Rural communities are kept in the dark, in mind and in body

Kampung Scene

Umno-Baru does NOT help the rural folk.

In peninsular Malaysia, people from kampungs and orang asli villages,  whilst in East Malaysia, the people and long houses in East Malaysia are turfed out of their homes, ostensibly in the name of development.

They are rehoused in brick homes which are of poor quality, have poor ventilation, are cramped, and are poorly designed as they are like hot ovens in the sun.

These homes are normally situated on very poor soil, so that people who are used to cultivating some garden crops, find that the land is barren, or on boggy ground.

In first world countries, rural villages have proper amenities and have good infrastructure…….but in Malaysia, some villages have no electricity, no water, certainly no sanitation.

There is a reason to make rural life not inviting nor comfortable. The government eyes the LAND….

LAND will be compulsorily purchased or the corporations will come and buy the land at rock bottom prices,….and then with the collusion of some key people, the “land use” will alter….and lo and behold, the land is now earmarked for development, and money changes hands at a rate of knots and the original cheap land is sold for multi-million ringgits.

I saw it happen to our ancestral village. You may have seen it to your family’s ancestral village too.

Corporations take over, convert the land to plantation use, or quarry use, or build mega dams on them. The original inhabitants have no say, and no way to take action or challenge them in court. Remember, one man compromised the judiciary back in 1988.

Umno-Baru does not help the rural areas. Corporations now dominate the rural sector. Foreign labour take over….and the original rural folk gravitate to the cities, thus transferring the problems to the cities.