Pekan Air Panas

Pekan Air Panas is a small town in Segamat District, Johor, Malaysia, which is named after the hot springs available there. It is located about 14 km from Labis via Jalan Ayer Panas (Johor State Route J151). The town is also known as Tenang (not to be confused with Tenang Station, another town also located in Segamat District). A majority of the residents of the town are Chinese and Malay communities.

Pekan Air Panas is famed for its hot springs. Besides the hot springs, the town also houses several aborigine settlements (Perkampungan Orang Asli) including Bekok and also has mata kucing farms. Mata kucing (aka longan) is a small lychee-like local fruit with brown skin.

Etymology

Pekan Air Panas is named after the hot springs available near the town. The town is also known as Bukit. The settlement was opened on Thursday, 3 December 1806. The name Tenang comes from settler who first opened the settlement, Tuan Haji Muhammad Arifin bin Aladin when he found the new settlement area, which was so serene (hence the Malay word Tenang). After he perform his prayer, he decided to name this place with name Kampung Tenang (next to Pekan Air Panas), he also known as Tok Tenang. But most of business and facilities was located at Pekan Air Panas.

Pekan

Pekan, located on the banks of the Pahang River 50 km south of Kuantan and 280 km from Kuala Lumpur, is the Royal Town of the Malaysian state of Pahang Darul Makmur. Its name comes from a flower, the Bunga Pekan. Pekan is also the name of the district the town is situated in, and a parliamentary constituency in its own right. It is the home of the state's royal family headed by Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Al-Musta'in Billah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abu Bakar Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mu'adzamo Shah. It is also the hometown of the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, and the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Najib is also Pekan's current Member of Parliament.

The Masjid Abdullah, a landmark in Pekan which dates from the 1920s, and the newer Masjid Abu Bakar is near the Sultan Abu Bakar Museum. The stretch by the river bank from the Abu Bakar Royal Mosque heading towards the Sultan Abu Bakar Museum is Pekan's Heritage Route. As you walk towards the Town from the Sultan Abu Bakar Museum, you can visualize the busy river in the olden days transporting people and goods into this Royal Town.