COMMENT | When the news broke that Orang Asli residents at Kampung Sungai Teras had finally got a steady supply of electricity earlier this week - it was both heartwarming and maddening that this village, located just over an hour away from the Klang Valley, had received what the rest of us take for granted.

On the one hand, it seemed to have been a strategic move that the issue was brought up during the Slim by-election, at a time when it was to the advantage of political powers to settle such longstanding grouses.

Don’t get me wrong, I am chuffed that finally the Semai villagers no longer have to go to the generator in front of the house of their village chief (Tok Batin) Kuloh Bah Rinteh to charge their phones between 7pm and midnight.

But the timing of this solution really does beg the question - why on earth did it take so long?

Kuloh claims it took 60 years and the problem dated back to his father’s time, while Perak State Executive Councillor for Infrastructure, Energy, Water and Public Transportation Mohd Zolkafly Harun has just explained that the work on the electrical substation started on July 31, 2019, before the installation of the meters was done last Saturday...