Top of Orang Asli village wishlist - working internet

PD POLLS | Nestled among the hills and jungles along the main highway at Pasir Panjang is a small Orang Asli village named Kampung Bukit Kepong.

Formerly named Kampung Mati (Dead Village) after the cul-de-sac at the end of the road leading to the village, about 100 Orang Asli families of the Temuan tribe live there in houses made of wood and bricks.

Now, Kampung Bukit Kepong, which had previously always voted for BN, is hoping that Port Dickson by-election's Pakatan Harapan candidate Anwar Ibrahim will be the one to help them with their problems.

"For 61 years, we wore the old clothes and now they are torn, so we get new clothes.

"We believe that the villagers here are fully supportive of Harapan," said 61-year-old Omar Goming (photo), who is the tok batin (village elder) at Kampung Bukit Kepong.

For 41-year-old Zamri Harun, the Orang Asli as the minority in the country have little choice but to support the government of the day, which they hope will help out the villages.

"Now that Harapan has won, we have to follow them," said Zamri, who is the third generation Orang Asli in that village.

Though the Orang Asli here have to deal with land issues, among other concerns, many of them appear to be more worried about something else in their village, that is the lack of good handphone and internet coverage.

"Most important issue here is the communications tower.

"Sometimes we have tourists coming here, every three to four times a month, but when they come here they do not have any handphone connection, so how?

"Maybe, if we have better handphone connection, there would be more tourists coming here," Omar told Malaysiakini.

Working to improve tourism

The village is accessible through narrow tar roads, about eight kilometres into the jungle and upon reaching the village, one will be greeted by the sight of rustic houses with well-kept gardens.

The gardens are the main attraction in the village, with each garden appearing to have been carefully arranged, but yet allowed to grow naturally, dotted with handmade lawn accoutrements.

There are huge varieties of plants and flowers in each of the gardens, but it seems like the villagers have a special fondness for growing orchids.

"The people here really like orchids and maybe the weather here is suitable for growing orchids, though we have our own uniqueness.

"If you look at nurseries outside, they plant their orchids in pots, but here we use deadwood from the jungle," Omar said, proudly showing off the plants in front of his house.

Aside from the gardens, the Orang Asli are also working to improve tourism in their village by running a homestay and holding traditional activities for corporate and student team-building programmes.

Radzali Tan Soo Tok said the village is expecting their biggest group of visitors on Oct 15, as a multinational company is bringing in 500 employees for a team building programme.

"They want to play, so we will prepare the exercises and teach them," the 60-year-old said.

With all these tourists coming to their village, Radzali said he has started his own business selling Temuan handicraft items.

Pointing to the sign outside his shop, which he only opens when there are tourists, he said his daughter was the brains behind the whole operation.

His daughter Faarezan Radzali (photo) runs the Temuan Homestay and is the pioneer behind the eco-tourism in the village.

Faarezan said the progress is slow as they are using their own money to develop attractions for tourists, such as her homestay, which currently features only three chalets.

"If there are more, we can recommend areas for them to camp. These are my plans for this village.

"I want our village to be more different and unique, so our activities are more traditional Orang Asli activities," she said.

However, she faces another struggle in developing the tourism in her village, as she finds it difficult to promote Kampung Bukit Kepong as an eco-tourism spot with the lack of good internet connection and knowledge.

"We lack knowledge when it comes to the internet. We only know how to promote through Facebook, anything else too advanced, we may not know how," she said.

'Internet important to promote our village'

But Faarezan is already taking proactive steps to further her plans for Kampung Bukit Kepong.

During Anwar's visit to the village during his campaign trail, Faarezan gave a speech and listed a number of things she hoped he would help them with, should he become the Port Dickson MP.

"We hope that you will help us in terms of infrastructure, such as widening the road leading to our village.

"This is because we receive many visitors to Temuan Homestay and the road is so narrow for buses.

"For the tourists and visitors as well, we have problems with the lack of internet in this area. The main feedback from our visitors is that our village should have internet service.

"I ask that you help us get internet coverage because it is important to us to promote our village in terms of eco-tourism," Faarezan implored to Anwar in her speech.

Coincidentally, on the same day Anwar went to that Orang Asli village, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo also visited Port Dickson.

This was a day after the Harapan candidate complained to Gobind about internet speed and coverage in the constituency.

Gobind stressed during his visit that he was there to campaign for Anwar in his personal capacity, and not as a minister.

He also denied that his participation in the campaign had anything to do with him receiving a call from Anwar the day before.

Asked if his ministry would look into Port Dickson's internet issues, in particular, Gobind had quipped: "I thought you said the minister cannot come here to make any announcements which affect Port Dickson because there is an election going on?" - Mkini