PAGOH: This district is home to one of the nation's bloodiest battle during the Malayan Emergency when an armed encounter occurred at the Bukit Kepong police station when it was surrounded and seiged by almost 200 communists in a pre-dawn assault.
However, those who died fighting on February 23, 1950 have since been immortalised in history, literature, songs, poems and even movies as they never backed down when faced with overwhelming odds and fought till they died.
A total of 25 people were killed in the attack.
Since then, Bukit Kepong which is located within the Pagoh constituency, is now a tourist destination attracting people to visit a police museum located beside the river.
Pagoh is carved out of the state seats of Bukti Serampang and Jorak.
These days Pagoh is fast developing as an educational hub with numerous universities and colleges slated to open up branch campuses here including International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Southern Campus, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Pagoh Campus, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Research Centre, Pagoh National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN) and Pagoh community college.
While the residents enjoy the slow paced life and commodities such as oil palm and rubber, residents are still hoping for more street lights, assistance from the government, for the council to regularly clean up clogged drains and better bus services. Oil Palm and rubber are the main source of revenue.
"The spirit of never give up trying, exists in many people in the Bukit Kepong area until this day," said Ali Husin Md Said, 75, who lives in Kampung Bukit Bendar about five kilometres from the police station where the incident took place 63 years ago.
Ali was 12-years-old when the Bukit Kepong incident occurred and the memory is still fresh on his mind till this day.
"Since then, this area has seen development especially since the 1970s when roads were built through this area. Two primary schools and a secondary school have also been built. Now with Felda and Felcra settlements, this area has oil palm and rubber estates," he said.
Ali, who had been the Kg Bukit Bendar village head for 38 years until he stepped down in 2005, said a futsal court and free wireless internet was set up in the nearby villages about two years ago as facilities for the youth.
"The children who received the free 1Malaysia netbooks are able to make full use of the free Wifi service here. Even a computer center equipped with 20 Internet enabled computers, photostat and printer service was set up here for the usage of residents and students here for nominal fee of RM1 per hour," he said.
He however, hoped that boats could be given to some of the seven villages in the area as the area was prone to flooding as experienced in the major floods of 2006 and 2011 where roads were fully submerged.
The father of 11 children said he had never missed casting his vote since the first general election in 1959 and relishes casting his vote for the 13th time.
Driving instructor See Tiam Kwee, 44, who runs a driving school at the small town of Pagoh, urged the authorities to build a traffic light near the market in Pagoh town.
He said because many lorries and heavy vehicles pass through the town as a shortcut from Batu Pahat industrial area to the Pagoh exit of the North South Expressway, traffic has become very heavy and accidents frequently occurred.
"On school days, especially in the mornings, traffic is so heavy to the point that traffic policemen are stationed near the three-way junction in Pagoh town.
"The same junction is used an entrance for parents to send their children to the Chinese vernacular school as well as for residents of the village and housing estate inside.
"To make matters worst, the lorry drivers, park their vehicles by the side of the road to have breakfast and this causes people who try to exit the junction, difficult to see oncoming traffic," he said.
He added that the drains in the area needs to be cleaned as Pagoh town was severely hit by floods in 2006 and 2011 and as such, more effort must be made by the district council to ensure the waters in the drains were running smoothly.
See said most of the Chinese in the area were living in the Pagoh town and Taman Pagoh Jaya while the Malays were mostly living in the villages and the Indians were mainly living in the Panchor area and in estates.
Stall trader Mohd Asid Jamari, 43, whi sells cendol, said he welcomed the rapid development, which he has seen in Pagoh over the past five years.
This includes street lights from the town right up to the Pagoh toll exit, various universities and colleges, new shoplots, a big housing estate on high ground at Taman Pagoh Jaya, a Klinik 1Malaysia and Kedai 1Malaysia, street lights in villages, erecting a wall to prevent floods near Pagoh town and new construction of a secondary school and "sekolah teknik".
"Ever since Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin became the deputy prime minister he has brought about much welcomed changes to this area," he said.
He added that apart from oil palm plantations being the main industry in the area, there is also the Pagoh industrial area, which mostly consists of furniture factories.
Siti Azwanahani Salleh, 22, said more facilities for the youth must be set up in the Pagoh area to cater to the students of the universities when completed.
"There are no hypermarkets here and the closest recreation spots are located in Muar town about 25km away. University students who come here to study would find it very boring as there is barely anything to keep them entertained after hours of studying," she said.
She however, added that she expects a lot of developments to take place in the next couple of years once the universities are fully set up.
Her sister, Siti Haslinda Salleh, 16, complained that the frequency of the bus service must be increased as she takes the bus daily to come home from school.
"The bus schedule here is very irregular and they pass by only once every 60 to 90 minutes. This is because the bus travels from Muar to Bukit Kepong before travelling back," she said.
She added that another secondary school to complement SMK Alauddin Riayat Shah I must be built as the school is unable to cope with the present number of students. The school has two sessions to try cope with the increase in the number of students.
M. Thiruvengadam who is the headmaster for SJK(T) Ladang Lanadron – the oldest Tamil school in the state was pleased with the government's concern of the Indians in the area especially in the area of education.
"Last week, Tan Sri Muhyiddin (Yassin) officiated the new three-storey school block in the school. He understands that by providing good quality education, it will help improve the Indians' education," he said.
He said the community were mostly working in the estates but there are few who have ventured out to become teachers and civil servants and that their quality of life has improved since independence.
This election both Barisan Nasional and the opposition will be going all out to woo the 46,880 voters in the area.
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