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The Star Online: Metro: South & East

GE13: Residents in Sekijang want better roads, bus services and more shop houses
GE13: Few job opportunities force residents to leave small towns
GE13: Former Batu Gajah MP Fong to help campaign for her husband

GE13: Residents in Sekijang want better roads, bus services and more shop houses

Posted: 17 Apr 2013 06:10 AM PDT

SEGAMAT: Trying to figure out on how Sekijang in Segamat district out its name is really difficult as even those living in the area are rather clueless about it.

There are no literature pieces written about Sekijang or even local folklores and oral history on the origin of the name; hence it is better to leave Sekijang as it is.

Agriculture is obviously the main contributor of local economy and this can been seen from many oil palm and rubber plantations located in and around the area including in Sekijang.

Some of the plantations are owned by large plantation companies including Felda, while others by small holders and villagers from traditional Malay and Chinese new villages.

Maintenance worker Suhairi Sudarwis, 26, from Felda Medoi said he was happy with the developments taking place in and around Sekijang constituency.

He said Felda settlers also benefitted from the listing of FGVH Holdings Bhd on Bursa Malaysia and windfalls given by the Government to settlers and their families.

"Life in the the Felda settlements has improved for many of us with good infrastructures and facilities unlike 40 to 50 years ago,'' said Suhairi.

He said at Felda Medoi, the residents would soon get a new multi-purpose hall and it has its own motor crossing track for youngsters to participate in the extreme sports.

Suhairi said the construction of the track was financed by the Felda Youth Council and several motor crossing events had taken place on the track.

However,he said road conditions in Sekijang were rather bad with uneven road surfaces and potholes due to many heavy vehicles using the road.

Suhairi said the Federal Government should also upgrade the trunk roads in Segamat from two lanes to four lanes as many motorists using the roads going to Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Motorcycle repair shop owner Ah Hong, 43, from Bandar Putra said Sekijang still had that laidback atmosphere and it could be because Segamat was a less-developed district in Johor.

He said business was quite okay for him as his 10-year-old shop is depending on motorcyclists as well as students from nearby areas who cycle to schools.

"Foreigners working in nearby factories and plantations also bring businesses to sundry shops and mobile phone shops by patronising these outlets,'' said Ah Hong.

But he lamented that there were not many medium-low shops in Sekijang as the selling prices of shops between RM280,000 to RM320,000 in the area were quite steep for Sekijang.

He said public bus services were bad due to irregular timetable and bus commuters have to wait more than an hour to go to Yong Peng or Ayer Hitam from Segamat.

Proprietor of toiletries and beauty products shop Lee Kim Seng, 55, from Bukit Siput said the flood mitigation works have improved since the 2006 and 2007 floods in the district.

However, he said road maintenance work in the area was really bad with uneven road surfaces and potholes even after road repairing had been carried out.

"Contractors doing the road repairing jobs are not doing their work properly and most the roads will be damaged again after few months,'' Lee lamented.

He said rubbish collections in the area as bad as the waste disposal company engaged to collect rubbish in the area did not follow the timetable and come irregularly.

Lee, who runs the shop at Bandar Putra hopes that the local authority will take stern action against illegal roadside hawkers in the area as they normally dump their rubbish by roadsides.

First-time voter Muhamad Syamil Abdul Latif, 22, from Ladang Labis Baru questioned why road surfacing works only being carried out when the 13th general election was just around the corner.

"Shouldn't the road maintenance works be done regularly when the relevant authorities spotted damages or bad road conditions in the area,'' he said.

Muhamad Syamil who currently works as a technician before starting work as a junior engineer on LNG ship next month hopes to cast his vote before leaving for Japan.

He said it was timely that roads in the area must be upgraded from two lanes to four lanes as the traffic volume is on the rise.

Muhamad Syamil said many lorry containers using the roads in the area transporting goods from Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu to Johor Baru, Batu Pahat, Pontian, Ayer Hitam, Kluang and Singapore.

Housewife Pugeneswary Athi--maalam, 48, from Segamat Baru said the area needed 1Malaysia shop to cater for low income earners and those on shoestring budget.

She said her housing estate off Jalan Nagasari 2, was the best example on how Malaysians from different ethnic groups and religious beliefs live harmoniously.

"As you can see, we have a mosque, a Chinese temple and a Hindu temple located just few metres away from each other,'' said Pugeneswary.

Her neighbour, pensioner Gopalakrishnan Ramasamy, 70, said living a quiet neighbourhood with laidback atmosphere was good for senior citizen like him.

He said the only problem that he wanted the authority to look into was the irregular collection of rubbish in the area where the contractor only came once a week.

"Stray cats and dogs will rummage rubbish left outside our houses and the uncollected rubbish also produces stench in the neighbourhood,'' said Gopalakrishnan.

The Sekijang parliamentary which is carved out from two state seats – Pemanis and Kemelah has 43,129 voters in the constituency.

