Kuala Krai (alternative spelling: Kuala Kerai, Jawi: كوالا كراي) is a town located in the coterminous
Kuala Krai District
Kuala Krai District is a district (jajahan) in Kelantan, Malaysia. Historically, it was known as ''Kuala Lebir''.
Background
The Kuala Krai district is a landlocked district in the centre of the State of Kelantan in northeastern Malaysia. T ...
in southern-central
Kelantan
Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode").
Kelantan is located in the ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. During British protection it was known as ''Kuala Lebir''. It is 67 km from state capital
Kota Bharu and 273 km from national capital
Kuala Lumpur
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. The altitude is 53 metres (177 ft) above sea level here.
Population
History
The history of the town of Kuala Krai started with the building of the
East Coast Railway in the 1920s. Before that, the only settlement of any significance in the area was called Batu Mengkebang. The area was remote and travel was by river: there was a weekly service from Kota Baru to Batu Mengkebang via
Pasir Mas
Pasir Mas (Jawi: ڤاسير مس, Kelantanese: ''Pasey Mah'') is a town in Pasir Mas District, in north-western Kelantan, Malaysia.
Pasir Mas is Kelantan's second largest city by population (230,424 in 2020 census).
History
According to legend ...
and
Tanah Merah, run by Duff Development River Steamers under contract to the Kelantan Government.
The opening of the railway line made a significant difference to the remote interior of the state of Kelantan. River traffic downstream from Kuala Krai was soon completely replaced by rail travel, and the railway became very popular with what was still quite a large planting fraternity in the interior of the state. The town grew as a centre of trade and supplies for the surrounding area.
More recently, road traffic past the town has significantly increased with the proximity of
Federal Route 8 which opens a direct road link between Kota Bharu and the Malaysian capital,
Kuala Lumpur
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. The suburb of Guchil has developed along this road to take advantage of the increased traffic.
Some important events in the history of the town:
* 1917 Kuala Krai hospital was opened
* 1926 (December) The ''great flood'', the worst flood in the history of the town, which affected both Kelantan and the neighbouring states of
Terengganu
Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...
and
Perak
Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
* 1930 (19 June) Visit of Sir
Cecil Clementi
Sir Cecil Clementi (; 1 September 1875 – 5 April 1947) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong from 1925 to 1930, and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements from 1930 to 1934.
Early lif ...
, Governor of the
Straits Settlements
The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...
and High Commissioner for Malaya 1930-1934,
after which he travelled on the newly constructed railway to
Pahang
Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...
* 1941 The
Japanese invasion force landed at Kota Bharu on 8 December and allied troops retreated; 2nd Lieutenant Butters and his section of
Mahrattas
The Maratha caste is composed of 96 Marathi clans originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the peasant (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), pastoral (Gavli), blacksmith (Lohar), carpenter (Sutar), Bhandari, ...
were left behind in Kuala Kerai with a battalion of the
Royal Malay Regiment
The Royal Malay Regiment ( ms, Rejimen Askar Melayu DiRaja; Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the premier unit of the Malaysian Army's two infantry regiments. At its largest, the Malay Regiment comprised 27 battalions. At present, three battalions are par ...
; before leaving the town they attempted to impede Japanese progress using explosives to prevent the railway line being used by the advancing Japanese
* 1945 Immediately after the war ended, Kuala Krai was controlled by the
communists for about six months before the arrival of allied forces
* 1946 Serious flooding affected the town
* 1961 Opening of the Mini Zoo
* 1967 (26 Nov) Severe flooding: the water level of the Kelantan River rose to , which is above the normal level
Large areas of the town were flooded up to first floor level.
* 1967 (Dec) forced landing of an M.S.A. plane at Kuala Kerai which nearly had fatal consequences to the passengers
* 2013 Record Setting Flood affected the town.
