How safe is Lipat Kajang? (Part 1).

I have always wondered about this.

There are several aspects of safety that come to my mind. The first one is about whether flood can inundate the kampong. The second thing is whether there are thieves and robbers (and other bad hats) in the kampong. But on rare occasions I also thought of whether earth quake can happen or whether typhoon or even strong will invade the kampong.

Probably I have too much imagination. Of flood, well it happened in 1926, the biggest flood on the Pahang River they say. Why it happened? Legend had it that a ‘naga’ (dragon) wanted to go downriver. The ‘naga’ was so big that it had to flood the Pahang River for it to float down (otherwise it might had got stuck in the shallow water of the River). True? I don’t know (every body seemed to have believed it) but nobody saw the ‘naga’. Why? They say that it floated down in the darkness of the night, in the midnight hours where there was no moon. And nobody dared to come out in those hours. Anyway in those days there was electricity of battery operated light, so whatever happened in the middle of the night when the moon was at its darkest, one could hardly see anything. And then nobody was at home (if there was any home left), they were all huddled up on the highest hills/ground of the kampong, in this case (where my grandfather and family was concerned) a place called Bukit Pancor . The hill is still there. How did they all ended there? In those days every household had at least two boats each, for river transport and for fishing. River was the only mean of getting about then. How does Lipat Kajang got involved in all these? Well, there is an oxbow shaped location by a small river in Lipat Kajang where they all believed that the ‘naga stopped to rest, its called Lengkong Naga now, translated I supposed as a depression with rounded bottom, large enough and big enough for a ‘naga’ to rest. To me the location is just a dried up oxbow lake. I am skeptical.

Of this ‘naga’ legend, every one in the State of Pahang belived in it. Ask anyone alive today, or anyone who had their parents or grandparents there during the 1926 flood, they all tell the same story. Where was the ‘naga’ bounded for? Lake Chini they say. Sounds very authentic isn’t it? The flood happened and Lake Chini is there, a favourite tourist place in Pahang today.

The 1926 flood also had its tragedy. My grandmother (late) used to relate stories about that big flood. She said sometime in the dark of the night they could hear people shouting from the middle of the river for help. Nobody attempted to help because they all believed in the ‘hantu air” (water ghost). They believed that the “Help” shout came from the ‘hantu air’. Well I don’t know really, I believe that these shouts were from genuine human being, left floating on the river, they being caught up in the flood waters. To me it was a tragedy.

Well flood is nothing new in Pahang. As a small boy growing up in the banks of Sungei Pahang (Pahang River) I saw a flood almost every year in my younger days. Come Oct. to Dec. each year and there was always a flood, not big but enough to scare you, or good enough to play about with your ‘praus’ (dugout canoes) rowing around in the areas where flood waters reached but not fast flowing. We knew exactly where these places were, we kept watch on the rising waters (marking levels) and we knew when the waters could be dangerous and we knew when the waters started to recede. We grew up with the flood, and we respected the flood waters. There is not much flooding nowadays, and the drama of flood is only played by the radios and TV stations. But children nowadays who have not grown up be the Sungei Pahang like we did can fall victims to rising waters, they know not about flood and they know not about the respect for flood waters.

In 1970, there was another big flood that inundated Lipat Kajang but this time not as big as that of 1926 (so some people said). Enough damage was done though but with modern communication, flood relief in terms of boats and food came. Nothing much to worry about and after the flood the people just returned home to repair the damages to their properties and to salvage what they could. And they continued to live in their old houses (at least most of them).




Lipat Kajang people (or decendents) are encouraged to participate& contribute (Orang Lipat Kajang, atau keturunan, di jemput memberi sumbangan idea)