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The Abu Suradi Trail is named after Abu bin
Suradi, who in November 1899, was the first man and
the first Malay to have been issued a mining lease
at Pamah Lebar (now a popular nine-hole golf course
owned and managed by the Fraser’s Hill Development
Corporation) by the British District Officer and Land
Revenue Collector, Raub, F.W Douglas (1899-1900).
Abu bin Suradi, is believed to be a follower of Tengku
Laksamana Alang Shah from Natar, Sumatra who founded
Raub in 1882. He took up residence at a site near
the present Maybank Lodge at the tail of Ampang Road
and opened a bridle path to connect his thatched abode
(build of river sand, crushed clam shells and wild
honey) to his mining site at the present ninth fairway.
He worked on mining site for about ten years before
the Raub District Officer and Land Revenue Collector,
M.D Daly (1908-1910) cancelled the lease in 1909 to
accommodate an unusual request from a Gerald Bowen
of the Sempam Mining Company. |
| Abu’s
mining site covered an area of about six acres, stretching
from the present eight tee-box to the bank bordering
Parr Bungalow. He employed several Chinese laborers
from Tras and a few dozen Temuan youths who lived
along the Selangor River at Gerichi village, to work
on his lease. He sold the crude ore to Louis James
Fraser who lived in Tras but frequently came up to
the hill to buy tin ore and provide sundries to the
local population.
Getting onto the trail from Oleh Sayang at Ampang
Road, one will descend a gently sloping and meandering
path for about half a kilometer before coming to an
abrupt opening at Genting Road opposite the new mosque
and the Nature Education Centre. From this point,
one can continue to the Hemmant Trail.
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