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Ahmad Noor Abdul Shukor (Halaloedin Hamzah) & Friends
This photograph shows Ahmad Noor Shukor and his friends in Ipoh.
Ahmad Noor, whose real name was Halaloedin Hamzah, was a Mandailing from the Dutch East Indies. During his early careers, he free-lanced for Kompas. He fled and sought refuge in Malaya, when the Dutch authorities cracked down on railway strikers in 1929, in which he was involved, and staged a mass arrest. He changed his name to Ahmad Noor Abdul Shukor, and had a short stint with Saudara in Penang.
In July 1931, he became the editor of Sinar Malaya, the first periodical in Perak to use Romanized Malay instead of Jawi. He also ran a tailors shop at Lam Looking Bazaar, which was built for Towkay Lam Look Ing and housed the Celestial hotel and Dance Hall on the upper floors. He called his tailors shop 'Bilik Biru' (blue room), and it was in business from 1931 to 1937. Then, he published the short-lived Warta Perak in 1937, before joining Abdul Rahman in Warta Kinta in 1940.
He was arrested by the British on the eve of Japanese invasion to Malaya in 1941, and thrown into Changi prison. He was released when Japanese captured Singapore in 1942, and he joined the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) led by Ibrahim Yaacob.
From Singapore, Ahmad Noor returned to Perak and rejoined his family who had been under the protection of the Penghulu of Gunong Mesah.
To read more about the construction and subsequent uses of the Lam Looking Building, click here.
To read more about Towkay Lam Look Ing, click here.
To read more about the book ‘Kinta Valley’, click here.