Teluk Intan
Teluk Intan is a town in Hilir Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the district capital, the largest town in the district and fourth largest town in the state of Perak with an estimated population of around 172,505, more than half of Hilir Perak district's total population.
In the early days, the town was known as Teluk Mak Intan, after a female Mandailing trader. It was here that the Perak rulers held court from 1528 until Kuala Kangsar became the royal town in 1877.
During the British protectorate era, the name was changed to Teluk Anson, in honour of a British officer and last lieutenant-governor of Penang, Major-General Sir Archibald Edward Harbord Anson, who drew the plan of the modern township in 1882.
In 1982 during the centenary of the town's establishment, the name was changed again to Teluk Intan by the Sultan of Perak. The Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan is one of the town attractions. The town has a number of colonial buildings and Chinese shophouses together with modern buildings, few shopping complexes and a modern cinema.
Geography
The town was founded on the river bank of the Perak River. The river forms an oxbow meander as it flows through the town, and the town is built around the oxbow. During high-tides, some parts of the town will be flooded with water even though there are watergates and banks to protect the town. Various measures taken by the government to solve the problem have seen relatively few floods in Teluk Intan nowadays. There has been speculation that the river's flow will erode the narrow neck of land in between the loops of the meander effectively turning Teluk Intan into an island.The town is on Malaysia Federal Route 58,
Perak State Route A151 and
Perak State Route A147. Both Batak Rabit and Kampung Bahagia are the largest villages in Teluk Intan.
History
The area around Teluk Intan was originally populated by refugees from the Malacca Sultanate who were part of the entourage of the Raja Muzaffar Shah, the eldest son of the last Sultan of Malacca, Sultan Mahmud Shah. Upon fleeing the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511, a new kingdom was established on the banks of the Perak River near what is now Teluk Intan, and the court remained there until its relocation to Kuala Kangsar in the northern part of the state later in the 19th century.This legacy can be seen in the choice of Teluk Intan as the location where the official residences of the Raja Muda and Raja di Hilir of Perak under the reign of Sultan Idris Shah. The town is one of four towns that play a role in Perak's complex ruler succession system. According to the system, a crown prince stayed at Teluk Intan Palace before entering the next stage of becoming Raja Bendahara. Only after becoming Raja Bendahara will he proceed to be Raja Muda and then Sultan of Perak.
This succession system was changed by the former Sultan, Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah just before he was appointed the Yang Dipertuan Agong. His son was the then Raja Muda and did not live in Teluk Intan. The former palace is located just outside the town, and has fallen into disrepair.
The town of Teluk Intan developed around a few small villages in the location, such as Durian Sebatang, Pasir Bedamar, and Batak Rabit. A plan to build a township linking the few villages was drawn up by Sir Archibald Anson during the late 19th century, and the township was named after him in 1882. Teluk Intan developed into a port, and many agricultural products and tin were exported from it. The fourth railway track in Malaya was built connecting Tapah and Teluk Intan, showing the port town's importance during the British protectorate age.
Teluk Intan was also home to the meeting between Raja Abdullah, Dato' Maharajalela and other Malay chieftains who plotted to kill J. W. W. Birch, the first British Resident of Perak. The meeting was held in Durian Sebatang. Birch was later killed in Pasir Salak while bathing in the river.
The last major engagement during the Malayan Emergency was fought in the marshes near Teluk Intan in 1958, and ended with the surrender of the local Malayan National Liberation Army forces to government forces.
By the early 1980s the town was the third largest town in Perak. Teluk Intan served as the major administrative and business settlement for smaller neighbouring towns such as Tapah, Bidor, Bagan Datuk and Hutan Melintang. Until the mid-1990s Sabak Bernam, a town in the neighbouring state of Selangor, also dependeded on Teluk Intan for most of their basic services. Even their telephone area code was registered using Perak's area code of +605 instead of +603 that is used in Selangor. Acute medical cases would be transferred to Teluk Intan Hospital as their hospital did not have the equipment or expertise.
As the Perak River became shallower each year due to upstream erosion and silt deposition near Teluk Intan, the town lost its two most important roles in Perak's economy which was being an export harbour for tin and rubber and as a petroleum distribution centre for Shell Malaysia. This is because big oil tankers and cargo ships were no longer able to sail into the town's port. By the end of the 1980s, Shell Malaysia transferred their petroleum storing facilities to the coastal town of Lumut in Manjung, located 60 km from Teluk Intan. As the economic activity declined, it also lost its railway facilities which connected the town with Tapah and the national railway network.
During the 1990s, economic activities in Teluk Intan continued to decline. This situation forced the younger generation to migrate to bigger cities such as Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Klang and Shah Alam in search of better jobs. Ironically this caused the town to suffer a shortage in labour supply especially in the agriculture sector, resulting in an increase of migrant workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh.
With the development of a new town centre along with the completion of new coastal highway from Klang to Sabak Bernam in late 1999, Teluk Intan began to enjoy a resurgence in its economic activity. In April 2004, the town was made the fourth municipality in Perak after Ipoh, Taiping and Manjung.
On 13 May 2025, nine Federal Reserve Unit officers were killed and two others were critically injured in a road crash when their truck collided with a lorry transporting gravel stones on Jalan Chikus–Sungai Lampam in Teluk Intan.
Main economic activities
The main economic activities in Teluk Intan are oil palm cultivation and palm oil production. Many plantations around Teluk Intan are owned by big corporations such as Sime Darby and United Plantations.There are some other industries in Teluk Intan including shipbuilding and the textile industry. Shopping centres, modern cinema, shops, and educational institutions also bring many people to Teluk Intan weekly. Currently, the tourism industry is also booming in this small city.
Shopping
As it is the major town in Hilir Perak, Teluk Intan's shopping centres attract shoppers from nearby smaller townships and the surrounding area. They include:- Kompleks Aik Aik, Jalan Mahkota
- Kompleks Menara Condong, Jalan Ah Cheong
- Rapid Mall , Jalan Changkat Jong
- The Store, Jalan Ah Cheong
- TF Value Mart, Jalan Maharajalela
- TF Value Mart, Jalan Sungai Manik
- Mat Frozen
Healthcare
- Teluk Intan Hospital
- Pusat Pakar Rajindar Singh
- Teluk Intan General Clinic
- Klinik Anda
- Poliklinik Dr Azhar
- Klinik Al-Amin
- Anson Bay Medical Centre
Bank
- Maybank
- CIMB
- Ambank
- OCBC
- RHB
- Bank Rakyat
- BSN
- Bank Islam
- Public Bank
- Hong Leong Bank
- Affin Bank
Places of interest
Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan
One of the town attractions is a Leaning Tower erected in 1885 by a Chinese builder, Mr. Leong Choon Cheong. It started to tilt four years after its construction finished due to an underground stream. The tower was originally used as a water tower supplying the area of the town. It had a clock at the top, which still rings every 15 minutes. The tower also served as a beacon to guide ships into Teluk Intan Port. The tower came close to being demolished when a decision by the then Lower Perak Sanitary Board passed a resolution to have it demolished in July 1941 due to the impending air raids. However, another board meeting in September 1941 reversed that decision and the tower remains standing. Currently it is a local tourist attraction, and no longer stores water. The tower is also recognised as a National Heritage through joint efforts by the National Heritage Department, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Perak State government and Teluk Intan Municipal Council. The area around the tower was paved with bricks and became a plaza. The main street at the centre of Teluk Intan, Jalan Ah Cheong, is named after Leong Choon Cheong to commemorate his contribution. This building is well known as Jam Tinggi among the locals.GPS Coordinates: 4°1.544′N, 101°1.133′E