UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: 瓜拉芮 PERAK Project carried out by: 1. Kevin Yap(NUS) 2. Joanne Chung(NUS) 3. Koh Zhi Xin(NUS) DATE OF COMPLETION: JUNE 2013
ABSTRACT Kuala Rui is located in northern Perak, Malaysia. The village is bounded by a river in the north while a main road cuts through the southern part of the village. Kuala Rui was officially established in 1949 during the Malayan Emergency period. Durian orchards and oil palm plantations provide the main source of income in the villages. There is only one school in Kuala Rui, a partially government funded primary school called SJK (C) Kuala Rui. There is also a kindergarten attached to the school where the main medium of instruction is Mandarin. Most children from this village and neighbouring villages attend this school, although there are parents who also send their children to schools in Gerik.
INTRODUCTION [From Left to Right: KohZhi Xing, Principal of SJK(C) Kuala Rui, Village Head of Kuala Rui, Kevin Yap, Joanne Chung, Chloe Hew. Not in Picture: Jake Hoo] This report is the result of the two-day study visit to the New Village of Kuala Rui. The study visit aims to fulfil two objectives. Firstly, this report aims to collect data to document the historical background and some of the salient economic and social characteristics of the village. Secondly, the report hopes to provide a detailed mapping of the community assets of Kuala Rui, with the objective of promoting sustainable development and improvement in the quality of life within the villagers. This paper will proceed to give a sketch of Kuala Rui shistorical, social and economic background and highlight some of the main challenges and concerns faced by the village. The following section will then examine in detail the avenues of community development and adopt the threecategories of social networks and associations, physical structures and spaces and economic assets when mapping the assets of the village of Kuala Rui.
METHODOLOGY Over a three-day period in December, 3 Singaporean students, 1 Malaysian student and one staff from UniversitiTunku Abdul Rahman(UTAR) visited the village of Kuala Rui. Data was collected via online sources, both official and unofficial, informal interviews with the villagers and village leaders (village headman, village development officer and school principal) and observations of the social and economic conditions within the village itself. Interviews typically lasted between one to two hours each. At the same time, we have also tried to make use of the limited time available to understand some of the social challenges, issues and problems that the village faces. In our conversations with the villagers and our observations of the village life in Kuala Rui, we attempt to understand the perspectives, visions and dreams that the villagers have for their descendants and family members. By understanding the community s needs and priorities, an asset-based community development approach can ensure development initiatives and available assets are channeled effectively to fulfill the aspirations and needs of the villagers. Through a showcase of the richness of the assets that Kuala Rui possesses, we hope that this knowledge would help create conditions necessary for the villagers to empower themselves and influence their village s development process. Given the short time we spend in Kuala Rui, we do not aim to provide a comprehensive account of the economic and social characteristics of the village. Rather, we aim to depict the realities within the village from the objective perspective of an outsider and hopefully provide some illuminating insights into the community assets and the economic and social fabric within the village. 1. Economic and Social Characteristics of Kuala Rui A. HistoricalBackground Kampung Baru Kuala Rui was one of the many New Villages that were created during the Malayan Emergency period of 1948 to 1960 to contain the spread of the communist insurgency initiated by the Malayan Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party had then gained ascendance in 1949, and the Chinese in Malaya were thus deemed, by the British, to be the most sympathetic to the plight of the communists. By resettling the Chinese into enclosed villages under strong
colonial control, the British were able to prevent the Chinese from joining the communist cause. Kuala Rui was formally established in 1949. Prior to its formal establishment as a New Village, a village community already exists within the present compounds of Kuala Rui. A large majority of the original residents were forced to relocate from either within or near the vicinity of present day Kuala Rui to assigned residential lots in Kuala Rui and each household were compensated with $75 to rebuild their homes within the demarcated confines of Kuala Rui. After the state of emergency for Kuala Rui was lifted in 1960, some of the residents continued to stay in the village up till today. In 1959, each household in Kuala Rui, through the assistance of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), was given 6 acres of freehold agricultural land. This prompted residents from the surrounding villages