Sungai Lembing
Sungai Lembing | |
|---|---|
Town | |
| Sungai Lembing Town Pekan Sungai Lembing | |
Sungai Lembing downtown | |
| Etymology: Malay: Sungai Lembing (spear river) | |
| Nickname(s): El Dorado of the East, 林明山 (Lembing Hills in Chinese) | |
Location of Sungai Lembing in Pahang | |
| Coordinates: 3°55′00.9″N 103°02′05.9″E / 3.916917°N 103.034972°E | |
| Country | Malaysia |
| State | Pahang Darul Makmur |
| District | Kuantan District |
| Founded | 1900s |
| Population (2014) | |
• Total | 5,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+08:00 (MST) |
| Postcode | 26200 |
| Telephone area code | +6-09 |
Sungai Lembing is a small town in Kuantan District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is about 42 km (26 miles) northwest of Kuantan. The town was founded in the 1900s as a tin mining community when the British company Pahang Consolidated Company Limited (PCCL) set up the tin mining industry there after mining activities had begun in 1886. Sungai Lembing had electricity, schools, a cinema, its own petrol station, and a hospital.
In 1926, flooding damaged caused mining activities to be suspended for three months. The Great Depression and the Japanese occupation of Malaya greatly affected the town's tin mining industry. Since the independence of Malaya, Sungai Lembing has gone into decline as global demand and prices of tin dropped, resulting in the closure of the mines in 1987. Many residents moved away, causing facilities such as shops and petrol stations to close.
After 2001, Sungai Lembing was revitalized as a heritage tourism attraction with the opening of Sungai Lembing Museum. Subsequent government investment has made this area one of the important tourist attractions in Pahang. In 2014, the town had a population of around 5,000. A large fire in 2019 raised concern for the preservation of historical buildings.