Kuantan
| Kuantan 콴탄 |
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  Kuantan
콴탄 |
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country |  Malaysia |
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| State |  Pahang |
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| Establishment | 1851 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Azizan Ahmad | ||
| - MPs | Fuziah Salleh (PR) Azan Ismail (PR) Abdul Manan Ismail (BN) |
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| Area | |||
| - Total | 2,960 km2 (1,143 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 21.95 m (72 ft) | ||
| Population (2009) | |||
| - Total | 507,778 | ||
| - Density | 192.09/km2 (497.46/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | MST (UTC+8) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Not observed (UTC) | ||
| Website | http://mpk.gov.my/ | ||
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Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the largest state in Peninsular Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu. Kuantan's population is approximately 607,778 and it is the 9th largest city in Malaysia. The population of Kuantan is 57% Malay, 32% Chinese, 4% Indian and 7% other races. According to the [World Gazetteer], a calculation indicates that the annual population growth of Kuantan is the greatest among the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, which is 3.88 in general.
The Pahang state government shifted the administrative centre of Pahang from Kuala Lipis to Kuantan in 1955.
Recently, the National Physical Plan 2005 identified Kuantan as one of the future growth centres and a hub for trade, commerce, transportation and tourism. Kuantan is also considered as the social, economic and commercial hub for East Coast Peninsular Malaysia due to its strategic location. Rapid development since early 21st century has transformed and modernized Kuantan. Since 2005, Kuantan has had many development projects across the city, including Putra Square, Mahkota Square, Bukit Gambang Water Resort, Kuantan Sentral and Kuantan Port City under the Kuantan District Locality Plan 2004-2015. Recently, the introducing of Malaysia's first Special Economy Zone (SEZ) is located at Kuantan to boost the regional economy, tourism and growth. As an effort to catalyse the growth of Kuantan Metropolitan Precinct, government has located a petroleum manufacturing area in Pekan, a neighbour town of Kuantan and expected to allocate some funds to enhance the growth across the region.
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History
Kuantan in the first century was a part of Chih-Tu empire. In the 11th century, this piece of land was conquered by another small empire called Pheng-Kheng before being taken over by the Siamese during 12th century. During the 15th century, Kuantan was ruled by the Malacca Empire.
Kuantan is said to have been founded in the 1850s. The word "Kuantan" was mentioned by Abdullah Abdul Kadir (Munshi Abdullah) circa 1851/2 as below:
"On Thursday night came a boat from KUANTAN. Then they told the ship's crew there's a pirate ship at Tanjung Tujuh, forty of them and at Pulau Kapas, and as well at Pulau Redang; it was spotted by two Kuantan boats and they set off...."
In its early days, it was known as Kampung Teruntum (Teruntum Village). The village was situated at the mouth of Teruntum River which is in front of the current hospital and it was established by Haji Senik and his followers in the 1850s. Early primary economic activities included fishing and small businesses. The main evidence of the establishment of the village is the cemetery that is situated near Taman Esplanade in front of the current Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan.
Towards the late 19th century, arrival of Chinese miners and traders saw the establishment of a township in Kuantan and also nearby tin mining areas such as Gambang and Sungai Lembing. Similar to what occurred in other states in Peninsular Malaysia, rubber plantations attracted Indian settlers as well.
The sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse took place off the coast of Kuantan on 10 December 1941.
Economy
Known as a tropical getaway, one of its major economic activities is tourism. Domestically, it is famous for the production of handicrafts, batik, keropok (dried fish crackers) and salted fish. Kuantan serves as the administrative and commercial capital of Pahang. Trade and commerce are also important in the economy of the town.
The timber industry and the fishing industry also play vital roles in the local economy.
Other than tourism and business, Kuantan also witnesses the strong presence of petrochemical industries, mostly located in Gebeng, an industrial area about 25 km north of Kuantan. Among the major companies operating in Kuantan are BASF PETRONAS Chemicals, BP Chemicals, MTBE,Flexsys, Bredero Shaw Eastman Chemical, Kaneka, Polyplastics, Mieco, KNM, JiKang, W.R. Grace, Cryovac, PPSC, AMC, etc.
Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
Kuantan is being identified as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The launch of SEZ in 2009 by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is of the first of its kind in Malaysia. SEZ is located inside East Coast Economic Region (ECER) which stretches from Kertih to Pekan. It is now one of the large SEZ in Asia covering 390,00 hectares. SEZ serves as a catalyst to fast track the economic development in the east coast. SEZ aims to generate RM90 billion of investments and provide over 200,000 new jobs by 2020. Located at the center of southeast Asia and consists 4 seaports (Kuantan Port as the main gateway) and 2 airports, ECER SEZ will serve good transportation link between Indochina, India, and China. The development masterplan will offer special incentives to attract investors. Include tax exemptions, import and export duties exemptions and 100 per cent investment tax allowance.