GE13: Few job opportunities force residents to leave small towns

Posted: 17 Apr 2013 06:10 AM PDT

BATU PAHAT: Residents here hold positive attitude towards the Barisan Nasional's manifesto to create 3.3 million new jobs, of which two million would be in high-income sector, over the next five years.

However, they feel that the government has much to do to strike a balance development between big cities and small towns to allow equal opportunities for both living in the urban and rural areas.

United Youth Movement of Malaysia (GBBM) Johor state vice chairman Ling Tian Soon, 28, said it was a good proposal and in time as Malaysia was having more university graduates now.

"We used to have seven universities and now we have 28, where are the graduates going to earn a living if there are not enough jobs for them," he said during an interview.

Ling said many young people were moving out of Batu Pahat to the larger cities and Singapore, as they were not enough jobs available.

The local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), especially among the Chinese NGOs, were facing declining number of members particularly the young ones because many were not in town, he said.

"The youth wings of many associations do not have enough members because many in the town are not interested and those interested are unable to take part as they are away to work somewhere else," he said.

Ling said he hoped the government would not just focus on increasing more jobs in the cities, but also look at creating jobs with high income in small towns.

"It should be a balance in the cities as well as towns as many young people wish to remain in their hometown if they have the opportunities," he said, adding that tens of thousands of people in Johor travel to Singapore to work everyday.

Ling said a friend of his, who was a fresh graduate from a University in England, could not find a job here that match her salary expectation.

"She was offered a job, but the pay is RM1,000 and now she has decided to go to Singapore," he said.

Ling added that the manifesto came a bit late, but it was better late than never.

"Although it is a bit late for my generation, but I hope the new generation will benefit from this policy," he said.

Fresh university graduate Jesvin Ng Chin Wen, 23, said she also felt that the Barisan manifesto was a good effort to help improve the living of the people in the country.

"For me, pay is very important. I found many jobs in the town, unfortunately the salary offered was way too low," she said, adding that she was planning to go and look for a job in Singapore at the moment.

"I will consider returning to Malaysia if there are opportunities," she added.

Undergraduate from a local university Tan Thin Thin, 23, said her mother has been asking her to seek a job in Singapore.

"Apart from good pay and benefits that Singapore companies are offering, the main reason is safety," she said.

"She is worried about my safety when I am alone working outside the town.

"If I have to get a job in big cities, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Baru will not be my choice," she said, adding that it would be good if the town has job for her.

Housewife Joren Low, 57, whose two children are working in Singapore currently, said she was glad that the government was committed to improve the job market in the country.

Low said she did not stop her children from leaving their hometown to work in Singapore because of better job prospects offered by the Republic.

"Besides high pay and good benefits, we must also have a fair system where everyone gets the equal opportunity for promotions," she added.

Low said keeping the young talented people in the country was very important to ensure the country continue to grow and remain competitive.

GE13: Former Batu Gajah MP Fong to help campaign for her husband

Posted: 17 Apr 2013 06:10 AM PDT

JOHOR BARU: After announcing that she will not defend her Batu Gajah parliamentary, Fong Po Kuan is now expected to move south and help campaign for her husband here.

DAP has yet to make a formal announcement on its full list of candidates for the general election.

However, it is strongly rumoured that her husband Tan Chen Choon, who is also the Johor DAP secretary would make it to the candidates' list despite quitting recently from the state election candidate selection committee following a protest.

Besides Tan, state DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau and deputy Norman Fernandez also quit from the committee last week following protests from incumbents after they were not selected for GE13.

A party official said that while Tan would eventually be given a seat, it was strange that the party leadership was taking quite long to announce the remaining candidates.

"The pressure will be mounting especially from grassroots especially after PAS has already announced its full list on Saturday and PKR is expected to do it on Tuesday when its advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is in town," the official said.

He said that Tan was slated for the Bentayan or Jementah state seat.

So far out of seven parliament and 15 state seats that DAP is contesting in Johor, candidates for only a handful have been announced including Gelang Patah, Mengkibol, Kluang and Johor Jaya.

The major parliament seats of Bakri and Kulai have yet to be announced.

Also in limbo are the two seats allocated to Indians in the party namely Paloh and Labis.

Talks have been rife that the seats may go to outsiders after talks resurfaced that Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran or even DAP's "superman" Hiau Kuan Yau maybe fielded in Labis, sidestepping former senator S. Ramakrishnan who has been working the ground since the Tenang by-election in 2011.

Dr Ramakrishnan who has a PHD in accounting and finance, when contacted said that he too had been hearing all sorts of speculations about the seat.

"I have been working the ground since the Tenang by-election and most of the people know me. Anyway I leave it to the top leadership to decide on the candidates but I am worried that this may not go down well with supporters here if the seat is given to someone else," said Dr Ramakrishnan.

So for the Paloh seat, Johor DAP committee member S. Shanker is tipped for the seat but former Mengkibol assemblyman Ng Lam Hua is also said to be eyeing the seat.

In another development Johor DAP deputy chairman Norman Fernandez said he would not be contesting in GE13 and would step down once his term expires in October from the state committee and just be an ordinary member.

He refused to give details.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 17 April 2013