Wednesday, December 31, 2008

"TEMERLOH"


Temerloh is a town in Central Pahang, East coast of Malaysia. Located about 130 km from Kuala Lumpur along the Kuantan-Kuala Lumpur trunk road 2, Temerloh is the second largest town in Pahang after Kuantan. It is situated at the junction of the Pahang River and the Semantan River. The district consist of 2 area, the 1442 km² Municipal Council Area (64.08%) and the 808 km² outer Municipal Council Area (35.92%). Today, "Temerloh" usually refers to the territory under administration of Temerloh Municipal Council or Majlis Perbandaran Temerloh, which includes the smaller towns adjacent to the city such as Mentakab, Lancang, Kuala Krau and Kerdau. Temerloh district is bordered by Maran district on the east, Bentong on the west, Jerantut and Bera on the north and south, respectively.

An old town with some colonial buildings and shop houses, the town has prospered in recent years as a transportation hub and new industrial center. There have been many new commercial and industrial hub built in Temerloh in recent years. The completion of an East Coast Expressway which make traveling duration into half, linking the town to Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan added to the growth factor of Temerloh.

Temerloh has been rebranded as "Bandar Ikan Patin", which literally means "Patin Fish Town". Patin, a type of freshwater catfish is a local delicacy highly sought after in the country. Patin Fish is famous for its juicy taste and can be considered one of the best freshwater fish in Malaysia.

History
According to Haji Zakaria Hitam, the modern-day Temerloh developed from a small settlement called Kuala Semantan. Kuala Semantan was actually a small old village at the bank of Semantan River. According to the folk story, the name "Semantan" came from the word "Seman Tahan". Osman, or "Seman Tahan" as the villagers called him, is a Bruneian settled at the small river connected to Pahang River. He mastered the art of Silat, thus many people came all the way and settled here to learn the silat from him. As "Seman Tahan" became popular among the villagers, they named the river "Seman Tahan River". Thus, the town near the river was called "Kuala Seman Tahan" ("Kuala" in Malay word means river confluence). The name "Seman Tahan" gradually becomes "Semantan".

The Temerloh district, on the other hand was established on July 1st, 1889 when J P Rodger, the first Pahang Resident divided Pahang state into 6 smaller administration area (district), namely Pekan, Rompin, Kuala Pahang, Kuantan, Temerloh and Hulu Pahang. The town in the Temerloh district then (1st July of 1889) was Kuala Semantan. As Kuala Semantan begin to develop rapidly, the name Kuala Semantan was thought unsuitable as the kuala only refers to the river confluence. Hence, Kuala Semantan changed its name to Temerloh. The name Temerloh came up when a group of Minangkabaus settled here (see the etymology for more information). Before the British colonization, Temerloh is governed by several headvillagers (Village level) and Orang Besar (dignitaries) under the Pahang's administration of the "Orang Besar System". The Temerloh's people (then) are mainly Malay and Orang Asli, however there's also a small group of Chinese and Arabs settled here.

Language

Don't forget the word "koi" means "I" in temerloh but it's means "You' at certain places and "Aok" means "you" exactly in spelling. There's so many beautiful word from Temerloh that I'd been thinking to commercialize it. Lastly, for the most respected readers; "koi jumper aok lagik yank"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

can u leave ur phone number to me???

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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