Karak is a small town in Bentong District, Pahang, Malaysia. Located at the foothills of Malaysia's Titiwangsa Mountain Range, it is well known as a rest town along the Federal Route 2 from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan and lends its name to the Karak Highway, or the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Expressway linking it to the country's capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Town
The town of Karak and its outlying areas are located about 20 km southeast of the region's municipal capital of Bentong, at an elevation of 72 metres,Elevation of Karak, Pahang, Malaysia, Worldwide Elevation Map Finder. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. with several outlying villages within the area's outskirts, including Kampung Cinta Manis, Kampung Jambu Rias, Kampung Karak Setia, Kampung Sungai Dua, and Taman Seri Bentong, all located within the town's sub-district outskirts.
The town's exact population is unknown, however a 2020 census by the Department of Statistics placed the Pahang state assembly seat of Sabai (which Karak is a part of) at 21,543 people.Table 1.0: Selected statistics of basic information, Parliament of Bentong, Pahang, 2020 , P.089 Bentong, Pahang, Statistik Subnasional Parlimen dan DUN, Department of Statistics, Malaysia. Retrieved on April 19, 2022.
Much of the town is located along the main Jalan Lama Bentong-Karak (Old Bentong-Karak road in English) trunk road coming from the municipal capital of Bentong, with a fork in the road on its eastern outskirts bound for the village of Lanchang in the east and the village of Telemong in the south.
The town can be accessed via Exit 813 just off the eastern end of the Karak Highway and the beginning of the East Coast Expressway ,LPT – KLK Component, ANIH Berhad. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. both managed by the highway concessionaire ANIH Berhad. The expressway runs parallel to the Federal Route 2 trunk road, which cuts through the town linking it to Gombak, Selangor.
Considered a small but growing town by modern Malaysian standards, Karak is home to several residential areas, a police station, a fire department, a government clinic,Klinik Kesihatan - Daerah Bentong, Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Pahang. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. several national as well as Chinese and Tamil vernacular schoolsSekolah, Majlis Perbandaran Bentong. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. in and around the town, and two local community colleges: the Kolej Yayasan Pahang Advanced Skills and the Malaysian Technical Skills Academy.
It is also home to several places of worship, including three mosques: the Masjid Jamek Bandar KarakMasjid Jamek Bandar Karak, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. in the town's limits, as well as two more on the town's eastern outskirts, the Masjid Karak SetiaMasjid Karak Setia, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. and the Masjid Al-Ihsan Kg. Jambu Rias,Masjid Al-Ihsan Kg. Jambu Rias, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. the Karak Chinese Methodist Church,Karak Chinese Methodist Church, The Methodist Church in Malaysia. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. the Sri Bala Subramaniar Hindu temple,Sri Bala Subramaniar Temple Karak, Pahang, Malaysia, Murugan Adimai. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. two Chinese temples, including a temple hall within the town's limits Chinese Temple Hall Karak, Google Maps. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. and the Ti Mu templeTi Mu Temple, World Orgs. Retrieved on April 19, 2022. on the town's outskirts.
There are three petrol stations, two banks, a post office, and several commercial shoplots placed throughout the town. The shoplots include restaurants, vehicle workshops, convenience stores, mini-markets, and various other businesses.
History
The area known as Karak is believed to have been named after the Karak River located on the outskirts of the town by travelers from Sumatra, Indonesia who settled there in ages past.KARAK BUKAN DI-BUKA OLEH 'KARAK SINGH', Berita Harian, 28 September 1967, Page 4. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. It began to gain prominence during Malaya's British colonial era, as Pahang was one of the four states administered by British Residents under the federation of the Federated Malay States.
British colonial era
Foreign-run rubber plantations were then sited across Pahang, with the British-based Karak Rubber Company formed in 1907The Karak Rubber Company, Straits Echo, 17 October 1907, Page 5. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. acquiring 2,000 acres of forest area in the Bentong district, which was held on a lease from the Resident-General of the Federated Malay States. The company was first poised to develop the land by planting 1,000 acres with rubber over the next three years, with 100 acres already cleared, and the rest to follow suit.
Progress was slow at first,Thursday, Oct 8, 1908., The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (Weekly), 8 October 1908, Page 238. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.[Karak Rubber. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19110426-1.2.106], The Straits Times, 26 April 1911, Page 12. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. though the Karak estate's manager E. H. Bratt found while the soil was "very good",Malayan Companies., Straits Echo, 14 January 1909, Page 5. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. the only lacking was manpower. Up to early 1911, the estate had been employing Tamilian Indian and local Malay labourers, and had just begun to see new Chinese workers come in.KARAK RUBBER COMPANY., The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 26 April 1910, Page 2. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
The estate first started to tap on their rubber trees in September 1912,KARAK RUBBER COMPANY., The Straits Times, 24 June 1913, Page 12. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. with some 4,379 lbs of rubber harvested by the end of the year. The harvesting of the crop picked up over 1913, with 36,501 lbs of rubber produced, as a factory equipped with machinery was built and a motor lorry bought.Rubber Reports., The Straits Times, 10 June 1914, Page 12. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. Some 662 acres of the company's reserve land, deemed of no use to the company, was then surrendered to the government.
