UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: SRI MEDAN 铁山 JOHOR Project carried out by: Student Name ID Number Course Year / Semester 1.Nicholous Ngai Hon Meng 1300335 Centre for Y1 / S3 Foundation Studies 2.Teh Bin Shun 1300515 Centre for Y1 / S3 Foundation Studies 3. John Wong Lin Onn 1300613 Centre for Y1 / S3 Foundation Studies 4.PungTzyyChyuan 1204064 Centre for Foundation Studies Y1 / S3 DATE OF COMPLETION OCTOBER 2013
ABSTRACT Sri Medan was established in the year 1918 and is over 95 years old. It is located in the district of Batu Pahat in the state of Johor. Town close to this new village are Batu Pahat and Yong Peng. The main attraction in Sri Medan is the Taman Botani Johor. Its main economic activities are plantation of palm oils trees and rubber trees. Today, most of the villagers are elders and kids. This is due to younger generations are now migrated to main city to seek for job with a higher paid rate and even further their studies. 1
HISTORY Sri Medan also named as Tie Shan, which carries the meaning of the Iron Mountain because it is one of the largest iron mining sites in Malaysia. Back then iron mining is the main economic activity of the village. In the year 1918, the Ishara Sujikaisa, a Japanese mining company started the mining operation under the British supervision hence the Sri Medan was famous for the mining activities in that particular period. Before World War II, the government of the British colonial felt threaten by the Japanese forces and immediately shut down every operating companies in Malaya, so does the Ishara Sujikaisa Mining Company and put a hold to the entire mining operation in Sri Medan just before the Japanese forces invaded Malaya. After the year 1953, the Malayan Mining Company was established and the mining operation is continued. The founder of Genting Group, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong is one of director of the company. In the year 1967, the mining operation was ceased by the government because the mining site was left a 300 feet crater and has a high possibility of a landslide which will put the miners to harm. The renewable of licence of the Malayan Mining Company was hold, putting the company to an end. Finally, leads to an end of the iron mining of Sri Medan. Image of Sri Medan Iron Mine, 1959 2
POPULATION, HOUSING, TRANSPORT Sri Medan has a population consisting of the three major ethnic groups of Malaysia which are the Malays, Chinese and Indian. In the year 2013, the Malays are made up of 16500 villagers who can be considered as a major population of the village, followed by 1278 Chinese villagers and 26 Indian villagers. Because of the composition of its population, the main language used in intercultural communication is the Malay (Bahasa Melayu). The other main dialects used by Chinese villagers are Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, Hainan and Teow Cheu, but the most commonly spoken language is Hokkien. Sri Medan is a modern new village which indicates that the housing area in this area has upgraded to brick houses from the old wooden houses and tall-legged houses. Housing estate here has been modernized to suit the villager modern lifestyle with individual flushing system in every home, electric supply, water supply and etc. Wooden houses Tall-legged houses 3
Brick house With the presence tarred road in Sri Medan, the transportation used here has also been modernized into motorcar, motorcycle, bus and etc. However, motorcycles can be considered as the main transportation for almost every household own at least one of it. Motorcycle as the main transportation 4
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES In the past, the main income of Sri Medan village is iron mining. Sri Medan used to have few iron mines on mountains and these jobs opportunity attracted a lot of people to come to this village to work and these workers started to stay in this village as a part of villagers but these iron mines had stopped 46years ago due to the potential dangerous of landslide. After the workers of iron mines lost their jobs after the iron mines has been stopped, this village s main income has changed to plantation of rubber and palm oil. Rubber and palm oil plantation have been started many years ago but it only accounted a small amount of main income. These plantations accounted 15% of the village land. Rubber and oil palm are mostly sold locally to factory to process into usable material for example rubber tires, eraser, cooking oil and others. For the past few years, the production of rubber had decreased because of the flood history of the village and that makes the production of palm oil increased and accounted 90% of economic activities and main income. Site of plantation 5
Site of plantation Besides from plantation, Sri Medan village also has a wet market in the village which available for every Friday and Sunday, 7am to 11am. There are also other financial activities such as sundry shop, coffee shops or restaurant, hair salon, supermarket, mini market, financial institution, council stalls, gold smith, furniture, florist shops and also motorcycle& car workshop. The business of motorcycle workshop in the village is better than car workshop since most of the villagers are using motorcycle as their main transportation. 6
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES Religions practised in the village are Taoism, Buddhism, Muslim and Christian. The places of worship include a Buddhist temple Xing Lan Zhuo Gong Miao ( 兴蓝卓公庙 ) and a mosque (Masjid Parit Hj. Khalid Sri Medan). Temple of Xing Lan Zhuo Gong Front view of Xing Lan Zhuo Gong temple The main festivals held in the village are the mass greeting ( 团拜 ) celebrated in Lunar New Year,Bai Tnee Kong ( 拜天公 ) celebrated on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year and Xing Na Du Gong ( 兴拿督公 ) which is a locally celebrate festival held during the mid-autumn festival. The Xing Na Du Gong festival was originated from a local ritual by the iron miners of making obeisance to banyan tree to beg for protection during the mining operation. Now the celebration is carry out in the Xing Lan Zhuo Gong Miao temple since the ceasing of the mining operation.. 7
