Mentakab

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

For the steamship, see SS Mentakab.

Mentakab is a main town in Pahang, Malaysia, originally known as Pasir Rawa. It is approximately 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. Due to the size the district of Temerloh, it contains a lot of towns. Mentakab being a fairly large town, is often confused by people to being a district in itself, separate from Temerloh.

• Mentakab has got a railway station which is on the line from the Northeast 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.
• The original roads from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan also goes through Mentakab which makes Mentakab plays the important role.
• The Semantan River that goes through this town is the water source to the agricultural activities.
• 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 factory in South-East Asia.
• Mentakab has a daily night market (pasar malam), selling things from clothes to food, from flowers to newspapers.
• Some famous people that have their histories linked to this town include e British during the BritishDatuk Bahaman, Pak Sako, and Sudirman. The first two individuals mentioned are remembered for their fight against th colonisation.
• There are some fast food outlet available in Mentakab, they are Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonald's only.
• Mentakab locals spends hours in coffee shops during weekend nights.
• Mentakab has one of the largest Hypermarket among the other towns nearby which is the Store. This departmental 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. They (traffic jams) become worse during peak hours.
• 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 "Nasi Ayam" during lunch hours. Sometimes the queue even extended until almost 30 meters.

Besides that, a lot of other chicken rice shop available in Mentakab.

• Mentakab is seldom caught into serious flood except serious flood occurred in the year 1970 and 2007.

One of the country's fastest growing private university, 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 group, economic and social background. The learning method for OUM includes self-study, online interaction and bi-weekly face-to-face tutorials normally during weekends.

There is also recent proposal state that current pasar malam is going to be renovated to be the likes of Petaling Street (China Town).

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

There are 7 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. While 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)