Yong Peng

Yong Peng (永平) is a town in Malaysia located in the southern state of Johor. It has an area of 1911.6 hectares with an estimated population of 29,046 *[1]. Yong Peng has two main interchanges on North-South Expressway including north to Kuala Lumpur and south to Johor Bahru.

Slightly more than half of the local residents are of Chinese origin; whose forefathers migrated from southern China in the 1880s. The rest are Malays and Indians who mainly reside in the surrounding Yong Peng areas. Other than Malay, the other main language used is Mandarin with an accent strongly influenced by the Malay language and the HockChew and Hokkien Dialect.

Due to perceived lack of economy opportunity, most of the younger generation choose to leave Yong Peng after completing secondary education and migrate to big cities (e.g. Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Klang etc). Some even travel further and settle in foreign countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, China, Australia, Canada, the UK or the USA for work. Those who remain mostly work in the plantation sector (especially rubber, palm oil and cocoa), light industry (especially garments) or the supporting services (banking, retails etc).

History

During the reign of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor and under the influence of the British rule in the 1870s, a policy was initiated so as to modernise Johor and increase tax revenue by opening up more of the forest and swamp area for plantation purposes (initially for spices such as pepper and gambir; then followed by rubber). But to do so, they need massive number of workers. Coincidentally the political and social chaos in Southern China during that period (ref: History of China) made the Chinese migrants an obvious choice. Most of these immigrants were poor, and so to pay for the travel fees, they had to sell themselves as indented slaves. Some of these early Chinese pioneers travelled from the river mouth starting from Batu Pahat and along the Bekok River (Sungai Bekok) and settled upon a fertile land not far from where Sungai Bekok and Sungai Sedi meets.

In fact, in 1800, there were only five Malay houses standing on the banks of Sungai Bekok and on Bukit Jambu (once sited the Bee Seng Sawmill and now the Yong Peng District Council). The town was known at that time as ‘Sri Bertam’, named after a tree by the name ‘Bertam Tree’ in Kampong Bukit Jambu. The Malays were then ruled by Arujamin Bin Runshut and most of them had just escaped from the Dutch after losing the war to the latter in Acheh.

In November 1847, 4 Chinese of the Teochew dialect from mainland China led by Boo Koh Lak Loo @ Ah Loh came to Sri Bertam by boat after paddling up Sungai Bekok. They then built three houses at the present Government Clinic compound. Later he and his men with the help of his Malay friends began to clear some thick forests around the river banks. When this small settlement prospered and progressed, Boo named the place Yong Peng or Everlasting Peace in Chinese.

Boo ruled Yong Peng according to the ‘Kangchu’ or headman system where the Chinese word "Kang” means river while "Chu" means house. But essentially, "Chu" is the clan name of the first headman in charge of the plantations in the area.

When more Chinese of other dialects began moving to Yong Peng, the settlement was also expanded further up the river, opening up two more areas - one was Mah Kau Kang and the other one was Seng Kang (now Kangkar Bahru).

During this time, Sungai Bekok river was navigable by small ocean-going steamers. Local produce such as pepper and gambir were transported by boat to Batu Pahat and some to as far as Singapore; the whole journey taking about 16 days.

Kangchu Boo would also give a yearly report of Yong Peng to Sultan Abu Bakar. In order to keep law and order, one Malay by the name of Ismail was appointed the policeman of Yong Peng. Minor offences were dealt with by Kangchu Boo whilst more serious ones were sent to the magistrate’s court in Batu Pahat.

Kangchu Boo died in 1907 at the age of 76. His body was buried in Tang Hak (old name for Jalan Masjid). It is around Jalan Ann Peng. After his death, his son Kangchu Boo Koh Soon Meng took over at the young age of 25. He ruled for about 35 years until his death in 1942. As he did not have a son, the Kangchu system also began to decline and it was also in the same year Yong Peng was conquered by the Japanese.

