Kluang

Kluang, formerly Keluang, is a town in Kluang District, Johor, Malaysia. Kluang was founded in 1915 as the administrative capital of central Johor by the British. It is located in the centre of the state and is within 90 minutes of all major urban areas of Johor. Kluang, combined with Batu Pahat, encompasses central Johor with a market catchment of over 700,000. Over the 20th century, Kluang's economy transitioned from rubber to palm oil and now has some of Malaysia's largest organic farms. The industrial sector has also grown significantly with multinational investment and a critical mass of tile manufacturers enabling the district to be called the 'tile capital of Malaysia'. The organic farming sector has also boosted Kluang as an ecotourism destination with key farms such as Zenxin, UK Agro and Kahang Organic Rice Farm.

History

The name Kluang derives from the Malay word 'keluang' which means a type of flying fox or rather a type of fruit bat, which used to be plentiful in the district decades ago. They have almost completely disappeared due to the combination of hunting and destruction of their natural habitat.
Kluang was founded in 1915 as the administrative capital for central Johor by the British. The main railway line linking north to south Malaya was built passing through Kluang and this helped in its growth. Roads were built to link Kluang to Johor Bahru towards the south-east, to Batu Pahat towards the south-west and to Mersing towards the north-east.
During World War II, the town of Kluang was occupied by Japanese forces on 25 January 1942 as they advanced southwards as it was abandoned by Allied forces withdrawing towards Singapore. General Yamashita moved his headquarters forward from Kuala Lumpur to Kluang on 27 January 1942 as he advanced southwards. The Japanese later used the airfield in Kluang to launch air attacks on targets ranging from Singapore to Sumatra.
In the mid-1950s the airfield was used for spotter planes and helicopters searching for communists who were encamped in the Bukit Lambak area and as an artillery base. It served as a base for the Kluang Flying Club which used old Tiger Moth biplanes. Communists were largely driven out of the area in the six months leading up to Merdeka in 1957. The area around the airfield was a substantial army garrison with many different units and a large hospital. The 75 Workshop was an aviation united based in Kluang from 1946 to 1970. The veteran's group continues to hold reunions throughout the world.
There was a very big flood in Kluang in 1969. The river overflowed by 7 to 10 feet and much damage was caused to property.
Today, the Malaysian Army maintains military camps in Kluang at Kem Batu Tiga and Kem Mahkota, which hosts the Malaysian Army Aviation Unit, 881 Squadron.

Geography

Kluang is located in the centre of Johor, a 90-minute drive from most urban areas in the country.
Kluang town lies in an area of undulating hills. The highest point is Gunung Lambak, a landmark 510 m mountain and which lies at the eastern oustkirts of the town. In the eastern part of the district lies the Gunung Belumut Recreational Forest.
The Kluang Municipal Council's administrative area, where the town is located is approximately 126.57 square kilometers.
Kluang is landlocked and has no seafront. The Mengkibol River runs through the centre of the town while the Melantai River runs through the eastern part and the Sembrong River runs through the western part.
Urban sprawl in Kluang from the 1970s to 2000 has seen Kluang expand in a horizontal fashion, roughly along the major roads leading west to east. The town centre itself has more than tripled in size in terms of the number and land area occupied by commercial and retail buildings in that time. Many acres of rubber and oil palm plantations have been re-developed into housing estates.

Demographics

As of 2010, total population of Kluang District was 319,629 people. In 2000, the population growth was 1.48%.
As of 2022, the population of Kluang District was 323,762 residents out of four million statewide, with 55.4% of them being male.

Government and politics

Kluang Municipal Council, previously known as the Kluang North District Council is the local authority which administrates the town of Kluang in Kluang District, Johor, Malaysia since 8 May 2001. The latter was formed on 1 January 1977 by merging the Kluang Town Council and the local councils of Kampong Paya, Kampong Gajah, Sri Lalang, Chamek and Paloh. Its current headquarters is located at Persiaran Utama Bandar Primer, replacing its previous location at Jalan Kota Tinggi since 1 July 2025.

Presidents of Kluang

To date, 38 people have been appointed as presidents of Kluang Town Board and Town, District and Municipal Councils, two of which are women.

