BATU 14 PUCHONG

UTAR NEW VILLAGE COMMUNITY PROJECT

REPORT

NAME OF VILLAGE:

BATU 14 PUCHONG 蕉赖十四哩村

SELANGOR

Project carried out by:

No Student Name Student ID Course Year / Semester

1 Lui Chen Cheong 0903622 Civil Engineering Y1S3

2 Tan Chee Siong 1004847 Civil Engineering Y1S3

3 Alexander Chia Yee Tsun 0907436 Quantity Surveying Y2S3

DATE OF COMPLETION:

MARCH 2011

BATU 14 PUCHONG

1

History

The new village was set up to segregate the villagers from the Malayan

Communist Party. There were 452 new villages set up and one of the new villages

was Batu 14 Puchong. Batu 14 Puchong New Village, located in Selangor, was

established in 1950.

The name “Puchong” comes from a bird, the Green Heron. The Malays call this

bird “Burung Pucung”. “Puchong” is a homonym of the Hakka “Pucung”. When

the village was established, it had only 86 families with a population of 500

people. In the1960’s, 240 families from Kampung Pasir were included in

Kampung Batu14 Puchong.

Before the new village was set up, Puchong was a thick forest that was almost

uninhabited. In the early 20th century, the British opened rubber plantations and

mined tin. After independence in 1957, the British mining company changed

ownership. Chinese companies began to acquire ownership. In the mid-1980s, the

collapse of tin price in the international market resulted in the slow demise of the

tin industry.

The rubber industry also began to decline. Most of the rubber plantations began to

be replaced by oil palm cultivation. Many residents around Puchong began to

work in these oil palm plantations.

BATU 14 PUCHONG

2

Population and Housing

Batu 14 Puchong New Village has currently a population of around 10,000 people.

The majority of the people in Batu 14 Puchong are from the Hakka community,

followed by Gaozhou, Hainan, Guangdong and Fujian communities. Nowadays,

the residential and commercial districts are rapidly developing in Batu 14

Puchong. However, there are still houses with poor conditions like rusty zinc

rooftop and planks.

wooden house

BATU 14 PUCHONG

3

Economy

We observed that there were a lot of economic activities going on in this area. The

morning market beside the main road has a lot of people in the morning. There are

a lot of stalls in the market selling items such as fruits, vegetables, and meat.

Residents buy their fresh food from this market. There are also a lot of shops

selling various kinds of items, such as the restaurants, hawker centres, car services

centre, and traditional medical centres.

There is a supermarket in the new village, which is the Hero supermarket. People

can buy their groceries at the supermarket and it is located nearby the shop lots.

We noticed a hardware trading shop which sells all kinds of hardware and paints.

Other than that, we also noticed that there are several small recycle warehouses

that collect tin for recycling purposes.

Morning market at 10am

BATU 14 PUCHONG

4

supermarket

clinics

BATU 14 PUCHONG

5

Education

In Batu 14 Puchong New Village, there are two primary schools. One of it is

called S.J.K(C) HAN MING PUCHONG which is a Chinese-medium primary

school and another is called SK PUCHONG which is a Malay medium primary

school.

Front Door of New

S.J.K(c) Han Ming Puchong

SK Puchong

BATU 14 PUCHONG

6

Old S.J.K (C) Han Ming Puchong

Because of the large population of the Chinese people in Batu 14 Puchong New

Village, S.J.K(C) HAN MING PUCHONG has grown rapidly since the 1980s.

According to one of the clerks who worked in this school, Ms Lee, the old

S.J.K(C) HAN MING PUCHONG had 3 small blocks and ran about 10 classes.

The number of students was about 200 and there were only twenty teachers. Now,

S.J.K(C) HAN MING PUCHONG has expanded to about 6 to 7 blocks and has

about 50 classes which can fit more than 2000 students at one time. This school

has about 4000 students and more than 100 teachers and the school session is

divided in to two - morning session and afternoon session. There is also a newly

built hall near the front door of S.J.K(C) HAN MING PUCHONG and it can fit

about 500 students.

SK PUCHONG only has about 500 students and 50 teachers because of the

smaller population of Malay people in Batu 14 Puchong New Village.