to move into Kuala Rui in hopes of benefitting from this exercise. In 1964, a second land-giving exercise was indeed conducted. The Malay community residing in Kuala Rui also benefited from this scheme. However, due to the limited land, each newly formed household was only issued 5 acres of freehold agricultural land. In total, the village headman estimates that the residents of his New Village own 3,000 acres of agricultural land in the surrounding area. B. Population Census Malaysia s population is made up of three main ethnic groups the Malays, Chinese and Indians. Malays make up the majority with 50.4% of the population. The Chinese is the second largest group, forming 24.6% of the population and Indians are the smallest of the main ethnic groups comprising 7.1% of the population. In New Villages, this racial profile is reversed the Chinese, instead of the Malays, are the pre-dominant racial group. The racial profile in Kampung Baru Kuala Rui is similar to most other New Villages. The 2000 population census reveals that 88.3% of the residents were Chinese while 10.9% are Malays, with a total population of 734. In the 2010 Perak Census, 85.3% of the residents are Chinese, while 14.7% consists of Malays and bumiputeras, with 693 males and 397 females. The census also indicates that there were 394 residents that were
between the age of 5-9 years old and 533 residents that were below the age of 19 years old. During our visit and conversations with the village head, the village head estimated that there were only 700 people in the village, which corresponds with the census results released in 2000. While the exact population of the village is unknown, the village head was certain that the population and the number of youths did not increase over the years. There were also very few youths and children left in the village primary school and kindergarten, leading us to suspect the reliability of this data. The small number of females in the village may be due to the fact that many married females had left the village to live with their husbands families. C. Rural Planning and Development Unlike the large majority of New Villages established during the emergency period, the situating of the residential and agricultural land lots in Kuala Rui was relatively well planned (See Fig. 1). Neat, wide, parallel roads break the New Village into smaller residential clusters comprising, on average, 10 residential lots with each individual residential lot measuring 60 feet by 60 feet. This was issued on a 30-year leasehold term which was subsequently renewed, either on a 60-year or 99-year term. A community hall and primary school was also constructed, both of which lie close to the heart of the New Village. Kuala Rui s neat layout might be attributed to the special attention paid to it by the British, in particular Sir Gerald Templar, the then British High Commissioner for Malaya, who also witnessed the inauguration of the primary school in Kuala Rui.
Map of Kuala Rui Fig. 1.1& 1.2Houses lie on either side of the road. Roads are wide and allow for dual car access
D. Economic Background The main economic driver of the New Village is agriculture. As earlier mentioned, the residents of Kuala Rui own an estimated 3,000 acres of agricultural land. During the 1960s, almost all of these were rubber plantations but today, some residents have diversified into other crops such as coca, durian, dokong and palm oil. During our tour of the plantations, we observe that a sizable portion of land is not beingutilized fully. There were obvious signs of abandonment in a number of estates plantations being overgrown with shrubs and trees; prolonged absence of tapping of rubber trees. The village s heavy reliance on agriculture was also one of the key factors that led to its economic decline, which was accompanied with outward migration. During the 1990s, prices of rubber fell from a high of 6.50RM to approximately 0.70RM per kg, forcing many residents to leave the village for other towns and cities to search for better job prospects. Most residents chose not to work in the nearby town of Gerik as it was still relatively less developed and offer less attractive job opportunities. Presently, the main agricultural produce of the village consists of palm oil, rubber and durians. The village is well connected to the necessary distribution networks to sell its produce. Distributors would enter the village on lorries from time to time to purchase large quantities of durians and rubber from the villagers before transporting these durians and rubber to the nearest wholesale centre or processing centre. The villagers can either sell their rubber in latex (liquid) or in a solid form to the nearby rubber processing and distribution centre to collect income. Many of the villagers have little need to venture out of Kuala Rui to sell their produce as they can conduct most of their necessary economic transactions within the village itself. Some of the more well-off villagers have also started investing in smallscale bird s nest farms. Most of the villagers plant their own vegetables but will either buy meat from Gerik or from a meat seller who visits the village weekly.
