news feature

As the rest of Malaysia resolutely marches into the information age, villagers in small town Bedong continue to live without basic amenities.

There is no piped water nor electricity. Children study under the dim glow of kerosene lamps, and by candlelight.

This is the lot of 30-odd families at Kampung Sungai Getah Dua in Bedong, Kedah, who live in a rubber estate at the forgotten reaches of Malaysia's silicone valley of Penang, only an hour's drive away.

The kampung residents have lead a simple way of life for the past 50 years, sidelined from progress and a better life.

"We only wanted current (electricity) and (piped) water," says V Subramaniam, a 70-year-old resident, adding that without it, the children's education was affected as they developed headaches and eyesight problems.

With no piped water to the houses, the 200-odd residents share the two piped-water outlets among themselves.

At night, they have to use a generator for electricity which consumes about RM2 worth of fuel daily. Some cannot even afford this 'luxury'.

The generator won't run for more than two hours without breaking down. Repairs cost about RM250, explained T Joseph Arul,16, a Form Four student living in the village told malaysiakini .

Another resident M. Chelliah, 54, said that a second-hand generator is about RM800 to RM1000 - a cost he cannot afford.

Chelliah, a contract worker at a wood factory, earns about RM20 a day. His wife, who is rubber- tapper, earns about RM9 daily. He has three children who are all still in primary school.

Request blocked

On Dec 30 last year, about 70 of the villagers brought their plight to the office of Kedah Menteri Besar Syed Razak Syed Zain. Although they did not meet Syed Razak personally, the villagers were assured that the matter would be looked into.

Last week, radio news website radiqradio.com reported that Syed Razak's political secretary Abdul Wahab Din had visited the village.

The villagers want the Kedah state government to intervene so they can have basic facilities at their village. Although poor, the villages are not looking for handouts. They are quite willing to pay for these facilities - if they can get them, that is.

Like many other estate villages in the country, this kampung is located on private land. And the landowner, local Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) politician and Justice of the Peace S Govindan is said to have blocked the request of the villagers to have basic amenities installed.

He demands the estate folk pay up 35 years of rental arrears. Legally, the limit for rental arrears is only up to six years. In addition to this, he also wants them to pay a monthly rental of RM10.

Is this a ploy to force the residents to move out? Perhaps so, because it is believed that the landowner is keen to develop a housing project in the area.

No help from local assemblyman

To make matters worse, no help is forthcoming from the Kedah state public works and social committee chairman V Saravanan. In fact, he claims the state government should not interfere as it is an issue between the landowner and the villagers.

The villagers met by malaysiakini expressed their disappointment with Saravanan who is a state exco member as well as state assemblyman for Bukit Selambau. Kampung Sungai Getah Dua is in Saravanan's constituency.

"During election time (in 1999), Datuk Saravanan said he will provide electricity (to the villagers), but until now, there is none," Chelliah said.

The only house that enjoyed electricity following the '99 elections is Govindan's, located in the same village.

Saravanan has said that the village did not get the basic amenities because the people were "unreasonable".

He was reported to have said that "nobody can get anything free these days".

However, Subramaniam says the villagers are willing to pay for the facilities plus the monthly rental of RM4 a month for every house as agreed to during a meeting in August 1999 (as opposed to the RM10 demanded by the landlord).

Village resident, R Kanama claimed that Saravanan has not visited the village since the elections. "How to vote for him in the next election?" she said.

However, according to report in a Tamil daily, Saravanan claimed he visited the village ten times.

A resident of the village who declined to be named said that the state government should intervene in the matter but not through Saravanan.

"The wakil rakyat only sides the landlord. Is there a connection between him and the landlord?" he asked.

The resident also claimed that the villagers are not squatters who intruded on the landowner's property. "We were originally here," he said.

Govindan became one of the three landowners in Kampung Sungai Getah Dua through a court order in 1989.

"If this issue is not settled, it's better for the government to takeover the land and divide it among the people here," the resident suggested.

While the landowner, the assemblyman and the state government sort the matter out, the downtrodden villagers continue to live in the dark.

Harrrowing experience

L. Letchumy, 33, related a harrowing experience when she saw a poisonous snake come into her house and she could not find it because it was dark.

It was only when her husband brought a kerosene lamp that they saw the snake, she said.

M. Mariamma suggested that people should come and stay in their home for one night to truly understand the difficult living conditions.

The villagers say they do not want to move because they cannot afford to live elsewhere.

According to Subramaniam, a low-cost house costs somewhere between RM30,000 and RM40,000. And he only earns between RM200-300 a month.

Subramaniam lives with his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. His son is a rubber tapper, earning about RM200 a month. His daughter-in-law earns about RM300 working in a factory.

He says that the money is hardly enough to live on.

How can they save, let alone buy a house?