The Batu Pahat District is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It lies southeast of Muar, southwest of Kluang, northwest of Pontian, south of Segamat and Tangkak District. The capital of the district is Bandar Penggaram.
Geography
The capital of the district Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat is located at . It is from Kuala Lumpur. The next nearest town is Muar which is northwest of Batu Pahat. The town of Kluang is located about to the northeast. Johor Bahru is located about to the southeast of the town.
The district itself borders the districts of Segamat to the north, Kluang to the east, Muar to the west and shares a border in the southeast with the district of Pontian. The coast of the Straits of Melaka lies to the south.
History
The town acquired the name Batu Pahat, which means "chiselled stone", from the quarries near the estuary.Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Website There are multiple theories as to the origin of this name. In around 1456, the Siamese army, led by Admiral Awi Di Chu, camped in Batu Pahat before attacking Malacca. Legend has it that the invading Siamese troops were chiselling rocks at a rocky spot in the coastal village of Kampung Minyak Beku, in hope to get fresh water during their retreat from the Melaka troops, led by Tun Perak, the famous Bendahara (Prime Minister) of the Malacca Sultanate. Another possible explanation for the origin of the name is the fortress ("A Famosa") built by the Portuguese after capturing Melaka, which was made from granite rocks taken from the mouth of Sungai Batu Pahat.
Renowned for its salted fish in the past, Batu Pahat was formerly known as Bandar Penggaram, which means "town of salt-makers". In 1893/1894, the present township was founded by Dato' Bentara Luar, Mohamed Salleh bin Perang, acting on the orders of the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Abu Bakar.Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia Website
Batu Pahat was the location of the headquarters for the Fiji Infantry Regiment, serving as part of the Commonwealth forces during the Malayan Emergency, from 1952 to 1956. The 1,600 strong force saw considerable action during the campaign and contributed to the securing of the area during that period.
16 October 1980 was marked as one of Batu Pahat's bloodiest day in recent history. At approximately 9:30 AM, 20 Muslim extremists led by Mohd. Nasir Ismail, stormed into the Batu Pahat Police station with machetes, slashing and injuring 23 police staff and civilians. 8 of the extremists were shot dead by the police. The motive of the attack was never fully determined.
Today, the ancient well can still be found in Minyak Beku, though little was done to maintain this ancient landmark which gives name to the town. For the town's centennial celebration in the early '90s, a quaint monument depicting a floating hand chiselling a rock was set up in the town square. It became the landmark of the town instantaneously. Currently, the newly refurbished town square is popular with locals on weekend nights and also provides as a venue for many public festive celebrations.
Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat is growing rapidly and has now developed to become the second major town in Johor state after Johor Bahru.
Subdivisions and administration
The district's 525 gazetted villages (kampung-kampung) and village-clusters (kampung rangkaian) were annexed to their bigger immediate neighbours into mukims for the purpose of administration. The villages are represented by their village heads (ketua-ketua kampung) who answer to the subdistrict chief (Penghulu) administering the mukim. The mukim itself is under the jurisdiction of the Pegawai Daerah or District Officer. The district office of Batu Pahat also has five district engineers (Jurutera Daerah) to oversee all the subdistricts.
The district (daerah) is divided into fourteen mukims, each designated with a number (Mukim 1 to 12, 17, 18): TypeUPI CodeNamePopulation(2020 Census)Area(km2)Density(km2 per person)Mukim010101Bagan8,50640.75208.8010102Chaah Bahru5,509306.217.99010103Kampung Bahru9,63667.12143.6010104Linau30,439110.2276.1010105Lubok6,89844.75154.2010106Minyak Beku19,374126.0153.8010107Peserai9,93319.00522.9010108Sri Gading89,834207.0433.9010109Sri Medan26,319248.1106.1010110Simpang Kanan182,071128.11,422010111Simpang Kiri25,505116.6218.7010112Sungai Kluang15,563103.0151.0010113Sungai Punggor10,17791.17111.6010114Tanjung Semberong38,539341.6112.8Town (Bandar)010140Ayer Hitam5250.28951,813010141Bandar Penggaram11,8373.9822,973010142Rengit4940.29391,681010143Senggarang1,9910.83132,395010144Yong Peng2,1881.0162,154 Lubok (Mukim I) established 1921 Bagan (Mukim II) established 1921 Peserai (Mukim III) established 1921 Simpang Kiri (Mukim IV) established 1925 Simpang Kanan (Mukim V) established 1927 Linau (Mukim VI) established 1935 Tanjung Semberong (Mukim VII) established 1940 Sri Gading (Mukim VIII) established 1942 Minyak Beku (Mukim IX) established 1943 Kampung Bahru (Mukim X) established 1946 Sungai Punggor (Mukim XI) established 1949 Sungai Kluang (Mukim XII) established 1952 Chaah Bahru (Mukim XVII) established 1957 Sri Medan (Mukim XVIII) established 1965
Growth in small and medium industries such as textiles, garments and electronics helped to boost development, and Batu Pahat was upgraded to town status (Majlis Perbandaran) in 2001, alongside Muar, Kluang and Skudai.
