The town was a booming tin mining town more than a century ago, bustling with activity. However now it’s a quiet town with a small population littered with abandoned pre-war shop houses.
Papan originally was known as a lumber town, hence the name ‘papan’ which means plank in Malay. In 1977 an attempt was made to revive the town by building a new town called Papan Baru. However with the tin prices dropping severely in the 1980s the town never fully recovered.
Netizens mentioned they did not know the town even existed, and they’re Malaysians. Many queried on why this is not in our local history textbooks. Another mentioned that we can revive this town as a touristic area as it would be a shame to see it in such disarray.