Tourism
Beaches
Kuantan's main sightseeing attraction is the beach at Teluk Cempedak. There are also other scenic beaches popular with vacationers in the city's vicinity, such as Batu Hitam, Balok, Chenor, Pantai Sepat, Beserah, and Cherating. Near Cherating (Club Med is located here) is a turtle sanctuary. A few kilometers away from Cherating is Pulau Ular (Snake Island). There is a legend connected with this island. In fact, Kuantan has the most beaches compared to other cities in Malaysia.
Waterfalls
Kuantan is also known to tourists for its waterfalls. The most well-known is the Sungai Pandan Water Fall. Two other waterfalls are the Sungai Berkelah Waterfall and the Jerangkang Waterfall. There are also three parks within the city. These are the Gelora Park, Teruntum Mini Zoo and Agriculture Park at Indera Mahkota. A small park located in front of the Hospital is named the Esplanade Park. Here, it is possible to go on a river cruise from the small jetty. The Kuantan area also produces handicrafts and batik. Other tourist attractions include the State Mosque (Masjid Negeri).
Sungai Lembing
Sungai Lembing is located about 26 km northwest of Kuantan and it used to contain the world's deepest underground tin mines.There is an interesting Tin Museum in the former mining town of Sungai Lembing. Just north of the Tin Museum is a "hanging bridge" (jambatan bergantung). Access to this bridge is via a narrow, winding road at the base of the entrance to the Tin Museum. There is a Panorama Hill which provides a fascinating view if you were at the peak before the sun rises. On the Kuantan-Sungai Lembing road at the hamlet of Pancing, there is a limestone mountain which houses a large reclining Buddha in one of its caves (Pancing Cave or Carah Cave). The highest peak, Gunung Tapis, also can be accessed from here.
Accommodations
The only 5-star hotel in Kuantan is Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort while the 4-star hotels include Vistana Hotel Kuantan, MS Garden Hotel, Mariana Beach Resort and The Legend Resort. Visitors often prefer the beach resorts. The more popular ones include De Rhu Beach Resort, Cherating Holiday Villa Beach Resort, Swiss-Garden Resort, Impiana Resort, Club Med Cherating, and the Legend Resort.
Bukit Gambang Resort City
Bukit Gambang Resort City. BGRC, a RM1bil integrated resort city located on the Gambang Interchange will be one of the biggest and important projects in the history of Kuantan. BGRC covers over 200 ha and will be developed over the next 10 years. Features include the water park, an adventure park, a forest park, global heritage resort villas to be developed based on a particular country theme and scenic ocean ville resort suites which are low-rise buildings based on various ocean themes such as Caribbean Bay Resort, Arabian Bay Resort, Andaman Lagoon Resort, Mediterranean Beach Resort and Hawaiian Beach Resort. Bukit Gambang Water Park spans across 60 acres. With the Children Fantasy Island ("penguin island"), special Kidz Zone, the Adventurous Typhoon River as well as a 1 kilometer long man-made sandy beach. Not to mention the family river raft rides and a 6-lane racer slides with a timing scoreboard. Attractions also include a 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) wave pool. The suppliers include the award-winning ProSlide Technology Inc from Canada, Scotland-based Murphy’s Waves Ltd and Australian Waterslides & Leisure Pty Ltd. Phase one of BGRC consists of Caribbean Bay Resort and Waterpark, scheduled for opening on 23 May 2009.
Transportation
Land
Kuantan is connected to Kuala Lumpur via the East Coast Expressway and Karak Expressway. Kuantan is now more accessible by road transportation than before, primarily because of the opening of East Coast Expressway. The East Coast Expressway also links Kuantan to other major towns in Pahang. Two other important east coast towns: Kota Bharu and Kuala Terengganu are connected via coastal trunk roads.
Scenic coastal roads that runs through Mersing, Kuala Rompin and Pekan also links Kuantan to Johor Bahru and Singapore. This route winds through verdant forests and small coastal towns, and a stretch of beautiful quiet beaches at Rompin and Lanjut. Alternatively, Tun Razak Highway that runs from the town of Segamat, Johor to Gambang and proceeding to Gambang-Kuantan Highway also connects Kuantan with Johor Bahru.
Kuantan Bypass is a highway that runs from Kuantan Port to Kuantan Airport. Interchange are available at Bandar Indera Mahkota, Bandar Damansara Kuantan, East Coast Expressway
, Jerangau Highway, Semambu and major roads.
Alternatively, express buses to Kuantan also depart from Kuala Lumpur. Tickets for these buses are available from Pudu Raya Bus Station or Titiwangsa Bus Station in Kuala Lumpur. These express buses will stop at the Makmur Terminal Bus Station. There's also local bus services which stationed at the local bus station in Jalan Besar next to the Kuantan River. This bus station provides bus services to Cherating, Pekan, Jengka and nearby destinations.
