UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: KUALA KRAU 瓜拉吉挠 PAHANG

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1 UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: KUALA KRAU 瓜拉吉挠 PAHANG Project carried out by: Student Name ID Number Course Year / Trimester 1. Loke Tze Min Teong Lee Sing Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Y3/T3 Y2/T2 DATE OF COMPLETION: JUNE 2014

2 HISTORY Kuala Krau Setia, is a new villages in the interior of the State of Pahang. When it was established in, there were only two rows of buildings which exist till today. Initially, this village was accessible only via river. The construction of the East Coast railway contributed tremendously to the granted of Kuala Krau Setia. In the late 1940 s when the British authorities declared Emergency Rule, Kuala Krau Setia was identified as a New Village. New villages were set up with the intention of preventing the rural folk from providing supplies/ support to the communists in surgents. The Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) received much support from the villagers and its leaders such as Su Yu, Long Ju Shen, Wu Ji Shen, Yip Wen Jian and Yip Tze Jian contributed to this village s development. Today, Kuala Krau Setia has developed into a small town with around 314 houses. Goh Yin Peng, the village headman, deals with the problems and challenges of this village. 1

3 Kuala Krau Setia before Kuala Krau Setia now Picture with headwoman of Kuala Krau Setia and Dato Yap Ke Huat 2

4 POPULATION, HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION Today, there are about 1000 villagers and 314 houses in Kuala Krau Setia new village. Most houses are made of concrete, unlike the wooden houses in the past. Its population is skewed to the older generation because the younger generation has moved to the towns in search of better career opportunities. In the past, the villagers travelled along the river. Currently, however, villagers travel by road or rail. Besides, the dirt roads in the past have been paved with asphalt which improves the road condition for travellers. 3

5 EDUCATION There are a few primary and secondary schools in Kuala Krau Setia. The schools are generally well maintained and its teachers are caring and hospitable. In fact, the teachers welcomed us to the schools and allowed us to interact with their students. A classroom in the village s kindergarten Children in the kindergarten 4

6 A village school Exterior of the school 5

7 Exterior of the school The school canteen 6

8 Basketball court Project team taking a photograph with the students 7

9 PROBLEMS, CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATION Outmigration of youths According to the leader of Kuala Krau Setia new village, many young adults are moving to the urban areas to look for better employment opportunities. This is not a good sign for Kuala Krau Setia because the younger generation are the hope of the older generation, and they are also the backbone of this village in the future. Therefore, in order to develop Kuala Krau Setia, the first step should be to attract the younger generation back. More opportunities for employment and investment should be developed, e.g. tourism related businesses, cottage industry and expansion/ modernization of existing enterprises. Poor Street Lighting There are many cows in the village and they are the cause of several motor accidents, especially at night. Signboards should be put up to warn motorists and street lighting needs to be improved. Flooding Floods occur especially during the rainy season. Flood mitigation efforts are needed and it is hoped that the authorities will act soon for the safety of the villagers. 8

10 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES The economy of Kuala Krau is supported by the fishing industry. The village is famous for its Patin fish and river fishes such as Kerai, Tilapia, Baung, Jelawat, Tenggalan, Belinda and Lampan. Villagers use the traditional methods of fishing such as fish traps and fish nets. Patin is also known as silver catfish and it has become one of the most famous fish in this region. Most of the fresh water fish breed in the Pahang river. The Patin fish is famous for its juicy and smooth flesh. The price of the fish ranges from RM100 to RM300. Most people prefer to buy the larger size fish which are purchased for home consumption or sold at Restaurants. Villagers normally steam this fish with soya sauce and it is served with hot rice. The birds nest industry provides another important source of income for Kuala Krau Setia. Shoplots are used as places for swiftlets to nest. The birds throw up semi-digested food or birds nest which is collected by workers and then processed for consumption as a delicacy. The cleaning and processing involves considerable work. Workers are required to wear masks when cleaning the birds nest. After cleaning, the birds nest will be shaped and dried and then machine-packed. It is exported mainly to China. Many villagers, especially the Malays, especially the Malays, earn a living by tapping rubber. The latex collected sells for about RM2.50 per kg but the price fluctuates. Work in the oil palm plantations and smallholdings are another source of income, especially for the Chinese villagers. After the oil palm fruit are plucked, they are transported by lorries to the palm oil processing plants. The weight of the lorry together with its load of oil palm fruits will be measured and after the lorry has unloaded all the oil palm fruits, it will be weighed a second time. The difference is the weight of fruit for which the workers are paid. On average, 1 tonne of fruit costs about Rm

11 Frozen large Patin fish Jelawat fish 10

12 Baung fish Belinda fish 11

13 Tenggalan fish Kerai fish 12

14 Some of the fresh water fishes caught from Sungai Pahang A shop selling frozen fresh water fish 13

15 A shop selling live Patin fish and Tilapia fish Small Patin fish in a tank 14

16 Live tilapia fishes in tank Steamed patin fish with soya sauce 15

17 Each lorry which passes through the weighing machine is weighed before and after unloading. A small palm oil processing factory 16

