UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF THE NEW VILLAGE: BIDOR STESYEN 美罗火车头 PERAK

Transcription

1 UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF THE NEW VILLAGE: BIDOR STESYEN 美罗火车头 PERAK Project carried out by: Student Name Student ID Course Year / Semester 1.Alvin Tan Meng Kai Finance Y1S1 2.Siah Boon Kiat Finance Y1S1 3.Keah Lian Aik Banking and Finance Y2S2 DATE OF COMPLETION: AUGUST 2011

2 ABSTRACT Bidor Stesyen New Village started in the late Bidor Stesyen is also known as Train Head ( 火车头 ), where a train station served as a hub for both passengers and goods to be transported and distributed. The main ethnic group in Bidor Stesyen is Chinese, followed by Malays, Indians and Orang Asli. Initially, the villagers in Bidor Stesyen were rearing pigs for their own food supply. When the trend of rubber plantations spread into Malaya, the villagers started plantation as their economic activity. Unfortunately, the price and sales of the rubber gradually dropped due to the introduction of artificial rubber into the market. Besides that, the villagers faced some issues such as land dispute matters, safety and security issues and the migration of youngsters to nearby cities. 1

3 HISTORY New villages, otherwise known as Chinese New Villages, were settlements inhabited mainly by the Chinese in Malaysia in the mid 1950s. This was part of the Briggs Plan, which was devised by the British General Sir Harold Briggs as part of the anti-communism efforts. There were two main purposes for resettling people into New Villages: to ensure people would not be influenced by Communism easily and to prevent people from lending a helping hand in the form of food supplies to the Communists. Among the many new villages was, Bidor Stesyen which was started around Bidor Stesyen, otherwise known as Train Head ( 火车头 ), was a train station which served as a hub for both passengers and goods to be transported and distributed. It was set up as soon as the British and Communists failed to achieve agreement after the Japanese occupation. Before the villagers were even relocated here, the primary school was in existence, thus providing schoolchildren ample opportunities to be educated. One of the main events which occurred in Bidor Stesyen was the burning down of the train station by the communists. In order to ensure the safety of the village, men and women came out to form their own security committee and went on night patrols on a rotation basis to ensure that the communists did not invade the village. The entire village was fenced and curfew was enforced. Other than that, food rationing was implemented and the villagers had to take meals together to ensure that there would not be extra food left for feeding the communists who were hiding in the woods back then. One elder in the village stated that he witnessed a person who gave medicine to the communists being beaten to death. Life was tough back then. People hardly had enough food to eat. The main economic activity was pig rearing. In the past, each house would have two or three pigs being raised in their pens. Besides, people also worked in rubber plantations as rubber tappers. Today, it is estimated that there are still about 450 New Villages throughout the Peninsular. These villages are home to over 1.2 million people, 85% of whom are Chinese. 2

4 The main entrance of Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen 3

5 POPULATION Based on information obtained from Jabatan Kerajaan Tempatan, (KPKT), the population of Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen in year 2000 was 1,079 of whom 992 (91.9%) were Chinese, 8 (0.7%) were Malays, 60 (5.6%) were Indians and 19 (1.8%) were other from ethnic groups such as Orang Asli. The breakdown of this population by age group is as follows: 302 (27.99%) between 0 to 14 years old, 677 (62.74%) between 15 to 64 years old and 100 (9.27%) 65 years of age and above. 4

6 HOUSING There are altogether 236 households in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen with an average household size of 4.6 persons per household. Half of the houses are made up of brick and 117 (49%) houses are made from timber and brick. Only 1 % of houses are wooden structures. Most houses are detached houses and the majority of them are in a satisfactory condition. All houses are provided with essential utilities such as piped water supply, electric and sewerage disposal. TNB supplies the electricity. 98% of the toilets use the flush system. The biggest house in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen 5

7 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES The earliest economic activity in Bidor Stesyen New Village is pig rearing. In those times when new villages were just set up under the Briggs Plan, each family would have their own pig pens which can accommodate two to three pigs. Those were the times when they provided themselves with meat supply. During Chinese New Year, the villagers would slaughter the pigs, and serve their guests with the sumptuous roasted pork dishes! When rubber plantations developed in Malaya, the villagers started planting rubber. When artificial rubber was introduced and the price of natural rubber dropped, the planters turned to oil palm instead. The then increase in prices of fresh fruit bunches and crude palm oil encouraged planters to plant more oil palms. The fresh fruit bunches are collected in a collection centre which is located about 8 km away, and these are transported to a nearby mill to be processed. Fish rearing is another source of income in the village. Within the village, there is this big artificial pond where different species of fish are reared. Different types of fruit and vegetables such as guavas, sweet potatoes and cabbages are among the crops that are planted around the fish ponds. After harvesting the fruit, farmers would transport them to collection centres, awaiting wholesalers to place their orders before the crops are being sold to the final consumers. Some villagers have set up grocery shops in the village. Besides, there are also small eateries which are opened in households, providing home-cooked dishes to the villagers. 6