Local authorities Bandar Penggaram, Batu Pahat is administered by Batu Pahat Municipal Council which was upgraded from the previous District Council (Majlis Daerah Batu Pahat Barat) on 9 June 2001 while Yong Peng is administered by Majlis Daerah Yong Peng or Yong Peng District Council which previous named Majlis Daerah Batu Pahat Timur.
Batu Pahat Municipal Council consists of the following mukim: Sri Gading, Simpang Kanan, Minyak Beku, Kampung Bahru, Sungai Punggor, Sungai Kluang, Linau, Lubok, Bagan and Peserai while Yong Peng District Council consists of the following mukim: Tanjung Semberong, Chaah Bahru, Sri Medan, Simpang Kiri
As population in Batu Pahat District is about 495k, by merging of both councils’ income, which are Majlis Perbandaran Batu Pahat (MPBP) and Majlis Daerah Yong Peng (MDYP), Batu Pahat is potential to upgrade as Majlis Bandaraya Batu Pahat (MBBP) in the coming years.
Minimum requirement eligible for a council to upgrade as City Council (Majlis Bandaraya 市政局) are:- Population: >500k Council Income: >100 million Others: Availability of best public services (transportation, tertiary education hub, important industrial hub, etc.)
Towns Rengit Yong Peng Semerah Parit Sulong Sri Gading Parit Raja Senggarang Tongkang Pechah Sri Medan Parit Yaani
Demographics
The district of Batu Pahat has a population of about 398,014 local residents. The population growth in 2000 was 1.55%.Handbook gov.my The most populated mukim is Simpang Kanan with more than 311,862 people and the least populated is Bagan with a population of only 4,692.
The Malays are the majority (51%), while the Chinese is the largest minority (46%) and the Indian (3%).
The major religions are Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity and Hinduism.
Batu Pahat has more than four hundred Chinese temples due to the large Chinese population. Some of these temples are more than one century old and many have also become popular tourist attractions. Many devotees and tourists visited these temples and this has become an important part of the local economy. Chong Long Gong Temple (海口石文丁崇龙宫) was founded in 1864, is one of the popular tourist spot for devotees. A Chinese temple located at Bukit Pasir is the Kian Nam Shee Temple (建南寺). The Lim Sz Chong Su Tian Hou Temple (峇株吧辖林氏宗祠天后宫) was established in 1912 and is located in the downtown. There are also Buddhist temples or centres like Bhaddekaratta Hermitage (一夜贤者禅院), Bhavana Buddhist Society and Batu Pahat Insight Meditation Society.
