Seminar Entitled: “The Development and Problems of Chinese New Villages of Malaysia” and Book Review Event in UTAR
J-on
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Friday, April 5, 2013
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Written by Cheah Yuen Yuen
Photographed by Lee Chi Leong
Dato’
Ir. Fong Tian Yong graced UTAR with his presence on April 3rd to
give a seminar on “The Development and Problems
of Chinese New Villages in Malaysia”.
The
seminar was jointly organised by Institute of Chinese Studies (Dean, Professor
Dr. Ho Khai Leong), Centre for Chinese Studies Research (Malaysian Chinese and
Cultural Studies Unit led by Associate Professor Dr. Wong Wun Bin), and
Department of Soft Skills Competency (led by Ms. Lok Bee Lan). An introduction
of the speaker, Dato’ Ir. Fong Tian Yong (Dato Fong) was made by the session
chairperson, Ms. Chiok Phaik Fern (Deputy Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social
Science/ member of Centre for Chinese Studies Research).
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Dato Ir. Fong Tian Yong
explaining the history of the emergence,
challenges and development of Chinese New Villages in Malaysia.
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Dato
Fong began his talk by introducing the historical formation of New Villages
(NVs) in Peninsular Malaysia. “There are 450 New Villages in Peninsular Malaysia
and a majority of these settlers are of Chinese descent,” said Fong. “These new
villages were mainly formed during the emergency period of 1948 to 1952 to curb
the insurgence of the Malayan Communist Party.”
He
highlighted the importance of village heads/ masters to the development of NVs connect
the villagers to the government. These village heads/ masters are appointed by
the state government. The Village Development Office under the Ministry of
Housing and Local Government is in charge of providing federal funding to the
MCA nominated Village Development and Security Community, who are usually
contract officers with political ties and affiliations, to coordinate with
village heads/ masters to improve the infrastructures and social amenities in
the New Village.
The
speaker explained to the audience the connection between Malaysian Chinese Association
(MCA) and NVs. MCA (led by Tun Tan Cheng Lock) was established to assist the
British government to resettle the squatters in response to the organised
communist threat – the Malayan Communist Party.
“The resettlement effort failed because the actual
process did not follow the set guidelines,” Fong added.
The guidelines mentioned included allocations
of a maximum of 6 houses per acre but the housing areas built disregarded it. MCA’s
resolve to relocate and regroup the settlers were met with much obstacles.
Security measures such as curfew periods and ration cards were introduced to
cut off communist assistance. At the end of the 1960s, a number of NVs were
formed and declared as white areas with the defeat of Malayan Communist Party.
Since
then, NVs in Malaysia have gone through much development with enhanced
facilities and infrastructure such as improved roads and drainage systems.
Although there are improvements in some NVs, some NVs still
have poor planning in terms of the housing and lacking social amenities as well
as overcrowding issues. These problems may be caused by the lack of economic
support from the government which in turn infuse the people with the general
perception of backwardness and lack of development in these areas. Flashfloods and
land shortages also trouble the people.
“Young
people are moving out of the villages to pursue a higher living standard in
urban cities,” said Dato Fong.
A
sectoral study was conducted by Dato Fong and his team to to integrate the
villages into mainstream development of the nation through common niches identified
in each village under studied.
Showcasing
the past and present photos of the NVs, Dato Fong highlighted the programmes that was initiated by MCA to improve the living standards of
these NVs.
“Living
standards and education levels in NVs were still comparatively low compared to
the urban cities.” he added.
In
hopes of creating a vibrant and active village, Housing
and Local Government Ministry’s New Village Master Plan was to allow
flexibility from full compliance with requirements. A
New Village Master Plan Roll Out Program which included plans to improve the
infrastructure and social amenities of the New Village was introduced in July,
2005. 15 feet road reserves, 60 or 99 years of lease extension for housing and
funds for reconstruction from the government were amongst the few improvements
made by the government for NVs.
