Bukit Marak (literally Shining Hill) is a village in Bachok District,

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"). ...

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 ...

, located about south of the state capital

Kota Bharu Kota Bharu ( Kelantanese: ''Koto Baghu''), colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mout ...

. It is famous as the childhood home of

Puteri Saadong Puteri Saadong (died after 1671), was the queen regnant of Kelantan in 1667–1671. She was the adopted daughter of Siti Wan Kembang (Che Siti), the legendary Queen of Kelantan. She was the daughter of , the , and married . Siti Wan Kembang, w ...

, and thus has great significance in the history of the Sultanate of Kelantan. The village derives its name from a local hill, one of the last hillocks in the district. The hill has some attractions for tourists, and draws thousands of visitors every weekend both for hiking and for sightseeing. Among these are a famous pool in which Puteri Saadong was believed to have bathed, and three

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

rocks at the peak of the hill resembling Puteri Saadong's favourite musical instrument. However, the hill is being negatively affected by excavation of

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

for use in

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

; local villagers are said to be selling soil from the hill at RM40 for one lorry-load. Aside from the damage to the historical site, this also may introduce the danger of

mudslide A mudflow, also known as mudslide or mud flow, is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris and dirt that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/ ...

s and

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

season. The state government has offered to purchase the hill from its owners in accordance with the

National Heritage Act 2005 National Heritage Act is a stock short title used in Malaysia and the United Kingdom for legislation relating to national heritage. List Malaysia *The National Heritage Act 2005 United Kingdom The National Heritage Acts comprise four acts of t ...

, in order to prevent further damage.

References

Bachok District Villages in Kelantan {{Kelantan-geo-stub