Fig. 1.3 Rubber dealer in Kuala Rui Fig. 1.4 Bird Nest s Farm in Kuala Rui Fig. 1.5 Village Head s fish farm Fig. 1.6 Coca from a resident s plantation There is also a visible but not always direct correlation between land ownership and wealth. Some of the residents who have managed to accumulate land also tend to have higher income levels and are able to hire foreign workers to tend their plantations. Other poorer residents without land would gain employment as plantation workers. There is a marked difference in the exterior of the residential housing within the village. While some residents had newly built houses with tiled roofs and concrete walls, other residents have retained their wooden houses. Most households own at least one motorcycle, with some households owning up to three or four vehicles. While the quality of housing may not be fully indicative of the wealth and income of the residents, it is clear that the disparity in wealth among residents can be quite significant. Some of the residents relocated to the
village after the 1964 land redistribution exercise and received no land. 1 As such, they rely on their children s remittances for their day-to-day expenditure. While not all villagers were very well-off, they live a relatively comfortable lifestyle, with many enjoying facilities such as air-conditioning and satellite television. The population of Kuala Ruiconsists predominantly of the elderly, and many hire foreign workers to tend their plantations. The Malay villagers tend to hire Thai Muslim workers while the Chinese hire a mixture of foreign and local Chinese plantation workers. Most villagers plant mainly for subsistence purposes and less for profit. There are some limited opportunities for employment within the vicinity of the village. For example, there is a charcoal factory and sawmill that are located approximately 1.5km from Kuala Rui. The charcoal factory produces and exports high-quality charcoal to Japan. Beyond agriculture, there are relatively few business and job opportunities within the village. There are up to 3 coffee shops, a handphone shop, a vegetable seller and up to 2 sundry shops in the village. Most of these shops tend to be family businesses which enjoy relatively little business due to the relatively small village population. Many of these shop owners typically buy an additional residential housing lot to set up shops in the village. According to the village headman, there has been relatively little change in the economic landscape in the villagers, with little change in the job opportunities and prospects present in the village. Tourism is also not extensively pursued in Kuala Rui as there are few special tourist attractions or places of interest that are in close proximity to the village. E. Social Dynamics The village headman helps to resolve small conflicts between villagers although crime incidents are referred to the local police post. There is a problem of drug addiction among some Chinese youths and Malays. According to village headman, the drug addiction problem is more severe among the Malay villagers. Although the villagers also hire foreign workers, their presence is not felt within 1 One of the elderly couple we spoke to only relocated to the New Village after the second land-distribution exercise.
the village as they often stay on the plantation itself. Kuala Rui has a small Malay population and is also surrounded by a number of Malay kampungs. Fig. 1.7Jalan Gerick divides the Chinese and Malay community. The picture shows the Malay community The villagers generally worship the Malay God Datuk Gong using halal offerings for to pray for safety as they work in the woods or plantations. There are some Christian households in the village, as seen by the cross on some of the house doors. They also worship traditional Chinese gods such as Tian Gong and Di Zhu. Fig. 1.8 Na Tuk Kong Temple I Fig. 1.9 Na Tuk Kong Temple II While a large proportion of village population consists of the elderly, the younger generation will typically return during Chinese New Year and the Qing Ming
Festival to visit their parents or grandparents. The village will be particularly busy and crowded during these two festive celebrations. During the Chinese New Year celebrations, karaoke singing competitions will also be held at the multi-purpose hall in the village. From our understanding, the village does not organize any temple festivaland has no temple committee as well.
POTENTIAL AREAS OF CONCERN A. Migration Migration between the New Villages and the urban areas is heavily influenced by economic factors. As mentioned earlier, the village experienced an increase in outward migration when rubber prices dropped drastically during the 1990s. Despite the government s numerous efforts to improve the quality of life and job opportunities, the trend of outward migration from the New Villages to the cities have remained unabated. From this paper s perspective, such a trend seems to be unstoppable as long as job prospects and healthcare, entertainment and education options remain much more attractive in the cities. Such a trend is a natural consequence of Malaysia s process of industrialization and urbanization, and can only be adequately stemmed when economic opportunities and prospects in rural areas become sufficiently comparable to that of the city areas. As such, there is still considerable work to be done in developing rural areas to improve the prospects and attract the younger generations to stay and develop the rural regions. While the government may view the outward migration as potentially destabilizing as it can lead to a lack of rural development and urban overcrowding, the villagers clearly think differently. In our conversations with the village headman and principal, both commented on how villagers wanted their children to have a better life and would encourage them to leave the village to search for better prospects. Often, the younger generations and better-performing students are the ones that managed to find jobs outside the village and become successful. In contrast, both village leaders noted that the less successful youths were the ones who tend to return to the village to seek employment as they are not good enough to secure jobs in the cities. Additionally, the social stigma and the physically strenuous nature ofagriculture-related jobs contributedto theoutward migration of young adults who leave for the cities to look for whitecollar jobs. As seen, the villagers and the state can actually view the problem of outward migration very differently. The viewpoints of villagers reflect the realities on the ground, where villagers are more eager to encourage their children seek a better life out in the cities than to stay to develop and bring life into the villages.
