By Aida Aziz
TAIPING is renowned for numerous firsts in Malaysia and certainly, your school holiday and leisure time can be utilized by visiting the Taiping Telegraph Museum (MTT).
Moreover, especially coinciding with Visit Perak Year (VPY) and the celebration of Taiping’s 150th anniversary, many treasures await discovery in this city.
In the present era, the importance of gadgets and information at our fingertips is undeniable, but the current generation also needs to understand how communication in the past relied on Morse code.
According to the Deputy Chairman of the Malaya Historical Group Society (MHGSoc), Nor Hisham Zulkiflee, this museum boasts two firsts, the country’s first Telegraph Office and the first Telegraph Museum in Southeast Asia.
He explained that the museum is also capable of becoming a focal point for both domestic and international tourists.
“This museum is suitable for all layers of tourists, especially the current generation and children.
“They can learn how the world communicated in the past using only Morse code before the existence of the internet.
“Furthermore, the museum’s premises also feature interesting exhibition materials such as old public telephone booths, rubber roller crushers, and communication technology-related trees,” he said when met recently.
Here, the first replica of the undersea telegraph cable is also displayed, where the cable insulator is made from the sap of the Gutta Percha tree and plays a crucial role in transmitting telegraph messages between countries.
Nor Hisham, who also serves as the Secretary of the Perak Heritage Association, mentioned that the public can witness communication tools from past generations like telegraphs, telephones, and public phones that have been engulfed by modernization.
MTT was formerly known as the Post and Telegraph Office established since 1885.
It was the first office in Malaysia to provide telegram, telephone, postal, and banking services all in one place.
This office was also used as the Telekom Department Club Office and the Telekom Malaysia Technical Operations Office.
It is located in the center of Taiping and is at the end of the earliest railway route in Malaysia connecting Taiping and Kuala Sepetang (Port Weld).