Air
Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Airport is located 15 km from Kuantan city. This is the only airport in Pahang State that is controlled by Malaysia Airport Bhd. Currently, there are two airlines that fly to Kuantan, namely, Malaysia Airline System (MAS), Firefly.Firefly has scheduled direct flights to Singapore. This is plan is much more trustworthy compared with AirAsia's one because Firefly has accomplished the flight from Singapore to Subang Airport located in a miniature distance from Kuala Lumpur.
Currently, planes from Kuantan fly only to KLIA and Singapore Changi Airport. Seasonal flights to Taipei are operated by China airlines.
The same runway is also used by the Royal Malaysian Air Force, which operates MIG-29s from the nearby Kuantan Royal Malaysian Air Force base.
Sea
Kuantan Port is a multipurpose port serving Kuantan and the east coast region.
Healthcare
Medical needs are served by several hospitals and clinics. The main hospital is Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, which is equipped with various state-of-the-art equipment such as a CT scanner and MRI. It also serves as the teaching hospital for the Kulliyyah of Medicine, International Islamic University Malaysia. A Community Health Centre serves suburbs such as Beserah, while smaller clinics are situated in smaller suburbs such as Bandar Indera Mahkota. Two private medical centres also operate in Kuantan, namely the Kuantan Medical Centre and Kuantan Specialist Hospital.
Education
There are many institutes of higher learning in Kuantan. They are either categorised as Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA); public university or Institut Pengajian Tinggi Swasta (IPTS); private university. One of the public university in Kuantan is the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), which is a branch from the main campus in Gombak. There are two IIUM campuses in Kuantan. The Jalan Hospital campus (JHC) campus that opened on year 1997 and the 1000 acres Indera Mahkota campus on year 2004. IIUM Kuantan focuses on medical related degree programmes offered through several faculties or Kulliyyahs such as: Kulliyyah of Medicine, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, Kulliyyah of Allied Health Sciences (Radiography, Optometry, Dietetics and Audiology), Kuliyyah of Nursing, and Kulliyyah of Science (Biomedic and Physical Sciences), Kulliyyah of Dentistry. The Jalan Hospital campus (JHC) campus houses the notable IIUM Breast Centre. A centre devoted to the research and diagnosis of breast cancer.
The Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). Founded on year 2002 and located in Gambang, UMP offers undergraduates and postgraduates educations mainly in engineering and technical fields through its 7 faculties and centre. UMP has a newly built main campus in Pekan.
Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (POLISAS). Established in year 1976, the second oldest polytechnic in Malaysia. POLISAS are able to accommodate 5,500 students. Sitting on 75 hectar site, POLISAS is one of the largest polytechnic in Malaysia with academic departments of Engineering (Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Computer, Architecture), Information Technology, Secretarial, Accounting, Food Technology and Data Processing.
Kolej Komuniti Kuantan was founded in 2001 and currently operating at a permanent campus in Bandar Indera Mahkota.
Private collages and institutes
- Kolej ShahPutra Kuantan
- Kolej Poly-Tech MARA
- Institut Kemajuan Ikhtisas Pahang (IKIP) College
- Institut ECMA
- Institut Saga
- Institut Teknologi MIDAS
- Olympia College
- Kolej PSDC
- Kolej Teknologi Cosmopoint
- Strategy College
Secondary school (high school) education is provided by Sekolah Kebangsaan (National School) e.g.: Saint Thomas Primary and Secondary school), Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (National-type School) Chinese primary schools and Religious schools (e.g.: SMA Al-Ihsan). All of them follow the syllabus and curriculum provided and regulated by the Malaysian Ministry of Education (Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia).
Alternatives to national education are provided by international schools which do not follow the Malaysian education curriculum. These international schools include the Garden International School (preschool to grade 6) and the International School of Kuantan (grades 6 to 12).
See also : List of educational institutes in Kuantan http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kuantan&action=edit§ion=14
Culture
Cuisine
Kuantan is famous for its delicious fish crackers (called keropok in Malay) and salted fish, where the fish are marinated mainly with salt and left out to dry in the sun for days. 'Ikan Bakar' or grilled fish can be purchased at Tanjung Lumpur.
Also very popular and sold by street vendors (especially at the fascinating night markets) are: varieties of satay which consists of grilled meat on a stick which is dipped into peanut sauce and roti canai, a thick chapati-like bread dipped in a unique curry style sauce.
Recommended ethnic Indian dishes include the naan and tandoori chicken.
Many types of local food can be found at the Pasar (Market) at the town centre. A variety of Kuala Lipis noodles are available at the corner of the Pasar's entrance.
Popular among the locals are the beef noodles at Jalan Beserah and handmade noodles "Men Fan Gou" at Jalan Air Putih. Also popular is a dish of pork ribs and rice known as bak kut teh.
