Mural art trail crosses city - NST 16 Dec 2014

BY DIANA YEOH

IPOH: PERAK has unveiled the “Ipoh Mural Art” trail map which showcases the artworks in seven locations in the city here.

This two hour-long trail will cover places from Jalan Tun Sambanthan to Jalan Bandar Timah-Jalan Panglima-Jalan Bijeh Timah-Jalan Market and Jalan Sultan Iskandar, before ending at Jalan Masjid.

Most of the mural arts are drawn by local artists Eric Lai, Bryan Tan, Chris Chow and Mohd Najib Zainudin. Even the famed Ernest Zacharevic from Lithuania had contributed his efforts in creating a mural piece for Ipoh.

The trail is initiated by the state government and supported by the Ipoh City Council and Tourism Perak to boost the tourism in the city.

State Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi said the Ipoh Mural Art trail was the latest attraction for tourists here, as well as to promote visual arts among artists and tourists.

“Tourists can now take photographs with these murals, depicting the history of Ipoh, local cultures and popular sceneries in the city and post it on Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram.

“The mural art trail also coincides with our earlier Ipoh Heritage trail and Ipoh Food trail promotions, whereby the locations run similarly from Ipoh Railway Station to Kintafront Walk,” she said after launching the mural art lane in Jalan Masjid here on Sunday.

Nolee Ashilin said the state was looking into working with the ETS trains to arrange for tour packages which includes accommodation to bring in tourists from other states into Ipoh.

“We will also be highlighting two new trails, namely, the Mosque trail and the Cafe trail next year.

“Perak is in for an interesting time this year and in future,” she added.

Nolee Ashilin also revealed that the state government would be coming up with a Development Plan and Promotion Strategy 2016-2020 to restructure tourist attractions from Dataran Railway Station to Kinta Riverfront.

“The state government has allocated RM8.5 million for development of tourist attractions in the city next year,” she said.

Ipoh Mayor Datuk Harun Rawi said he would discuss with Tenaga Nasional Bhd to put up more lightings along areas covering the Ipoh Mural Art trail to enable tourists to view the artworks at night.

Ipoh district police chief ACP Sum Chang Keong said the police would rope in more volunteers to monitor the mural art areas.

Kuchai Art & Cultural Society chairman Eric Lai said the mural arts, drawn at Jalan Masjid, comprised artistic works by local and foreign artists who came together with a mission to produce mural arts of culture, environment, sports and popular personalities in the country.

“I have been drawing murals for the past two years here and had produced 38 murals,” said the 38-year-old art teacher.

Kay Lee, 21, from China, said she was on a student exchange programme with Universiti Malaya and she had learnt about the mural art participation from a local.

“I wanted to contribute a mural reflecting Chinese festivals at Jalan Masjid.”

Vandals paint a bad picture of murals

Aug 4, 2014 - The Star

IPOH: A large-scale project to paint 57 wall murals around here came to an abrupt halt when vandals painted graffiti on the walls.

Artist Eric Lai, 38, said he completed 33 pieces of artwork on the walls of several buildings at an alley behind Jalan Masjid and Jalan Sultan Iskandar here.

“The project was supposed to be launched in conjunction with the country’s 57th Merdeka Day,” he said.

“However, with the graffiti, I am not sure whether the artwork can be completed in time,” he added.

Lai said the graffiti was discovered on July 30 when his students went to the alley to paint images of lemang.

“And I was shocked when one of the premises owners called me to inform me about the latest graffiti,” he said, adding that the wall had been defaced with an image of a skull praying in a strange way.

“I am now worried for my safety. I am also worried for my students and family,” said Lai, who runs an art studio in Bercham.

Lai said the Ipoh City Council had approached him to carry out the project, which was initiated to “add life to the dirty looking walls” and turn it into an art lane.

“I am saddened by the irresponsible act,” he said. “I have lodged police reports as some of the logos scribbled may be seen as representing certain groups.”

The empty walls, where the remaining artwork was supposed to be done, were sprayed with vulgarities.

