New Johor that grew from a fishing village to a causeway hub
Johor Bahru is capital of Malaysia's Johor state and, with 858,118 residents in 2020, the country's largest state capital by population. Sitting at the Malay Peninsula's tip opposite Singapore, it runs the world's busiest land border via the Johor-Singapore Causeway and ranks as Malaysia's second city for business competitiveness after Kuala Lumpur.
The site began as Tanjung Puteri, a Malay fishing village, renamed Iskandar Puteri by Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim after an 1855 treaty with Sultan Ali, then Johor Bahru—New Johor—under Sultan Abu Bakar to contrast Johor Lama. Chinese Teochew settlers called it Little Shantou or Xinshan (New Mountain) after leaving pepper and gambier plots in Singapore's Old Mountain areas around 1855. Abu Bakar between 1886 and 1895 built schools, railways toward Woodlands, and a British-style constitution; the causeway opened in 1923 and the Sultan Ibrahim Building in 1940.
Japanese forces took the town on 31 January 1942, using Bukit Serene Palace as a staging base before repairing the blown causeway and invading Singapore. Postwar, Onn Jaafar founded UMNO at Istana Besar on 11 May 1946, making Johor Bahru a cradle of Malay nationalism. City status arrived on 1 January 1994; Iskandar Malaysia later poured federal and state funds into a special economic zone tied to Singapore.
Today Senai Airport and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (sources: world's fifteenth-busiest port) serve the hub, while The Astaka has been the city's tallest tower since 2018 and among the world's tallest twin towers. Mercer ranked its quality of life third in ASEAN after Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as of 2024. World Bank metrics place local property registration second in Malaysia only to Kuala Lumpur. From pepper estates and Javanese canals to RTS rail plans, the city's strait-side, Singapore-facing geography still scripts its economy. Under Sultan Abu Bakar between 1886 and 1895 the fishing village gained offices, schools, and a railway toward Woodlands. Teochew settlers once nicknamed the place Little Swatow after their ancestral Chinese port.
Source: Johor Bahru