B. Aging Population The problem of aging population is likely to become more severe over time as more and more young adults leave the village for the cities for better prospects. Many of the elderly villagers had to either live alone or with their spouses. In our conversations with the village leaders, we realised that many of the elderly villagers had to take care of themselves as their children are not living in the village. Many of the elderly villagers are extremely self-reliant, and are able to take care of their daily needs and even ride vehicles on their own to conduct their economic transactions both within and outside the village. Although many of the elderly have the option to leave the village and live with their children, many are alreadyused to the village lifestyle. Nevertheless, such a situation is not sustainable, and solutions need to be found to ensure that the elderly are welltaken care of. A second problem is the hollowing-out of the village, where the village will eventually cease to exist if more and more youths choose to leave the village. C. Rising Crime Rates- Gambling & Drug Addiction Problems From our understanding, while crime rates have still been relatively low in the rural areas, it has been on the rise mainly due to the increased incidence of gambling and drug addiction among youths. For example, some of the villagers reflected on how some desperate drug addicts have resorted to crime to fulfill their drug addiction. As such, some of the villagers have started to be more wary of leaving their doors unlocked at night. There has also been an increase in the number of gambling dens within the village where some villagers gamble on horse races. One interviewee shared that the village started out with only one illegal computerized horse betting den. However, when the landlord found out the purpose of the tenancy gambling he/she terminated the lease. Unfortunately, there more of these gambling dens sprout out and during our trip, there exists five in Kuala Rui. While this problem is still relatively minor as compared to the problems of migration and aging population, it could potentially deplete the goodwill and sense of community among villagers as they become less trusting and more guarded against crime. The increased incidence of vices among youths is also a worrying sign and more attention may need to be paid to youth
rehabilitation and crime control in the rural areas where policing resources are usually minimal and severely stretched.
COMMUNITY ASSET MAPPING A. What is Asset-Based Community Development? Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is a strategy to promote sustainable community-driven development. The strategy focuses more on the strengths and positives of communities, and less on their needs and deficiencies. Such a methodology is based on the premise that communities should actively identify the resources that they already possess and empower and individuals, social networks, and institutions to harness them to develop stronger communities and create opportunities. 2 While a needs-based community development approach breeds dependency and a sense of inferiority, an ABCD approach creates empowerment and self-reliance.conceptually, assets can take on a tangible or intangible form. Examples of intangible community assets can include a village s history, customs, rituals, social networks and oral narratives. Tangible community assets can include businesses, agricultural assets, physical facilities and structures such as houses, schools, markets and religious buildings. B. Rationale for Adopting an ABCD Approach Today, most perceive New Villages as troubled communities that facing the hollowing-out problem as the younger generations migrate to cities to seek better job opportunities and the comforts of an urban lifestyle. More often than not, the spotlight has been disproportionately focused on the problems that they face and way in which government-directed policies can resolve these issues. Such government-directed approaches have encouraged communities to see themselves as deficient or heavily reliant on government support, with many communities addressing economic and social problems with only a small proportion of their own assets and capacities. While top-down institutional support and policies are an indispensable component of developing the New Village communities, this paper also believes that sustainable development can only be possible with direct community involvement. As such, every village 2 http://www.neighborhoodtransformation.net/pdfs/what_%20is_asset_based_community_dev elopment.pdf
community needs to be aware of the resources and assets at its disposal and capitalize on them to reinvigorate the village both economically and socially. 