Yong Peng

Yong Peng (Chinese: 永平) is a regional town in Malaysia in the state of Johor. It has an area of 1911.6 hectares with an estimated population of 29,046. Yong Peng has two main interchanges on North-South Expressway including north to Kuala Lumpur and south to Johor Bahru.

Slightly more than half of the local residents are of Chinese origin; whose forefathers migrated from southern China in the 1880s. The rest are Malays and Indians who mainly reside in the surrounding Yong Peng areas. Other than Malay, the other main language used is Mandarin with an accent strongly influenced by the Fuzhou and Hokkien Dialects.

Due to perceived lack of economy opportunity, most of the younger generation choose to leave Yong Peng after completing secondary education and migrate to bigger cities (e.g. Batu Pahat, Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur, Klang etc.). Some even travel further and settle in foreign countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, China, Australia, Canada, the UK or the USA for work. Those who remain mostly work in the plantation sector (especially rubber, palm oil and cocoa), light industry (especially garments) or the supporting services (banking, education, retails etc.).