The origin of Batu Pahat...

Continuing from Gunung (mount) Banang in Batu Pahat, Johor...

We drove pass the weaving road at the foothills of Gunung Banang and head westwards. After 5km we arrive at the beach seen above facing the Straits or Selat Melaka...

Nearby are some stalls... Apparently this place is known as Pantai Minyak Beku (literally translated as the frozen oil beach)... Too bad, I didn't have the time to figure the actual story behind it as I had something else in mind. Nevertheless, it is a local tourist spot.

It is located south of the bay which leads to the mouth of the Batu Pahat river, the river that ran beside the town of Batu Pahat...

There, a monument welcoming visitors to Pantai Minyak Beku... What's more important though is what lies beyond the steps...

As I went up, a look at what's directly down next to the stairs...

The stairs lead to a rather curious combination of sight... A post saying "Perigi Batu Pahat" (the well of Batu Pahat) besides a mini police station! So that explains the white and blue colours...

Inside, lies a very important monument... The actual place that gave Batu Pahat its name! For the words Batu Pahat could be literally translated as the sculpted stone... But sculpted into what? That is the question...

How did this thing came about? Just read the inscriptions... If you have problems with the size, just right-click it and save, and then view it using any picture viewing program...

And for the first time in my life, I knew the answer although I've been passing through the town of Batu Pahat practically half my life... That is when going to and from Muar to Kluang where I studied at a full-boarding school, also when going anywhere south when not passing through the North-South Highway... For the words Perigi Batu Pahat (now, you could say the well that was sculpted into stone) says it all...

And for the first time in my life, I saw the actual thing that gave Batu Pahat its name! Then again, despite having visited Batu Pahat many times, this is the first time I went here as the place lies on a dead route, 6-7 km from town...

Looking at it closely, I find it quite amazing how such a well could be sculpted into what appears like solid stone! I tried dipping my hands into it. I could vouch it is at least as deep as the length of my arms up to the elbow. I dare not venture any deeper... Who knows what lies inside!

I then when out to have a better look at the kind of surroundings where the well was made by sculpting... Just look at the solid stone...

You could say there is only one piece of big stone making up this part of the beach, a big mostly flat one... Whatever, its location which lies at the bay leading to the mouth of the main river in this district gave the whole place its name, Batu Pahat. That's all...

Gunung (mount) Banang in Batu Pahat, Johor...

Greetings all... Glad to inform that I'm currently in Muar, Johor to rest after completing an almost 2 week trip covering Johor's main districts of Batu Pahat, Pontian, Johor Bahru, Kota Tinggi, Mersing, Kluang, Segamat and of course Muar... After a week up not making any updates, so come the time to tell the tale which would be distributed as I please both in Malay, English and mixed languages at all my 3 blogspots ya... That is this one, CATATAN SI MERAH SILU and SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) . So let the session be opened with a story about Gunung or Mount Banang in Batu Pahat...

In the background, near the town of Batu Pahat lies a set of hills (or mountains depending on how you define it)... One peak on the road leading to Air Hitam is known as Bukit or Gunung Soga, the other, on the road to Pontian, comprising a few more peaks with the highest one rising above 400 metres or about 1,400 feet tall is known as Gunung Banang...

The one seen above taken from an old mosque (which I will feature later in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) ) is Gunung Banang. Since I was small, then when I became a student at Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor (Johor Secondary Science School) in Kluang, a full-boarding school more than 20 years ago, I have many times made trips pass Batu Pahat and looked in wonder at the peak. But it is only about 2 weeks ago on December 24th 2007 that I actually took steps to make that climb.

It came unplanned. I was going to Batu Pahat to visit an elderly person, en-route to Kluang which figures in the current travelling plan. After all, the last time I was in Kluang was in 2001 and the last time I visited my old school there was sometime in 1987!

When I called a friend who works in Kuala Lumpur to check if he has any plans to go to Kota Tinggi (I was contemplating of going there later on and he is a native), he happened to be on holiday at his in-laws in Seri Medan which is about half-an-hour trip by car to Batu Pahat. That's when we decided to meet up and so on...

Above is a picture taken close to the peak of Gunung Banang...

Now, as I've said before, the reason I wanted to go up was I have long felt like I must go to the top one day... The yearning was made stronger when about 2 years ago, I read a certain story about Aceh's famous conqueror Sultan Iskandar Muda who ruled in the early 17th Century.

It is said that one day he was heading for Melaka to fight the Portuguese colonials there. His wife then (he had one another equally famous wife said to have died early), a Pahang princess told him not to destroy Banang (the conqueror had a reputation of grazing down any opposition to the ground) because up there lies 3 tombs of Wali (saints) of Allah...

I tried to check if there's any other place known as Banang within all possible routes from Aceh to Melaka. It seems there's only the Gunung Banang in Batu Pahat. Besides, there are Malay folk songs mentioning about the peak. Why, one even relates the mythical princess of Gunung Ledang (very famous in Malay folklores) to the princess of Gunung Tahan (at almost 2,200 metres or 7000 feet plus the highest peak in Peninsular Malaysia) and then the princess of Gunung Banang. Then again that was the only song I've heard mentioning about a princess living on Gunung Tahan what more on Gunung Banang. Wait a minute... Or did the song mentioned about the same princess? That is only one princess who have been on top of those 3 peaks? I forgot...

We went all the way to the top. Too bad it is a restricted area guarded by no less than the army itself! Is there a secret to be guarded up there? Perhaps the tombs of the said 3 saints? Or a residence of a mythical princess...

One thing's for sure... There is a telecommunication tower up there... And when I checked again from the ground later, there are actually 2...

Now, I've been on top of many hills and mountains in and around Malaysia and there's many with telecommunication towers on top. In fact I've climbed up a few towers myself just to get a better view of the surroundings. Not all are guarded, what more with the military carrying sub-machineguns like at Gunung Banang. So what's the deal here?

That's my friend Zaidi taking a smoke... We've tried to talk to the guards asking to let us in or at least walk outside the perimetre of the fences surrounding the telecommunication tower on top... But even that is out of the question. In fact we have to go down the road by at least 100 metres pass a sign-post that says restricted area ahead.

It's not like we're going to spy on anything or breach the security. We just wanted to look around for any trace of old tombs. Or if we can't find anything, then at least let us go to were there's a clearing so we could see the town of Batu Pahat from the top (or any place near and high enough) of Gunung Banang...

Well, what can we say. The only clearing that would provide the view we seek is right on top within the restricted area. So after smelling the fresh air enough to our satisfaction, we made the trip down...

Here is a view as we approached the feet of Gunung Banang... In the background, I believe is the hills that made up the area known as Gunung (mount) Ma'okil in Muar. I guess that's all about Gunung Banang. At least we've stepped our foot up there....