Home Guards of Lipat Kajang Pahang

When we open up this Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang site we will first see the photograph captioned "The Braves Of Lipat Kajang - 1950s" and we acknowledge the bravery of these LK elders of the past for defending the peace harmony and tranquility of the village and ensuring the safety of its people.

These pictured are only nine (9) of them, in fact all the elders of their age in Kg LKP were involved as home guards protecting the village from attacks from the "enemy".

I personally can recognise a few of them pictured and I know where they lived, which hamlet/precinct each one of them came from, but that is all that I know about them, nothing more, and I know they had the bravery to take up arms against "the enemy" in defence of their rightful land.

I would certainly be justified to request that descendents of these brave men of Kg LKP (sons, daughters, grandsons, great grandsons, great granddaughters and any indirect descendents) provide historical accounts of the lives and bravery as home guards (including incidents of actual fights against "the enemy") which can be archived accordingly into the history of Kg LKP that we are compiling. They were (and still are) the warriors and the pride of the village, without them defending (and protecting) Kg LKP when we all were still infants or at a very young age or not even born yet, we wouldn't have survived the emergency days in Kg LKP and able to live till today in an atmosphere of peace harmony and tranquility of the village, so how can we easily forget the sacrifices made by these Braves Of Lipat Kajang Pahang?

To all my dear beloved citizens of Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang,
We all owe that much to them, and the very least that we can do is to ensure that their life history and bravery be appropriately recorded in the village history to be forever remembered by us and all our future generations and be known by all mankind as exemplary simple honest sincere dedicated brave rural village folks willing to sacrifice their personal safety (and risking their lives) to be right across the line of the enemy's gunfire just to protect their families and their village, for not a cent of monetary gain, all on voluntary basis, with full sense of responsibility and dedication.

Those photographed above and their names mentioned - Ismail bin Hasan, Ibrahim bin Yusof, Md Ali bin Md Zin, Abi bin Bidi, Husin bi Yusof, Akashah bin Kia, Md Zin bin Yusof and Kahapah bin Long - were/are just the few, and I would also urge every Kg LKP citizen to search for whatever photographs available in the old cupboards or boxes or bakul or bujang or sumpit or dibawah katil in your houses in the village or wherever you live now, photographs of The Home Guards of Kg Lipat Kajang, and to make these photographs available on this blog to be appreciated and cherished by us all, now and forever.

It does not matter if your very own father(s) was/were not pictured in the photographs that you've found, you can still offer the "searched anf found" photographs for archiving and be made publicl property of Kg LKP because everyone of those Home Guards of Kg LKP belongs to us all, they were/are our warriors - the warriors of Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang.

(this should be read in conjunction with earlier postings "The Braves of Lipat Kajang", "Days gone by...", and "How Safe Is Lipat Kajang (2)" )

Please do not hesitate to write on the life history and bravery of your father (or uncle) or grandfather (or granduncle) or great grandfather (or great granduncle) to be archived into the history of this village that we love, Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang
Post all the photographs, and writings no matter how scanty it may be, whatever account that you can obtain/acquire from the older "old folks" who are still alive in the village, or from your own knowledge about your father(s).

And we all must also endeavour to seek information from any possible source(s) on how the Home Guards of Kg LKP squad was formed and became established, how it was commanded and/or organised and how it operated in defence of the village.

We must ensure all these Home Guards of our village be indentified and named into the village history, they were the ones who had ensured and established the village of Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang as an ideal place of abode for their descendents with absolute peace harmony and tranquility that we all enjoy today.

This effort that we all are willing to undertake will also become a valuable contribution towards building up the village resource centre (i.e. a library) for Kg Lipat kajang Pahang that was mooted in an earlier posting in this LKP blog.

