Tourism in Kota Tinggi

God creation was so undoubtly beautiful. Kota Tinggi has a lot to offer to visitors. Much of its natural beauty is untouched by human hands by decades of years. Thus it welcomed for those who treasure ancient historical and preserved history land. A few places we found out to be the eye of attraction to Kota Tinggi. Such places are Fireflies sightseeing along Johor River, Bazar Kota (City Market) ;where one can find local textiles, food and handicraft, Royal Johor Sultanate Tombs and ancient cemeteries belongs to people that opened Kota Tinggi, Recreational park and Waterfall, Fruit Farm, and a whole lot more. In the case of studies, our group has chosen a few places to focus on; Fireflies sightseeing, Bazaar Kota, historical tombs and cemeteries and also National Museum of Kota Tinggi. The fact that Kota Tinggi was so nearby Singapore, we can expect to see a lot of Singaporeans visitors. Not to forget also there are locals too.

Places Background

1. Fireflies sightseeing.

Hot spot for fireflies breeding along Johor River, this place are run by local people. Visitors are brought to cruise along Johor River in pitch black night, watching dazzling exchange of lights among fireflies. The insects breed on a tree which was called Berembang Tree along Johor River. Visitors are mainly Singaporean with a little numbers of local people.

2. Bazar Kota

Located at the centre of the town, its place for shoppers to grab some clothing, merchandise, handcraft, and local cuisine. Much of the shop owners are not insiders, not surprisingly, there are few from Cambodia that migrate to Malaysia. Since its opening, it has attracted countless tourist and local during festive season; to buy clothes.

3. Royal Sultanate Tombs and ancient cemeteries.

There are 3 places that are known to be historical site and are linked to Johor Sultanate. Places that involve are Kampong Kelantan, Kampong Makam, and Kampong Tembiuh. Lay on the land in Kampong Kelantan were the tomb of Laksamana Bentan and his wife; who were killed by Sultan Mahmud Mangkat Dijulang (Sultan Mahmud Syah II).The tomb is to be found near the riverside of Johor River. Move to the next village is Kampong Tembiuh which is located 2km from the Kota Tinggi Town. Prominent Cik Siti Aminah was believed to have 99 husbands, where all of them died, and eventually the she found her happiness when she married for the 100^th time. Her tomb can be found also near Johor River side. Johor Sultanate tombs can be found 2km from the Kota Tinggi Town in Kampong Makam.

Kota Tinggi Town

Kota Tinggi is located on the east of Johor state in Malaysia with Kota 3488.7 sq.km land also population of 192,220. Almost 65% of Kota Tinggi is surrounded by sea water. It was an area where water flows into a river or in other word river basin. One of the most fast developed areas, Kota Tinggi faces some of cases of floods. From data that been recorded for the past 60 years, flooding was the common events happened between December and early January.Tidal effect was one of the culprit for these flooding. Monsoon period was when the storm hit South China Sea, and part of Johor might get some stormy rain. A number of places have been identify to have series of flooding. These areas including Bandar Kota Tinggi, Kg Sg Telur, Kg Tembiuh, Batu 1 Jalan Mawai, Taman Mawai, Kg Sg Berangan, Kg Semangar Dalam, Kg Semangar Luar, Kg Jawa, Kg Kelantan, Kg Sg Sembilang, Kg Sri Jaya, Kg Rantau Panjang, Kg Panti and Kg Batu Empat. The land around Kota Tinggi are rich in the soil, making it the land of agricultural and developed very rapidly in such a time. Johor River acts as the main drainage system Kota Tinggi and there are few small rivers that flow through the town. There are Sg Permadi, Sg Kemang, Sg Kg Kelantan, Sg Bang, Sg Tembiuh , Sg Damar.

For those who wanted to get to Desaru, one must pass by Kota Tinggi district. For now, visitors and tourist still used the road to Desaru, but after the new highway is built from Senai to Desaru, it saves time about half and the way is much more comfortable. Economy in Kota Tinggi mainly depends on the tourism industy and the secondary business like homemade handicraft and fish chips. The tourism industry developed thanks to the Desaru Beach where it is one of attractive place in Malaysia. It is also best to describe Kota Tinggi as tourism spot as it has many great ancient places such as Royal Tombs, Forttress and ancient history.

History Of Kota Tinggi

Situated in southern part of Malaysia, Kota Tinggi was once a capital city for Johor. The town was developed along Johor River that flowed to the South China Sea. Thus, Sultan Johor Empire started to open ‘Johor Lama’ (Old Johor) as defence and fortress against enemy. The named Johor Lama given to Kota Tinggi after the centre of administration, shift to new place called Johor Bharu (new Johor). Historical evidence suggested that Old Johor has many ancient burial ground and royal Johor Sultanate tombs.

The first Johor Sultan that opened this place was Sultan Alaudin Riayat Shah II (1528-1564). He built a fortress on a high land. Today, the remains of bunkers and cannon can be seen at the Johor Lama Fort which situated 27km from Kota Tinggi. There were other famous Sultan of Johor reside in Kota Tinggi such as Sultan Muzzafar Shah (1564-1570), Sultan Alaudin Riayat Shah III ( 1597-1615), and Sultan Mahmud Shah II (1685-1699).

Kota Tinggi District.

