Trial (The Muara-Coffee Table Book Layout)

In the name of Allah SWT, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“The Muara” is originated from a research team that has been led by Department of
Tourism, Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, KLM. “The Muara” has been listed in
the IIUM Roadmap 2019-2020 as the strategic initiative that has been led by Tan Sri Prof.
Dzulkifli, the Rector of IIUM. I am thankful for this opportunity that has been given by
KLM top management, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mohd Azrul Azlen Abd Hamid, our Dean who
believe the potential of “The Muara” to carry the responsibility as a part of this strategic
initiative by IIUM. To be part of the 29 flagship projects in IIUM, I have learned various
aspects in managing “The Muara”, especially to be creative and innovative to integrate “The
Muara” in the teaching and learning, research and publications. I would also be thankful for
the guidance from Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zulkifli Hassan (Deputy Rector Student Development
and Community Engagement), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zainal Abidin Sanusi (Director of Sejahtera
Centre), and Assist. Prof. Dr. Faris (Director of OSIC).

“The Muara” would not be complete with the support from the team, Sr. Siti Aisah
Abas, Dr. Julaina Nopiah, Dr. Siti Salwa Md. Dr. Samshul Amry Abd Latif, Dr. Khairil
Azwar, Dr. Suhaizi, Dr. El Amirul, Prof. Razak Sapian (KAED), Dr. Fitri (KOS), Dr. Zakuan
(KOS), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zaleha (KOS), Assoc Prof. Dr. Suhailah (KOED) and other team
members. I am grateful to working together with all 23 members of “The Muara”. Last but
not least, I am grateful to Tourism Muar, BH Travel and Tanjung Kunang Enterprise to
always believe in IIUM to be part in the Muar tourism industry.

May Allah SWT reward goodness to all who involve directly and indirectly in “The Muara”
boundlessly.

Nur Hidayah Abd Rahman

Project Leader,
The Muara: A Living River Lab in Muar



ONTENTS1.0 INTRODUCTION 3.0 PROJECT
ACHIEVEMENT
1.1 About The Muara
1.2 The Vision, Mission and 4.0 TEACHING AND
LEARNING
Objective of The
Muara Project 4.1 Teaching and Learning
1.3 Project Description 4.2 Research
4.3 Publication
2.0 HISTORY OF
MUAR

5.0 COMMUNITY 7.0 STUDENT ACTIVITIES
ENGAGEMENT THROUGH
ACTIVITIES COLLABORATION

6.0 STUDENT 7.1 Sakura Science Program:
ACHIEVEMENT Sustainable River-Based
Tourism Product and
6.1 International Penang Development
Invention, Innovation and
Design, 2019 8.0 WAY FOREWARD

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

“The Muara” is a unique “The Muara” has been led by Assist. Prof Dr. Nur
Hidayah Abd Rahman from the Department of Tourism
flagship project initiative by (DOT) in KLM. This flagship project aims to develop a
living river lab in managing sustainable river-based tourism
Kulliyyah of Languages and in Muar. The novelty of The Muara flagship project is
through various aspects from the transformative teaching and
Management, KLM. “The Muara” learning which involves different disciplines, research and
publication, the collaboration of inter-kulliyyah and external
has been listed as one of 29 flagship collaboration, and the community engagement programmes.
This project shows its uniqueness in achieving the
projects in IIUM Roadmap 2019- Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, strategic
collaboration through the shared platform and harmonising
2020 as the strategic direction in the Maqasid Syariah based on the activities and programmes
that have been conducted. This project is a continuous effort
Humanising Education. This is due to to ensure that it will benefit the local people and IIUM
community in achieving the sustainability of its social,
the primary challenge in the current economy and environment.

higher education to produce a

balanced student that benefit the

mankind (Rahmatan Lil Alamin).

There are nine high impact strategic

initiatives in Humanising Education,

namely, Balanced &

Transdisciplinary Knowledge-base,

Responsible Research & Innovation,

Sejahtera Engagement, Global

Relevance, Balanced Livelihood,

Wealth Creation & Equitable

Prosperity, Sejahtera Community,

Environment Synergistic Initiatives,

Digital Transformation & Blockchain

Synergy, and Sustainable Healthy

Community. Hence, the flagship

projects have been introduced to

realise the IIUM Roadmap 2019-

20190 through a selection of project

uniqueness, creativity, and high

impact on the community. Notably,

“The Muara” is targeting to achieve

the vision, mission and objectives of

the project.