To all sons and daughters of Kg Lipat Kajang Pahang, I submit this for your kind thoughts in remembering these brave men of our village, including all the Penghulu(s) and the Imam(s) during those emergency days, and I must make special mention of the name of Penghulu Tok Sidek whose sacrifices and dedication are beyond praise.
(hbs aka Kas Mahmood)

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

Household rubbish management

It just occurs to me that one of the civilised society’s habit is to manage their household rubbish. It is important for Lipat Kajang folks to understand how to manage their household rubbish. Many still do not know what management of household rubbish is all about, educated they may in other areas of their lives. I realise of course that there are still vast land areas in Lipat Kajang where people can still throw their household rubbish such as plastic bags and polystyrene containers, even metal containers and aerosols. But for how long will the available space lasts. More rubbish will be collected over time and many items in the household rubbish group are not degradable. Food rubbish (and leftovers) may of course be given to their chicken (if they breed some, which many Lipat Kajang folks do not do anymore) or buried. And maybe such wasted (and leftover) rice and bread, and wasted fish (or meat, which rarely happen) can be given to their cats (and dogs, again where if any folk breeding dogs for protection but I doubt if anyone in Lipat Kajang breeds dogs nowadays).

A system must be thought of and that Lipat Kajang folks must be made to realise the importance of disposing of their household rubbish correctly, safely and hygienically. They can either be made to dig big holes in their land areas (many have more than 1 acre of land) and throw the rubbish in those large holes (and cover them). Or they can among themselves collect the rubbish periodically and bury them in a central location. But to me the first option is most practicable.

Currently I observed that these household rubbish may be thrown about near their houses or gathered in one spot (not too far from their houses) but not buried. This attracts flies and other undesirable insects, and may even attracts rodents. And also when walking in the kampong you may see plastic bags and polystyrene containers (even tin and other metal containers) being thrown around unsystematically (in bushes and even on open ground) .The Lipat Kajang folks must be made to realise that such practice is not to be encouraged if they want their kampong to look clean. (I realise that many Malay villages in Malaysia, even the nearby villages, do not know how to manage their household rubbish as well but Lipat Kajang must not follow such bad examples) .They must learn to live in a ‘civilise’ manner and ways and manage their household rubbish properly. Many of their children are now living in towns and can observe their still uncouth habits and bad household rubbish practices in the kampong.


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

We used to have, but no more.

The women in Lipat Kajang used to weave mats of all sorts out of ‘mengkuang’ leaves (Malaysian screwpine leaves). That was years ago, but not anymore. I remember when my aunties used to stay late at night hand weaving these processed ‘mengkuang’ leaves into mats, weaving complicated patterns just by kerosene oil lamps lights. And they all made wonderful and colourful ‘mengkuang’ mats.

What are ‘mengkuang’ mats. They are mats made from ‘mengkuang’ leaves. These leave are very thorny and the women folks used to gather these leaves and cut out the thorny edges. Then (if I remember correctly) they soaked the leave in water. After a couple of days the leaves are taken out to dry. When dried they are combed using sharp bladed combs of the required strands sizes. Then these combed long strands of ‘mengkuang’ leaves are soaked, in permanent dye (in those days the red colour of soaked ‘sepang’ tree barks were favourite, but nowadays many other colours from other sources may be available), before they are dried in the sum. When dried they are sorted out by the desired colours to make colourful patterned weaved mat of various sizes. They make spent a week or so, at night mostly, to get make weave a fair sized floor mats. But some may also spend their days making these mats, in between house chores and cooking for their children and husbands. In those days the mats were just for personal use and rarely sold, unlike today.

Nowadays they do not make these weaves ‘mengkuang’ mats anymore (at least in Lipat Kajang as far as I know, and my aunties have long gone). Why? Because they say ‘mengkuang’ plants are difficult to find, or maybe not available anymore in the locality. In those days there were fields of ‘mengkuang’ plants in the village. Somehow the villagers have cut down these ‘mengkuang’ plants, for one reason or another. Anyway most of our women folks are now educated (not in ‘mengkuang weaving) up to certain academic level and their skills at making these ‘mengkuang’ mats have not been learned form their mothers. The older women are too old to make these ‘mengkuang’ mats anymore.

Where can one gets the ‘mengkuang’ mats if one wants one? Import from Indonesia, that is where.

The mats are soft to sit one, and have very good ventilation so its pretty cool to lie on.

