The Japanese Carbide Factory
Deep inside Kampung Tanjung Bangkung (Malim Nawar) was once a Japanese Carbide Factory. The picture above is that of the former guard house. It is said that the factory was part of a complex that manufactured armaments for the Japanese – which were then sent to Burma. All that remains of this factory now is the above guard post and one of the two chimneys (see pictures below).
The chimney is around 6m (at the base) and 3m (top), with 4 arches: of these, 2 are at the bottom for fire (note picture on the right) while the other 2 above are closed to form the kiln. We were told that after the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the communists supporters went to town defacing the Japanese artifacts – they even stole some of the building material for themselves.
We thank one of our friends – Harchand Singh Bedi – for taking us to this place. Incidentally, this former factory was featured in ASTRO’s History Channel (in the episode “Hidden Cities in Malaysia”) back in 2010.