Kota Tinggi is located on the east of Johor state in Malaysia. Almost 65% of Kota Tinggi is surrounded by sea water. It was an area where water flows into a river or in other word river basin. One of the most fast developed areas, Kota Tinggi faces some of cases of floods. From data that been recorded for the past 60 years, flooding was the common events happened between December and early January.Tidal effect was one of the culprit for these flooding. Monsoon period was when the storm hit South China Sea, and part of Johor might get some stormy rain. A number of places have been identify to have series of flooding. These areas including Bandar Kota Tinggi, Kg Sg Telur, Kg Tembiuh, Batu 1 Jalan Mawai, Taman Mawai, Kg Sg Berangan, Kg Semangar Dalam, Kg Semangar Luar, Kg Jawa, Kg Kelantan, Kg Sg Sembilang, Kg Sri Jaya, Kg Rantau Panjang, Kg Panti and Kg Batu Empat. The land around Kota Tinggi are rich in the soil, making it the land of agricultural and developed very rapidly in such a time. Johor River acts as the main drainage system Kota Tinggi and there are few small rivers that flow through the town. There are Sg Permadi, Sg Kemang, Sg Kg Kelantan, Sg Bang, Sg Tembiuh , Sg Damar. Remind that these rivers were only small river, and it can’t capacitate any large amounts of water.

Rapid urbanization has its own price. For starters, the water drainage system becomes less and less manageable. More infrastructures are built to facilitate people. Consequently, the water pipes and ways are getting tangle up, without any plan to unwind the mess. The flock of people to the town had made the housing area larger and to attain large area of housing, the drains must be enough for all. Surprisingly, the drains are inadequate in Kota Tinggi town for water to flow into the river. Worsen it more was that the garbage pollution that arises from the rapid urbanization causing clogged drains. The impact of clogged drains, inadequate drains, unplanned infrastructure, plus low land elevation are the reason of flooding as we have seen in recent years in Kota Tinggi.

However we cannot put the blame on rapid urbanization only. We have to look the other factors such as heavy rainfall that occur in December. This heavy rainfall, if lasted till few weeks can lead to massive flooding. Bandar Kota Tinggi is a low elevation land, where it was like a bowl. The water from the heavy rainfall will accumulate in that area without much time to flow back into the river.

To conclude this, I think that we must take care of our nature. Nature has given out all of its tressure and gives it to us. But now we exploit it with so much destruction. If we still didn’t manage the development of a certain area, the wrath of Mother Nature will bring us down. So, authorities, government, and also society mush take the responsibilities to manage our environment. Back to the old saying: prevention is better than cure.

Heritage

There was a mausoleum of Laksamana Bentan (Admiral of Bentan), situated in Kampung Makam, Kota Tinggi. It has a mystical value and legend surrounds the site. One of the tourist attractions from all over the country and outsiders, this site has a story behind of its name.

This tale was making the Burial site an interesting place to visit at Kota Tinggi. People wanted to see the Admiral and are labeled as heritage site by Kota Tinggi state. Sadly, this heritage site was damage during huge floods in December 2006. This crippled the tourism industry at Kota Tinggi. Much of the mausoleum is flooded and much work to do after that to restore the site. The restoration work was done perfectly after few months the flood subsided. It not only froze the tourism industry for a while but it also brings damage to the heritage that would be lost if not been taken care of.

The landscape around the site has altered the scenery. Bricks and buildings are stained with flood water, whereby the flood water contained debris and sand. The site was one of the many places to be visited by tourist in Kota Tinggi. Although it has been dragged by floods, the site until now, have some visitors who want to explore the history of Johor.
Flood brings much more downside than any other catastrophe. It consumed a lot of cost and losses. The losses can be divided into three main categories:
1. Direct tangible losses (direct physical losses)
2. Indirect tangible losses (indirect physical losses)
3. Intangible losses (losses)
Lost of heritage value are categorize in Intangible losses, they cannot be readily quantified because market value is absent. Tourist visitors are also drop after post-flooding.

News RewinD 2005

The big news for Malaysian by the end of 2005 is the Kota Tinggi Floods. Occurring date was on the 19th of December 2005. This catastrophe is very destructive. The city was broken down with no communication, electricity and food supply that last till a week. Bridges connected the town and kampong collapsed.

The restoration work for kota Tingi was assume a big hit for government. To built back a city with all the mud and destruction around it was no easy thing. Roads and bridges are damaged while the shops and all the housing area needed to be clean up. The impact was not only felt by government but also shop owners, who lost millions on ringgit. Shop owners feel their life was over when their shop is fully submerged. The misery does not effect to the shop owners but also to the people of Kota Tinggi. Cars, furniture, home appliances were broken. Not much can be saved but lives.

The cause of flooding is:
· Lack of drains
· Inadequate of waterways and rivers.
· Infrastructure crossing waterways.
· Tidal effect.
· Debris which impede free flow.
· Rapid urbanization.
· Areas of low elevation.

Catastrope

Flood that hit Kota Tinggi, Johor sets an example that we are encounter with unruly Mother Nature. It does bring a significant to many Malaysian.

The human descendent's had learned from history of our world. Here we are still learning about the urbanization and city development. To zoom in into this topic, I will focus on the deterioration of a city by major catastrophe such as floods that hit Kota Tinggi, Johor.

Since I was a child, the legend of Atlantis fascinated me. By now it is not just a myth that revolves around the disappearing of the Atlantis. Scientist reported that a giant tsunami hit the land and destroyed the life it has. It is said that the wave is as powerful as that hit Sri Lanka and the cost of Thailand back when in December 2004. Could this situation happen in our beloved country? (taken from The wave that destroyed Atlantis By Harvey Lilley BBC Timewatch)

Back here in Malaysia. Located on the continent of Asia, at the South East, near the equator, Peninsular Malaysia is a very small land compared to neighbors such as Thailand and Indonesia. So this does mean that Malaysia will probably vanish on the map of the world if massive flood such as that hit Atlantis City.