Xing Na Du Gong festival Concert for Xing Na Du Gong festival Banyan tree 8
In addition to the religious festivals, other festival held at the village includes the Loy Krathong Festival ( 灯节 ) which is a traditional Thailand s festival once held in the Simpang Kiri River. Around 20 years ago, some Thailand s Buddhists were invited from Thailand to conduct the ritual of releasing the water lantern ( 水灯 ). The students from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai were invited to witness this event in coordinate to their visit to Sri Medan. Unfortunately, this event was banned ever since because it was carried out without a permit 9
EDUCATION a) Kindergarten / Nursery Basically there is no Chinese kindergarten or nursery in Sri Medan. Although there is some Malay s kindergartens or nurseries such as Tadika Kemas Sayang in Sri Medan, but Chinese parents from Sri Medan will normally send their children to kindergarten of Chinese-owned in other villages. b) Primary school SJK (C) Chong Hwa is the only Chinese primary school in the village. This school was previously known as Sekolah Cina Chin Teck which was established in the year 1942 during colonialism of Japan in Malaya. At the very beginning after the school established, there were only 40 students and 1 teacher. Currently in the year 2013, there are 91 students which 86 are Chinese and 5 are Malays, 11 teachers, 2 senior assistants and 1 headmaster. The main language of the students is Chinese. SJK(C) Chong Hwa, Sri Medan This school was once employed as a rescue centre for the flood victims during the invasion of a great flood in Sri Medan at November 2006 and January 2007. 10
The facilities in the school are quite adequate. There are computer lab, science lab, library, cafeteria, school hall, music room, football field and etc. The old school hall The new school hall In 4 November 2012, a fund raising dinner was held to collect fund for the construction of new school hall. 11
SJK(C) Chong Hwa fund raising event Others than Chinese primary school, there is Malay primary school in the village which is SK Sri Medan. c) Secondary school There is only one Chinese secondary school which is the SMK Sri Medan. According to headman of village, the amount of Chinese students studying in the secondary school is gradually decreasing year by year. Therefore, Chinese language subject is removed from the syllabus of the secondary school, causing most of the Chinese students to further their studies in other secondary school in other villages or even in the city. 12
INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES Sri Medan is a developing village and is modernising rapidly day by day. The water source of the village is piped water and is supply by the SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd. Moreover, electricity is available in every household which supplied by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), the largest electric utility company in Malaysia. There is a perfect wastes management system here in the village. Wastes are collected by rubbish collector 3 to 4 times in a week while sewage disposed is through the toilet flushing system by individual septic tank. Drainage system The Telekom reduces the telecommunication problems in the village. For mobile phone, only Digi line can support 3G. However, the 3G line will not be stable all the time. Furthermore, free Wifi were available to the public for easy access to the Internet. 13
Free WiFi Service Community facilities offered to the villagers include health facilities, education facilities, postal facilities, recreational facilities and etc. In the aspect of health facilities, there are two clinics in Sri Medan, a private-owned and a government-owned. This village does not have hospital and the nearest hospital was located in Batu Pahat (Batu Pahat Hospital) which is 20km from this village. Sri Medan has a low crime rate and the villagers are living in harmony yet there are a new police station and an old police station here which offer 24 hours services to the public. The new police station is now functioned as the operating office while the old police station is used for accommodation for police officers. Unfortunately, the village does not have fire station but fire hydrants are available in every corner which will help in the fire fighting. Postal service is also available here with the present of a post office. Sri Medan old police station 14
Sri Medan post office As for the places of worship, Sri Medan has a mosque named as Masjid Parit Hj. Khalid Sri Medan and a temple which named as Xing Lan Zhuo Gong Miao ( 兴蓝卓公庙 ). Numerous types of shops are available in the village such as goldsmith, tire shop, coffee shop and motorcycle servicing shop. Wet market is available on Friday and Sunday from 9am to 11am for the convenience of villagers in purchasing fresh grocery. A mini market is allocated in the middle of the village for the villagers purchase daily goods. G&S mini market The resident of Sri Medan usually walk on foot, travel by motorcycles and motorcars. However, the main transportation of the village will be motorcycles. 15
Public transportation is also available in the village which is the public bus service but the buses are scheduled to arrive to each stop in every one hour, which will cause a major inconvenient to the villagers. Other facilities include a Chinese primary school a Chinese secondary school for education purposes, a futsal field for recreation, and a multipurpose community hall. Lastly, Sri Medan used to have one public library. However, the public library has been closed down now due to the shortage supplies of study materials. Futsal field Community hall 16
Satay Sahlan 17
