Introduction to Kukup water settlement

2.1.1 The forming background

Kukup water settlement includes two villages: Kukup Laut water village and Ayer Masin water village. It is surrounded by mangrove wetlands from inland and island (Figure 2.1) and exists as low-lying land (Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.3). The island of Kukup national park is 1 kilometer offshore from Kukup settlement. It is one of the largest uninhabited mangroves in the world and is entirely covered by mangroves and mudflats. The area of the island is 6.472 square kilometers and is surrounded by 8 square kilometers of mudflats.

As for Kukup transportation, it is located in the district of Pontian, state of Johor and is situated approximately 16 kilometers in the south of Pontian city center. It is linked by Kukup Road (Jalan Kukup), the south of main traffic route 95 junction heading to Kukup from Pontian.

The land use regulation of Pontian (Figure 2.4) shows that the zoning of Kukup settlement is in commercial zone where the important supply source of fishery and its

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leisure facilities supporting the 1kilometers away natural reserve land Kukup Island National Park.

Figure 2.1 Protected area system in Peninsular Malaysia Source: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 2007

Figure 2.2 Terrain of Pontian district Source: Google maps, 2014

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Figure 2.3 Terrain of Kukup water settlement Source: Google maps, 2014

Figure 2.4 Land use of Pontian and location of case study Source: Pontian District Council (left); JUPEM

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According to oral history, the settlement was set up on 1860s. Kukup Laut was formed first and later Ayer Masin. A wide-accepted explanation to its forming background is came from Kadir (1955). The topographic advantage of the Straits of Kukup to be naturally sheltered by Kukup Island had largely weakened waves and winds from the Strait of Malacca. Based on the strategic location and naturally formed haven, the Straits of Kukup attracted sea pirates and travelers especially from Malacca and Temasek (former name of Singapore). However, the travelers who encountered storms and seek shelter usually faced pirates’ threat of robbery and kidnap. Hence, people called the place Telukup (telungkup, means overturn), to express the fear of boat capsizing in the risk of encountering pirates¹². The name Telukup was later evolved to Kukub and then the current name Kukup.

The position of Kukup was increasingly important since an Tamasek Arab Syed Muhammad bin Ahmad Alsagoff (known also as Nong Chik) had obtained the approval of the Sultan of Johor to develop the Southwest Coast of Johor on 1878 (Said, 1977). Harbor and jetties were gradually built and also the administration office. Kukup became more and more prosperous and attracted the Chinese immigrants travelled by the sea to settle down.

The district was originally centered by Kukup and named Kukup District until road system from Pontian to state capital Johor Bahru constructed by 1900, followed by the construction from Pontian to Kukup by 1910s. The completion of regional road system raised the importance of Pontian’s location and the district administration office then moved to Pontian. Kukup District was renamed to Pontian District by 1921 (MDP, 2013).

Despite the social-economic contribution of Kukup settlement, it had had treated as illegal settlement due to its location on sea. The situation was just recently solved when official land grant on 2012 (NST, 2012). The settlement has always been self-governed by the villagers without intervention of government or legislation power and thus shaped a unique spatial pattern by grass roots’ measures while attempts to adapt environment change.

12 There were other two versions about the name of Kukup. One stated that it came from the Malacca people who attempted to use sea route to escape from the ruling of Dutch from 1819 to 1824. They called the Strait

“telutup” due to fear. Another statement claimed that the name came from “kukub”, which means "stars" in Arabic and related to the Islam religion.

47 2.1.2 The form determinants

A settlement is the result of locally effective determinants. From this viewpoint, the research analyzes the determinants of two different origins:

1) Natural world determinants which derive from geographical ‘natural-world’

attributes of the location of a settlement:

a. Topography: The terrain on which a settlement became established or over which it expanded, could have an underlying effect not only on geographical extent, but also on direction of growth. The settlement was built along the coast which surrounding by swampy mangrove forest and mudflats. It was built in the shadow of Kukup Island that acts as the shelter of tidal waves and winds and become the critical factor to forming settlement. Meanwhile, the drinking water source was accessible at nearby locations brought another advantage to form settlement. In the case of Kukup Laut, the village generated parallel to the contour of the coast. In the case of Ayer Masin, the village origin occurred at both sides of the river banks and then gradually heading to the center of the sheltered shadow.

b. Climate: Shelter has been a fundamental human need, of varying significance and taking different forms depending on local climatic circumstances. Natural-climate-response shelter plays fundamental role due to its effect on the formation and arrangement of houses. The location in between the sea and mangrove forest makes the place an ideal site for the settlement due to well ventilation and rainfall. On the other hand, climatic and natural disaster adjustment towards land erosion and subsidence has facilitated direction of settlement growth. It will be described in next section. The roof shape, stilt structure and windows are also concrete response to the climate and will be discussed in details in Chapter 3.

c. Available construction materials: In history, there was no alternative for settlement but to use local materials due to the constraint of transportation and construction technology. Thus, the availability to construction materials is essential to formation of settlement. In the case of Kukup settlement, the materials were from the surroundings mangrove forests. Mangrove timber has the advantage to adapt saline water, meanwhile it is not conducive to apply when exposed to air. It provided the chance to the settlement be built on the sea, and only on the sea.

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Figure 2.5 Kukup settlements in 1940s Source: unattributed online

(2) Man-made determinants: The man-made determinants are various comparative to natural world determinants. The amount of man-made determinants has continued to increase followed the evolvement of urban societies and technologies. Major determinants that brought formative influence to Kukup settlement were:

a. Economic: Kukup was previously one of the most important agricultural and commercial area in late of eighteenth century. The economic advantage contributed the place with better infrastructure and attracted people to settle down. Furthermore, the concern to occupy strategic location in order to access to sea is far more important to fishery rather than inland access. It was considered more attractive to build settlement on sea.

b. Mobility: Sea route was the major transportation in earlier centuries. The strategic location between Temasek and Malacca as well as the calm waters originally made it as rest stop of travelers and gradually the settlers.

c. Ethnic of settler: The immigrants were originally from Tong’an and Kinmen, where are located along the sea. The location of Kukup is similar to their native land and allowed them to conduct familiar livelihoods that made the place ideal for them to settle down.

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