Hong showed me the chimney and according to him the chimney was built by the Japanese as a carbide factory, which was actually a cover for an arms manufacturing place. But the project was never completed. Apart from the chimney, the only other remains are the unfinished walls of the factory. A local lady said the chimney has been there around 60 years.

In 2010 the chimney was shown on Astro TV, on the History channel, in a series called Hidden Cities.The presenter, Anthony Morse, went to see the chimney. He was told the chimney was used by the Japanese to manufacture carbide for bombs. The heat from the fire melted the carbide - this is technically incorrect. There was a Japanese arms factory. The Japs lived in a building by the river, it was on 2 levels and had reinforced concrete. It was 30 x 40 m and was probably the Japanese Imperial Forces HQ, from which they could monitor the tin mines.

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UPDATE 2014

Ipoh World blog had an interesting piece about this Japanese carbide factory, posted on 13 June.

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© Liz Price
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