Based on Datuk Hashim Bin Sam Abdul Latiff's article, early settlements in Kampar relate to the historic event of the murder of the
British Resident in Perak,
J.W.W Birch, as Ngah Jabor who was one of the early settlers in Kampar was amongst those connected to murder, together with the others who include
Maharaja Lela, Datuk Sagor, Si Putum and others. However, Ngah Jabor escaped sentence when
Raja Idris Shah, who later became
Sultan of Perak in 1887 presided over the case involving those accused of Birch's murder in 1876.
Raja Idris Shah and Ngah Jabor have family ties and share milk mothers since as an infant, Raja Idris Shah was taken care of by Ngah Jabor's mother, which is common amongst royal families to send their children to other families, particularly amongst the aristocrats, to feed. There is a possibility that between the years 1876 to 1886, Ngah Jabor went into hiding to equip him with spiritual skills and reappeared in public with a new identity as Mohamad Jabor. It is possible that during his hiding, he had opened a new settlement in Kampar to elude the British. Kampar had its share of war during the
Japanese Occupation between 1941 and 1945. From December 30, 1941 to 2 January 1942 the
Battle of Kampar occurred. An estimated 3000
British soldiers defended the Kampar area against over 6000
Japanese soldiers. The British Army inflicted serious casualties on the Japanese and only retreated when their flank and rear was threatened by Japanese seaborne landings on the coast south of their position. This battle was documented by the famous Kampar historian, Chye Kooi Loong. (See link below) File:Kampar clock tower.jpg|thumb|Independence Clock Tower in Kampar
Origin of name One plausible theory is that Kampar is named after the
Kampar River (north of the current township). The river itself got its name from ethnic
Malay immigrants from the
Kampar Regency in
Riau Province,
Sumatra,
Indonesia, who used the river to navigate upstream and the main source of ancestry of the local
Malay populace. This predates the large-scale mining of tin in Kampar, so it is likely that the
Cantonese words "kam pou" were derived from the word Kampar, rather than the other way around. Curiously, Kampar Regency in
Sumatra was where the 1st
Sultan of Perak (
Sultan Mudzaffar Shah) was based before becoming
Sultan of Perak in
Perak (his highness was a son of the last
Sultan of Malacca). The local Chinese community had the impression it came from the
Cantonese word
kam pou as it means "precious gold" (referring to the town's previously large tin reserves, because of the Chinese people also speak in Cantonese only, although there are two dialect groups of the local
Chinese populace dominating this town, notably the main
Cantonese majority along with the
Hakkas, which constitute the two largest ethnicities of the local Chinese population).
Aston Settlement Aston Settlement was a planned community composed of wooden houses in the northern suburbs of Kampar town. It was developed between 1935 and 1938, to "alleviate overcrowding" in Kampar's central business district. It was spearheaded, and named after,
Arthur Vincent Aston, who became the first postwar
British Adviser for Perak (1946–48) after the post of
British Resident was abolished in 1945. Though not related, Aston Settlement bears a resemblance to the post-war
New Villages established in the 1950s. ==Demographics==