When towns simply fade away…

A young working population seeking greener pastures in cities signals the death knell for economically-starved small towns.

PETALING JAYA: In the lifespan of many towns, it is a tale of two fates. Successful towns, backed by well-travelled roads and economic opportunities, will over time evolve into vibrant cities.

But some other towns, placed far away from highways or neglected by private investors or governments, tend to fade away.

Monash University associate professor Phua Kai Lit said that Malaysia’s growing urbanisation often meant that other parts of the country, especially its rural areas, were left out.

“You have a lopsided and uneven development (taking place in the cities), so you may have depopulation in other parts of the country, especially in the rural areas,” he said.

Cities, he added, also acted as powerful socio-economic magnets, which ended up pulling youths and young adults from across the country there.

According to the recently released Population and Census Report 2010, 71% of Malaysians lived in cities, compared with 62% in 2000.

This translated to a 20.1 million urban population, compared with a much smaller 8.2 million rural headcount.

FMT previously reported that at least 40% of the Klang Valley’s current population were domestic migrants from other states in Malaysia.

While this trend led to rapid urban growth, smaller towns across Malaysia were left without a sizeable young working population.

“You may see young people leaving, and the population there (smaller towns) gets older and older. The old people are left behind,” said Phua.

With the towns’ senior citizen population slowly passing away, this led to some villages and towns disappearing off the face of the economic map.

“You’ll see depopulation in certain parts of Malaysia, such as places like Kelantan, Perlis and Pahang,” Phua added.

‘El Dorado of the East’

A sociologist by trade, Phua highlighted Sungai Lembing, a tin-mining town in Pahang, more than 40km northwest of Kuantan.

Once regarded as the “El Dorado of the East” , Sungai Lembing was in the past a vibrant tin-mining town.
However, the mine’s closure in the late 20th century led to the town’s gradual depopulation.

“You can see obvious signs of depopulation in Sungai Lembing. It used to have two streets of shops, but if you go there now, only a handful of shops will be open.”

“The population there is either the very young or the very elderly. The economic base is no longer there, so I think over time, the town will die,” he said.

Phua added that the town may only see its original inhabitants return there for good when they retired.

A Kuantan man himself, he, however, appeared reticent about such an idea.

“I’m from Kuantan, it’s a nice town, so when I retire I’ll move back there… but only if the Lynas project is stopped in its tracks,” he said, referring to the controversial rare earth plant due to be opened in September.

“But if you ask me to go back to Sungai Lembing, I’ll say forget it. It’s just two streets of wooden shops,” he said frankly.

“The worst scenario is that it’ll become a ghost town. Nobody is there, but you’ll be having all these buildings deteriorating.”

Nevertheless, Phua did not consider dying towns, or ghost towns, as a problem, calling it a natural matter.