Mentakab

For the steamship, see SS Mentakab.

Mentakab is a main town in Pahang, Malaysia, originally known as Pasir Rawa. It is close to Temerloh, Lanchang, Kampung Tualang Kampung Gantok, Mengkarak and Kerdau. Mentakab was once considered by the State Government in the year 1901 to be the new centre of all administrative works in the state of Pahang. However, due to a problem of uneven land, Kuantan was to be the new capital of the state. Mentakab is located under the district of Temerloh. Temerloh is a large district and contains many towns. Mentakab, being a fairly large town, is often thought by people to be a district in itself, separate from Temerloh.

Location

Country: Malaysia
State: Pahang
Type: Town
Latitude: 3.48333
Longitude: 102.35000
Latitude: (DMS) 3d 29m 0s
Longitude: (DMS) 102d 21m 0s

Transport

Rail

Mentakab has a railway station which is on the line from the north-east coast to the south of Peninsular Malaysia owned by the Kereta api Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB). The railway from Gemas to Tumpat in Kelantan goes through the town of Mentakab.

Road

The original road from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan also goes through Mentakab which gives Mentakab an important role.

Trade and industry

Agriculture

The Semantan River that goes through the town is the water source for the agricultural activities. Mentakab is seldom caught in serious floods but serious flooding did occur in the years 1970 and 2007.

Paper mill

The Malaysian Newsprint Industries (MNI) started up a greenfield paper mill in Mentakab in the year 1999. MNI is one of the biggest scale paper factories in Southeast Asia.

Night market

Mentakab has a daily night market (pasar malam), selling things from clothes to food, from flowers to newspapers. There is also a recent proposal that the current pasar malam is going to be renovated to be like Petaling Street (China Town).

Hypermarket

Mentakab has one of the largest Hypermarkets in the area. This department store is located in the busiest area of Mentakab where the night market is just a stone's throw away. Traffic jams are common in this area. The traffic jams become worse during peak hours.

Food and drink

There are some fast food outlet available in Mentakab. They are Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonald's. Mentakab locals spends hours in coffee shops during weekend nights.

Mentakab is a place offering the best Chicken Rice. The chicken which has been tenderly cooked and the gingered rice makes the dish frequently sought after by locals. The Mentakabians (non-muslim) will be lining up like bees to buy Chicken Rice during lunch hours. Sometimes the queue even extends to almost 30 meters.

Education

Primary

There are seven primary schools in Mentakab, SJK(C)Mentakab 1,SJK(C)Mentakab 2,SK Abu Bakar,SJK(T) Bandar Mentakab, SK Bandar Mentakab,SK Batu Kapur and SK Chatin.

Secondary

The three secondary schools in this town are SMK Hwa Lian,SMK Mentakab and SMK Seri Semantan. SMK Hwa Lian have appeared as one of the best school in Pahang because of outstanding academic achievement. SMK Mentakab is the only secondary school in Mentakab which provides Form 6 (equilavent to 'A' levels)

University

One of the country's fastest growing private universities, the Open University Malaysia's (OUM) Local Learning Center for the west Pahang region is also located in Mentakab. OUM caters to the open and distance learning method of obtaining tertiary degrees. Courses offered includes degrees in Business and Management, IT and Engineering. Students consists of working adults from all sorts of age groups, economic and social backgrounds. The learning method for OUM includes self-study, online interaction and bi-weekly face-to-face tutorials, normally during weekends.

Notable people

Some famous people who have their histories linked to this town include: Datuk Bahaman, Pak Sako, and Sudirman. The first two individuals mentioned are remembered for their fight against the colonisation.

Inter-racial unity

Mentakab is also very famous for inter-racial unity because this township consists of all kinds of religions equally.