Japanese Occupation

The inhabitants of this village of everlasting peace, the majority of them being Chinese suffered greatly during the Japanese occupation. Most of them fled into surrounding jungles when the Japanese came, surviving only on tapioca and sweet potatoes. When the Japanese were in Yong Peng, many Chinese were tortured and slaughtered by the Japanese. In Mah Kau Kang alone, there were at least 100 people killed and buried there. The ground next to the Government Clinic was also another burial place with about 200 people being killed there. During this time, a number of the Chinese also joined the Anti-Japanese Resistance Movement fighting against the Japanese, and a great number of them were caught, tortured and killed by the Japanese.

The reason was partly because during World War II (ref: [Pacific War]), many early Chinese in Yong Peng, due to their family ties in mainland China, donated heavily to the fight against Japanese occupation of China in the 1930's. As a result, the Japanese treated the migrant Chinese badly and would kill on the slightest of excuse. To fight back, many of them joined the underground guerrilla movement that continually harassed and sabotaged the Japanese military installation; hence creating an even deeper cycle of bad blood and mistrust. Most of these guerrilla fighters were led by either the Communist Party of Malaya or by remnants of the British force that remained hidden in the deep peninsular jungle. The weapons and medical supplies were mostly provided by the remaining British Commonwealth force from Australia or the US led forces from Burma. To encourage more resistance against the Japanese, the British were known to make various promises for independence of Malaya.

Emergency Period

After World War II, the British came back to power. Initially, the British did not seem to be willing to keep their promise for giving independence back to Malaya. In fact, they started demanding the returns of weapons from the guerrilla fighters and all the remaining Sultans in the Peninsular were forced to give up their sovereign power. Seizing on this air of discontent, the Communist Party of Malaya struck back. The Gorkha soldiers hired by the British killed many innocent Chinese who were suspected to have supplied food and logistics to the Communists.

Yong Peng, along with many other urban areas within the peninsular, suffered a heavy setback due to the resulting chaos. To effectively control and terminate all communication lines, all Chinese living near the edge of the jungle or away from urban area were forced to move to specially created concentration camps called "New Villages". These camps were surrounded by barb wires and guarded day and night. Other than night curfews, residents of the camp were also strictly prohibited from carrying additional food or tools in or out of the camp. Curfews would commence at 6 o’clock in the evening and ended at 6 the next morning. This treatment only ended after Malaya independence in 1957. The British even hired African soldiers to kill many innocent Chinese who were suspected of having supplied food to the Communists.

In 1950, the Director of Operations, General Sir Harold Briggs introduced an overall strategy known as the Briggs Plan where a few thousand squatters who were living and cultivating along isolated jungle fringes were resettled in the new village in Yong Peng. The whole new village was fenced up with barbed wires and guarded by police. This strategy was to prevent Communist sympathisers from supporting and supplying food to the insurgents.

So, Jalan Templer in Yong Peng was named after the then British High Commissioner General Gerald Templer who was known for making this famous remark, "The answer [to the uprising] lies not in pouring more troops into the jungle, but in the hearts and minds of the people." (Lapping, 224) In order to win the hearts and minds of these new villagers at this time, our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman also visited Yong Peng and opened the Yong Peng Chinese High School.

In 1952 when the local council of Yong Peng was established, Jalan Ah Loh was named in memory of Kangchu Boo.

Yong Peng was also disturbed by the racial riots (mostly took place in Kuala Lumpur) during the May 13 event in 1969. Luckily, the Chinese Penghulu (Head Villager) from Yong Peng and the Malay Penghulus from the surrounding Kampungs had a relatively good relationship; and working together they cobbled several arrangements that help prevent the severe bloodshed seen in other urban areas.

Then in the mid-1970s, the town was again affected by gang fights among rival gangster groups which usually took place at night outside the only cinema in Yong Peng at Jalan Templer. Peace was again restored when ASP Mokhtaruddin Yunus, dubbed by the locals as ‘Justice Pao’ was sent to Yong Peng. Within weeks, he was able to maintain law and order and until today many locals still remember him fondly as a strict and incorruptible policeman who came to save Yong Peng.

Today most of these Chinese around are now in the fourth generation and have been thoroughly integrated as part of the Malaysian society.

