SUNGAI SIPUT, 1 February 2016 – The ‘orang asli’ population in Kampung Langkor, a village in northern Sungai Siput, Perak could not hide their feelings of gratitude and was thankful when receiving a visit by a delegation from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) recently.

Such was the feeling as expressed by the head of Kampung Langkor, Hashim Alang as he welcomed the arrival of this delegation, which was made more joyful with the first-time visit of the delegation from the Perak Water Board (LAP) and also the Kerian District official YDH Toh Muda Orang Kaya Kaya Laksamana Raja Mahkota Dato' Haji Meor Redwan Mahayudin.

Hashim said, the presence of the delegates from USM since the clean water project began in 2012 was very much appreciated and every time, their next visit has been eagerly awaited by the 43 families of this village.

“On behalf of all the residents here, we are honoured and would like to thank USM as well as other parties who have been involved in this project, which has benefitted and improved our lives tremendously,” he said.

Kampung Langkor, which comprised of 180 people, many of them earn their living by working in nearby estates and receiving a daily wage of RM34.60, working from 7.00 am to 1.00 pm.

He added that, now with the availability of a clean water supply, the residents of the 11 brick houses and 21 wooden houses would be able to live more comfortably; furthermore the programmes for the day were also well-planned and to some extent provided them knowledge on how to survive in a sustainable manner.

“I have also arranged for several teams to conduct monitoring on a daily and weekly basis to ensure that the site of the dam would remain in good condition as well as asking the team members to tidy up the area so that it continues to be preserved.”

“The activities of educating and offering practical methods of maintenance of the water supply systems and piping today were some of the new knowledge that we have learned and it has provided us the experience to remain independent here for years to come,” said Hashim, who has been living in the village for more than 20 years.

He also hoped that USM will continuously assist and provide such contributions to the Kampung Langkor villagers as most of the people in the village thanked their lucky stars for being selected to receive such an assistance that they had truly been waiting for.

Among the programmes held for the day were talks concerning clean water, health matters, a religious sermon and practical lessons on pipe-fitting conducted by the staff from the USM Engineering Campus.

This programme was funded by the University-Community Transformation Centre (UCTC) under the Ministry of Higher Education (MoE) Malaysia and was jointly-organised with USM, Department of ‘Orang Asli’ Affairs (JAKOA), Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia and the Perak Water Board (PWB).

Also present at this programme were the PWB General Manager Dato' Ir. Mohd Yusof Mohd Isa, USM Assistant Vice-Chancellor cum USM Engineering Campus Director Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Sadullah, and other officers from LAP and USM.

Translation: T. Nandhini / Editing: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah / Photos: Mohd Fairus Md Isa