ABSTRACT Salak South was established in 1952 when the British decided to segregate the villagers from the Malayan Races Liberation Army during the Malayan Emergency. By isolating this population into "new villages", the British were able to stem the critical flow of material, information, and recruits from peasant to guerrilla. The main language spoken in this village is Mandarin. There is a primary school as well as a kindergarten. However, there is no secondary school in this village. Youths will have to go to secondary schools outside the town. Today, the village is mostly occupied by the older generation as most of the younger residents have moved out to the city to look for better job opportunities. Many local residents are still facing difficulties in getting land titles for their homes. 1
HISTORY Salak South is a small town situated at the southern part of Kuala Lumpur. The town was established in the year 1952. The government offers a 30 years lease to the people of Salak South; only 800 residents received their certificate of fitness. After 1957, immediately after Independence Day, there was a curfew (darurat) in the village to prevent the communist from entering the village. The township has seen significant development over the years, especially with the addition of a new satellite town, The New Salak South Village. This town is also linked to the Salak South LRT station and KTM Salak Selatan station. Both stations bear the same name. The Salak Selatan LRT Station is located next to old Salak South, which is about 400m from the Komuter station. Thus, any users of one of these stations trains will have to walk along a stretch of road to reach to the other station. Due to the distance between both stations, they are not effectively integrated. Unlike other examples in Kuala Lumpur, the two stations are not noted on transit maps as interchange stations between the two lines. There is a population of ten thousand villagers living in this place. In the 70s, many small industrial factories were developed by businessmen who came from Ipoh and Taiping, Perak. Most of them were in the shoe, furniture and steel industries. In the 80s, the government stepped in to develop the place. Most of the industrial factories were moved to Serdang and only one hundred factories managed to maintain themselves with a license. 2
HOUSING AND POPULATION Housing Estate 3
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES Penjilid Buku Printers Aids Sdn.Bhd Material & Printer Penjilid Buku Printers Aids Sdn. Bhd is a book factory in Salak South town. What they do in this factory is that they nail books which are printed by a place in Jalan Chan Sow Lin. The books or magazines are nailed using machines and are then distributed to various companies. 4
Hin Yeap Electrical Workshop Hin Yeap Electrial Works which does wiring for the folks of Salak South. Praying Material Shop 5
Kedai Barangan Sembahyang Law Thong Kee The people of Salak South are mostly Taoist/Buddhist and they usually come to this place to get their material for praying. Marketplace Pasar Dan Pusat Penjaja Kg. Baru Salak Selatan opens every day from 5.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. This is a marketplace for the residents to get their everyday goods as most of the people here eat in their houses. 6
EDUCATION SJK (C) Salak South a) SJK(C) Salak South This school was founded by Dato Tan Leong Min. Basketball Court A full basketball court was built for the students to encourage them to take up sports. 7
School Landscapes Some of the landscapes done by the school. 8
Primary school children walking into their classes Lin ya he ji nian ting Lin ya he ji nian ting provides a place for the children to do their studies. There are some books and magazines put in the centre of the place to encourage students to read more. 9
Eating Utensils The eating utensils are arranged properly on the canteen tables so that the children are able to eat their food immediately once seated and they do not have to share the eating utensils with each other.. Tadika P.M.T SRJK (C) Salak South 10
b) Tadika P.M.T SRJK(C) Salak South Tadika P.M.T SRJK(C) Salak South is situated next to the Dewan Orang Ramai Kampung Baru Salak Selatan. This kindergarten caters to the pre-school children in the Salak South town. It is quite convenient for the parents to send their children here as this kindergarten is located in the centre of the town. 11
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES There are several places which the community can gather and socialize. This shows that the community in Salak South practices and realizes the importance of building rapport with one another. It is very rare that a close knit community still exists in this new era. In the urban city, people all stay at home when they are home and not willing to mingle with their neighbors. This different culture where people still live as a close knit community can be seen in Salak South. It is a landmark for the Salak South community a) Community Hall of Salak South New Village Community Hall of Salak South Inside the community hall, there is a badminton court. This community hall was established on 12 May 1985 by the former Kuala Lumpur Mayor, Dato Dr. Elyas Bin Omar. During evenings and weekends, the badminton court will be fully occupied. It is one of the favourite spots where people spend their leisure time. Occasionally, during festive seasons such as Mooncake Festival, and Chinese New Year, this community hall will be the venue to organize various performances for the people in Salak South. 12
Dewan Datuk Bandar b) Basketball Court Basketball Court 13
There is also a basketball court outside of the community hall. It is a very suitable place for youngsters to spend their time and exercise. Right beside the basketball court, is a playground with exercise equipment. The equipment is suitable for everyone especially the elderly. It is essential that the elderly people have routine exercise. The facilities at the playground enhance the lifestyle of the elders at Salak South. Exercises that have sufficient body movement are very important for them. Exercise Equipment 14
SALAK SOUTH The walking path Exercises Diagram Exercises Equipment 15
The facilities in the community hall and outside it are a great effort done for the people in Salak South. It is indeed well maintained and in good condition. This is a different culture from other places. The equipment is not vandalized.. Usually these public facilities would be vandalized by uncivilized people. However, this is not happening in Salak South. c) Rukun Tetangga Rukun Tetangga The Salak South community formed the Rukun Tetangga and set its office right beside the community hall. This Rukun Tetangga ensures the safety of the people in Salak South. It also functions to assist the police force in ensuring the security in Salak South. d) Police Station Salak South Although Salak South is a small place, there is a police station which looks like a police headquarters. This police station has quarters behind the police station. This police station is large and near to the neighborhood. The location of this police station ensures the safety of the Salak South people. The crime rate in Salak South still can be considered as moderate compared to other areas. This shows the effectiveness of having a police station in the neighborhood. 16
