UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: GEMAS BARU 金马士峇鲁 JOHOR

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1 UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT REPORT NAME OF NEW VILLAGE: GEMAS BARU 金马士峇鲁 JOHOR Project carried out by: Student Name ID Number Course Year / Trimester 1. Chang Li Jing Yee Sok Quan Ghooi Ling Shing Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) Bachelor of Accounting (Hons) Y2/T3 Y2/T2 Y2/T2 DATE OF COMPLETION SEPTEMBER 2013

2 OBJECTIVES To survey and do research on lifestyle, background, history, economic activities, social and and cultural activities in the new village, Gemas Baru, Johor. INTRODUCTION Gemas Baru is a new village located along the border between Johore and Negeri Sembilan. It was established since in On 24 September 2013, 18 UTAR students who were accompanied by 2 lectures visited Gemas Baru and collected useful information about the village. We departed from UTAR Sungai Long at around 7.30 morning and travelled by UTAR bus. In the bright morning at 10.30am, we reached one of the highway stops. At around 11.30am, we reached Kebun Baru and Kampung Abdullah in Segamat. Our lectures guided us on how to conduct our survey when we reach our destination. After dropping off fellow students who were conducting surveys at for Kebun Baru, Kampung Abdullah and Jementah, we continued our journey to Buluh Kasap. At Buluh Kasap, the generous village head treated the whole team to a sumptuous lunch. At around 4.30pm, after dropping off the survey groups in Buluh Kasap and Batu Anam, Segamat, our project team finally reached Gemas Baru, Johor.

3 HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF THE VILLAGE Figure 1 Gemas Baru Shoplots Figure 2 Gemas Baru s Village Head We were welcomed by Gemas Baru s current village head as well as its old village head. We felt honored to meet them and gave them a small token of appreciation. The village head, Mr Lee Shui Lai, drove us around Gemas Baru. He informed us that most villagers travelled by car or motorcycle. However, many elderly residents ride bicycles to the morning market or pasar pagi.

4 Figure 3 Oil Palm Plantation along the way to Gemas Baru During our tour of Gemas Baru, we found that a lot of land is used for oil palm plantations and fruit orchards. Figure 4 A signboard showing a durian In fact, Gemas Baru is famous for its durians and the sale of this fruit provides villagers with an important source of income. In addition, many villagers are engaged in the processing of logs of wooden planks or papan. Most of the wooden logs come from Pahang and Sabah.

5 Figure 5 Lovers Bridge across Gemas River Mr Lee bought us to visit a very well known bridge in the village: Lovers Bridge which is built across Gemas River. It was built in the 1970 s and it marked the border between 2 villages: Gemas Baru in Johor and another village in Negeri Sembilan. According to Mr Lee, he this bridge was originally made of wood but it has since been rebuilt with metal. It is used a route between Gemas Baru and Kg Gemas.

6 DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION Figure 6 Dewan Raya Gemas Baru There are around 5,000 villagers and approximately 1,000 houses in Gemas Baru. The village population consists of Chinese, Indians and Malays. However, the majority of the population are Chinese from the Hokkien dialect group. Several religions are practiced: Buddhism, Islam, Taoism and Christianity. Gemas Baru village is managed by an organization called Village Security and Development Commitees (JKKK). Two main political parties which have offices in this village are Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Malaysian People s Movement Party (GERAKAN). The population of the village has been declining over the past 10 years. Most youngsters had moved out from the village and seek better employment opportunities in urban areas.

7 VILLAGE INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES The Jambatan Kerja Raya (JKR) manages the piped water supply while Tenaga National Berhad (TNB) handles the supply of electricity. Telekom Malaysia as well as many mobile phone service providers are available here. However, there is neither a clinic nor police station in Gemas Baru. Nevertheless, many facilities are found in this village. There is a community hall, a playing field, a rest house, shops, stalls, a wet market and a night market in Gemas Baru. Figure 7 Mornings and Night Market Figure 8 Tables and Chairs in classroom Figure 9 A Classroom in the local kindergarten Mr. Lee also bought us to visit a kindergarten which had only 80 students and 4 teachers. It was established about 20 years ago. The classrooms were upgraded last year from wooden floor to tiled floor and they were equipped with air-conditioners too.

8 Figure 10 of SJK(C) Tah Kang Figure 11 Students involved in sports After visiting the kindergarten, he took us to a primary school named SJKC Tah Kang. It was established in 1946 and around 200 students and 16 teachers were there currently. This school is equipped with projectors, monitors, software and hardware which are similar to that found in schools in Kuala Lumpur. This school receives generous financial support from local benefactor. Figure 12 KTMB Railway

9 Malayan Railways Limited (KTMB) has a station near Gemas Baru. This provides an important link between Gemas Baru and various parts of West Malaysia as well as the city state of Singapore.

10 ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES The majority of villagers are engaged by local wood processing plants which are make wooden planks from logs. The wooden logs are bought in mainly from Pahang and Sabah. Besides employment in these factories, villagers also earn a living from the local oil palm and rubber estates and durian orchards.

11 ISSUES AND PROBLEMS 1. The absence of a secondary school and tertiary education institutes in Gemas Baru means that children either travel to nearby towns daily or they leave the village after primary school to further their studies. Many do not return to reside in the village. 2. Limited employment opportunities in Gemas Baru, is another factor behind the outmigration of youths. As a result, the village has a declining population with an aging profile. Those are bad signs for the survival of Gemas Baru in the long term. Figure 13 Villager s house in Gemas Baru Figure 14 This house was renovated after the floods 3. Villages have to travel quite a distance to seek medical care in a hospital. This causes great inconvenience and is a serious problem in cases of emergency. 4. In addition, the main problem of Gemas Baru village is the low-lying topography of the area. According to our survey, we find out that every 3 to 5 years, the village will experience serious flooding. The village head, Mr. Lee informed us that there was a serious flood in the village in year About 80% of the village was flooded and only 20% of the primary school and some houses near the school were not flooded. After the floods, some villagers had to renovate or rebuild their homes. It is noted that villagers often throw garbage into the local river thus exacerbating the problem with floods and creating an environment not conducive to healthy living.

12 RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Access to health facilities need to be improved. Perhaps a new local clinic or mobile clinic would help. While the small population of Gemas Baru many not warrant the establishment of a hospital, perhaps the authorities could look into ways of improving emergency transport. 2. New investments and businesses are urgently needed to boost the local economy and hopefully to retain the younger villagers. This is needed to justify the establishment of a secondary school and other facilities. 3. The authorities need to look into flood mitigation project. 4. Villagers also need to be educated on the serious consequences of throwing garbage into the river. 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: ext 8274, 8656, 8269 (Klang Valley Campus) ext 2295/2297/2299/2300 (Perak Campus)