BATU 14 PUCHONG

7

SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

In Batu 14 Puchong New Village, there are about 10000 people and they

are mostly Chinese Hakka people, followed by Gaozhou, Hainan, Guangdong and

Fujian people. However, there are also Malays and Indians in the village. People

here live peacefully. Most villagers know each other and people greet each other

openly on the streets.

Due to its strategic location near the capital city which is about 22km, the

youngsters in this village normally do not move to other cities for working

purpose. This is a good phenomenon for family bonding and the population of the

village could also be maintained steadily.

In Batu 14 Puchong New Village, there are several clubs and associations.

For example, there is the Pergerakan Pemuda M.C.A., M.C.A. Bahagian Wanita

and Pusat Perkhidmatan M.C.A. This MCA centre is for people who have

problems and need assistance and advice.

Pergerakan Pemuda M.C.A. dan M.C.A. Bahagian Wanita and Pusat

Perkhidmatan M.C.A.

BATU 14 PUCHONG

8

Most of the villagers in Batu 14 Puchong New Village are Buddhists and

there is one temple nearest to the housing area that is “Guan Yin Temple”观音堂.

According to Ms Teng who sells incense, this temple has a history of about 50

years and it is very famous among the villagers because it is very near the housing

area. Guan Yin is an important deity for the Chinese. The worshippers celebrate 3

important ceremonies for Guan Yin namely the birth of Guan Yin on Lunar 19th

of February, the day Guan Yin became God on Lunar 19th of June and the day

Guan Yin became a monk on Lunar 19th of September.

Guan Yin Temple观音堂

Interview With Ms Teng

BATU 14 PUCHONG

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Other than that, there is also a mosque located very near to a school. This mosque

is called Masjid Jamek Batu 14 and it has a very long history of about 60 years.

Masjid Jamek Batu 14

BATU 14 PUCHONG

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Tourism

Although this is a new village, there are several tourist attractions. The

famous Yap Chuan Bak Kut Teh is one of the tourist attractions because it is the

first Yap Chuan Bak Kut Teh. Bak Kut Teh is a mouth watering dish and is loved

by the local people. Other than that, the Yong Tau Fu shop is also one of the

tourist attractions of this new village. The Yong Tau Fu is famous among the

locals because of its delicious taste. There is also a restaurant which serves exotic

animal dishes and it attracts many non-locals to dine in the restaurant. Other than

that, there are some Chinese temples in this area.

restaurants

BATU 14 PUCHONG

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The following photos are the Guan Yin temple which we visited. It is located not

far from town, around 5 minutes of driving distance and it is easy to find.

Guan Yin temple

BATU 14 PUCHONG

12

Problem

Batu 14 Puchong New Village has common problems like many other new

villages, which is migration. Although the population of the village has increased

but many young adults have left the village for the cities and only the elderly and

children remain in the village.

This village also lack facilities like a bank, telecommunications services and a

post office. These have caused inconvenience to villagers to pay bills and seek

financial assistance. Besides, there is no fire station and police station in this

village. The nearest police station is about 6.1 km away and the fire station is

about 7.8 km away from the village. Garbage is also thrown into the drains and

this has caused the drain to clog and damage to the piping system.

BATU 14 PUCHONG

13

Recommendation

We recommend that colleges and universities to be set up in this area to address

the lack of facilities in education. With such facilities, the teenagers and young

students do not need to leave town to further their studies. Other than that, the

economic activities of the new village are also limited, so young adults tend to

seek jobs in other areas, like in the next nearest city.

An operation hall for the voluntary team (sukarela) on night patrol could be built

so that safety measures are covered. This is to address the non-existence of a

police station or “Pondok Polis” in this village.

The problem of the clogging of the drain can be solved by emphasizing the

importance of cleanliness to the people living in the new village. The locals could

impose a fine on people who throw rubbish into the drain. A “gotong-royong”

could be organised to clear the drains. Warning signboards should be erected to

remind all villagers and outsiders not to dispose garbage into the drains.

DISCLAIMER:

Information contained in this report was compiled by the University’s students on

voluntary basis. Although every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the

report, the University accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any errors or

omissions, if any, the University reserves the right to make changes on the

information at any time without prior notice.

Should there be any queries regarding contents of the report, please contact:

Department of Soft Skills Competency

Tel: 03-79582628 ext 8274 (Klang Valley Campus)

05- 4688888 ext 2297/2299 (Perak Campus)