Front view of Salak Selatan Baru Police Station d) Klinik Kesihatan Ibu dan Anak Salak South This public clinic, specially for women and children, is located at the neighborhood too. It operates from Monday to Friday. It functions as a maternity clinic and an orthopaedic clinic. Besides that, it also offers service such as pap smear scanning for women. This clinic is beneficial to the society as it is affordable and increases the health consciousness of the residents in Salak South. Pap smear test is an essential test for every woman. It can detect abnormal cells, which reflect changes in the cervix before the cancer sets in. This can protect women against cervical cancer. 17
Besides that, children are easily infected by viruses as their immune system is not strong yet. This neighborhood clinic will be able to treat any children that have been infected by any sicknesses or viruses quickly, and sufficient treatment can be given to the infected children. This is very convenient to the Salak South community and it helps to prevent any fatalities due to late medical treatment. Public Clinic 18
Public clinic operation hour notice e) Buddhist Temple As we know, Malaysia is a country that has people from all walks of life. Anywhere and everywhere, there will be more than three races at a place. Even for the Chinese, there are several different sub-groups from different religions. In Salak South, the people there are mostly Christians and Buddhists. This fact is based on observance of landmarks in Salak South. Front view of Buddhist Temple 19
Front view of Buddhist Temple This temple has been established for more than 100 years. Any religious occasions or prayers will be held in this temple. Although it has been more than 100 years old, it is still well maintained. This is also the place where all the devotees will gather during all Buddhist celebrations. e) Church of Our Saviour Front view of the church 20
Church of Our Saviour Front view of the Church of Our Saviour 21
Church of Our Saviour is the only church in Salak South. This church is located nearby to the primary school and has been established since 1964. During Christian religious celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and Good Friday, celebrations will be held in the church. Besides that, this church also organizes youth activities and Sunday classes for the youths. These activities enable the youths to have a strong religious belief and live a healthy lifestyle. A strong religious belief is important because it is an essential need for everyone to live a successfully and peaceful life. This church symbolizes the strong belief of the Christian community in Salak South. 22
PROBLEMS Salak South has been established since 1952 when the communist forced the people into the village. Since then, the people in Salak South were given 30 years of lease to stay there. Even until now, parts of the people in Salak South do not own the land where their houses are situated. The people in Salak South feel that they are being neglected by the government. All their appeals are still pending until now and no action has been taken as the government policies change from time to time. This causes the people in Salak South to feel insecured. They couldn t move to other place because they are used to staying there and are not willing to leave their hometown. There have been many houses demolished because of the inconsistent government policies and the welfare of the folks in Salak South is not well taken care of. Demolished Houses 23
As seen in the picture above, the condition of living of the people in Salak South is bad. This rural condition shouldn t be seen in an urban area. Salak South is considered as an urban area as it is located in the city centre. Besides that, health problem among the people in Salak South may occur. The hygiene is bad and diseases may arise which will infect the people in Salak South especially children and elders who have weaker immune system. Besides that, the roads in Salak South need to be repaired. The roads are narrow and steep at certain areas. With the increasing population in Salak South, new roads have to be built for the convenience and safety of the people there. It is very dangerous for kids to be on the road when the roads are narrow. Children will tend to play outside of their houses during evenings. This may cause unwanted accidents to happen on innocent children. People in Salak South may need more attention from the respective departments on their welfare. In the 80 s, Salak South was used to be known as a place with many small medium enterprises (SME). However, due to the unpermitted lease of land, SME businesses cannot survive in Salak South and many of them moved to Serdang. For instance, Salak South was a town with many shoe businesses but they have now all moved to Serdang. This brings a negative impact on the economic development of Salak South which jeopardises other related businesses such as the eatery business. This problem is compounded with people moving out from Salak South, especially the youth, because they are unable to get jobs in Salak South. 24
RECOMMENDATION With the numerous problems faced by the community in Salak South, the government or any Non-Profit Organization should give a hand to them. People in Salak South need help in terms of many factors. Applying for the approval of houses leased by the government has to be made. Regardless of the response by the government, the initiative to apply for it is needed to catch the attention of the related government bodies towards this matter. Those people in Salak South that have stayed there for such a long time need to have security of their property to ensure that they and their families have houses to live in. The Public Works Department (PWD) has to look on the matter of narrow roads in Salak South. Those roads are dangerous to road users. They should be repaired or redesigned. People in Salak South have to send in appeal letters to PWD to alert them of this matter. A consistent follow-up on this matter with PWD has to be made. In addition, a committee should be formed to take care of this matter. This will enable Salak South to have a better road system. Licences for SME businesses have to be applied from the respective government departments. Guidance by related NGO bodies may be very useful to the people in Salak South. Most of the people in Salak South do not have a strong command of English or Bahasa Kebangsaan. In order the help these people, related NGO bodies can assist them in sending in applications to apply for the SME licenses and the lease for their land to run the businesses. 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: 03-79551511 ext 157 (Klang Valley Campus) 05-4662323 ext 2297 / 2299 (Perak Campus) 25