PETALING JAYA: Kampar was once a town defined by its exodus.
After the 1985 tin crash, the mines shut and businesses dried up. Families moved out. Those who stayed behind saw it grow quieter each year.
Few expected the town to turn around. It did so, however, with the construction of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
Then MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was instrumental in pushing for Kampar to host its main campus.
Former UTAR president Tan Sri Prof Chuah Hean Teik said Dr Ling was closely involved, from getting funding to making sure the university was not built in isolation but connected to the town around it.
Today, UTAR operates campuses in Kampar and Sungai Long, boasting a graduate population exceeding 90,000. Its Kampar campus sits on a 1,300-acre site that has since grown into Bandar Baru Kampar.
But in the early days, not everyone was convinced.
Tan Sri Hew See Tong, a local boy who later became the Kampar MP for three terms (1995–2008), believed the town needed both political backing and long-term plans to drive the economy.
His son, UTAR council member Hew Fen Yee, 60, said education became that anchor.
“In 1990, my father was invited by Dr Ling to contest in Kampar. He lost by just over 300 votes. He was disappointed, but he didn’t give up,” he said.
See Tong made another bid in 1995 and won. When UTAR plans moved ahead, he worked with state leaders and former secretary general Tan Sri Ong Ka Chuan to secure land for the project.
Even then, he was clear about who made it possible.
“My father always said the real transformer of Kampar was Dr Ling. Without him pushing for UTAR to be set up here, Kampar might have been left behind,” said Fen Yee.
Dr Ling came to Kampar often despite the town having little to offer in terms of facilities.
“There was nowhere to host him and his team. Yet, they came by the busloads at times,” Fen Yee said.
“So we turned our house into a kind of hawker centre. They would visit the site in the morning, then come back for simple food like laksa and fish ball noodles. That was where they met and rested,” he said.
At the time, student numbers were small, so shopkeepers were doubtful.
But as intake grew – 2,000, then 4,000 – things started to change.
“Soon, the same shop owners were too busy to complain,” he said.
The town picked up again. Businesses reopened, and new ones came in. Families who had left began to see reasons to return.
“Back then, many children were raised by grandparents because parents had to work elsewhere. It felt like an old town.
“After UTAR, people started doing business again. Others from outside came in. It gave people a bit more confidence about the future,” he added.
Now, families can go to school and university in Kampar itself.
An important addition is the UTAR Hospital, which has opened its Traditional and Complementary Medicine wing, with a larger facility to follow.
Assoc Prof Dr Wong Wun Bin of UTAR’s Faculty of Chinese Studies said Kampar was relatively quiet when he first arrived at the campus in 2008, but steady growth in student enrolment “brought new life” to the town.
“Every year, the number of students increased, and their presence drove economic activity. Even bicycle shops would run out of stock.”
Wong said student numbers in Kampar eventually peaked at about 16,000, with around 10,000 at the Sungai Long campus.
“UTAR brought in people and revitalised the old town.”
