Perak gets new 94,000-hectare district called Mualim

TANJUNG MALIM (Jan 11): About 94,000 hectares are being carved out of the 271,200ha Batang Padang district to form the new district of Mualim in Perak.

In conjunction with his 59th birthday, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah will officially proclaim Mualim to be the 11th district in the state on Monday at the Tanjung Malim District Council.

The district is named Mualim, the Arabic word for teacher, in honour of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, a well-known teachers training centre, located there.

Batang Padang, which extends south to the Selangor border, will take the towns of Tanjung Malim, Proton City and Slim River, with the latter serving as its administrative town.

It has a population of approximately 177,000, mainly farmers and villagers spread out over six territorial subdivisions, or mukim.

Mualim has three mukim – Slim River, West Ulu Bernam and East Ulu Bernam – all south of Batang Padang.

Geographically, Batang Padang is bordered in the north by the Kinta district, to the south by the Kuala Selangor district of Selangor, to the east by the Cameron Highlands district of Pahang and to the west by Hilir Perak and parts of Perak Tengah.

Less than 1% of the total land area of Batang Padang may be considered urban. Most of the district is villages and cultivated lands and the rest, forested. It takes up almost 13% of the total land area of Perak.

Its economy is largely agriculture-based with rubber and oil palm as the main crops. -- By Jerry Francis / The Malaysian Insider