Pontian Kechil, Johor

Pontian Kechil Travel Tips (15 September, 2016)

B. Melayu

Pontian Kechil (GPS: 1.48873, 103.38843) is the main town in Pontian District, as well as the surrounding towns in the southwestern part of Johor. There are in fact two towns by that name, Pontian Kechil and Pontian Besar to the north of it. These are collectively known simply as Pontian, though Pontian Kechil is where the administrative centre for Pontian District is located. Both towns are named after the rivers that flow through them, Sungai Pontian Kechil and Sungai Pontian Besar.

The area that is today Pontian was settled by Malay, Bugis and Javanese settlers. According to the Kesultanan Johor blog, in the past, the area was known as Kukup or Kukub, after the town that is today part of Pontian District.¹ The name Pontian itself is said to have been a corruption of "Perhentian". It refers to pirate hideouts in the estuaries of the two rivers. During bad weather, ships would enter the estuaries to seek shelter, and there, they would be ambushed by the pirates.

The main road through Pontian District is called Jalan Alsagoff. Now part of Federal Route 5, this road was named after Tuan Syed Muhamad Alsagoff, an Arab merchant from Singapore who arrived in the area in 1878 and developed it for agriculture.