RICHARD BLAIR explores the positive and negative impacts of tourism in Janda Baik and highlights how the locals perceive tourism.

Written by Richard Blair on 21 Nov 2011 with 0 comments. Be the first!

Turning a pristine wildlife region into a booming tourist destination is usually a long process of intricate government planning and tough commercial marketing. At Janda Baik it's just a matter of doing nothing.

Janda Baik is a wooded region in the foothills that hold up the 10,000-room colossus of Genting Highlands with its gaming rooms, theme parks and theatres. Janda Baik has five rivers, a lot of jungle and a problem. That problem is the question of whether or not the locals want it to become a tourist destination.

Some five decades ago a group of Malaysian families driven out of their own homes by war came to largely unpopulated Janda Baik and were each allotted (for as low as $28.50) a plot of land for farming, housing and trading. Today those acres are worth thousands, but are owned largely by absentee owners in Kuala Lumpur, 65 km. away, and farms have been taken over by invisible syndicates growing land-depleting ginger and other short term crops, or logging.

Yet the tourists are coming. Presently some 40 villas, bungalow compounds and guest houses along with one proper hotel cater to a growing in-flow of Kuala Lumpur day-trippers and expatriate bicycle tourers who come for the 'clean air, natural surroundings and rolling hill trails' that characterize the area. And the locals couldn't be more pleased.

The influx of tourists and holiday homers has brought cold hard cash, more and better jobs and an awareness of the world outside this formerly quiet little kampong. "They bring glamour to Janda Baik" is how the part time clerk at PSC, the town's only provision shop, puts it. But it has also brought some serious considerations for the future - pollution being one of them.

The Bitter Fruit of Tourism

With the construction has come litter and debris left along side roadways and scattered in empty lots, a common result of development hardly noticed by locals until they hear the criticism of visitors. Also it has resulted in an increase in the ambient temperature in this elevated hilly paradise some 440 metres above sea level. But no one can really prove whether it is the increased population, cutting down of swathes of jungle trees or global warming that is to blame.

One thing the locals (if they are above the age of 30 or so) do complain about is the reduction of water in the five rivers which ribbon the region. No more bare-bottomed kids splashing around or lazy fishing afternoons when the rivers become streams with only a few feet of water rippling over the boulders where catfish used to spawn. According to one tranquil fisherman warming a boulder near Sungai Benus, one hour's fishing used to provide two meals for the family. Now it takes four hours to feed just himself. "Now I fish for fun and buy my meals at the provision shop. It's easier."

And when they look deeper into the jungle, they lament the diminishing wildlife. The slow loris, dusky leaf monkeys, civet cats and hornbills which used to chatter and squawk in the trees are almost all gone.

The Sweet Side

But on the plus side, the dropping of the water level (and rising demand) has resulted in the provision of state water supplies so that villagers don't have to haul buckets from the river anymore. Tourism has also meant the building and repair of roads making it easy for school buses to pick up students at their doorsteps. New technology has reached Janda Baik along the medium of telecom lines. And, latest, has been the installation of ASTRO television transmission facilities, bringing the old movies of P. Ramlee and the antics of Wipe Out to every satellite-dished household.

One other rather surprising benefaction has been an awareness of nature brought by environmentally sensitive Europeans and conscience-racked city folk to the Janda Baik coffee shops and guest houses. There locals learn of the tragedy of dwindling wildlife, the anguish of falling trees and of the squalor of spreading litter. "They know more about it than we who have lived among nature our whole lives. They educate us," says a bemused En. Danny, a part time tourist guide.

But the biggest benefit has been economic. The original families who held onto their ten acre plots find them worth millions now. "Banyak Dato come," quips En. Danny, referring to the 'wealthy people' looking to build holiday homes and guest houses. The value of land and property in Janda Baik has doubled in the past five years says property dealer J.D. Michael of Wang Lai Realty. Agricultural land is fetching about RM8 per square foot, built up land some RM10 and a furnished resort with 9.3 acres of land is going for RM12.40 per square foot.

And there are the job opportunities; According to En. Alwi, many of the locals are using tourism profits for education and consequently, better jobs. En. Alwi was a former plumber and handy-man who worked for his neighbours. He now works for foreigners on their holiday homes making three times as much. As a result, his son will study catering in the capital city and perhaps come back as 'a cook at a big hotel on the hill' referring to Genting Highlands. Guide En. Danny has a son, working in the nearby Cherengin Hills Convention & Spa Resort.

For the Future

The face of tourism in Janda Baik will be changing in the future. More and more 'training camps' complete with flying foxes and rock climbing structures are being built for the hordes of school children and executives on team building exercises. This will eventually have the river valleys resounding with the clanging of cooking pots and the hills misty with the huffing and puffing of mountain trekkers. J.D. Michael says he knows of three under development and goes on to recommend against any further saturation in this direction.

But with the boom of home-stays, guest houses, villas, bungalow resorts, training camps and hotels, tourism is bound to become a profound element in the tranquil lives of those in Janda Baik: both good and bad. And come new dump sites or entertainment outlets, the locals are going to have to decide whether to pack up or put up with it.