New village with a difference

Old houses like this one still provide a roof over the heads of villagers in Kampung Baru Desa Changkat.

 

 

SHE keeps herself active and productive by growing vegetables.

At 75, Chung Yoke Kheng believes that dementia will creep in if she remains idle all day long.

“My legs are weak. But I can still walk and tend to my vegetable plot. I do it at my own pace,” Chung told StarMetro at her house in Kampung Baru Desa Changkat in Batu Gajah, Perak.

She was visibly proud of her vegetable plot by the side of her house.

The frail-looking Chung, who is single, lives alone in the family house.

The former vegetable seller who has five siblings said she grew up in an extended family in the old days.

While many in her generation, including herself, did not have access to tertiary education, she said the younger generation, like her nephews, were more fortunate.

The Sikh temple in Kampung Baru Desa Changkat.

“They went to university and have more and better choices in life,” she said.

She finds comfort in the fact that her nephews, who have settled down in Kuala Lumpur, would return to visit her a few times a year.

Like many elderly villagers, she looks forward to festivals such as Chinese New Year when family members return to celebrate together.

Chung counts herself lucky to have good neighbours who look out for her, including helping her buy groceries.

Kampung Baru Desa Changkat chief Tang Moy said Chung received RM300 monthly in welfare aid from the government.

Chung’s house, she added, also got some repairs done recently.

Tang Moy says this is one of the houses that needs repairs.

The Prime Minister’s Department set aside allocations to repair the run-down houses of the poor.

Tang, who took StarMetro on a tour of the village, said there were quite a number of dilapidated and abandoned units there.

For those that were still occupied, she said each deserving case would receive repair funds of up to RM10,000.

While there were also some well kept units, the village looked deserted during a visit one afternoon.

Set up during the Emergency (1948-1960) this village was known as Kampung Baru Indian Settlement before its name was changed to Kampung Baru Desa Changkat 10 years ago.

There are 332 houses in the village, including 35 vacant units.

Tang said there are 586 residents there, of which over 60% are Indians while the remaining are Malays and Chinese.

Many of the units were rented out, she said, adding that the monthly rental per unit was about RM200.

Chung is proud of her vegetable patch and still tends to her plants.

“There are a few families who rear cows for a living. Many of the villagers are odd- job workers,” she said, adding that some also grew vegetables on the vacant land.

While life was a struggle for many of them, Tang said at least they still had a roof over their heads.

“I have identified those who need help and will see how they can benefit from the various aid available from the government,” she said.

The village is a sad and stark reminder of a group, which somehow cannot keep abreast of changes over time, left behind in the wave of development.

An elderly Indian woman slumped in a chair on the porch of a dilapidated house is a reflection of their sad state of affairs.

Those who are better off economically have either abandoned or rented out their dilapidated units and moved to nearby housing areas.

Some of the units were abandoned because the elderly owners have passed on and their children have settled down elsewhere.

Just like other new villages, Kampung Baru Desa Changkat also saw their youth moving out in search of better opportunities elsewhere, especially in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore since the late 1970s.

But there are also reminders of a once thriving community in the village such as its Sikh temple which is the pride of the residents and a landmark in the village.