UP UNTIL the construction of the Seremban-Port Dickson Highway in the early 1990s, motorists heading to the resort town of Port Dickson had to pass through the neighbouring settlement of Lukut.
Traversing the short distance between Lukut and PD then was a breeze as there were no traffic lights along the stretch.
That was back when Lukut was considered a one-horse town.
Today, the town has grown so much that, to the bane of motorists, there are at least eight traffic lights along the same stretch!
Before all the progress, Lukut, mainly characterised by a row of pre-war shophouses along its main street, Jalan Besar, was like any other place in small town Malaysia where the passing of time was marked by chit chat at the kopitiam.
Due to its proximity to the coast and the estuary of Kuala Lukut, the town was, and still is, famous for its many seafood restaurants.
Though I grew up in Seremban, some 20-odd km away, a seafood dinner in Lukut during my childhood years was considered the ultimate luxury!
On weekends, seafood restaurants in town are often packed with locals and tourists.
But for those unfamiliar with these parts, Lukut may be nothing more than a blip on their radar. If you dig a little deeper into the town’s past, however, you will be rewarded with a fascinating history.
In the early and mid-1800s, Lukut (then under the patronage of the Selangor sultanate), Klang, Sungei Ujong in present day Negri Sembilan, and Perak’s Larut River were the main centres of tin ore production in the peninsula.
Tin mines located along the banks of the Lukut River, attracted waves of migrants from China. These fresh-off-the-boat migrants were recruited into newly-established secret societies that lorded over the mining concessions.
Historians believe that the Cantonese-dominated Ghee Hin Kongsi, a powerful secret society that was later involved in the Larut Wars (1861-73) – a series of violent feuds that ensued over the control of tin mines – was headquartered in Lukut at one point!
The growing appetite for tin meant constant bickering between secret societies as they battled one another for territorial rights.
Local chiefs, for whom the mines were a great source of revenue, were inevitably drawn into the fray.
In 1834, the Ghee Hin Kongsi famously led a rebellion against Raja Busu when he decided to impose a 10% levy on tin extracted from Lukut.
Raja Busu, a scion of the then Selangor sultanate, his wife and children tragically lost their lives in the uprising.
Following the incident, the Lukut mines were deserted for several years until Raja Juma’at, a Bugis prince from Riau, Indonesia, was appointed by the Sultan to administer Lukut in 1846.
Over the following decades, Lukut prospered once again, and Raja Juma’at built a fort on a hillock overlooking the town.
Though little remains of the fortress, Kota Lukut, legend has it that it was once infallible, with muzzle-loading guns guarding its corners, and a moat booby-trapped with bamboo shards!
Things, of course, have changed since. Lukut is no longer even in Selangor, having been ceded to Sungei Ujong by the late 1800s.
The Lukut Museum (Kota dan Muzium Lukut), which sits at the bottom of the hill where Kota Lukut was once perched, is perhaps the best repository of the town’s colourful past.
Here, visitors will find maps and sepia-toned photos alongside artefacts such as stoneware and pottery shards unearthed during excavations of the fort.
Few people are aware of Lukut’s ties to Kuala Lumpur.
According to historical records, Hiu Siew – the first Kapitan Cina of Kuala Lumpur – was a tin mine owner from Lukut!
As interest in tin began dwindling following the Great Depression, residents of the town turned their hand to rubber and oil palm instead.
Over time, fishing also became one of the primary industries in Lukut.
In the last decade, rapid development transformed the town’s landscape.
Due to its strategic location between Seremban and Port Dickson, as well as its proximity to Kuala Lumpur and transport hubs such as KL International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA2, Lukut is already a beneficiary of urbanisation and industrialisation efforts in the Greater Klang Valley region.
Bandar Springhill, a 2,000-acre integrated township, is one of the many projects that have sprouted on the fringes of the town.
The Springhill township also boasts an international boarding school.
Hypermarts, which were once unheard of for a small town of Lukut’s size, have now become a fixture.
In 2015, the Negri Sembilan government proposed the setting up of Malaysia Vision Valley (MVV), a private sector-driven initiative encompassing an area of 108,000ha in Nilai, Seremban and Port Dickson.
The MVV was proposed as an initiative to complement the rapid development taking place in the Klang Valley, and to attract more investors to the Seremban and Port Dickson districts with new industries and facilities.
When the MVV goes into motion this year, these new developments will herald more changes to Lukut.
A new expressway connecting Port Dickson with KLIA, cutting travel time between the two spots, has been slated for construction under the 11th Malaysia Plan.
With these improvements on the cards for the coming years, Lukut will soon be on the map again.
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