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

Gasing Lipat Kajang (Lipat Kajang top)

The Lipat Kajang gasing (top) is a special top, smooth round bodied, perfectly made slight hill inclined flat head, and tapering tail with a hard metal fulcrum. Unlike other tops which we may see somewhere else, where they are mostly flat bodied plate like, a bigger diameter and with very slight inclined flat head (the head looks almost flat because the body is plate liked). To the best of my knowledge, the Lipat Kajang top (gasing) are mostly to be found in the State of Pahang, Malaysia but the flat bodied plate like tops are in Kelantan. But I stand to be challenged.

The Lipat Kajang tops (gasing) were mostly made and played by the youth of Pahang (correct me if I am not telling the truth) in the old days with competitions held more so during the ‘padi’ harvesting season. The tops are normally played in teams, competing around a rounded court (on hard ground), with one side (say team A) spinning their tops in the court and the other team (say team B) to topple (pangkah=Malay) the spinning tops (gasing) of the opponents (A) in that rounded hard earth court, and at the same time making the tops of B to spin in the rounded court after hitting the targeted ‘A’s top. Any of the opponent’s top (A) not topple (pangkah = Malay) will then compete with the spin period of attacking side B spinning tops. In most cases team A tops may loose because it was spinned earlier but cases have been known where Team A’s tops may win in the after spin because team B’s tops when attacking have not been made to spin that well.

The other objective of the attack, other than toppling (pangkah=Malay) team A’s tops is to break the top of the opponent (A) in the court, break means physically break the team A’s top into halves or even into pieces. But I am not sure how the points are counted, and how the winning points are calculated. To the best of my knowledge, breaking the opponents (A) top is just for fun but the long spin of each top are considered as ‘winning’.

The game can go on for a few days. And to the best of my knowledge prizes are given to the winning team. Maybe a small silver cup (in those days). And bettings are never allowed in those days (I do not know about it now).

This is how the Lipat Kajang top looks like.

Its made from very hard wood or the core of the hard wood. Note the flat downhill inclined head, and increasing diameter concentric circle on the inclined head to help grip the spinning cord and the rounded smooth well balance body and the tapering tail end with a metal fulcrum at the very bottom end. How do they spine the top? With a specially made cord, special material, hand spun, with one end fatter than the tapering end, the tapering end used as to start the wrapping of the cord at the top outer diameter of the mid-hill at the top and the fat end at the outer side of the top as you go on wrapping and tightening the cord.

This also needs a special skill or else the spinning cord may just become loose. See the ring of the cord at the fat end of the cord? That is for putting the fat end of the cord to your 5th finger (the little finger) to anchor the cord when spinning.

A well balanced top, a good and well made cord with good material spinning cord, a good spinner and a well made top will stand the test of time, and will even spin on a hard table top for a period of between 5 to 10 minutes. See the spinning top (gasing) photo.

And Lipat Kajang youths of those days used to the best in their hobby (it was never a profession) and could beat any spinning ‘Lipat Kajang’ top team in all the Malay villages nearby. (and I am not boasting)

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

Bedil cenderai (bamboo toy gun)

(in my days in the kampong, the gang of young boys then used to play war game using a device made from bamboo, hand pressuring/pumping certain young small fruits from a jungle trees in the bamboo device. The ‘bullet’ (the most common are unripe 'cenderai'.....Grewia spp ... fruits, thus 'bedil' ...meaning gun by local dialect ..... 'cenderai') might not have been lethal, but gave enough sting if hitting the bare skin. And the device had a magazine where bullets were stored and automatically coming down into the barrel of the ‘gun’).

Di zaman saya, dan kawan2 saya kecil2 dulu, di Lipat Kajang kami tidak ada banyak alat permainan. Semua permainan kami terpaksa dibuat sendiri, atau pun yang ada skill diantara kami akan membuat nya dan kemudian menagih2 kan kepada kami.

Satu daripada permainan pada masa itu adalah ‘bedil cenderai’. Bedil ini menggunakan buah cenderai sebagai peluru nya, atau pun buah nenyarong yang lebih bisa. Dan kami bermaian berperang2, maklumlah pada masa itu zaman Komunis di Malaya.

Sekiranya ada diantara pembaca blog ini yang tidak mengenali apa itu ‘bedil cenderai’, saya perturunkan gambar2 nya.