PROBLEMS Sri Medan has tarred roads which reach satisfactory in the village however dues to lack of maintenance the condition started to worsen and start to form potholes. This will increase the risk of road accident causes to road users. Besides that, the village is facing the problems of declination of population of Chinese villagers. This problem is mainly cause by the migration of younger generation to main city especially Singapore because of the higher working opportunity in a modern city. In Sri Medan, there is no fire station. The fire engine needs to depart from Batu Pahat which located 20km away from Sri Medan and it will take more than 30 minutes for it to reach the village. This will reduces the chance of any possible rescue due to the delay. Moreover, taxi service is not available in the village while bus only available once per every hour because of the low head count of villagers and small area coverage. Plus, it is due to most of the villagers practically own a transport now hence local villagers will not required any public transports. However this will cause a major inconvenient to tourists and will affect the tourism value of the village. Rubbish can be seen around the ground and even at the road side. This poor hygienic condition is lethal to those with a weak immune system especially senior citizens and children. This problem is formed because public rubbish can or trash can are hard to come by and the public cleaning services are not perfect. 18
Rubbish at the roadside Potholes 19
RECOMMENDATIONS Sri Medan has poor road condition due to the lack of maintenance. The roads are not well-tarred and there is no footpath for pedestrian. Applying to the Ministry of Works (MOW) can be carry out to maintain the road condition from time to time in order to decrease the risk road accidents and installing a footpath. Besides, the population of Chinese villagers in this village gradually declined. This is because secondary school in Sri Medan did not provide Chinese subjects to the students. Due to this reason, most Chinese families will migrate to other places in order to allow their children to continue the studies of Chinese subject. Therefore, the Ministry of Education should include Chinese subjects in the secondary school prevent the youth from leaving the village. Moreover, taxi services are not available in this village and only one public bus service provided per hour. More transportation services should be provided in this village to enable the villagers or tourists to travel from a destination to a destination. Lastly, the road sides of Sri Medan are filled with trashes. The rubbish can was hardly found along the roadsides. Thus, the related parties who were responsible for the cleanliness of the village should place more rubbish bins on the roadsides in order to maintain the panoramic view of the village and also ensure the hygiene of the village are well maintained. 20
TOURISM VALUE Sri Medan has many attractive places which can be transformed into tourism destinations. One of the most attractive spot in this village is Taman Botani. Before Taman Botani was established, this place was famous of iron mining. According to the headman, there are many abandoned iron mine in the past. However, the small iron mine has been patched and right now, only 2 biggest iron mine left. There are named as Number Six Lake and Number Seven Lake. Number Seven Lake is deeper (about 300m depth) but smaller in size compared to Number Six Lake. Besides, Taman Botani has uses a century and above for beautifying purpose. Until now, the improvement progress in the garden still takes place. According to the headman, many villagers will fish by the lake during sunset. This garden also provides mountain climbing activities. Many youths used to camp and barbeque here during weekends or holidays to relieve their stress. Due to the panoramic view of the garden, many couples tend to take their wedding photography here. In addition, free wifi was provided for the tourists. The operation hour for Taman Botani is from 8am to 8pm. Taman Botani Johor 21
Map and regulations of Taman Botani Johor Number Seven Lake Another tourism spot of the village is Satay Sahian Sri Medan. This food stall is famous of their mouth-watering satay. Even Sultan Johor likes the satay served from this stall. During Chinese festival in 2006, Sultan Johor ordered 23000 sticks of satay to serve the villagers. The owner of the stall hires 15 workers to prepare the satay for that event. This food stall opens only after 6.30pm. 22
ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPPORTUNITIES In relation to the tourist attractions, future investment, future expansion and the problems mentioned above, the following recommendations are made. Based on Sri Medan economics activities and resources, there are few opportunities for future investment in building Mara University and constructing new highway with toll. These two constructions are related to each other. If the construction of Mara University started, the new highway and toll construction will start as well to overcome the traffic conjunction problem because the university will increase the population of Sri Medan village by few thousand or even more. Besides from university and highway, the famous Taman Botani in Seri Medan village can be used as wedding photography scene that requires fees because the view of Taman Botani is very beautiful after reconstruction. There are 2 lakes are very suitable for wedding photography scene that originally were iron mines that stopped operate 46 years ago. DISCLAIMER: Information contained in this report was compiled by the University s students on voluntary basis. Although every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the report, the University accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any errors or omissions, if any, the University reserves the right to make changes on the information at any time without prior notice. Should there be any queries regarding contents of the report, please contact: Department of Soft Skills Competency Tel: 03-79582628 ext 8274, 8656, 8269 (Klang Valley Campus) 05-4688888 ext 2295/2297/2299/2300 (Perak Campus) 23