Rubber output in Karak grew immensely over the years with 247,091 lbs in 1917Karak Rubber., Straits Budget, 1 August 1919, Page 1. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. up to 521,417 lbs in 1930 KARAK RUBBER., Straits Budget, 2 July 1931, Page 1. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. as it confirmed a total planted acreage of 1,173 acres by the end of 1935.STERLING RUBBER CO. RESULTS., The Straits Times, 30 April 1936, Page 7. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
Roads linking the town to other population centers, such as one to Mentakab in 1924,Supplement, F.M.S. Government Gazette, 1925. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. were also built. In 1939, the town of Karak was listed as a "smaller commercial centre" with a population of about 300 people.A Historical Geography of Pahang, Monographs of the Malaysian Branch Royal Asiatic Society, Monograph No. 4, 1973, pg. 139. By Dr R. G. Cant. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
The town was also visited in January 1928 by Hugh Clifford, the Governor of the Straits Settlements and British High Commissioner in Malaya, where he served from 1927 until 1929, during a tour of Pahang over the new year. A former British Resident of Pahang from 1896 to 1900, he stopped in Karak on January 10SIR HUGH REVISITS PAHANG, Malaya Tribune, 17 February 1928, Page 2. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. to have tea with the local Penghulu chief of the Sabai mukim (sub-district), and was escorted under a royal yellow umbrella upon his arrival. He then inspected the town's Malay School, before he was greeted by the manager of the Karak Rubber Estate and its labour force.
Mining activities were also prevalent in the area, with the Karak Tin Company sited next to the Bentong river,Pahang State History: A Review of the Published Literature and Existing Gaps, Abu Talib Ahmad, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. though the mine closed in 1957,STRAITS TIN: A brief account of the first seventy-five years of The Straits Trading Company, Limited, K. G. Tregonning, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 36, No. 1 (201) (May, 1963), pp. 79-152. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. the year of the country's independence.
The Malayan Emergency
In the years following the Second World War, the town and the area around it became a hotbed of communist activity perpetrated by pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), with the road from Bentong to Karak described as "at one time the most dangerous in the Federation".Troops bag Red boss of gold mine town, Straits Budget, 7 May 1953, Page 16. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
Even prior to a state of emergency being declared in June 1948, police found a weapons cache near Karak in 1947, discovering 27 grenades, several firearms and cases of explosives after a three-hour search.SELANGOR POLICE MAKE ARMS HAULS, The Straits Times, 29 October 1947, Page 5. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. The cache was believed to have come from a Royal Air Force drop for the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army during the Japanese occupation of Malaya.
Soon after hostilities broke out in 1948, MNLA fighters (termed by the government as "bandits") began to emerge from the jungle, ambushing patrols by security forces. On May 25, 1949, they ambushed two trucks heading to Karak from the village of Manchis escorted by seven Nepali Gurkhas soldiers, killing one and wounding five others,Big Bandit Gang Ambushes Convoy, The Straits Times, 26 May 1949, Page 10. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. before leaving behind the bodies of two Chinese. The two bodies were later identified as Kuomintang members from the village who were abducted from their house on May 24, tied up and later killed.INDIAN SHOT DEAD NEAR MENTAKAB AIRFIELD, Indian Daily Mail, 27 May 1949, Page 4. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
Two months later on July 3, the government imposed a strict curfew in 18 towns in Negeri Sembilan and Pahang including Karak, to last from 7.30pm to 5.30am every day,Big Curfew Will Start Tonight, Malaya Tribune, 3 July 1949, Page 1. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. with all persons to remain indoors unless they had an official permit.
Passenger buses heading to and from Karak were also frequently attacked,BANDITS CAUSE $200,000 DAMAGE, Malaya Tribune, 6 October 1949, Page 3. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. and those that didn't escape were ordered to stop, were set on fireBandits Fire At P. W .D. Truck Carrying Tamil Labourer!, Indian Daily Mail, 23 November 1949, Page 4. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.Bandits Derail Gemas Train, The Straits Times, 2 March 1950, Page 7. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. and their occupants robbed with their identity cards seized.Student Arrested For Possessing Subversive Literature, Indian Daily Mail, 2 March 1950, Page 4. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.Two Singaporeans Arrested Near Scene Of Robbery In Johore, Indian Daily Mail, 31 December 1949, Page 1. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.POLICE FIGHT WAY OUT OF BANDIT AMBUSH, Malaya Tribune, 30 March 1950, Page 3. Retrieved on April 18, 2022.
MNLA fighters also found their way into the town of Karak to carry out attacks. In one case on October 27, 1949, a hand grenade was thrown into a shop owned by Teh Eng Suan, a member of the Bentong Town Board and a leader of the local Chinese community in Bentong, exploding at the side of his desk.BANDITS MURDER 3 WOMEN, The Straits Times, 27 October 1949, Page 1. Retrieved on April 18, 2022. The blast killed three women instantly, and wounded three adults and four children, including Teh and his 10-year-old son. Police immediately screened the town and detained three suspects.