IT was April 9, 1998. Chuping, a small town in Perlis known for its sugar cane plantations, suddenly gained fame.
On that day, the town became the hottest spot in the country, literally, after the town’s temperature hit 40.1°C, the highest ever temperature recorded in the country.
Earlier this year, Chuping made the headlines again when it emerged as one of the coldest places in the Peninsular, with the lowest temperature ever recorded at 22.3°C.
The climate change, known as Angin Timur or the East Wind, was the result of cold dry winds from China during the northeast monsoon which caused snow to fall in northern Vietnam and the temperature in Bangkok to drop to 15°C.
Not many know that Chuping, which is located along the trunk road leading to Padang Besar, the popular Malaysia-Thai border town, was also once popular for its “elephant safari”.
Decades before sugar cane was cultivated on a large scale, the town was famous for its elephants.
At one time, there were about 30 elephants which were owned by the villagers and trained for various purposes such as for wedding parades and transportation.
Usually, the calves would be trained at the age of five at a designated training area, known as celung among the locals.
Only a handful of the elephant owners are alive to tell the tale of the pachyderms.
Wan Khazim Wan Din, 85, who once owned four elephants, said people from all walks of life, and sometimes even royalty, would come to witness the ceremony at the site, which has since become the village of Celong.
The father of three said owning elephants was the pride of the villagers in Chuping.
“It was prestigious to own elephants as each animal could fetch a price of up to RM10,000 while a Mercedes Benz car only cost about RM6,000 back then,” Khazim related, adding that the calves were caught in the jungle.
He said his father who was one of the elephant trainers, passed the skill down to him.
Unfortunately, Khazim said, the owners were forced to sell their elephants to buyers from other countries after the forest where the animals depended on for food, was cleared to make way for sugar cane plantations 30 years ago.
He sold three of his elephants to a buyer from Brunei while the other one was sold to a Thai national.
“It was a difficult decision but we had to do it.”
Khazim said according to his elders, Chuping got its name from the structure of a limestone hill in the area which resembled an earlobe (chuping in Malay). The area was then surrounded by forests and padi fields.
“Most of the people here were padi farmers back then.
“Thanks to the sugar processing factory owned by Kilang Gula Felda Perlis Sdn Bhd and the cement factory set up by Cement Industry Malaysia Berhad in Chuping as well as the rubber plantations, hundreds of villagers especially the youngsters here were able to land jobs.
“I believe the proposed development projects such as Chuping Valley, will create more job opportunities and change Chuping’s landscape,” he said.
Chuping, which is 10,830ha in size, is expected to become the new economic hub with the proposed Chuping Valley and Putra Heights projects.
The ambitious Chuping Valley project was proposed to be developed on a 1,200ha site of a former sugar cane plantation.
A staggering RM5 billion would be invested to develop the area into an industrial, trade, tourism, education and housing hub and the investment is expected to double after a few years, due to the strategic location of the site near the Malaysia-Thai border.
Meanwhile, the Putra Heights project in Kampung Kok Klang, which is expected to change the landscape of the town, is scheduled to be completed next year.
The RM600 million project will see the development of commercial buildings, hotels, a transformation centre, recreation centres and about 2,500 housing units.