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The Muara flagship project in KLM, IIUM
Pagoh Edu Hub is focusing on developing a
sustainable tourism product development which
involves multidisciplinary approaches including the
culture and heritage study, biodiversity, and any other
related field of studies to breaking away from the
conventional methods and approaches. Contact can be
made through email [email protected]
or [email protected] . Information about The
Muara flagship project can be found at
https://flagship.iium.edu.my/flagship-27/

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About

Towards Happier
Places to Live

“The MUARA” is a collaboration project
between the Kulliyyah of Languages and
Management (KLM) and Tanjung Kunang
Enterprise. The district of Muar is aiming to be
a Hub for Education, Furniture Manufacturer,
Nursery and Heritage Tourism. A part of the
recent local plan for Muar.

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“The MUARA” is a collaboration “The MUARA” is a collaboration
project between the Kulliyyah of Languages project between the Kulliyyah of Languages
and Management (KLM) and Tanjung and Management (KLM) and Tanjung
Kunang Enterprise. The district of Muar is Kunang Enterprise. The district of Muar is
aiming to be a Hub for Education, Furniture aiming to be a Hub for Education, Furniture
Manufacturer, Nursery and Heritage Manufacturer, Nursery and Heritage
Tourism. A part of the recent local plan for Tourism. A part of the recent local plan for
Muar [Rancangan Tempatan Daerah Muar Muar [Rancangan Tempatan Daerah Muar
2030 (Penggantian)] is directed towards 2030 (Penggantian)] is directed towards
developing and promoting the tourism developing and promoting the tourism
industry. industry.

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The vision of this project is to assist This project aimed to achieve the three
the stakeholders in developing a sustainable main objectives namely to identify the
river-based tourism product as the primary attractions of tourism activities along Muar
tourism attraction for Muar District. River, analyse the potential attractions for
river-based tourism Muar and suggest the
The mission of this project is to attractions for river-based tourism products in
develop and market river-based tourism Muar.
product as a major contributor to the
tourism industry in Muar in order to
achieve the main goal of this project which
is to develop a living river lab in managing
sustainable river-based tourism in Muar

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’

VISION,
MISSION, &
OBJECTIVES

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2.0 HISTORY OF MUAR

Knowing the history of

1960- The Memory of Muar High School 1935- Muar River Bridge

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1975- Jalan Abdullah Muar Muar, Johor is a royal town that well known
as Bandar Maharani Bandar DiRaja. Hence, Bandar
Muar is officially named for the district of Muar,
Johor, Malaysia. On 10th Muharram 1434 Hijrah
equivalent to 24th November 2012, the declaration
of the Maharani City as the Royal City of Johor
was officiated by the Sultan Ibrahim ibn Almarhum
Sultan Iskandar, Sultan of Johor (Hamdi et al.,
2019). It was a great beginning for Muar since this
city has recognized as the ASEAN Clean Tourism
City Award (ACTCA) by Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This was an exciting start for Muar to be a
sustainable town in the future. Majlis Perbandaran
Muar (MPM) has taken the initiative to flourish the
classic image of Muar through repairing and
repainting old buildings. The classic buildings
symbolized a civilization city that began in 1887.

1925- Sultan Ibrahim Mosque

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3.0 PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT

Project achievement through

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In additional to academic excellence, Kulliyyah of
Languages and Management ensures that the students are
trained to be responsible, imbued with good ethics, high moral
values and professionalism, lifelong learning, managerial and
leadership skills. The Muara achievement through teaching and
learning can be seen in the several courses which are:
1. Tourism Workshop 3 (TPHM 2102)
2. Tourism Product Planning (TPHM 2226)
3. Tourism Workshop 1 (TPHM 1102)
4. Geography in Tourism (TPHM 2103)
5. Introduction to Tourism and Hospitality Marketing (TPHM

2121)
6. Tour Planning and Design (TPHM 3114)
7. Computer Mediated Communication (ENCO 4105)
8. Bahasa dan Masyarakat (BMCO 4102)

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TOURISM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

TOURISM WORKSHOP 3

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In this course, the students had gone data collection process which involved
feasibility studies on project development, preparing a report of survey (ROS), and
project proposal development in Sabak Awor, Muar, Johor. This valuable exposure has
indirectly increased the students’ knowledge and skills in engaging with local
authorities, industrial, tour operators, and the local community. The final project of this
workshop has been proposed according to the three themes namely Community Based
Tourism (CBT), Tourism Opportunity Spectrum (TOS), and Innovation in Tourist
Movement. These project ideas have been proposed and presented to Majlis
Perbandaran Muar and Tourism Muar through magazine and video presentations
prepared by students.

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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The theme “Love is Sharing and Caring” has been
emphasizes that volunteering project as a vehicle for implemented in this project and it brought the concept of
sustainable development which aligned with the statement of sharing love within indigenous people without discriminate
“Volunteerism strengthens civic engagement, safeguards social the different levels of education, religion, and languages.
inclusion, deepens solidarity and solidifies ownership of The objectives of the project are to enhance student’s skills
development results”. Apart of this, during 8th March 2019 in organizing the volunteering project in various aspects, to
(Friday) students of TPHM 2222, Sustainable Tourism bridge social relations between students and indigenous
Planning and Development have launched volunteering project people and to sustain local participation with community
at indigenous people village at Kampung Sentosa Lenga, program that involve cooperation from many parties.
Pagoh, Johor.

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TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

MARKETING

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This course aimed to introduce tourism marketing system,
environment analysis, marketing strategy planning, and concept of
marketing mix of tourism marketing environment. Students required
to get into groups of 4 students from 18 students and produce a
market analysis of Muar by preparing a report and promotional
video of Muar destination according to the different theme which
are Leisure and recreation, Shopping, Arts and Culture, Landmark,
Heritage, and Gastronomy. Let’s check it out by clicking
https://flagship.iium.edu.my/flagship-27/the-muaras-attraction/

Exploring “The Muara” uniqueness through

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This flagship project has published four (4) research publications and two (2) successful grants with a
total of RM 14, 800. Also, there are two (2) innovation awards for student’s project in Penang Invention,
Innovation and Design 2019 which are Gold Medal award for the Gardenstay Design: Towards Sustainable
Royal City of Muar, Johor and Silver Medal award for Tourmuove Application: Interactive Navigation and
Mobile Application in Creating Efficient Tourist Movement in Muar, Johor

Project achievement through

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5.0 COMMUNITY P a g e | 32
ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Students' p

On 15th
Kulliyyah of
plogging activ
organized by
at Muar city. T
Department o
collaborators
researchers

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participation in

September 2018, several representatives from
Languages and Management had joined the
vity namely “World Clean Up Day” which was
Majlis Perbandaran Muar (MPM) which located
This program involved 3 staff, 16 students of the
of Tourism, 2 representatives from external
which are Tourism Muar and MPM, and 2

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Students' participation in
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

GO GREEN Go Green Program is organized
by Pejabat Hutan Daerah Johor Utara,
PROGRAM Segamat which is involved IIUM
students, UTHM students and local
community. The program was
conducted on 17th November 2018.
The number of participations recorded
29 students from TPHM 2222 course,
3 staff of KLM, 58 external
participants, and 3 researchers.
Regards to this program, the
participation of students gives a
morality impacts in terms of
sustaining the environmental sector

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SAYANGI

SUNGAI MUAR

PROGRAM

Sayangi Sungai Muar program had
successfully conducted on 13th December 2019
which located at Sungai Panchor, Pagoh, Muar. This
program aimed to show a significant outcome of
bringing all students in creating the network as well
as a strong ukhwah among each other also with
local community of Panchor. This program involved
34 students from CCLM 2051 course (Leadership
Management) and 1 lecturer. Therefore, the
involvement of all participants had an opportunity
to highlight the importance of taking care of the
river and maintaining the sustainability of the river.

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ENGLISH The objectives of this program were to bring smile
and happiness, and inculcate the spirit in learning English
CAMP amongst the tahfiz students. This program was an epitome
of IIUM 2019 /2020’s roadmap in which IIUM aims to
MADRASAH TAHFIZ AL-QURAN transform students, staff and community in becoming well-
SILATURAHIM balanced individuals. Through this English Camp, the
ENCOM students had the opportunity to share their
On 17th October 2019, a group of students of knowledge with the students of Madrasah Tahfiz Al Quran
English for International Communication (ENCOM), Silaturahim, Muar, Johor.The tahfiz students’ joy was
Kulliyyah of Languages and Management (KLM) evident during the five (5) activities namely; Listening,
organized an English Camp with the students of Madrasah Speaking, Reading, Writing and Creative thinking
Tahfiz Al Quran Silaturahim, Muar, Johor activities. More than 40 tahfiz students took part in these
activities conducted by the ENCOM students. Some were
little shy initially, however after some encouragement by
our friendly ENCOM students, the tahfiz students happily
participated in all the activities prepared for them.

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6.0 STUDENTS ACTIVITIES P a g e | 40
THROUGH COLLABORATION

SAKURA This flagship project has secured a sponsored
SCIENCE student exchange programme through Sakura Science
Programme to Fukuoka City, Japan in January 2020.
PROGRAM 2020 This programme was sponsored by Japan Science
Technology (JST) and organised by Japan-Malaysia
Association (JMA). There are four (4) students from
KLM, two (2) students from KOS, two (2) students from
KAED and two (2) students from KOE have joined this
programme which entitled, Sustainable River-based
Tourism Product Development

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