#	Name	Term start	Term end
1	Isa Ahmad	1932	1945
2	Rahman Jaafar	1945	1949
3	Hassan Omar	1950	1952
4	Salim Sabtu	1952	1953
5	Raja Omar Chik	1953	1955
6	Zainal Abidin Mohamed	1955	1957
7	Abdullah Ahmad	1957	1959
8	Salleh Ismail	1959	1960
9	Raub Saat	1960	1962
10	Ibrahim Majid	1962	1964
11	Kadir Abdullah	1964	1966
12	Rahman Ahmad	1966	1968
13	Osman Wahid	1968	1969
14	Abdullah Rahman	1969	1972
15	Ithnin Maarud	1972	1974
16	Sulaiman Md Noor	1974	1976
17	Sukiman Sahlan	1976	1979
18	Rahmat Asri	1979	1980
19	Hasmoni Salim	1980	1982
20	Musiran Ali	1982	1985
21	Ismail Aziz	1985	1988
22	Johari Suratman	1988	1995
23	Zabha Umar	1995	1997
24	Abd Kadir Maksom	1997	1999
25	Hamsan Saringat	2000	2003
26	Jabar Md Tahir	1 January 2004	31 May 2004
27	Abd Razak Md Salleh	1 June 2004	31 January 2006
28	Muji Salimon	1 February 2006	31 December 2006
29	Mislan Karmani	1 January 2007	16 January 2008
30	Abd Rahman Mohamed Dewam	16 January 2008	31 March 2011
31	Ahmad Ma'in	1 April 2011	31 May 2013
32	Adib Azhari Daud	1 June 2013	20 June 2015
33	Ismail Abu	21 June 2015	16 January 2017
34	Nasri Md Ali	17 January 2017	31 October 2018
35	Mohd Rafi Abdullah	1 November 2018	30 January 2021
36	Norliyati Md Nor	1 February 2021	14 February 2023
37	Azurawati Wahid	15 February 2023	19 October 2024
38	Mohd Fahmi Yahya	20 October 2024	Present

Secretaries of Kluang

To date, 37 people have been appointed as secretaries of Kluang Town, District and Municipal Councils.

#	Name	Term start	Term end
1	Idris Mohamed	1961	1961
2	Jamari Karyadi	1961	1963
3	Ibrahim Abdul Ghani	1963	1963
4	Sarajudin Ali	1964	1965
5	Ibrahim Abdul Ghani	1965	1965
6	Abu Bakar Ahmad	1965	1967
7	Najib Masod	1967	1968
8	Ibrahim Abdul Ghani	1968	1969
9	Endan Dahlan	1969	1970
10	Mohamad Abdullah	1970	1970
11	Onn Ahmad	1971	1971
12	Mohamad Ibrahim Jaafar	1971	1972
13	Shahron Abdul Wahab	1972	1975
14	Ismail Yunos	1975	1975
15	Abdul Rahman Ahmad	1975	1976
16	Baderi Dasuki	1977	1980
17	Noh Mohamad	1981	1982
18	Fadhil Mohd Noh	1982	1986
19	Jumali Ahmad	1987	1988
20	Jabar Tahir	1989	1990
21	Halim Haron	1990	1992
22	Abdul Jamal Puteh	1992	1995
23	Md Tamrin Aliman	1995	1996
24	Abd Karim Abu Bakar	1996	1997
25	Norizan Kulob	1997	1999
26	Ayub Supaat	2000	2001
27	Kamarudin Abdullah	2002	2002
28	Mohd Shukri Mohd Masbah	2002	2003
29	Abdul Malek Ismail	2003	2006
30	Zulkiflee Abbas	16 February 2006	16 January 2008
31	Mulzaldin Mohamed	16 January 2008	31 May 2011
32	Mohd Radzi Mohd Amin	1 June 2011	15 July 2014
33	Mustaffa Kamal Shamsudin	16 July 2014	20 June 2015
34	Mohamad Radif Kosnin	21 June 2015	13 February 2019
35	Shahril Azizi Abd Gapar	14 February 2019	14 April 2020
36	Mohamad Yazid Baharudin	15 April 2020	31 December 2023
37	Azmi Ahmad	1 January 2024	Present