Mukah Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions in
Sarawak
Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...
,
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 was established on 1 March 2002 and it has a total area of 6,997.61 square kilometres.
Mukah Division contains five administrative districts:
Mukah
Mukah ( muːkəh), historically known as Muka, is a coastal town which has served as the capital and the administrative center of the Mukah Division since 1 March 2002.
The district also covers an area of with a population about 49,900 in t ...
,
Dalat,
Daro,
Matu and
Tanjung Manis District. The total population is 110,543.
The population is culturally mixed, with mostly
Melanau
Melanau (Malaysian language, Malay: ''Orang Melanau'', Melanau language, Melanau: ''Tenawan Melanau'') or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia, and also present in West Kaliman ...
,
Malay,
Iban, and
Chinese predominating.
Resident Roll of Honor
Development
As a relatively new division in
Sarawak
Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...
, Mukah identifies seven core development sectors. Major rivers in Mukah are Batang Mukah,
Batang Oya,
Batang Igan and
Batang Rajang. The sectors are as follows;
*Fishery
*Agriculture
*Industry
*Tourism
*Human Resource
*Infrastructure and Info-structure
*Community Harmonious Lives (''Kesejahteraan Hidup Masyarakat'')
Infrastructure
After a few years, the division has completed a coastal road that connects Kuala Balingian/
Balingian
Balingian also known as Kuala Balingian is a town in Sarawak, Malaysia. It lies approximately east-north-east of the state capital Kuching.
Etymology
Baligian got its name from a river crossing the town. The river was once used by the local re ...
/
Mukah
Mukah ( muːkəh), historically known as Muka, is a coastal town which has served as the capital and the administrative center of the Mukah Division since 1 March 2002.
The district also covers an area of with a population about 49,900 in t ...
/
Dalat/
Oya/
Igan/
Matu/
Daro.A RM 48 million, 170 meters double-arch suspension bridge over Batang Mukah was opened to public on 16 September 2005.
During the 2014 Balingian by-election, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin
Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin (; ), is a Malaysian politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2020 to 2021. Appointed as prime minister amid a 2020–2022 Malay ...
has announced that a new airport will be built for Mukah. The overall cost of the project is estimated at RM 600 million. The earthworks began on 16 April 2014 at a site about 7 kilometers from the town centre.
As of February 2015, 16% of the construction was completed.
Education
There are two higher education institutes in the division;
UiTM Mukah campus and Mukah Polytechnic. Also, there is a coal power plant built in Matadeng, some 30 km from the Mukah town. In March 2015,
Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud has launched the Laila Taib College (KLT) Mukah Campus. The 35-acre campus is within the Mukah Education Hub and costs RM 336 million. The campus is still under construction.
Fishery
Meanwhile, in Belawai, the fishery sector is being focused. There is Tanjung Manis Deep Sea Fishery Complex to support the sector. Tanjung Manis also connected to
Sibu
Sibu is a landlocked city located in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It serves as the capital of Sibu District within Sibu Division and is situated on the island of Borneo. Covering an area of , the city is positioned at the conf ...
via Serdeng/Tanjung Manis/Bruit/Sg.Nai Road and Sibu/Bawang Assan/Serdeng Road.
The fishery industry is synonym with Mukah town too. The
Melanau
Melanau (Malaysian language, Malay: ''Orang Melanau'', Melanau language, Melanau: ''Tenawan Melanau'') or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia, and also present in West Kaliman ...
s are fish lovers and fish are incorporated in traditional dishes, for example ''umai''. Mukah town even has statues of ''Ikan Merah''(
Red Snapper) and ''Udang''(
Prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton
An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...
) that
suggests the importance of the industry to the town and the division wholly.
Shopping malls
*Medan Mall
*Everwin Supermarket
*Glory Supermarket
*Mukah Central(Under Construction)
Tourism
Mukah offers a different tourism attraction in Sarawak. Being the only Melanau-majority town, the
Melanau
Melanau (Malaysian language, Malay: ''Orang Melanau'', Melanau language, Melanau: ''Tenawan Melanau'') or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia, and also present in West Kaliman ...
culture is the best that Mukah has to offer.
Kaul Festival (''Pesta Kaul'')
There is a grand ''Kaul'' Festival (Pesta Kaul in Malay) held annually at Kala Dana Beach (Pantai Kala Dana in Malay) at Mukah. In 2012, approximately 70,000 visitors attended the festival. A park called Kala Dana Recreation Park or Site of Kaul Festival (Tapak Pesta Kaul) was built there and had recently been renovated and is now more modern. It also has an observation tower. This festival attracts many visitors from Sarawak-wide and sometimes even foreign tourists. The chief minister also attends this festival each year. For 2014, the festival was held on 23–27 April.
Places of interest
Some of the places of interest in Mukah Division are:
*Bruit National Park, Daro
*Sungai Pasin Wildlife Park, Matu
*Kampung Sok Melanau Longhouse, Matu
*Sago Farm, Dalat
*Kenyana Lake, Mukah
*Taman Tanjung Pedada, Kpg. Tanjung, Mukah
*Kala Dana Recreation Park, Mukah
*Setia Raja Boulevard Recreation Park, Mukah
*Blue Horizon Beach, Mukah
*Kampung Kuala Hilir Oya, Dalat
*Telaga Penawar Kampung Jemoreng, Matu
*Belawai Beach, Daro
*Lamin Dana (Traditional Melanau Longhouse), Mukah
*Pantai Kampung Judan Hilir, Mukah
Agriculture
The main agricultural products are
oil palm
''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil.
Description
Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...
,
sago
Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...
,
paddy,
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...
and
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...
.
Industry
In 1996, the Mukah Light Industrial Estate was established by the Mukah river, about 3 km from the Mukah town. The planned area covers 61 hectares. The other industrial estate in Mukah Division is the Tanjung Manis Timber Processing Zone developed by Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC).
Demography
Ethnic groups
As of 2010,
Melanau
Melanau (Malaysian language, Malay: ''Orang Melanau'', Melanau language, Melanau: ''Tenawan Melanau'') or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia, and also present in West Kaliman ...
is the largest ethnic group in Mukah Division with more than half of the population identified themselves as Melanau.
Iban is the second largest with 18.6% of the population.
Administration
Members of Parliament
References
External links
Mukah Tourism
{{coord missing, Malaysia
2002 establishments in Malaysia