The Origins of Tambun Town
Tambun is a small town located near Ipoh city. Tambun town possesses a unique and fascinating history and origin story!
Its early history is closely linked to the tin mining industry of the past. Not to be forgotten is the agricultural industry, specifically coffee cultivation, which was also carried out in most parts of the Kinta district. Tambun is said to have been opened in 1885 by Tok Panjang Osman, better known as Tok Norman. The Sultan of Perak at that time granted Tok Panjang Osman a plot of land to carry out tin mining activities in Ulu Kinta. The word and pronunciation for the name Tambun are said to have originated from the indigenous people living in the local area, who used it to indicate that it was a site of tin ore deposits. Because it was frequently called 'Tambun' by the indigenous people in the area, Tok Norman named the area Tambun Hulu. For your information, that area is located in Bandar Baru Putra. From that upstream location, Tok Norman expanded tin mining activities to Tambun Tengah, now known as Batu 5 Tambun, and Tambun Hilir, which is the current area of Tambun town.
At that time, the current area of Tambun town was actually known as Kampung Rotan Segar. According to a second version of the story, Tambun is said to have come into existence following tin mining activities by Toh Lembang, better known as Kulub Limbang, a mine merchant. Therefore, the area around Tambun was named Tambun, which signifies a mine merchant. The development of Tambun began in 1892 with the existence of several wooden houses, followed by the construction of a police station in 1900 and a Malay School in 1895. Since the opening of coffee plantations, the development of Tambun accelerated in the early 20th century. Coffee plantations were opened on a large scale, so much so that the hill where these plantations were located became known as Kopisan, which means 'coffee hill' in Chinese.
For the information of our loyal orangperak.com readers, these coffee plantations were relocated to the Gopeng area to allow for tin mines to be opened by Leong Fee and F.J.B. Dykes. Today, Tambun is very famous for its pomelo (limau tambun). Tambun pomelos have actually been grown here since 1880 by Tok Limbang with the help of workers from Java. The seeds for these pomelos were brought from Kuala Kangsar.
