IPOH: The Perak government will ask the Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) to check and verify whether American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart ever touched down at the Tekah Airport in Taiping.
State Housing, Local Government and Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi, said this comes in the wake of a mural of the famous pilot on the wall of a premises in Jalan Abdul Jalil in Taiping.
The mural has been questioned by social media users, with some saying that Earhart never landed in Taiping to refuel in her attempt to fly solo around the world.
Nolee Ashilin said: "Usually there is a review process. We will also request the parties concerned to provide evidence that the facts are authentic.
"Maybe there is a discrepancy in terms of opinion here. I still haven't received a response. So, we will discuss it again with the president of the MPT, but if it is true, we will make a correction there."
Nolee Ashilin said this at a press conference after launching an arts lane at Lorong Panglima, here today. Also present was Ipoh mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin.
She said so far the state government has not received any official complaints on the matter, only on social media.
"I have requested the MPT to review, but I have received no information yet. If there is a discrepancy, I will ask the MPT to correct the matter," she said.
It was previously reported that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan were said to have landed at Tekah Airport on June 7, 1937 to refuel in her ill-fated attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.
However, Earhart's notes state that she flew directly to Singapore and arrived there at 5.25pm.
Earhart and Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. The two were last seen in Lae, New Guinea, on July 2, 1937, the last land stop before Howland Island and one of their last legs of the flight.
The American aviation pioneer and writer was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and had set many other records.