8 EDUCATION There is only one primary school, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Pin Min, in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen. There is also a privately run pre-school. A few education institutes - 7 primary schools and 3 secondary schools are located close to the village. The primary schools which are close to the village are Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Choong Hwa 1, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Choong Hwa 2, Sekolah Menengah Jeram Mengkuang, Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Senta, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Kg Coldstream, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Tanah Mas, Sekolah Kebangsaan Bidor, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Kuala Bikam. The three secondary schools nearby are Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Choong Hwa, Sekolah Menangah Kebangsaan Syeik Abdul and Sekolah Menengah Syeikh Abdul Ghani. SJK (C) Pin Min is considered a very small school with only 117 students and 11 teachers in the year Back in the 1930s, there wasn t a school in this village, and the children had to travel to the small town of Bidor to study. As a result, many children lost the opportunity for formal education. In order to solve this problem, the locals built a primary school in the village. The SJK (C) Pin Min was founded even before Bidor New Village was established. The founding of the school took place in The school started with only 30 students and, as more and more people moved to the village, two more buildings were built in the school to cater for the increasing number of students. In 1954, the old school buildings were replaced with new ones and three years later, the school was recognized as a government school funded wholly by the government, thus abolishing the fees payment and encouraging more and more students to seek education here. In 1975, the school received an allocation of RM 15,000 to build another building. Two years later, the school canteen building was built. In 1981, a RM 6,500 fund was received for the purposes of building the basketball court. In 1987, 6 toilets were built with the allocation of RM 13,200. The most extensive renovation of the school took place in 1997, when a new 2-storey building with 6 7

9 classrooms, 1 staffroom, 1 office and a headmaster s room was built. The entire expenditure for this project amounted to RM 80,000. The development of the school has provided children with education and opportunities for a brighter future. Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Pin Min 8

10 SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES The new village has recreational facilities such as a children s playground which has a jogging track around it. In addition, there are two halls for sports activities such as top-playing and basketball. All these recreational facilities provide an avenue for the community to interact. Besides, there is a Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) building with personnel to address public complaints and concerns. There is also a police station that ensures the safety of the community. The majority of Chinese in the village are Hakka. therefore most common in the village, followed by Cantonese. Hakka culture is There is a Chinese Temple in the village and this is the focal point for worship in the community. As the Indians are the second biggest population in the area, there is a Hindu kuil which is frequented by locals for prayers and for celebration of festivals such as Thaipusam and Sankranthi. The village does not have a mosque or a church. Playground in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesen 9

11 emple in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesen T Children playing top 10

12 PROBLEMS The main problem that is faced by people of Bidor Stesyen is the outmigration of youths. It is rather difficult for young people to stay in a village where economic activity is not growing robustly. This explains why young people who originate from Bidor Stesyen move to nearby towns such as Ipoh, Teluk Intan, Sitiawan or even to places further away like Kuala Lumpur in search of a new lease of life. This has resulted in an aging population in the village. Besides, several traditional businesses such as the making of Sak Keh Mah (a local dessert) will cease to exist as the younger generation are not interested in staying back to continue the family businesses. Secondly, land dispute occurs every now and then in the village. When Tun Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi was Malaysia s Prime Minister, he visited the village and awarded quite a number of villagers with license for freehold land. However, just when the villagers thought that they would no longer have to worry about insufficient farmland, agents tried to take away the farmland with the excuse that the land belonged to an unidentified third party. What makes it worse is that angry villagers protest against this more to take away their land. Fortunately, no one got hurt during the incident when the Penghulu stepped in to temporarily resolve the issue. Many villagers are elderly people who are illiterate. Being unaware of the land issues, some might not even know about the ownership of the land as they assume the land to be theirs when it is inherited from one generation to another within the family. The villagers claim that some unethical land agents employed by businesspeople came approaching the land owners with misrepresentations, inducing them to pass over the title of the land. Other than that, security is also another issue. Motorbike theft is no longer an unusual phenomenon. Therefore, villagers no longer enjoy the luxury of not having to lock up their gates and grills when they hit the hay at night. Some even take serious preventive measures such as installing CCTVs in their house compounds where they store their vegetables and fruits awaiting to be sold the next morning. The safety of Bidor Stesyen is enforced only by a Police Hut which 11

13 is located near the community centre. Police patrols might not be enough to cover the entire area and crimes can take place easily. Finally, the roads in Bidor Stesyen are narrow. While villagers here travel on motorbikes and bicycles, there are also trucks which have to use several main roads to transport the vegetables and fruits harvested. This can become very dangerous and truck drivers have to drive very carefully so that accidents and damage to property would not occur. A narrow road in the village 12

