Batu Pahat (town)

Batu Pahat landmarks in Dataran Penggaram at Jalan Rahmat.

The name Batu Pahat means "chiselled rock" in Malay. The origin of this name can be traced back to a local lore in the 1546, when the invading Siamese troops led by Admiral Awi Di Chu were chiselling rocks at a rocky spot in the coastal village of Kampung Minyak Beku, in hope of getting fresh water during their siege on the Malacca .[4]

Satellite view of Batu Pahat

Batu Pahat was a remote residential area for the Johore Royal Family and village mayors. There was already a successful township nearby, Bandar Maharani that was established in 1885 by Dato' Muhamad Salleh bin Perang or popularly known as Dato' Bentara Luar. It was until in the year 1892, the local mayors (Penghulu) such as Penghulu Rahmat bin Ragam (Simpang Kanan) dan Penghulu Kitam bin Mohd. Shah (Simpang Kiri) requested audience with Sultan Abu Bakar to develop a township in Batu Pahat. They believe that Dato' Bentara Luar will once more duplicate the success of Muar known by other name, Bandar Maharani into new up and coming township. On 4 November 1892, Sultan Abu Bakar orders Dato' Bentara Luar who was then living in Kampung Senangar to come over to Johor Bahru palaces to seek for an audiences related to new township development matters.

The next month, Dato' Bentara Luar started on the Batu Pahat township development. He chooses the development places in Simpang Kanan parishes which are about 15 km away from Batu Pahat river bay. The locations is strategic as the river's berth are wide enough to let the ship passing thru as well as the construction of docks will facilitate the trading in that areas. On 2 December 1892, the fakir already starts to survey the land from Mount Penggaram to the Penggaram river for the township planning purposes. Within the next year, he succeeded in building up roads, offices, courts, hospital, police stations and also homes around that area. The development is sustained by the finances support by Orang Kaya Bagan, taxes from local populaces and as well as the personal wealth of the Dato' Bentara Luar himself.

On 1 January 1894, Dato' Bentara Luar officiates the Batu Pahat opening ceremony in Bukit Bendera which are now the official residency of the Batu Pahat town administrator. In Dec. 1894, another events held to commemorates the naming of Batu Pahat into Bandar Penggaram which had taken names from Kampung Penggaram where the Penghulu Rahmat resides.

During his reign as the Government Commissioner, Dato' Bentara Luar modernised the administrative duties by appointing the administrative officers to do their duties. He also encourage the villagers to plant crops for self-sufficiency and pulls in investment from Chinese businessman to set up plantations or set up trading in Batu Pahat. This led to increases in the town council income from RM1,500 in 1894 to RM55,375 in 1910.

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Batu Pahat is situated at 1°51′N, 102°56′E in the state of Johor in southern Peninsular Malaysia. It is located 239 km to the south of Kuala Lumpur. The closest town to Batu Pahat is Muar, which is located 50 km to the northwest of this town. The town of Kluang is located about 52 km to the southeast. Johor Bahru, the capital of Johor, is located about 130 km to the south east of the town. 95 km to the north west is the Malaysian historical city, Melaka.

The district itself borders the district 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 Strait of Malacca lies to the south.

Batu Pahat Municipal Council

Batu Pahat is administered by Batu Pahat Municipal Council (MPBP) which was upgraded from the previous Majlis Daerah Batu Pahat Barat (MDBPB) or the West Batu Pahat District Council.

Batu Pahat district has 525 gazetted villages (kampung-kampung) and village-clusters (kampung rangkaian) where smaller villages were annexed to their bigger immediate neighbours 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 however 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 sub - districts.

Batu Pahat is one of the Johor's manufacturing industrial town which includes textiles, electronics, food-processing, timber, porcelain and plastic industry.

There are several industrial zones including Tongkang Pecah, Parit Raja, Sri Gading, Sri Sulong, Lian Aik and Buditama, ranging from 20 acres (81,000 m²) to 200 acres (0.81 km²).

There are few foreign multi national company setup in Batu Pahat during 80's and 90's such as Sharp Roxy, Fujitsu and Mitsumi as well as many other local public listed companies.

Agriculture is another important source of income for the locals. Batu Pahat has some of the largest rubber, oil palm, coconut and cocoa plantations in Johor. Fruit produce such as watermelons, papayas, bananas, pineapples, durians and 20 varieties of vegetables are exported. There are also several fishing villages such as Segenting which provides sources of fisheries.

Educational institutions in Batu Pahat include primary, secondary and tertiary education

There are government owned and private owned hospital and medicare centres:

• Sultanah Nora Ismail Hospital (located at Jalan Korma, Taman Soga)
• Putra Specialist Hospital 布特拉专科私人医院 (at Jalan Peserai)
• Pantai Specialist Hospital 班台专科私人医院 (located at Taman Koperasi Bahagia)
• Klinik Kesihatan Batu Pahat (located at Jalan Kluang)
• KPJ Hospital Batu Pahat - (located at Sri Gading)

• Batu Pahat Municipal Council
• Kampung Minyak Beku
• Southern Malaysia Hokkien