3.1 Public Spaces A) Sheltered Multi-Purpose Hall Public spaces play an important role in facilitating social interaction among villagers and play an important role in invigorating the social life within the village itself. While it is apparent that there is physical segregation of residential housing along racial lines, with Malay housing being situated separately from the Chinese housing, common spaces can provide more avenues for interaction between Chinese and Malay villagers and enhance racial integration within the village. An important example of a public space would be the sheltered basketball court. The sheltered basketball court serves as a multi-purpose hall where villagers hold weddings or karaoke singing sessions during Chinese New Year celebrations. During these weddings, Malays are invited to Chinese weddings and vice-versa and halal food would be prepared for the Malay participants. Such occasions provide a precious opportunity for villagers to interact and build relationships with one another. Nevertheless, from our understanding, there are few village-wide social activities, and karaoke singing sessions during Chinese New Year celebrations seems to be the single highlight event for the entire village. A possible way to bring invigorate the village s community life could involve organizing more village-wide activities, festive celebrations or even performances at the multipurpose hall to make full use of the facility. Villagers and even school children could be encouraged to perform during occasions such as Teacher s Day or Children s Day at the multi-purpose hall. This could help transform some of the school events into village-wide events where parents and grandparents are invited to participate in school events. As with many of the New Villages, education forms a focal point of concern for villagers in Kuala Rui and great emphasis is placed on providing quality education for the children. As such, it is
easier to elicit greater participation in education-related events among the village community. B) Park and Playground Area The community hall, however, only provides an avenue for interaction in a more formal or organized context of a wedding or an organized village event. A possible alternative would be the use of the playground and park area. In the evening at around 6-7pm, villagers would tend to congregate around the area to talk and exercise. Although the park area is situated in the Chinese part of the village, Malay villagers were seen walking around the area itself. As such, this place is particularly valuable as a space where Malay and Chinese villagers can interact informally beyond the pragmatic context of conducting economic transactions with one another. During our walk throughout the village in the day, we saw relatively few villagers walking along the streets, as many are either working at the plantations, or have chosen to stay at home to stay at home to avoid the searing heat during the day. As such, the playground and park area becomes an important gathering place for more social interactions to take place in the evening. Fig. 2.1 Park and Playground Area Fig. 2.2 Close-up on a facility C) Coffee Shop Spaces Similarly, coffee shop spaces become an important gathering place particularly at night. While there were coffee shops that closed early at 2 or 3pm in the afternoon, there were other coffee shops that were open in the evening. In the
evening at about 8-9pm, many of the villagers would sit at some of the coffee shop spaces to chit-chat. Although the coffee shops tend to be relatively empty during the day with very few customers, they help greatly in invigorating the social life in the village at night. Fig. 2.3 One of the dining establishment in Kuala Rui D) Primary School and Kindergarten 3 The local primary school and kindergarten also play an important role in promoting social life in the village as they allow children to interact with one another at a young age. Many of the children would usually stay in school after lessons to play sports games and hang out with friends. The school is also extremely active in organizing events for the school children, such as overnight camps, Teachers Day, Sports Day and Children s Day celebrations. The school would also organize parent-teachers gathering from time to time. Such celebrations and gatherings can be organized with the intention of involving parents and villagers more directly in the children s development and education. For example, villagers or youths can play an important role in organizing the camp, or volunteer to help to take care of the children during their primary school graduation trips to other cities or towns in Malaysia. The school already has a parents support group in place 3 The school has a dedicated webpage which records, among many other facts, its history. This can be accessed at: http://sjkckualarui.blogspot.sg/
While the school is physically located in Kuala Rui, parents from other villages would actually send their children to the school as well. Although the school is a Chinese-medium one, Malay parents, out of convenience, would also send their children to the school in Kuala Rui. The interaction of Malay and Chinese children within the school would help to enhance racial integration and friendships across racial lines. Malay and Chinese parents may also have more opportunities to interact with one another during parent-teachers gathering sessions E) Proximity to Town At the same time, the village assets does not have to be located within or even owned by the village itself. One asset that Kuala Rui has would be its geographical proximity to the nearby town of Gerik. A common problem of a village lifestyle would be that of a boring lifestyle with few entertainment options or social events that can cater to young adults and youths. While it may not be efficient to build certain facilities and amenities in individual villages, many of these amenities and entertainment options can be provided in the town itself to serve communities living in the nearby villages. For example, while it does not make sense to build cinemas, shopping centres or supermarkets in an individual village, the town can serve as a centralized location where these amenities can be provided. As most villagers own vehicles, it is usually convenient