18 The machine that is used to weigh oil palm fruit Oil palm fruit is loaded on a lorry and cleaned before being transported to a factory 17

19 Oil palm fruit and trees A rubber estate in Kuala Krau 18

20 A rubber tapper demonstrating the process of tapping Shop lots that people use to rear swallows 19

21 A building used to breed swallows for birds nest Dried birds nest 20

22 It is must for workers to wear masks when cleaning the birds nest 21

23 Process of cleaning the birds nest -workers pull out the finefeather Fans are used for drying of birds nest 22

24 Fans are used for drying of birds nest The equipment that is used to shape the birds nest 23

25 The equipment that is used to shape the birds nest Container that is used to keep the birds nest after drying 24

26 Machine that is used to package the birds nest Birds nest ready for sale 25

27 ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPPORTUNITIES There are small cottage industries in Kuala Krau. One example is a lady entrepreneur who makes delicious soya bean milk, taufu-fah and cendol at home. She sells these desserts on Fridays and Saturdays only. The price per bowl is only Rm1.00. Besides, some villagers sell pure honey that is freshly filtered from the honeycomb without added any preservatives and other ingredients such as coconut oil. We were also informed that some Malay villagers breed doves for sale. Soya bean milk is poured into bottles for sale. Soya bean milk sold at Rm1.00 per cup or packet 26

28 The black bean taufu-fah Delicious cendol A piece of cloth is used to filter the honey from the honeycomb. 27

29 Pure honey that is ready for sale Pure honey that has been filtered Doves are bred for sale 28

30 TOURISM VALUE The distance from Kuala Krau to Gunung Senyum is about 10km. People call it Smiling Mountain (Gunung Senyum) because of the shape of mountain when it is viewed from a distance. The outline resembles the side profile of someone smiling. Local legend has it that 2 Malay warriors were feuding and one of them died with a smile. The height of Gunung Senyum is 478 meters and its neighbouring mountains are Gunung Jebak Puyuh and Bukit Terus. There.is total of 25 caves in these limestone mountains which tower over the surrounding plantations. Gunung Senyum was formed about 400 millions ago the complex of caves includes Gua Angin, Gua Terang Bulan, Gua Taman Satu/Dua and Gua Makam Tok Long (a burial cave). There is a legend behind Gua Makam Tok Long (cave of Tok Long s grave). Tok Long was a religious man who used magic golden feathers to catch a spotted dove. One day, the bird escaped and, as he went in search of the bird, he met a fairy and married her. After some time, Tok Long had a strong desire to return to his village. The fairy helped him to return to the village on condition that he did not tell anyone about her. However, so many questions were asked when he was back in the village and he revealed the secret. When he subsequently went in search of his fairy wife, he could not longer find her. Tok Long was very sad and meditated in the cave till his dying day. The spot where he passed away was named Makam Tok Long. The main recreation activities at Gunung Senyum park are cave exploration, jungle trekking, rock climbing and camping. It takes about two hours to climb Gunung Senyum and cave exploration can easily take up a whole day. The Gunung Senyum Recreational Park covers an area of 794 hectares. 29

31 Gunung Senyum Recreational Park. The road leading to Gunung Senyum Recreational Forest 30

32 The view of Gunung Senyum from a far outline looks like side view of a face. The caves of Gunung Senyum Path leading to the caves is surrounded by a lake View from inside the caves 31

33 Makam Tok Long in the cave 32

34 INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES There are many basic amenities and facilities available in the village such as Piped water from Jabatan Bekalan Air, electricity from Tenaga Nasional Berhad, telecommunication service from Telekom Malaysia, government clinic, police station and community hall. There is proper sewage and waste disposal as well. Villagers buy their daily needs from grocery shops, a mini market and a night market. Besides tele-communication services provided by Telekom Malaysia (fixed line and internet service), some villagers also subscribe to other network operators for their mobile phone. Garbage disposal is handled by Alam Flora whereas Indah Water manages the sewage disposal of this village. The Kuala Krau government clinic provides basic health care services and the service of medicines. It is open round the clocks and has 10 nurses and a few doctors. In addition, there are two staff who help to dispense medicine and carry out administrative work. Villagers use the school hall of SJK (C) Kuala Krau to practise Wai Tan Kong. This is a traditional from of exercise and villagers practise three times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8-9pm. There are many alternatives for transport that are available: train, motorcycles, cars and public buses. Most villagers have their own cars. People travel to their working place by cars or motorcycles. Villager also taking use public transport to travel out town to places such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Temerloh. Many villagers prefer to work in Singapore because of higher earnings. Those who work in Singapore often travel by train. 33

35 TNB office TNB power station Kuala Krau Government Clinic 34

36 Hostel for nurses Services for delivery of baby and post-natal care provided in government clinic 35

37 Kuala Krau post office Kuala Krau Police Station The hall that village people use to practice Wai Tan Gong 36

38 News about Wan Tan Gong group s achievements Kuala Krau Railway Station Kuala Krau Railway Station 37

39 The train schedule Village Head s office 38

40 Kuala Krau night market 39

41 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 2295/2297/2299/2300 (Perak Campus) 40