Agriculture
and cottage industries were the main economic income for the New Villages. Shoe
making in Bukit Merah and chicken farm in Valdor were amongst the mentioned
small town industries the people involved themselves with other than farming. Malaysian SEARCA Fellows Association (MASFA) and Modern Agriculture Biotechnology Bureau (MABB) made efforts to solve the problems of NVs farmers in Perak
and Pahang.
Dato
Fong discussed other problems that plagued the NVs. One of them was the issue
of land ownership where Dato Fong himself was part of the team to visit the New
Village farmers to map out the boundaries of their land and apply for the
registration and handling of the paperwork involved for the illegal farms in
Perak and Pahang.
“We
used a GPS system to mark the land of the farmers accurately so that there were
no squabbles over the property and ownership of each piece of land,” explained
Dato Fong.
Dato
Fong also travelled to Cameron and Simpang Renggam, Johor to advise farmers on the
outsource of funds and incentives of agriculture development.
Moreover,
heritage conservation effort was made to preserve traditional buildings and
temples as well as the introduction of rain harvesting by the Collaboration Resource
Persons.
The
presentation ended with a gift presentation to Dato Fong by Dean of Institute
of Chinese Studies/ Chairperson of Centre of Chinese Studies Research,
Professor Dr. Ho Khai Leong accompanied by the session chairperson, Ms Chiok
Phaik Fern. A group photo of the speaker, Prof. Dr. Ho, Ms. Chiok, Assoc. Prof.
Dr. Wong, Assist. Prof. Dr. Chong, and Ms. Lok was taken after the presentation
of gift to Dato Fong.
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Gift presentation session accompanied by (from left to right) Head of Soft
Skills & Competency Department Ms Lok Bee Lan, Deputy Dean of Faculty of
Arts and Social Sciences Ms Chiok Phaik Fern (Academic Development and
Undergraduate Programmes), Speaker - Dato Fong Tian Yong, Dean of Institute of
Chinese Studies/ Chairperson of Centre of Chinese Studies Research Prof Dr. Ho
Khai Leong and Deputy Dean of Institute of Chinese Studies (R&D and
Postgraduate Programmes) and writer of Chinese New Village of Kulaijaya, Johor
Dr. Wong Wun Bin.
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Book
Review - “Malaysian Chinese Local Gazetteer
of Johor: New Villages of Kulaijaya District” by Prof. Dr. Ho Khai Leong
Following
the seminar, the next event was introduced by FAS Lecturer Mr. Teh Boon Teik.
Dean of Institute of Chinese Studies/ Chairperson of Centre of Chinese Studies
Research, Professor Dr. Ho Khai Leong stepped forth to provide a brief review
about the new book, “Malaysian Chinese
Local Gazetteer of Johor: New Villages of Kulaijaya District” written by Associate
Professor Dr. Wong Wun Bin (Deputy Dean - R&D and Postgraduate Programmes, Institute
of Chinese Studies) and Assistant Professor Dr. Chong Siou Wei (Deputy Dean -
Academic Development and Undergraduate Programmes, Institute of Chinese Studies).
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Dean of Institute of Chinese
Studies/ Chairperson of Centre of Chinese Studies Research, Professor Dr. Ho
Khai Leong giving a brief review about the book titled “Chinese New Villages of
Kulaijaya, Johor”.
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Professing
his appreciation on the book, Dr. Ho highlighted the interesting content
discussed in the book and proposed another area that could be added in the subsequent
book series.
“It
would have been interesting if the writers could discuss more from the
political perspectives of the New Villages and also the voting behavior of
these villagers.” Prof. Ho added.
At
the end of the event, Ms Lok Bee Lan, Head of Soft Skills Development &
Competency Department, informed the students who were present, the Community
Service Programme offered by her Department. The Programme’s objectives are to
create awareness among students on NVs and to allow students to apply knowledge
acquired in the university to help the villagers in improving their
socio-economic well being. The Department was planning to organise NVs’
exhibition in the future.