for them to travel to the town to enjoy these amenities. The town can also serve as a centralized location where social events and gathering can be organized to allow for a wider range of opportunities for villagers to interact with people living in other areas. As such, the increased development of Gerik can help to provide more entertainmentand social options for youths and young adults living in the villages. G) Urban versus Rural As seen, the presence of existing public spaces can be used to strengthen social networks and elicit greater direct involvement from the village community. Education in particular, is one important social issue where the villagers interests are likely to converge. As such, it is likely to be easier to encourage villagers to contribute and volunteer for education-related activities. Nevertheless, this report
does not attempt to whitewash the realities of village life. While improvements can be made to the facilities, public spaces and amenities in the village, a village is unlikely to have as many entertainment options, public spaces, or amenities as a bustling city. An urban lifestyle, replete with its conveniences and entertainment options, larger and more exciting social events may often be much more attractive to youths or young adults. Nevertheless, what a village lifestyle can offer would be a smaller tight-knit community with stronger social networks and a relatively more peaceful and serene lifestyle. Lower crime rates, more genuine social relationships and a less stressful lifestyle could all be compelling reasons for many to continue staying in these villages. Beyond the seemingly simple and rustic lifestyle of the villagers, there is also immense economic potential to be found in the assets and resources that the village possesses. 3.2Economic Assets and Opportunities A) Proximity to Town As mentioned in the previous section, Kuala Rui s proximity to town could be a source of invigoration of the social life within the village community. Similarly, its proximity to town could provide economic opportunities. The most immediate and apparent one would be that of how villagers could find better job opportunities and business options in town to increase their incomes. At the same time, the town acts an important distributor or retail centre to help market and sell the village s agricultural products to other villagers or town dwellers. One concern that has been raised by the village headman would be the increased economic competition caused by the emergence of supermarkets in Gerik. These supermarkets enjoy economies of scale and can offer seasonal and bulk discounts to attract more customers. One possible way to circumvent this problem would be to pursue an entrepreneurial strategy that complements rather than compete with businesses located in town. For example, the village can provide fresh fruits and meat for the supermarkets to sell to customers. While the supermarkets clearly enjoy the advantage of a larger clientele, the villages can supply quality and fresh food that supermarkets may not be able to easily find elsewhere. As such, cooperation between the villages and supermarkets in town can create a win-win
solution and boost the village economies. From our observations, there are already strong distribution networks in place to distribute the village s durians and rubber to retail and processing centres nearby. Of course, capitalizing on the economic opportunities provided by the town is easier said than done, and business options need to be examined carefully and collectively by the villagers to determine the best way forward. By capitalizing on the social and economic benefits provided by Gerik, villagers can continue to live in the village while enjoying the conveniences and job opportunities offered in town. In this sense, Kuala Rui would serve as a suburban residential area located on the outskirts of the town. Villagers can travel to work in town and return to the village at night. Despite the advantages of moving to town, the village lifestyle is likely to remain attractive for villagers as land ownership and house ownership is likely to become increasingly more affordable and viable in the rural areas. Additionally, many villagers actually own agricultural land and hire foreign workers to tend the land and may find it inconvenient to move to urban areas. While the geographical proximity to town carries with it numerous economic opportunities, such benefits have failed to materialize as Gerik is still currently insufficiently developed to invigorate the neighbouring village economies. In our conversations with the village headman, he reflected how most of the younger generations are migrating to larger cities such as Kuala Lumpur and not to Gerik as there are currently still very limited job opportunities in Gerik. As such, the increased development of small towns can be central to the economic revitalization of the New Villages. B) Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is also an important asset that would help to boost the village economy. In our interviews and tours around the village, we have noticed some outstanding examples of entrepreneurship. In our interview with a villager, he recounted to us how he shared inherited land with his brothers after his parents passed away. He left for the city to work to raise capital before returning to the village to buy land to set up plantations and a bird s nest farm. In another instance, the headman also recounted to us how he had enlisted the help of an excavator operator to dig a large pond to rear tilapia fish for sale. While the village have rich
