Besut ( Terengganuan and Kelantanese: ''Besuk'') is a

Terengganu Malay Terengganu Malay (; Terengganu Malay: ) is a Malayic languages, Malayic language spoken in the Malaysian state of Terengganu all the way southward to coastal Pahang and northeast Johor. It is the native language of Terengganuan Malays, Terengganu ...

and

Kelantan Malay Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and States and federal territories of Malaysia, federal state of Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l-Iman (c ...

federal state A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It is bordered by the state of

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

to the north and west and the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

to the east. It is the northern gateway to Terengganu. Kampung Raja is the district capital, though Jerteh is more developed. Another major town is the fishing port of Kuala Besut. There are other small towns and villages such as Jabi, Apal, Pasir Akar and Tembila.

History

There is a lack of written evidence on this district. The records by Munshi Abdullah in his book, ''Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan'', and ''Tuhfat al-Nafis'' by

Raja Ali Haji Raja Ali Haji bin Raja Haji Ahmad (1808/9–1869/75) was a 19th-century Bugis-Malay historian, poet and scholar who wrote Tuhfat al-Nafis, ''Tuhfal al-Nafis''. He was elevated to the status of National Hero of Indonesia in 2004. Haji has bee ...

touched a bit on Besut. Due to this, there are many stories that tell the matters regarding the origin of Besut. There is a legend that recounts the tale of how Besut got its name. According to this story, when the region was under Siamese rule, the district was named "Besut" which originated from the Siamese word "Be" meaning "district" and "sut" which means "a distant area" or "at the end." This story could be plausible since Besut is located quite far from Bangkok.

Part of Kelantan-Patani Empire

Besut was originally a land belonging to the Kelantan-Patani Sultanate. This can be proven through the reign of Raja Sakti I of Kelantan who united Patani under his administrative influence when the Ratu Kuning of Patani had died and had no heirs while Terengganu was under the protection of Kelantan-Patani. Kelantan's control over Besut only lasted 161 years when the Patani Sultanate was attacked by Siam in 1780 which caused Kelantan to split into two blocks namely East Kelantan and West Kelantan while Terengganu fled and took refuge with the Sultanate of Johore.

Administrative divisions

Besut District is divided into 16 ''

mukim A mukim is a type of administrative division used in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The word ''mukim'' is a loanword in English language, English. However, it was also originally a loanword in Malay language, Malay from the Arabic word ...

s'', which are: * Bukit Kenak * Bukit Puteri * Hulu Besut * Jabi * Kampung Raja * Keluang * Kerandang * Kuala Besut * Kubang Bemban * Lubuk Kawah * Pasir Akar * Pelagat * Pengkalan Nangka * Perhentian Islands * Tembila * Tenang

Population

As of 2010, there are approximately 140,952 people in Besut District, of various ethnicities, with the Malays being the majority. Other ethnic groups include Chinese and Siamese. Most Malays in Besut identify themselves with Kelantanese identity rather than the Terengganuan identity. One of the prominent examples is that they tend to speak Kelantanese Malay instead of

like in most parts of Terengganu. Meanwhile, the dominant minority ethnic Chinese population are more concentrated near Jerteh town.

Education

Besut has education institutions which are developed by both the central and Terengganu state governments such as, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Institute of Teacher's Education Sultan Mizan Campus, MARA Junior Science College (Kota Putra & Besut campuses), Kolej Komuniti Besut, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tengku Mahmud, Sekolah Menengah Agama Maarif, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Nurul Ittifaq, Madrasah Moden MAIDAM Besut and Sekolah Menengah IMTIAZ, Sekolah Menengah Agama Ittifakiah, among others. Hence, Besut is known as one of the best educational hub towns in Malaysia.

Tourism

There are a number of travel destinations that are located here, many of them islands or beaches. The most popular of all tourist sites in Besut are Perhentian Islands, one of the top island destinations in the world according to the

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. Perhentian Islands lie about 10.8 nautical miles (20 km) to the north east of Kuala Besut and are made up of islands such as Perhentian Besar, Perhentian Kecil, and Susu Dara. The islands are well known for their tropical reefs, scuba diving, and snorkeling. Besides Perhentian Islands, beaches are also among the top local places to visit. The beaches here are Air Tawar, Dendong, and Bukit Keluang beach. In the interior parts of the district, visitors can experience the

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

forest in areas such as Lata Tembakah and Lata Belatan, or climb the 1039m-high Gunung Tebu (Mount Tebu). Tourists can also enjoy bathing in the natural

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s of Kolam Air Panas La or La Hot Springs. The water here contains

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

and can reach 49 °C.

Federal Parliament and State Assembly Seats

List of Besut district representatives in the Federal Parliament (Dewan Rakyat)

List of Besut district representatives in the State Legislative Assembly of

References

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