Buluh yang di gunakan bukan sebarang buluh, buluh kecil tapi tua dan kuat. Dan pulak bedil itu ada ‘magazine’, supaya banyak peluru boleh ditembak. Dan tempat ‘magazine’ nya di ikat dengan getah tarek dari batang getah untuk nya menjadi kuat dan tidak bergerak. Peruncuh peluru nya pula dari batang buluh kecil, tua dan juga kuat. Kadang kala kami mengguna buluh yang di pecah2kan dari batang buluh tua untuk menjadi peruncuk peluru nya tahan kuat.

Masa itu masa budak2 bermain di halaman dan di belukar2.

Princip bedil tu? Tekanan udara didalam buluh yang tersumbat apabila di runcuh oleh peruncuh yang kuat dan laju.

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

Ternakan Lintah (big fresh water leech farming)

Sekiranya ada penduduk Lipat Kajang yang ingin mengetahui tentang menternak lintah, sila layari 'site' ini.

http://www.ternakan-lintah.info/lintah_showcase.php

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

Islam di Lipat Kajang (Islam in Lipat Kajang)

( In Lipat Kajang, where the majority, almost 100%, of the population are Muslims (Malays), it is important that the guidance in Islam must be adequate and strong enough to meet the challenges of the present era, both politically as well as socially. My views are just my private views without leaning on any side).

Dimana kah kita di Lipat Kajang sekarang dalam Islam. Adakah kita lebih maju atau pun lebih mundor? Saya tidak dapat menjawab semuanya ini kerana saya tidak lagi tinggal di Lipat Kajang. Hanya penduduk-penduduk yang bemastautin di Kampong Lipat Kajang yang boleh menjawabnya.

Yang saya ingin menulis disini tentang Islam yang saya temui di masa saya kecil-kecil lagi dulu di Kampong Lipat Kajang. Di zaman saya kecil-kecil dulu, Islam adalah kukuh, setakat yang saya faham dahulu dan sekarang. Yang membuat nya kukoh pada masa itu adalah kerana kehadziran Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Ahmad Hurairah. Beliau satu satu nya Ulamak yang di segani di Daerah Temerloh, malah di seluruh Negeri Pahang. Beliau pada masanya adalah seorang pakar rujuk tentang hal-hal Ugama Islam, bukan sahaja di Kampong Lipat Kajang tetapi juga bagi orang-orang luar. Pada mula beliau balek ke Kampong Lipat Kajang pada sebelum Perang Dunia Kedua beliau telah membuka satu kompleks ‘pondok’ di kampong. Kompleks ‘pondok’ itu tidak ada lagi sekaranag. Beliau juga seorang yang di sengani di Kampong Lipat Kajang, dan oleh kerana beliau lah, pada pendapat saya, satu-satu sebabnya Kampong Lipat Kajang di segani oleh orang-orang luar, malah juga musuh-musuh dari luar. Hidup beliau di masa dharurat pada akhir tahun-tahun 40han dan awal 50han, tetapi beliau serta mesyarakat di kampong Lipat Kajang telah menjalani kehidupan yang aman dan damai. Daripada ketokohan beliau lah maka menjadikan keturunan beliau di segani pulak oleh semua masyarakat kampong sehingga kehari ini.

Ramai jugak orang-orang Lipat Kajang yang telah berjaya menunaikan Fardhu Haji ke Mekah, (mungkin jugak dengan bimbingan dan galakan oleh Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Ahmad Hurairah) sungguh pun keadaan pada masa itu tidak begitu selesa dan pejalanan ke Mekah agak mencabarkan, tidak saperti yang terdapat pada masa sekarang. Yang Haji terpelajar menjadi lah mereka sebagai contoh di kampong, tetapi ada jugak yang Haji (dan Hajjah?) yang kurang arif dengan peruntukan dalam Islam, saperti tidak menutup aurat dan sebagainya. Ada Haji yang pakai seroban tetapi maseh berseluar pendek dan ada Hajjah yang menutup kepala tapi tingal jambul. Itu lah keadaan masyarakat kampong pada masa itu, dan semua ini telah diterima dengan hati yang terbuka oleh mereka di kampong. Adalah menjadi amalan mesyarakat kampong pada masa itu apabila seseorang itu bergelar ‘Haji’, beliau mesti memakai seroban kehulu kehilir.