Infrastructure
Transport
Kuala Krai has excellent transport links. The
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
operated by
Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) is on the
East Coast Line which runs from
Tumpat and
Wakaf Bharu (close to Kota Bharu) right through the interior parts of Kelantan and
Pahang
Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...
to
Gemas
Gemas (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Gomeh'') is a small town and a mukim in Tampin District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, near the Negeri Sembilan-Johor state border. It is situated 101 km northeast of Seremban, the state capital city, and 30 km nor ...
on the west of the peninsula, where it joins the
West Coast Line from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
to
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
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, coordinates =
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. The town has good road links, with
Federal Route 8 passing close to the town. It is also located on the western bank of the
Kelantan River, along which there are regular boat services up-river from the town.
General Hospital
''Hospital Kuala Krai (HKK)'' opened in 1917, built on a small hill close to the town. Also known as ''Hospikrai'', it serves a population of 200,000 in the southern part of Kelantan, and has 120 beds and 218 staff.
The hospital has resident specialists in
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
&
Gynecology
Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
,
Pediatrics
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...
,
Surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...
,
Anesthesiology
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...
,
Pathology
Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...
and
Medical; there are visiting specialists from Kota Bharu for work in
Psychiatric,
Dermatology
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...
,
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...
,
Orthopedic and
ENT
Ents are a species of beings in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth who closely resemble trees; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Their name is derived from an Old English word for giant.
The Ents appear in ''The Lord of ...
.
Museum and Mini Zoo
Kuala Krai Mini Zoo
is managed by the District Council and open to the public. It is home to a variety of animals, including a male elephant called "Salleh",
monkeys, bears, deer and various birds. The site extends to about , and also includes a Mini Museum displaying photographs and documents relating to the history of Kuala Krai, as well as a number of preserved animals. The mini zoo was opened in 1961 and is the only zoo to specialise exclusively in animals from the Malaysian jungle.
Public Library
There is a small public library in the town which, as well as giving access to its collection of books, affords public access to the internet for a small charge.
Kuala Krai Steps (formerly the Bradley Steps)
Eighty-one concrete steps leading down from the town to the river bank and boat jetty were constructed sometime between 1927 and 1929, and were named the ''Bradley Steps'' after a Mr. Gerald Bradley who was the energetic District Officer of the interior of Kelantan at the time. They have recently been renamed the ''Kuala Krai Steps''.
Just upstream from the town is the confluence of the Lebir and Galas rivers to become the Kelantan river, and it became clear that an elevated river level at the Bradley Steps was a good predictor of imminent flooding in the cultivated and populated river basin further downstream (i.e.
Kota Bharu). Consequently, stick gauges were placed by the steps so that the river level could be read and monitored by the local police, who transmitted the rainfall and water level information via VHF sets to the Flood Warning and Relief Committee in Kota Bharu.
The ''Kelantan Department of Drainage and Irrigation'' has since replaced the stick gauges with metric plates. This facilitates the prediction of flood levels and lead-times in villages all the way from Kuala Krai to the river estuary.
[ ] The steps, and the floodwater level, can be seen on the Kuala Kra
Flood Webcam
Education
There are a number of schools and colleges in the town, including:
* SMU (Arab) Rahmaniah, Padang Sembilan Kuala Krai
*SMK Sultan Yahya Petra
*SMK Sultan Yahya Petra 2
*SK Banggol Guchil
*SMK Kuala Krai
*MRSM Kuala Krai
*SM Teknik Kuala Krai
*SMK Bandar Kuala Krai
*SK Bandar Kuala Krai
*RISDA College
*SMK Pahi
*SM Laloh
*Open University Malaysia (OUM)
*SJK(C) Yuk Chai
Shopping
*Econjaya
*Pantai Timor Shopping Centre
*Jaya Gading
*Pasaraya PKT
Other
*Batu Jong Training Camp, a
Malaysian National Service, national service training camp, opened in January 2005
*Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik), a pleasant public space in the town
*Lata Rek, Known to be a hydroelectric dam, is also a popular spot with a nice waterfall and recreational area and homestay
References
{{Local governments in Malaysia
Kuala Krai District
Towns in Kelantan