Masjid Tanah (Chinese: 馬日丹那) is a town and parliamentary constituency in northwestern

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

, Malaysia, bordering

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

across the

Linggi River The Linggi River ( ms, Sungai Linggi) is a river in Malaysia which flowing through the states of Negeri Sembilan and Malacca. It starts from the foothills of the Titiwangsa Range, in an area known as Kampung Jerlang, Pantai in Seremban District, f ...

History

According to local oral folklore, Masjid Tanah was first settled by

Minangkabau people Minangkabau people ( min, Urang Minang; Indonesian or Malay: ''Orang Minangkabau'' or ''Minangkabo''; Jawi: منڠكبو), also known as Minang, are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesi ...

along with local

Malays Malays may refer to: * Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands ** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas ** Cape Malays, a communit ...

from Malacca Sultanate Empire in the 14th-15th centuries. Masjid Tanah once belonged to the state of Naning until the

British conquest The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

in 1832 when it was integrated to the

Straits Settlement The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

of Malacca. The name of ''Masjid Tanah'' comes from a mosque (''masjid'') that was built from soil (''tanah'') by a

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

from Gujarat around 1800. This mosque was also maintained by a local named Hj. Sulong bin Sibeng. The mosque that was built from soil was demolished later but reconstructed in 1951. This mosque was utilized by several nearby kampungs (villages). In the late 1990s, there was a real estate boom in Masjid Tanah when the government decided to build a Petronas oil refinery in nearby

Sungai Udang Sungai Udang is a mukim and town in Melaka Tengah, Malacca, Malaysia. It is situated within the parliamentary constituency of Tangga Batu. Education }) or alternatively known as MARA Junior Science College or MJSC. The school is located on a 19 ...

. It has many beaches in Pengkalan Balak, 7 km away, and is close to Kuala Sungai Baru.

Administration

Each kampung in the constituency has their own leader (''ketua kampung''). Most of the kampungs are named after plant species. This tradition of taking the name based on plants is probably influenced by the concept of the name of Melaka itself. ''Melaka'' is in fact a name of a tree. Masjid Tanah is presently administered by Alor Gajah Municipal Council (''Majlis Perbandaran Alor Gajah'', MPAG). Since 2021, there is a proposal to detach Masjid Tanah as a separate district from Alor Gajah, pending final approval from the

Federal Government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

Demographics

Population of Masjid Tanah constituency is 95,689 according to the 2020 census, of which 91% are Malays. Masjid Tanah, located in the northwestern part of Melaka is very near to

. Hence, most of its people are the descendants of Minangkabau people, similar to Negeri Sembilan. They usually carry "Loghat Hulu" (a dialect in Malay language also similar to Negeri Sembilan but slightly different) or Minang accent, and shared the same culture of Adat Perpatih. In some kampung the "culture of working together" or "gotong royong" was still implemented. But most of the culture is now forgotten. The young preferred to work in urban areas and the houses in the kampungs are mostly uninhabited.

Educational institutions

SMK Ghafar Baba The SMK was an armored vehicle prototype developed by the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War. It was named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov, a Communist Party official assassinated in 1934. The SMK was discovered and classified by German i ...

SMK Sultan Alauddin The SMK was an armored vehicle prototype developed by the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It invol ...

* SMK Hang Kasturi *

Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulul Albab Melaka This is a list of deities of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', including all of the 3.5 edition gods and powers of the "Core Setting" for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') roleplaying game. Religion is a key element of the D&D game, since it is require ...

* Masjid Tanah Community College ( ms, Kolej Komuniti Masjid Tanah) * MARA College of High Skills ( ms, Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi MARA) * National Youth Institute of High Skills (IKTBN; ms, Institut Kemahiran Tinggi Belia Negara) * Malacca Matriculation College, ( ms, Kolej Matrikulasi Melaka) * Poultry Institute of Technology (ITU; ms, Institut Teknologi Unggas)

Sports and recreation

* Hang Jebat Sailing Centre, Pengkalan Balak

Tourist attractions

* Al-Khawarizmi Astronomy Complex - An

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

owned by the Malacca Islamic Religious Council. The astronomy complex is named after astronomer Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. It was developed in different stages: the first being the observatory established in 2002, followed by the planetarium in 2005 and finally the training centre in 2008. The total cost for its development was RM20 million. * Tanjung Bidara Beach * Turtle Conservation and Information Centre * Pengkalan Balak Beach

Notable natives

Datuk Abu Seman Yusop, the former Malaysian Deputy of Home Minister (2009–2013), comes from this town. He is also the former Member of Parliament for Masjid Tanah. Since

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, Mas Ermieyati Samsudin ( Perikatan Nasional) is the MP for Masjid Tanah. She is the first female MP in the constituency's history/

References

{{Melaka Mukims of Malacca