Pada masa itu Ustaz adalah perkara yang baru, dan seingat saya Yg Bhg Ustaz Fadzil Hassan adalah Ustaz yang pertama mengajar Ugama di Sekolah Melayu Lipat Kajang. Pada masa itu, kelas pelajaran sekolah telah di adakan pada sebelah pagi, dan kelas ugama adalah pada sebelah petang nya. Ramai diantara kami yang kecil-kecil dan yang jahil ugama pada masa itu telah mengikuti kelas-kelas ugama itu, di mana kami telah di beri pengenalan dalam hal-hal Fiqah, Tauhid dan Tasauf . Kemudian barulah di ikuti oleh Ustaz-Ustaz yang lain selepas Yg Bhg Ustaz Fadzil Hassan berpindah dari Kampong Lipat Kajang.

Saya perhatikan pada masa itu ada jugak terdapat sedikit unsur-unsur ajaran sesat, ada Ustaz yang timbul tengelam di kampong mengajar perkara- perkara yang di sangsikan jika di rujuk dan dibandingkan dengan ajaran Ugama Islam yang terdapat di hari ini. Saya tidak ingin menyebut nama tapi saya sedar perkara- perkara itu memang telah berlaku. Dan ada pulak yang mencuba berdebat dengan Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Ahmad Huriarah. Tapi Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Ahmad lebih cerdek dan tidak mahu diheret ke dalam berdebat saperti itu.

Malah selepas pemergian Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Ahmad Hurairah, anak beliau Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Hassan telah mengambil alih tampuk kepimpinan ugama Islam di Kampong Lipat Kajang. Sungguh pun Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Hassan di beri kerhormatan oleh mesyarak kampong tetapi beliau tidak boleh menandingi ketokohan ayahnda belaiu dalam segi itu. Beliau seorang peniaga dan kepimpinan ugama oleh beliau adalah terhad.

Salepas meninggalnya Yg Bhg (Arwah) Tuan Hj Hassan, saya telah hilang maklumat serta panduan tentang kepimpinan Ugama Islam di Kampong Lipat Kajang.

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

Man Sabai, Chik And Manap

this is one of the few last captured images of allahyarham sulaiman bin daud bin derahim ...here he is seen together with his (last) wife, betiah binti tan jawas (makngah betiah)

Sulaiman Bin Daud, Chik Bin Bidin and Abdul Manaf Bin Talib were very close to one another, more than just cousins

Al Fatihah kita hadiahkan kepada arwah Sulaiman Bin Daud, arwah Chik Bin Bidin dan arwah Abdul Manaf Bin Talib, DAN JUGA kepada semua arwah-arwah warga Kg LK yang telah kembali ke rahmatullah

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

Cucu2 Pendekar Awang

I am sure we all recognise these three brothers, the sons of arwah Yang Sapiah Binti Awang,the grandsons of Pendekar Awang (across the Pahang River)

this photo was taken many years ago, when these brothers visited their aunty (pictured) (and uncle) who live in Tanjung Perian, it was on Hari Raya occasion

Kamar (arwah) and Sudin are the sons of Wok Tawang (of Tg Inai) and Dr G is the son of arwah Sulaiman Daud of Ulu Lanjut (or Lanjut Hulu)- we all know, I'm sure

Arwah Kamar telah disemadikan (dikebumikan)di Segambut Kuala Lumpur, and his widow and children now live in Segambut, Sudin (to my knowledge) now lives in Mentakab, and Dr G is is in Petaling Jaya

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

LK Folks - Kenduri Dec 1988

These are some photos that I have managed to recover from a heap of old photos kept in the store; the occasion was the tahlil and doa selamat in conjunction with the nikah of arwah Abang Sahidun's daughter to Cikgu Nasar (now an officer in the Temerloh Education Office) in Dec 1988, and the location was the house of MakNgah Betiah in Ceruk Panjang, most of the elderly LK folks can be seen in the photos, some have already passed away (Al Fatihah)....take a close look, and recall all the memories
(hbs aka Kas Mahmood)

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

earn extra cash

I am just parroting what I saw in the news. This may be applicable to Lipat Kajang folks.