14 RECOMMENDATIONS The out-migration of youths may be curbed by providing incentives for them to stay back. Development programs are needed to create job opportunities which provide income compared life to that in urban areas. For example, the fast growing agricultural business which is mostly handled by the elderly can be used to attract youngsters as this business, if developed further, could provide a lucrative income. Secondly, in order to solve the problem with land dispute, the Penghulu can hire or recruit a volunteer lawyer as an authorized agent to represent the villagers so that the welfare and benefits of the villagers can be taken care of. This would also prevent cases where illiterate land owners are cheated of their land titles. Besides, the lawyer could advise the land owners on legal matters such as the transfer of land title and procedures on conferment of freehold land status. Most importantly, with an authorized lawyer around, agents are less likely to take advantage of the villagers with misrepresentations. Besides, in order to solve the problem with safety in the village and shortage of police officers, the villagers can step in and ensure the safety of their homes themselves. This can be done by establishing their Rukun Tetangga, where the members of the Rukun Tetangga would then take turns in patrolling the village. Finally, the authorities should also take relevant measures to widen the roads in Bidor Stesyen to reduce the number of accidents. Besides that, they should also restrict heavy vehicles from entering residential areas as this endangers the lives of children. Our recommendation is that a wider road should be built for the purpose of transporting agricultural goods and fertilizers. 13

15 TOURISM Currently, there is no major tourist attraction in the village. Nevertheless, the main asset of this new village is nature. Living in the hustle and bustle of big cities, travelers who pass by using the North-South Expressway would stop by the village to observe or experience village life. Some say that they come in just to take a deep breath of fresh air, whereas others say that they want to take pictures of rural scenery. Lucky tourists are sometimes even given the chance to harvest the crops together with the farmers. Other than that, agro-tourism is also catching up in Bidor Stesyen. There are business people who travel all the way into Bidor Stesyen just to search for agricultural land or cheap oil palm and rubber seeds to be planted in their nurseries. Besides, there are also kind farmers who would offer lifts to outsiders on their Fordson trucks, which they use to transport FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunches) to their collection centre, around the entire village while being their informal tour guides. This way, tourists can have a quick glance on how life in the village is and they would also be exposed to life in a new village. Finally, there is a waterfall deep in the woods in Bidor Stesyen. Travelers would have to hike into the forest for about half an hour before they reach the streams and the grand waterfall. There is no formal name for the waterfall, but the locals call it Big Water ( 大水 ). However, tourists who go to the waterfall do so at their own risk. There were cases where university students slipped into the water and drowned. Many villagers dare not go to the waterfall because they believe that the drowning was caused by offending the god which watches over the waterfall. It is rumored that the waterfall is dirty (haunted). 14

16 Sweet Potatoes Vehicles used to harvest and transport the crops The sign states No trespassing. Aboriginal cultural/heritage land 15

17 ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPPORTUNITIES One way of stepping up economic development in Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen is to expose the villagers to entrepreneurial opportunities in the area. During our visit to the village on 7 th August 2011, we observed that several villagers set up small businesses especially food stalls in front of their houses. Perhaps these villagers could be encouraged to move their businesses to shop lots. By having the own eatery in shop lots, villagers could attract more customers. This is because potential customers are likely to prefer the more comfortable conditions provided in the shops. If fortunate enough, they might even be able to carve out their own business legacy where they can expand their business through franchising throughout whole Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. The next entrepreneurship opportunity is that the villagers can fully utilize the tourism value of the natural surroundings of Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen. Since the government is promoting project homestay, the villagers can grab this opportunity by making Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen one of the places that the tourists can visit and stay in. This can promote the name of the village and attract more business opportunities. Besides, as many homestay guests are foreigners, the villagers can produce and sell more local handicrafts. Last but not least, Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen is known for its fruit production. I would like to suggest that the villagers centralize the distribution of fruits by forming an organization or corporate body. This organization is there to standardize the price of the fruits. This can protect the villagers from being conned by unscrupulous traders. In addition, the organization can take bulk orders from traders and this could improve the bargaining power of the villagers. In conclusion, Kampung Baru Bidor Stesyen could tap on its entrepreneurial opportunities in many ways, e.g.: setting up food stalls in shoplots, tapping on the tourism value of its natural surrounding and establishing a centralized body for the sale of its agricultural produce. 16

18 Opportunities available for the villagers 17

19 A horse in one of the house of the villager DISCLAIMER: Information contained in this report was compiled by the University s students on voluntary basis. Although every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the report, the University accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any errors or omissions, if any, the University reserves the right to make changes on the information at any time without prior notice. Should there be any queries regarding contents of the report, please contact: Department of Soft Skills Competency Tel: ext 8274, 8656, 8269 (Klang Valley Campus) ext 2297/2299/2300 (Perak Campus) 18