(The above information obtained partly from the article The best place to be on earth.)^[1]

Administration

It is administered by the Yong Peng District Council (Majlis Daerah Yong Peng (MDYP)) (formerly known as East Batu Pahat District Council (Majlis Daerah Batu Pahat Timur (MDBPT)) ). The district council was established on 1 September 1979.

Schools

Schools in Malaysia is based on the British Education standards (Ref: Education in Malaysia). Calendar wise, school year start in Jan and ends in Oct\Nov time frame. Kindergartens are optional (mostly private). Mandatory education starts from the Primary School at the edge of seven year old (aka Standard One) and ends at twelve (aka Standard Six). After the primary education is completed, the students would proceed to secondary school which starts at thirteen years old. Secondary school students will either starts from "Remove" (mostly reserved for non National school students for strengtening their skills in Malay and English) or "Form One" and ends five years later in "Form Five". Yong Peng currently does not provide anymore formal education beyond Form Five. After the Secondary Five education (aka SPM), most of the Chinese and Indian students proceed to study "Form Six" for two years in Batu Pahat so as to get their STPM certification; some is also known to move to bigger city such as Kuala Lumpur to prepare them for privately paid higher education or professionals certification. A large majority of the Malay student will either proceed to MARA or attend the pre-university class.

Primary School - Yong Peng has One Chinese and two Government run National School (schools where Malay is the primary medium) - Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Bertam and Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Yong Peng (SRKYP). SRKYP was the smallest of the three primary school. It was originally part of a missionary school (Anglican Church) with an emphasis on the use of English as a teaching medium. As a result, the students and teachers there have been known to be relatively more well verse in the use of English. Not long after independence, it was converted to a National School where the Malay language is used as the primary medium instead.

Secondary School - Yong Peng has one Chinese Independent school (Yong Peng High School); and two government run National schools - Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Yong Peng (SMYP) & SMK Dato' Seth. SMYP was the biggest of the three. It has students from all the three primary schools in Yong Peng and also from the surrounding areas such as Ramli, Kangar Baru, Parit Yanni and even as far as Sri Medan.

Food

Yong Peng could be consider as a food lover heaven. You could find restaurants (mainly for lunch & dinner) and food stalls (mainly for breakfast) almost everywhere you go. Like most of Malaysia, it has many mouth watering Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisines pass down from generations to generations. The cross fertilization among these these culture and the use of indigenous spices and sauces also lead to creation of fusion of cuisines that are unique to this region.

The most notable cuisine in Yong Peng would be the HockChew/Fuzhou food. No surprise, considering the background of the Chinese migrants. This would include HockChew Chow Mien (handmade noodles that are first boiled, then stir fried), HockChew Egg Soup, HockChew FishBall (one of the bounciest fishballs; with fish on the outside and pork on the inside), Fermented Red Rice Wine Chicken, Fermented Red Rice Wine Noodle, HockChew Square Bread (typically pork fat or meat is added as filling), HockChew plain bread (Round shaped yeast bread that is available as plain with sesame seed, sweet or salted; no fillings within)are all classically unique food only available in Yong Peng. Other than the Fermented Red Rice Wine dish; the equivalent, surprisingly, could not be found in other HockChew town such as Sibu (Sarawak state) or Sitiawan (Perak State) .

Of course there are other nice adapted Chinese food too. The "Duck Noodle" near Tian Hou Gong temple, Laksa (Serve Thai style where you could choose to add your own curry & chile powder) near the old cinema, Lu Mien (Dark noodle cooked with black vinegar) near the Eastern Garden, Fish Ball & Fish Cakes from Yuen Yuen restaurant are some of my old favorites. Even some of the stalls in Jalan Meng Seng, near the Pasar served pretty good food too.

There is plenty of local Malay and Indian food stalls (warung). One famous place is near the wet market, where people usually go for breakfast. It is famous for its nasi lemak, lontong and mee goreng (fried noodle, Malay stype). The Rendang, Kari Ekor and a few of the Roti Canai are all wonderful addition to the local cuisines.