Kukup
Encyclopedia
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...
, in the district of Pontian, Johor
Pontian, Johor
Pontian is a district in southwest Johor. It is located 62km from Johor Bahru, the state capital of Johor. It is also located at Miles 37 from Johor Bahru. The name Pontian is also used in the names of two towns in the district, Pontian Besar and Pontian Kechil, of which the latter serves as its...
, on the Strait of Malacca
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...
in Malaysia. It is famous for its open-air seafood restaurants built on stilts over the water. Some of the restaurants are geared for tour groups, and it is particularly popular with tourists from Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Regularly scheduled ferries connect Kukup with Tanjung Balai
Tanjung Balai
See Tanjung Balai for the other meanings.Tanjungbalai, also Kota Tanjungbalai, formerly Tanjung Balai, Asahan is a city in North Sumatra province, Indonesia, on the estuary of the Asahan River. It has an area of 58 km² and the 5th largest kota population of Sumut with 154,426 in the 2010 census...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Kukup became more prosperous when the famous Singapore Arab Syed Mohamed bin Ahmed Alsagoff (also known as Nong Chik) obtained the approval of the Sultan of Johor to develop the southwest coast of Johor. Many government organisations were set up there, including a harbour and port. Boats and ships from the north to the south would stop there, loading and unloading cargo, leaving for Singapore or Malacca. Shops were opened and many people came there to settle down. At that point, many people disagreed with the name Kukub on the grounds that it was not a Malay name, so they changed it to Kukup.
Due to its rapid development, Kukup became one of the big towns in Johor. This was due to the coming of Tuan Syed Mohamed Alsagoff (or Nong Chik, as he was also called), a Singapore Arab who had sought and obtained approval from Sultan Abu Bakar Johor to explore and open up agriculture lands in the southwest Coast of Johor, bordered by Sungai Permas, Sungai Pontian Kechil, Sungai Pontian Besar, and Sungai Jeram Batu. (Sungai in Malay means river.) Kukup was rapidly developed under Constantinople Estate owned by Tuan Syed Mohamed Alsagoff. Because of this, the whole place was named "Kukup District". Kukup District was replaced with "Pontian District" when the main road linking Pontian and Johor Bahru was completed in 1900. At that time all the government organisations in Kukup were shifted to Pontian. While developing the Kukup area, Tuan Syed Mohamed Alsagoff even issued his own currency.