Iskandar Puteri

History

Historically, the area surrounding present-day Iskandar Puteri consisted mostly of fishing villages, populated by Malays and Orang Laut tribes. Located on the western side of the Tebrau Strait, the area was once known as Sempit Puteri (narrow princess) as it was facing the narrowest point of the Tebrau Straits. In 1855, when Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim won his claim over the Johor throne, he relocated the capital city of the now-divided kingdom from Telok Blangah (Singapore) to Tanjung Puteri and renamed it Iskandar Puteri. His son Maharaja Abu Bakar, the first Sultan of modern Johor, renamed Tanjung Puteri to Johor Bahru upon his coronation in 1868 to distinguish his dynasty from the old Sultanate of Johor. During Abu Bakar's reign, Jaafar Muhammad was appointed as the first Menteri Besar of Johor. According to a story from Johor Heritage Foundation (), during his journey to Sempit Puteri, the paddle of the sampan that Dato Jaafar was boarding broke. That event gave the place its new name Gelang Patah (broken paddle). As many as eight local councils (majlis tempatan) were set up in the 1950s and 1960s to oversee municipal works in what would become the Johor Bahru Tengah or Central Johor Bahru District then rural areas (not to be confused with Johor Bahru Town Centre, now City Centre, which is also called Central Johor Bahru). The smaller local councils were merged on 1 March 1978 to form the Johor Bahru Tengah District Council (, MDJBT), as the local authority in Johor Bahru District's central rural areas. The former local council areas of Skudai, Lima Kedai, Gelang Patah, Kangkar Pulai and Ulu Choh made up the western part of Johor Bahru Tengah, while that of Ulu Tiram, Plentong and Masai made up the eastern part. Johor Bahru Tengah was granted municipal status in…