By Harun Mohamad

TEMERLOH, March 12 (Bernama) -- "Take part in the Edible Garden programme and earn extra cash".

Those were the words of the general manager for Felda Wilayah Mempaga, Jahaya Janal, after closing the Edible Garden course at Felda Lakum near Lanchang recently.

The Edible Garden programme, a joint effort by Felda, the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) and Agriculture Department involves settlers from Felda schemes.

Apart from aiming to give the participating settlers some extra money, the programme also moves towards reducing the nation's import of vegetables.

The pilot project in Pahang took off at seven Felda schemes in Mempaga including Felda Lakum, Koyan 1, Koyan 2. Koyan 3 and Bukit Pucung.

Jahaya said the selected Felda schemes were given vegetable seeds, fertilizers and plastic bags among others to encourage them to plant vegetables at idle land or that near their homes.

"Felda allocates RM35,000 for this programme where each settlement received RM5,000," he said, adding that 2,608 settlers are involved.

The course was staged to provide the exposure for participating settlers in growing chili. The first harvest of chili in the Edible Garden programme is either end of this month or early April.

SECOND PHASE

According to Jahaya, the second phase of the Edible Garden programme covers another eight Felda schemes namely Felda Cegar Perah, Kumai, Rentam, Tembangau 1, Tembangau 2, Mempaga 2, Mempaga 3 and Tersang.

"If the project is successful, the programme is to be expanded to all 36 Felda schemes in Mempaga that have 24,954 settlers," he said.

Jahaya said if all settlers nationwide take part in the Edible Garden programme, Malaysians would be able to buy fresh vegetables at low prices and the nation would be able to considerably lower the import of RM100 million worth of vegetables annually.

He urged settlers who are interested in the programme to contact the Felda management in their respective areas to implement the project.

"There are no objections as long the project adheres to regulations of the Felda and Land office. Felda is also willing to provide loans as capital to start the vegetable-planting project," he said.

Jahaya hopes the Felda settlers would take this opportunity to earn extra cash by planting the vegetables apart from relying on the harvest from the oil palm plantations.

FAMA

Meanwhile, FAMA's Director for Contract Farms Development (Vegetables and Fruits), Faridulatrash Md Mokri said the programme is expected to produce its first harvest of red chili by either end of March or April this year.

"We expect 560 tonnes of red chili from the 43 participating Felda schemes nationwide and the harvest will be marketed at supermarkets and wholesale markets," he said.

Faridulatrash said Fama had signed a deal to buy all the chili according to the market price based on its size and grade.

He said each of the participating Felda is expected to produce a harvest of more than 10 tonnes of red chili for each harvest cycle of some 60 days.

-- BERNAMA

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

Flowers in Lipat Kajang

Have we ever thought about growing flowers in Lipat Kajang? Maybe not. But can we grow flowers in Lipat Kajang. I think Lipat Kajaang can support a flower growing industry. What sort of flowers? Orchid for a start. Our climate may just be suitable for orchid growings. Why do I say so? We are tropical and our weather is cool enough with all the trees around and warm enough because we are in the tropics. How do we grow orchids? I don’t know but there must be people who know. And we have enough unused land in our midst. I have seen orchid farms in Mantin in NS, I have seen orchid farms in tye lower lands of Genting and best of all I have seen orchid farms in Bangkok. Who grow them? The Chinese, all of them. Why can’t Malays grow orchids?

Orchids seemed to be able to grow in our damp climate. What we need are green houses to grow them in, and of course enough water and good fertilizers and anything that prevent insects from eating the plants and destroying them. All these we have in our kampong, except that we have to import fertilizers and some sort of mild insecticide. And the skilled labour to look after the orchid plants and the capital. Don’t we have trainable unemployed youths in the kampong? Those who can be trained to plant and look after orchids? Maybe some Lipat Kajang person or any one connected to Lipat Kajang can start the orchid growing with a small initial capital. I don’t know how much, but a research can always be done.

What is the chance of failure? I think the market is vast, and I do not think we should think of failure even before we start.

Or is it too ambitious to say that we can even grow roses in Lipat Kajang? Has anyone ever tried?