Shopping
Main shopping malls in Kuantan:
- East Coast Mall is a new shopping mall which consists of built-up area of 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) and houses a number of fashion labels including Bonia, Baleno, Giordano,Clarks, Padini Concept Store, Brands Outlet, Quicksilver, MNG Outlet. Anchor tenants also include Carrefour, Parkson, a 9-screen GSC cinema complex and a KTV. Located in Putra Square which consists of a hotel and corporate towers, convention centre and cultural towns.
- Berjaya Megamall Opened in 1998 and still a great place for shopping. Two concourse mall houses great fashion boutiques and shops. Berjaya Megamall also have a 5 screen GSC cinema.
- Kuantan Parade Anchor tenant are The Store. With great popularity, Celebrities Roadshows or events are always held here.
- Teruntum Complex. The earliest shopping mall in Kuantan. The complex is undergoing upgrades and now houses a 5 screen cinema and a KTV.
Other shopping complexes are Kuantan Plaza and Kuantan Square.
Salted fish is the famous local production of Kuantan .There are lots of salted fish shops along Jalan Besar and the largest Salted Fish Mall 'Seng Kee' located at Batu 3 along Jalan Gambang. These shops offer local production and various kind of titbits from locals.
Climate
Climatological Information
| Month | Minimum Temperature (deg. Celsius) | Maximum Temperature (deg. Celsius) | Mean Total Rainfall (mm) | Mean Number of Raindays |
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| January | 21.9 | 29.5 | 279.8 | 12 |
| February | 22.1 | 30.7 | 140.3 | 9 |
| March | 22.7 | 31.7 | 168.6 | 9 |
| April | 23.3 | 32.8 | 150.0 | 10 |
| May | 23.6 | 33.2 | 172.4 | 12 |
| June | 23.4 | 32.9 | 164.1 | 10 |
| July | 23.0 | 32.5 | 155.7 | 10 |
| August | 23.0 | 32.6 | 178.1 | 12 |
| September | 23.0 | 32.4 | 207.5 | 14 |
| October | 23.0 | 32.0 | 264.6 | 16 |
| November | 22.9 | 30.5 | 412.9 | 19 |
| December | 22.5 | 29.1 | 598.2 | 17 |
Usually, Kuantan experiences two seasons per year, i.e. the Dry and Hot Season and also the Rainy Season. The Dry and Hot Season occurs when seasonal south-west winds blow from Sumatra toward the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia but are blocked by the Titiwangsa Mountain Range. The temperature may reach 40 degrees Celsius. The Rainy Season usually occurs between October to March. During this season, the north-east winds bring rain to Kuantan. It can get very cloudy with a large amount of rainfall. Floods may also occur. Areas subject to possible flooding include the road to Sungai Lembing and also a few areas along the Kuantan River.
In 2006, Kuantan experienced significant air pollution that affected visibility because of the haze blowing in from Sumatra and the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
Urban Development
Kuantan Sentral, costing RM50 million will be built as one of the main components of The Planned Kuantan Metropolis. This state of the art transportation hub will be the new intercity bus station replacing the old Terminal Makmur bus station. It will also include the first Malaysian Trans-City-Speed Train connecting Kuantan and the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur through Kuala Lumpur Sentral. The building will be fully air-conditioned and will have a departure and arrival hall with information boards showing the time for bus departures and arrivals. Project are expected to be ready by 2012.
Kuantan will see many new developments including:
- Relocation of the state administration centre to its proposed site in Bandar Indera Mahkota.
- Two tourist villages will be further developed, namely Cherating and Pantai Sepat.
- A conceptual idea has been initiated for a high-speed train linking Kuala Lumpur and Kuantan.
- Komuter Timur service linking Kuala Terengganu to Kemaman and Kuantan by 2014.
Another project is for Kuantan to become a regional conurbation on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
Gallery
 Kuantan main street |
 Another view of the main street, looking south. |
 Intersection of Jalan Mahkota and Jalan Bukit Ubi |
 Old & new buildings co-exist. |
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Teluk Cempedak or "Jackfruit Bay" |
 Tengku Ampuan Afzan Mosque |
 Batu Hitam, famous for its "black rock" |
Mahkota Square |
Sister cities
In popular culture
- Kuantan features prominently in the first part of Nevil Shute's 1949 novel A Town Like Alice, it is also mentioned in the Command & Conquer video game series backstory as being a major base of operations of the Brotherhood of Nod.
- Box-office success local movie "Woohoo"(2010) was shot at Beserah, Kuantan.
External links
- Pahang Tourism Official Website
- Satellite Image of Kuantan City
- Kuantan- East Coast Emerging Sassiest City
- Weather forecast for Kuantan City
- Kuantan travel guide from Wikitravel
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East Coast Economic Region (ECER)