There are two main mosques in Batu Pahat: Dato' Bentara Luar Mosque (located at Jalan Ampuan) and Sultan Ismail Mosque (located at Jalan Kluang)
Federal Parliament and State Assembly Seats
List of Batu Pahat district representatives in the Federal Parliament (Dewan Rakyat) ParliamentSeat NameMember of ParliamentPartyP147Parit Sulong Noraini AhmadBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P148Ayer Hitam Wee Ka SiongBarisan Nasional (MCA)P149Sri Gading Aminolhuda HassanPakatan Harapan (AMANAH)P150Batu Pahat Onn Abu BakarPakatan Harapan (PKR)
List of Batu Pahat district representatives in the State Legislative Assembly (Dewan Undangan Negeri) ParliamentStateSeat NameState AssemblymanPartyP147N17SemerahMohd Fared Mohd KhalidBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P147N18Sri MedanZulkarnain KamisanBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P148N19Yong PengLing Tian SoonBarisan Nasional (MCA)P148N20SemarangSamsol Bari JamaliBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P149N21Parit YaaniMohd Najib SamuriBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P149N22Parit RajaNor Rashidah RamliBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P150N23PenggaramGan Peck ChengPakatan Harapan (DAP)P150N24SenggarangMohd Yusla IsmailBarisan Nasional (UMNO)P150N25RengitMohd Puad ZarkashiBarisan Nasional (UMNO)
Election results
Due to electoral division by Election Commission of Malaysia, there are three parliamentary and state constituencies (DUN) dividing Batu Pahat town. There are (P147) Parit Sulong parliamentary seat, (N17) Semerah state seat; (P149) Parliament Sri Gading parliamentary seat, (N21) Parit Yanni state seat and (P150) Batu Pahat parliamentary seat, (N23) Penggaram state seat. (Election Results of the 13th Malaysian General Elections) The last election results listed as below:
P150 - Batu Pahat parliament seat + Parliament of Malaysia: P150 Batu Pahat, Johor.YearGovernmentVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPct2018Haji Mohd Rashid Hasnon (PH)45,92956% (BN)28,03534% (PAS)8,17310%2013Mohd Idris bin Jusi (PKR)38,66751% (UMNO)36,93549%2008 (UMNO)32,59361%Muhammad Abdullah (PKR)19,62537%2004 (UMNO)38,98278%Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (PAS)9,88020%
N23 - Penggaram state seat (Cover most of the area of Batu Pahat town) + Johor State Assembly: N23-Penggaram, Batu Pahat, Johor.YearGovernmentVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPct2022 (PH-DAP)1820853.67%Ter Hwa Kwong 戴華光 (BN-MCA)825224.32%Ronald Sia 謝委健 (PN-BERSATU)527615.55%Zahari Osman (IND)21906.46%2018 (PH)26,82564.43%Kang Beng Kuan 江明光 (BN)9,62023.10%Misran bin Samian (PAS)5,18512.47%2013 (DAP)24,27762%Dr. King Ban Siang 龚万祥 (MCA)14,22637%2008 (MCA)12,76147%Gan Peck Cheng 颜碧贞 (DAP)12,18645%2004 (MCA)16,84569%Gan Peck Cheng 颜碧贞 (DAP)6,24726%1999 (MCA) 20,809 74%Gan Peck Cheng 颜碧贞 (DAP) 7,349 26%1995 (MCA) 20,174 77%Gan Peck Cheng 颜碧贞 (DAP) 6,137 23%
P149 - Sri Gading parliamentary seat + Parliament of Malaysia: P149 Sri Gading, Batu Pahat, Johor.YearGovernmentVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPct2018Dr Shahruddin Salleh (PH)21,51149% (BN)18,22341%Haji M Ashari Sidon (PAS)4,54810%2013 (UMNO)22,45357%MOHD KHUZZAN BIN ABU BAKAR (PKR)16,69242%2008 (UMNO)19,64168%Ali Markom (PKR)8,76731%2004 (UMNO)21,51280%Dr Ahmad Faidi Saidi (PKR)5,31620%
N21 - Parit Yanni state seat (Part of the division in Batu Pahat town e.g.: Taman Maju, Taman Flora Utama, Parit Besar, BP Mall) + Parliament of Malaysia: N21 Parit Yanni, Batu Pahat, Johor.YearGovernmentVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPct2018AMINOLHUDA BIN HASSAN (PH)12,30954%Soh Lip Yan 蘇立言 (BN)7,47533%Haji Nasir (PAS)2,94313%2013AMINOLHUDA BIN HASSAN (PAS)11,27852% (MCA)10,09047%2008 (MCA)9,41961%Hashim Jusoh (PAS)5,56237%2004 (MCA)10,53576%Muhamad Yusof Masran (PKR)3,25924%
P147 - Parit Sulong parliamentary seat + Parliament of Malaysia: P147 Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat, Johor.YearGovernmentVotesPctOppositionVotesPctOppositionVotesPct2018 (BN)24,28149% Anis Afida (PH)18,14037% Ahmad Rosdi bin Bahari (PAS)7,14814%2013 (UMNO)30,25861% KHAIRUDDIN BIN A RAHIM (PAS)18,50538%2008 (UMNO)26,06666% Faisal Ali (PAS)12,46732%2004 (UMNO)26,97471% Suhaizan Kaiat (PAS)9,78824%