Bentong locals welcome development in district — if only promises made during GE15 campaigning are kept

BENTONG, Nov 16 — With the November 19 general election looming, the Bentong district of Pahang has received a lot of attention as a heavily-contested seat, especially between incumbents Pakatan Harapan (PH) and former heavyweights Barisan Nasional (BN).

During campaigning, four of the five Bentong candidates — BN’s Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai, PH’s Young Syefura Othman, Perikatan Nasional’s Datuk Roslan Hassan and independent candidate Wong Tack — have listed bringing development to the district as one of their top priorities.

Out of the 10 Bentong locals Malay Mail spoke to, seven agreed that the area was sorely in need of upgrades.

Most of the buildings in the town area — which houses its main business district, Bentong Walk night market, and essential buildings such as the Bentong Hospital and police headquarters — showed clear signs of ageing such as large, dark stains and peeling paint.

“If you look at Bentong town, you can see that it has not changed much for at least 20 years,” said 51-year-old construction worker Muhd Khair Zainuddin, who lives at the Lurah Bilut Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) settlement here.

“Towns like Bera, Jerantut, Temerloh, you can see the cities flourishing in terms of development. But here, it looks like the local council is just focused on Genting Highland, so we have been left behind,” he added.

When asked what kind of development they wanted to see, five of the locals put having a mall at the top of their list.

Nur Nazatal Zuhana Syazmira, 22, said Bentong sorely needed a place for youth to hang out, such as a mall. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri

For 22-year-old Nur Nazatal Zuhana Syazmira who grew up at the Lurah Bilut Felda settlement here, a mall would provide a much-needed spot for her and other youth her age to meet during their free time.

“There really is no place to hang out here. If we want to watch a movie, we either have to go to Temerloh or Genting Highlands,” she said.

Florist, Logaraj Andavan, said that having a functioning mall would mean he would not have to travel to Kuala Lumpur — some 70km away — every time he wanted to buy decent clothes, especially for the Deepavali festival.

The run-down facade of Vega Mall, which according to locals went bankrupt over five years ago. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

According to locals, the last mall in Bentong, called Vega Mall, closed down at least five years ago after it supposedly went bankrupt.

Now the run-down building lies disused, along Jalan Ketari, which is the main road into the town area.

Another common complaint among Bentong voters was the facilities at the Bentong Hospital — brought up by three of the 10 people who were interviewed.

“You can go there (to Bentong Hospital) if you have a small cut or something, but not for much more. They don’t have enough specialists or equipment for any major illness,” said a Chinese restaurant owner, who requested to not be named.

Bentong Hospital, the only hospital in the district, lacks adequate facilities and specialists, according to some locals. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Bentong, farm worker Suzana Zainal Abidin, 55, who has lived at the Mempaga 1 Felda settlement for over 30 years, said life had been pleasant enough there with all her basic needs met so far.

However, the single mother of four children, said that the one thing that worries her is the lack of quality jobs in the area.

“There are no good jobs here. My children didn’t want to go to university, so they’re just doing village jobs like being a farmhand. Their pay is less than RM2,000 a month.

“But with the cost of living so high now, it’s hard for us to survive, so I hope that more jobs are made available here,” she said, although she could not identify exactly what kind of jobs would be useful.

Farm worker Suzana Zainal Abidin, 55, said life was tough for some living on the outskirts of Bentong as there weren’t enough good-paying jobs. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Yet, aside from the high number of Bentong locals who had grievances with the town, there were also others who were content with life here.

Three out of the 10 people Malay Mail interviewed had no complaints about the constituency.

“What’s wrong with Bentong? Everything is OK,” said a durian seller who gave his name as Durian Lun.

“Floods? In my area, they only come once every 10 years, so what’s there to worry about?” added the native of Kampung Perting here.

A view of Bentong Walk, which turns into a night market on Saturdays. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

Bentong — which is famous for the fragrant ginger that is planted locally, and the Musang King durian variant — has a racial composition of 61.9 per cent Bumiputera, 28.8 per cent Chinese, 8.4 per cent Indians, and 0.9 per cent of other minorities.

In the last general election, Wong, who was then a PH candidate, beat BN’s Liow with a slim majority of 2,032 votes.

On November 19, it will be a five-cornered fight between Liow, Wong, Young Syefura, Roslan and one other independent candidate, Khalil Abdul Hamid.