Kuala Krai District is a district in Kelantan, Malaysia. Historically, it was known as Kuala Lebir.
Background
The district is a landlocked district in the centre of the State of Kelantan in the north east of Malaysia. The land is hilly, and before the 20th century the entire area was tropical rain forest. The territory contains the confluence of two major rivers, the Lebir and Galas, to form the Kelantan River, which then flows some 70 km northwards through one of the most densely populated flood plains on the Malay Peninsula to its estuary in the South China Sea near the State capital of Kota Bharu. As transport links improved during the 20th century, people moved into the area to take advantage of the abundant land available for farming. A railway was constructed in the 1920s through the undeveloped interior of Malaysia to link Kelantan State with the main centres of population on the west coast. This line ran through Kuala Krai territory, and settlements became established along its route. Road links followed, and towns and villages grew to cater for the mainly agricultural population. Rubber production was increasingly important throughout Malaysia, and many rubber-tree plantations were set up in this area. Later, the country-wide shift to oil palm in the 1970s and 1980s saw the establishment of oil palm plantations in the territory, some of which replaced rubber. Kuala Krai was originally part of Ulu Kelantan until it was split out following a re-delineation in 1974. Kuala Krai formally gained its own district and municipal administration in 1977. Infrastructure developed to support the population and by the end of the 20th century Kuala Krai town had become a busy thriving town, and the administrative centre for the territory.
Demographics
Kuala Krai District has an area of 2329 km² and comprises three subdistricts :
Mohd Khairul Anuar also known as Lan Cairo, who is a Nurse. He was born in Kuala Krai on Dragon Years 27 May 1988. He is very good personal rapport with international people as well as a representative of Malays to the worlds.
DatukRafiah Salim, is the first female Vice-Chancellor in Malaysia, posted to Universiti Malaya.
T. Wignesan, writer, was born in Kuala Krai in the early 1930s
Terence Fernandez, a Journalist and current deputy editor special reports & investigations of The Sun Newspaper. He was kidnapped in Iraq in 2003 but survived and currently writes a column in The Sun every Tuesday and Thursday, frequently writing on corruption and mismanagement of funds by politicians. He grew up in Kuala Krai and spent his entire childhood and teenage years there.
Muhammad Shahrol Nizam, centerback for UPNM F.C. on 3 September 2019.
Politics
Kuala Krai is represented in the Malaysian Parliament by Dr. Mohd Hatta Ramli from Amanah. He was previously from PAS, which he left in 2015 and became a founding member of Amanah. The parliamentary seat of Kuala Krai is divided into four state seats:
