Bukit Marak is a village in Bachok

Bachok

Bachok is a territory and town in Kelantan, Malaysia. It is located 25 kilometers east of Kota Bharu. It borders Pasir Puteh to the south and Kota Bharu to the west. Bachok district's mukims are Tawang, Perupok, Repek, Telong, Gunung, Mahligai, and Bekelam...

, Kelantan

Kelantan

Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Arabic honorific of the state is Darul Naim, ....

, Malaysia, located about 24 kilometres (14.9 mi) south of the state capital Kota Bharu

Kota Bharu

Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia, is the state capital and Royal City of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory in which Kota Bharu City is situated. The name means 'new city' or 'new castle/fort' in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, and lies...

. It is famous as the childhood home of Puteri Saadong

Puteri Saadong

Puteri Saadong or Mariam , was the adopted daughter of Siti Wan Kembang , the legendary Queen of Kelantan. Her full title is Tuan Puteri Saadong binti Raja Loyor, Puteri Vijaya Mala, Raja of Jembal, daughter of Raja Loyor bin Raja Sakti, Raja of Jembal.Puteri Saadong was brought up in Bukit Marak...

, and thus has great significance in the history of the Sultanate of Kelantan

Sultan of Kelantan

The Sultan of Kelantan is the constitutional head of Kelantan state in Malaysia. The current sultan, Muhammad V, is the 29th Sultan of Kelantan. He is the figurehead of Islam in the state and the source of all titles, honours and dignities of its people....

.

The village derives its name from a local hill, one of the last hillocks in the district. The hill has some attractions for tourists, and draws thousands of visitors every weekend both for hiking and for sightseeing. Among these are a famous pool in which Puteri Saadong was believed to have bathed, and three granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 rocks at the peak of the hill resembling Puteri Saadong's favourite musical instrument. However, the hill is being negatively affected by excavation of soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

 for use in land reclamation

Land reclamation

Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...

; local villagers are said to be selling soil from the hill at RM

Malaysian ringgit

The Malaysian ringgit is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 sen...

40 for one lorry-load. Aside from the damage to the historical site, this also may introduce the danger of mudslides and landslide

Landslide

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...

s during the monsoon

Monsoon

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

 season. The state government has offered to purchase the hill from its owners in accordance with the National Heritage Act 2005, in order to prevent further damage.