Johor Bahru

• Johor Bahru, also spelled Johor Baharu, Johor Baru, ("Baru" means "new" and "Johor" means "Jewel" in Malay) or Johore Bahru and abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland,[1] and Pasir Pelangi, the royal village, is located within Johor Bahru city.
• With a population of approximately 900,000 in the city, and nearly 2 million in its metropolitan area, it is the second largest urban area in the country after the national capital, Kuala Lumpur and its associated Klang Valley region.[2] The total population of the Singapore-Johor Bahru conurbation is 7 million, and part of the 8 million metropolitan area of the Sijori Growth Triangle, which is one of the highest in Southeast Asia.[3][4] Johor Bahru is within walking distance from Singapore[citation needed], and receives 49.9% of the country's annual 22.5 million foreign tourists via its bridges and road links to Singapore. The city is an important industrial, tourism and commercial hub for southern Malaysia and one of the biggest industrial centers of the country. The population growth rate of Johor Bahru is among the highest in Southeast Asia.
• The city of Johor Bahru is located at 1°29′N 103°44′E. The city council administers the highly developed southern central coast of the metropolitan area, with a total area of 185 km². It is situated on the Straits of Johor (also known as the Straits of Tebrau), which separates Malaysia and Singapore. Metropolitan Johor Bahru occupies extensive coastal land consisting of ecologically rich swamp lands and important river systems such as Sungai Johor, Sungai Pulai and Sungai Tebrau.
• Johor Bahru was founded in 1855 as when the sovereign ruler of Johor, Temenggong Daing Ibrahim established his administrative headquarters here. It was then-known as "Tanjung Puteri", and was a small Malay fishing village. Temenggong Ibrahim renamed "Tanjung Puteri" in 1858. His son and successor, Temenggong Abu Bakar (Sultan from 1885) renamed it as "Johor Bahru" on 1 January 1866. Johor Bahru quickly expanded into a town under Abu Bakar's direction. Many of the town's buildings were constructed during Abu Bakar's reign, notably the State Mosque, Istana Besar and the Menteri Besar's residence, many of which were built by Wong Ah Fook, a Toisanese-Chinese contractor who became a close patron of Abu Bakar. The town also saw an influx of Chinese immigrants settling in the town.
• Under Sultan Ibrahim's reign, Johor Bahru continued to witness modest developments; the Malay Peninsula railway extension was completed in 1909, and the completion of the Causeway in 1923 linked the railway and road systems between Singapore and Malay Peninsula.[10] Johor Bahru witnessed a modest rate of development during the interwar period. The state secretariat building, Sultan Ibrahim Building was completed in 1940 as the British colonial government attempted to streamline the state's administration.
• The Japanese army invaded Johor Bahru on 31 January 1942 during the Battle of Malaya, and the Sultan's residence at Istana Bukit Serene became the military's preparatory base for their conquest of Singapore. Shortly after the war ended in 1946, Johor Bahru became a hotspot for Malay nationalism in the state. A local politician, later to become the Menteri Besar of Johor, Onn Jaafar formed the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) in May 1946 after the Malays expressed widespread disenchantment with the British government for granting lax citizenship laws to non-Malays.
• Johor Bahru expanded in size from the 1960s onwards, and new townships and industrial estates were built in villages and hamlets such as Tebrau and Plentong that were north and east of Johor Bahru during the 1970s and 1980s. By the early 1990s, Johor Bahru had considerably expanded in size, and was officially granted recognition as a city on 1 January 1994. Johor Bahru's city council, Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB) was formed and the Dataran Bandaraya Johor Bahru was constructed to commemorate this event.
• A Central business district was developed in the centre of the city from the mid-1990s in the area around Jalan Wong Ah Fook and the Johor-Singapore Causeway. The state and federal government channelled considerable amount of funds for the development of the city, particularly more so after 2006, when the Iskandar Malaysia development region blueprint was formalized.