And of course the alternative to flowers, vegetables can be grown in Lipat Kajang as well. Ever seen the Chinese even growing vegetables under TNB transmission line? If they can why can’t we? We have the land and the labour. Then what has been stopping us all these while? I have our women (and men) folks bring vegetables to the market on Pekan Sari days. Its only a matter of organizing ourselves to meet the challenges. And I have known of people who have made some money out of growing vegetables in Lipat Kajang.

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

Jabbar di Darjah 3.

Photo sent by Sdr Tahrin (Jabbar) when he was in darjah 3 at Sek. Keb. (Melayu?) Lipat Kajang. (1957?). Fantastic. Thank you Jabbar.

I have asked Jabbar to give me the full list of names. Hope he remembers them all.

(Sdr Jabar sent me this list of names in the photo.

Standing from left :

KAMALUNSAH B AHMAD ( anak aicik Odek – ketua kampong L K sekarang ). NAZRI B HAMID ( anak abang Mid - Tg Perian , manger Ladang tabung Haji di Sumatra ). SHARIF B ABDULLAH ( pencen chief inspector Polis ). SAMSUDIN B IBRAHIM ( arwah ). ABDUL JANI B IBRAHIM ( anak aider Him – pencen assistant superintendent polis- di Kuantan ). SARIT B HUSSIN ( Lipat Kajang Darat ). AMRI B CHE MAMAT. JABAR B SALLEH a.k.a Tahrin. ( anak pak ngah Salleh ketua kampong 70an – Klang ). RAZALI B ……. . AZIZ B IDRUS ( anak ayah wer drus seberang sungai ). BAHAROM B SALLEH ( adik Jabar ). ZULFATAH B MD NOR. ZAKARIA B CHIK ( lipat kajang darat ).

Sitting from left :

SITEH BT BAKAR. ZALEHA BT YAHYA ( anak pak cik yer ). NORLIA BT OSMAN ( anak Pok Der Man ). KALSOM BT SIDEK. RUBIAH BT ABD RAHMAN. CIK GU YUSUF SULAIMAN. AINON KAMAN BT SALLEH ( Kakak Jabar ). HASMAH BT ABD RAZAK ( anak abang Tan Razak seberang sungai ). ROHANI BT HUSSIN. ROHANA BT AKASAH. SITI SAHARA BT ABU HANIFAH ( anak abang nipah seberang sungai, jiran Hasmah ). HINDON BT ABD RAHMAN.)


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

Sadness in gladness

Going back to Lipat Kajang about 1 week or so ago, I was so glad to see how the kampong has developed tremendously, better than what I had expected. To see what development has taken place, one has to visit the kampong on a regular basis. I cannot really describe in here what those development are, but a few.

Cow dungs are now found less on the kampong roads. But still I observed on a few spots but I believe some of these are also water buffalo (which are on the loose) dungs. I can’t hardly tell the difference though.

I saw that the mesjid has now got a minaret. I don’t remember that there was a minaret before. They must have paid quite a bit of money to erect the minaret but I believe that they have no financial problem to pay for that. They have quite a bit of money in their treasury.

I saw more beautiful houses being built. Brick houses. And I was surprised to see someone had even got facilities for ‘homestay’, a sort of cheap tourist lodging house (room most likely) in the kampong. I applaud that.

And a water buffalo (kerbau) ranch/farm? Yes there is one in Lipat Kajang now.

I can go on describing but I think one has to see for oneself what those new developments are.

But I must also record my sadness at seeing certain kampong roads not being maintained. I saw the tarred road to Ulu Lanjut (my late father always used to call it that when he talked to me about the place when I was a small boy) seemed rather neglected. And the old tarred road to Bukit Pancor which the kampong folks used to call ‘Jalan Kereta Lembu’ (Bullock Cart Trail) is really neglected. This road is an alternative road in the kampong the folks need to take during the flood season (monsoon period) when the ‘empang simen’ (sluice gate) road gets inundated. I took that road when I was there in my last visit. And it was in terrible state, though I managed to come out unscathed. I believe that the kampong authority should really look at those roads and get them repaired by whatever mean at their disposal.


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