Several logos, probably representing underworld groups, were sprayed beside the completed artwork.

However, tourists still visited the alley and were seen taking pictures of the murals.

The paintings on the pre-war buildings depicted children playing hide-and-seek,dulang washers, a man bearing a kavadi, a wayang kulit show, a kuda kepangdancer, workers tapping rubber, a bharatanatyam dancer and a Chinese cultural dance.

One of his latest artwork was a black and white mural depicting an airplane, in memory of the 298 passengers and crew members of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

Housewife Nurul Huda Al-Hassan, 32, who lives in Kuala Lumpur, said she happened to catch the murals while passing by the street.

“I was so excited that I parked my car at once and took my three-year-old daughter to have a look at the beautiful artwork,” she said. “The murals capture the multi-racial aspects of Malaysia,” she added.

“The artwork is amazing, but I am disappointed with the graffiti by some irresponsible people,” she added.

Council corporate affairs principal assistant director Normala Latiff said: “We will investigate. The culprit can be charged under the council’s by-laws for vandalism.”

Launch of Ipoh Heritage Tour

Posted by Steven Lee, Acting Secretary, Ipoh City Watch


Dear members and friends,

Members of ICW were at the recent launch of Ipoh Heritage Tour. The Tour is a weekly free conducted walking tour of heritage sites located in the Old Town section of Ipoh. The Tour is held on every Saturday and starts at the Railway Station. The report by Ram Naidu on the launch and the first walking tour is below.

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IPOH HERITAGE TOUR

Large enthusiastic crowd waiting to start the Tour

“During the Japanese occupation a bomb exploded here shattering the windows of this church,” said our guide Peter Bucher pointing to the 100 year old Church of Saint John the Divine. This and many more grim stories were unfolded to us as we walked the heritage path down memory lane in the “Ipoh Heritage Tour” .

Some tourists took advantage of the free our

More than 150 participants from the various associations and NGO’s converged at the Ipoh Railway Station in the early hours on 07.08.10. Heart pounding Bangra drumbeat welcomed the participants, thus creating a carnival
atmosphere. The Heritage Tour was flagged off at 8.30 am by the State Exco for Tourism, Dato' Hamidah Othman. I registered my participation as an Ipoh City Watch committee member.

Ram Naidu (left) with Col (Rtd) Fathol, a well-known figure who is also the past Chairman of ICW

There are 24 heritage sites in Ipoh Old Town and many residents hardly realize the rich history behind each site. For instance, Ipoh was invaded by the Japanese on 15th December 1941. During the Japanese Occupation, Ipoh was made the capital of Perak, in place of Taiping. The Royal Ipoh Club was used by the Japanese Army as a laundry house for officers based at the nearby St Michael's Institution which became the headquarters of the Japanese Administration in Perak in March 1942. After liberation in 1945, Ipoh remained the capital of Perak.

Ready to start

Also present to kick start the tour are Bangra drummers

Ipoh City Watch should be proud of itself to use the clock tower as its logo as there is history behind this tower too. This clock tower was build in 1909 as a memorial to JWW Birch, the 1st British Resident of Perak who was assassinated in Pasir Salak in 1875. One should stop to admire the beautifully colored panels portraying famous figures from world history. You may also be surprised to note that Ipoh built the 1st multi-storey car park in the country in 1960, and that’s the DBI car park opposite old town Public Bank.

The fine weather on that day complemented the walk. The Heritage Tour walk duration took approximately 2 hours to unwind starting from Railway Station through Club Road, Clayton Road, Hale Street, Post Office Road and ended at Hugh Low Street (try figuring out the new names of these old street names).

M Gokoolaram Naidu
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Attached are photos taken during the Tour. There are photos of the Bangra drummers and the large enthusiastic crowd waiting to start the Tour. In one photo, you can find Ram on the left and Col (Rtd) Fathol, a well-known figure to many of us being a past Chairman of ICW, on the right. All of us should take part in one of the walks to find out more of the history of this city that we live in.