Din and bustle wakes up sleepy town

A sleepy hollow has become a hive of activity but the people of Kerdau are not used to outsiders 'invading' their small forgotten town.

KERDAU: Fatimah Dollah, 62, sells food and drinks by the roadside leading into Kerdau, Pahang. She has watched the numerous banners being put up for the upcoming by-election, but feels none of the excitement that comes with the odd bustling of activity in a small oft-forgotten town.

Kerdau was once known as Sanggang, which was then under the Mentakab parliamentary constituency. It is now under the Kuala Krau parliamentary constituency. Kerdau is a typical semi-rural area. A drive to Kampung Kerdau, from which the constituency earned its name, reflects the unhurried pace of life here.

“There are many of us who feel we are only remembered when it’s voting time. After that,” Fatimah shrugs her shoulders with palms facing upwards, “no one bothers about us anymore.”

“They leave behind all their banners, signs and posters which they stick all over the place. All of them are the same,” she adds, with a wry smile on her weather-beaten face.

And are the banners hoisted! From afar, the navy blue pennants and green ensigns look quite fetching, pretty even, fluttering in the wind on what is an overcast day. But a closer look will show that some are harnessed to broken street lights and hoisted on bus stands while others are impaled on the ground, resembling blue flames on a matchstick.

It seems that the banners, buntings and bills outnumber the residents of Kerdau who number about 2,000 in total. Driving into and across the district, there is a good chance that you will see more chickens and mud-covered buffaloes than people.

War chest

The ones that were seen didn’t look too happy at the sight of visitors in their sleepy town. Even the police on duty didn’t take too fondly to photographs being taken by the roadside where they lounged around at their post.

One policeman even crossed the road to ask what the photographs were for. He seemed uncomfortable to be included in a photograph taken of a banner behind him and his colleagues. In case you’re curious, it was a Barisan National (BN) banner.

He was only pacified when a friend who followed this writer said, “We are taking pictures of you to show that the police are guarding this area well.”

Where the village folk were concerned, their eyes would literally follow one’s movement. This was more so evident at a little shop that had been turned into a PAS centre of sorts.

A PAS flag big enough to sail a small boat is hung between two columns facing the entrance of the shop. There is a foldable plastic table on which stands a collection box with these words, “Tabung Jihad Pilihanraya (By-election war chest).” Photos aren’t allowed of course, with a request turned away by these words, “Tak payalah.”

WiFi Village

Photography is something many here are shy or rather suspicious of, unless it’s taken with a politician giving away something, holding a baby or visiting a family in a dilapidated house.

When this is mentioned to Mohd Jusoh, a 53-year-old farmer, he says, “It’s not that we are unfriendly. I think many of us know that all these politicians come here to take pictures with us to look good.

“So some of us think that everyone with a camera is coming for this reason,” he laughs. “Maybe there should be more people coming to fix things in this kampung and help us, then maybe we will be more friendly,” he adds in jest.

Mohd Jusoh and his friends are asked what are some of the things that would help Kerdau. His reply is a slap on the knee and the shake of the head as if to say, “How much time have you got?” He lists the trinity of clean running water for everyone, good public transport into towns, and more work opportunities. What he doesn’t understand is the WiFi Village and asks the writer to explain what it is.

A total of 300 villages in Pahang will get the WiFi wireless Internet through the Kampung WiFi programme by year-end. Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said this entailed the construction of 863 telecommunication towers in stages. Recently when launching the WiFi Village in Kampung Murni Kerdau, Rais said that no parliamentary and state constituencies in Pahang will be left out.

“Maybe I’m old and don’t understand all this. But as someone who has lived here all my life, I don’t know how many of my friends are going to use this WiFi technology. Now, if you give us equipment to work the land and some one to teach us how to do business with it, then I think we would benefit much more,” Mohd Jusoh says while his friends enthusiastically nod their agreement.

The final word? Mohd Jusoh and his friends are asked who they think will win the Kerdau by-election. Four of them say BN while the other two say PAS. After they exchange views and reasoning, the final count is five for BN and one for PAS.

Only on Sunday will the people of Kerdau know which way the wind will blow. - FMT