Merlimau
Merlimau is a town in Jasin District, Malacca, Malaysia.[1][2] It is about 22 kilometers southeast of Malacca City. Until 40 years ago, was the main town travelers passed when traveling south of Peninsular Malaysia. Since then it was left out until more shophouses were constructed. Merlimau is between Melaka Town and Muar. There are housing areas in Merlimau and in nearby areas such as Air Tawar and Batu Gajah.
The area along the Merlimau-Jasin road has become a place of residence for students of Merlimau Polytechnics. There are two secondary schools: the Sekolah Datuk Rahman Yaakub (SDARY) and Sekolah Dang Anum (SDA) were established as early as the 1960s. The interchange with PLUS southern expressway was opened at Lipat Kajang.
Politically, Merlimau town is in parliament constituency of P139 Jasin, and Melaka State Legislative Hall of N27 Merlimau. The N27 area itself consists of 7 ballot boxes areas, namely Ayer Merbau, Chincin, Jasin Lalang, Merlimau Utara, Merlimau Pasir, Permatang Serai and Pengkalan Samak. Since independence until nowadays, both at parliamentary and state level, as many other parts of Malaysia, Merlimau has never been won by opposition parties.
Merlimau has a Fire Brigade and post-office facilities. The police station is about 1 km down south on the road to Muar. The post-office facilities are right on the centre of the old town, on the left side of the road leading to Batu Gajah, which could also led into AMJ, for those travelling to South.
Contents
History
From sources of Malaccan Malay people
It said the Malays are very good at playing first special dagger weapons. They strive exercises held, or the art of self-defense berpencak every day. Each one has a dagger as a weapon brought everywhere they go to defend themselves and resist the enemy. Keris is preserved and maintained. Way is to keep it "rubbed and dilimau". This means they must be rubbed with a dagger and ordered incense with lime. Kris merlimau tradition is still there among the Malay community that holds the keris its distinctive heritage. This ceremony is called "Keris Merlimau Ceremony". Every Friday night they must dilimau dagger. In this ceremony they gathered at the home Of Master to melimau dagger. When asked, "Where Interlocking". They replied, "Interlocking Melimau", Interlocking Melimau and finally the place was called "MERLIMAU".
From the stories Bugis descent
In 1511, Datuk Ma'mun and a Bugis Authority emigrated to Merlimau.He initially cut down forests to make the residence in the outback or in the forest up stream the Merlimau river, where it has never been explored. The forest was inhabited by wild animals, especially tigers, which have threaten many newcomers, as they lived on the edge of thick woods. As a result, the rich Datuk led their people to build the fence, blocking an attack or resist the danger of those tigers. In Malay, they used to call "mara rimau" (mara = advancing /coming / attacking, harimau or rimau = tiger) constructed the fence, to hold "rimau" from "mara". Because of this life-threatening situations, they named this place as Rimau Mara, Mara Rimau and eventually became" MERLIMAU ". [1]
The famous historical Demang Abdul Ghani Gallery is located here. About 3 kilometers away in Kampung Simpang, visitors can also have a look at the Tun Teja Mausoleum. The Tun Teja story goes back to the Malacca sultanate era.
Location
At present, Merlimau is 30 minutes away from the new North-South Expressway, a 4-lane highway opened in June 2007. This new highway known as Lebuh AMJ links Simpang Ampat in Alor Gajah and Muar in Johor. The highway junction is about 3 kilometers from Merlimau town, at the Merlimau-Jasin Road intersection. Merlimau can also be accessed through the old federal road from Melaka to Muar. There is no railway station in Merlimau. The nearest railway station is at Pulau Sebang (about 60 kilometers away) or at the Batang Melaka railway station (42 kilometer north of Jasin District).
Around Merlimau are the Sebatu and Simpang Pantai Aquaculture Zones. Kuala Sebatu itself is occupied by few fisherman boats and has a view of mangrove trees and the Malacca Straits. This area measuring 550 hectares in Sebatu has been identified as the site for the High Impact Project for the Aquaculture Industry to cultivate and harvest green molluscs. With this project, the Agriculture & Agro-based Industry Ministry hopes to increase molluscs harvesting in the state by 3-fold before the end of the 9th Malaysian Plan (ref: NST 14 December 2007). The Kuala Sebatu jetty is considered as one of the oldest jetty in Melaka stateship (ref: Utusan Malaysia 06/10/2009).
The Simpang Pantai Aquaculture Zone, started at end 2006 on the 13.2 hectares area is predicted to produce 8 tonnes of products by the end of this year (ref: BH 6 July 2007). The Sebatu Aquaculture Zones, as per LKIM website, is considered as High Impact Aquaculture Project. These Sebatu and Simpang Pantai Aquaculture Zones are potential tourist attractions for Merlimau. Other attractions could be the mangrove swamps about 6 kilometers along the flat muddy beach south of Merlimau to the estuary of Sungai Kesang which separates Melacca and Johor. With proper planning, eco-tourism activities can be established without destroying the fauna and flora of the swamps.
Should the Melaka and Johor government construct a highway from Ayer Keroh Interchange of PLUS Southern Expressway to Segamat-Kuantan highway (Federal Road No. 12) end point at Batu Anam, accessibility to Merlimau from the East Coast will be a lot of easier.
Future highway
- Malaysian government could build a federal road from these 3 towns, Asahan, Batang Melaka and Merlimau to Segamat, This construction could start in 2015 and completed in 2020.
- Malaysian government can also build a highway from Melaka, or Muar, to Segamat - Kuantan Highway, which is the Federal Route 12. This make made Merlimau easier accessed from East Cost.
- Private companies could also construct and operate highways linking Exit 231 Ayer Keroh or Exit235 Tangkak on North-South Expressway E2, to Exit 830 Gambang at East Coast Expressway E8. This will provide better access and traffic flow from Johore and Melaka areas to Kuantan areas, leading to Terengganu and Kelantan, using East Coast Expressway.
Notable natives
- Abu Zahar Ithnin, former Chief Minister of Malacca, Datuk Seri Abu Zahar Hj Ithnin who is the eighth chief minister and held the position from 23 May 1997 to 2 December 1999
- Ayda Jebat, actress, singer, model, product spokesperson
- Anuar Zain, vocalist, singer
- Dira Abu Zahar, actress, TV host
- Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysian politician who has served in the Cabinet of Malaysia as Minister of Transport since 2014, previously was Minister of Health from 18 March 2008 to 5 May 2013
- Roslan Ahmad, Malaysian politician who is Merlimau's Assemblyman (N27) Melaka
- Ziana Zain, pop singer-songwriter, model, entrepreneur and actress
See also
References
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- ↑ http://ww1.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2011&dt=0222&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Rencana&pg=re_07.htm
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