economic assets with regard to the rich land, and large rubber and oil palm plantations, many of the economic assets are usually used for subsistence purposes and are not commercialized. As many of the villagers may have retired or are content with what they have, many may not be interested in expending considerable effort to expand their businesses. Also, farming is generally considered as a less prestigious and attractive profession to youths and is much more physically strenuous and tedious as compared to other white-collar professions. As such, villagers may not be so eager to develop these agricultural resources. Nevertheless, these rich economic assets can serve as an important starting point for aspiring entrepreneurs among the younger generations. Younger adults and youths can be persuaded to stay and develop these assets once they realize the great economic potential present in these assets. C) Agricultural Assets The rich agricultural assets, namely its fruit, rubber and palm oil plantations and animal rearing are important sourcesof revenue and avenue of economic development in the village. By tapping on existing government schemes, funds and subsidies will be provided to allow for technology, infrastructure and skills upgrading to increase the quality and yield of the plantations. Particularly, there are schemes available to allow villages to set up business cooperatives once businesses expand to reach a certain scale. Additionally, farmers can be equipped with skills to increase the variety of their agricultural products that they can produce. In this way, farmers are not restricted to planting only a very limited variety of agricultural products. The flexibility in planting different types of crops can allow farmers to increase their versatility and hedge against price fluctuations of certain commodities or agricultural produce. 3.3 Social Networks & Associations Informal Networks From our understanding, the village consists mainly of informal networks of friends and family members. Such informal networks is evidenced by the goodwill and generosity that villagers display towards one another, and is visible in the
form of small chat groups outside coffee shops or at the park area. Nevertheless, there is a lack of formal associations and organizations within the village itself. Unlike other villages, Kuala Rui does not have and has no need for a full-fledged village committee (JKKK) as the village head is able to fulfill the responsibilities sufficiently with the help of his secretary. The village also does not have an established temple committee as there are only two small Na Du Gong altars and no specific temple facility to maintain. News often spread by word of mouth through cliques and informal networks and less through official dissemination channels through notices or door-to-door announcements. Such informal networks form the basis for increased social capital and build the foundation for increased trust and non-partisan collective action to reinvigorate the village community. Through our visits to other New Villages, we have noticed that there are more formal organizations in other villages. For example, KulauBikam has a temple committee and a village committee. The fruit farmers are tied very closely by shared economic interests, and there is often a mutual sharing of farming knowledge and technology to constantly improve the yield and quality of their produce. The stronger presence of political parties and organizations in the KulauBikam also generally leads to an increase in formalized associations and networks. While these formalized organizations do help to create unity and organize collective action, this paper recognizes that it is not always necessary and effective in different contexts. In the case of Kuala Rui, it appears that formalized associations are not necessary, and villagers are usually able to get by through their informal networks.
CONCLUSION Moving forward, it is possible to use some of the community assets to resolve some of the problems that the village community faces. While it is difficult to stem the trend of outward migration, it is possible to utilize public spaces and strengthen existing networks to improve the quality of lifeof the residents living in the village. Many of the community and economic assets can be used to potentially resolve some of the challenges facing the community. For example, the strong informal networks and goodwill among the residents can meant that there could be more cooperation between them to look after the weaker and elderly members in their community, especially so when there could be no children left in the families to take care of their aging parents. The strong relationships among villagers can also result in the formation of an informal neighborhood crime watch system to deter crime and prevent the spread of vices within the community. Economically, increased commercialization of the use of agricultural assets can potentially improve job prospects and encourage more young aspiring entrepreneurs to stay and revitalize the village economy. Overall, this paper does not aim to be overly prescriptive and the ideas suggested in this paper are merely suggestions that can be taken into consideration when developing the village community. 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: 03-79582628 ext 8274, 8656, 8269 (Klang Valley Campus) 05-4688888 ext 2295/2297/2299/2300 (Perak Campus)