Rural Malaysia - Malay Wedding in a FELDA Settlement

Being situated in remote areas of Malaysia, probably the liveliest event in a FELDA settlement is a wedding. A FELDA settlement is a small community and therefore everybody in the settlement is invited or expected to attend. Some come dressed in their best and others as they are - life is so simple.

Like most traditional Malay weddings, it's an informal affair. Some will eat before the wedding, some during and some after - nobody cares. It's more of a social gathering and the time to chat with neighbours, and meet old acquaintance and relatives who have migrated to the cities.

Bride and groom

Beating the drums

More drums - ouch my ears!

Time to feast - buffet style

Rural Malaysia - Life in a FELDA Scheme

I made a visit with my family to one of the FELDA settlements, where my sister-in-law's family live. Those used to living in the cities, staying in the rural outback of a FELDA settlement is probably like an exile in the middle of nowhere. For the settlers, it's home and their life centres around the settlement though many of the younger generations are leaving for the big cities.

Many of the settlers are farmers, and a farmers' work can be back breaking working as early as 6 in the morning until midday when the sun gets to hot to work. Then back home for lunch and then enjoy the simple things in life - maybe fishing at a nearby the river or collect fresh eggs from the chicken coop. Forget about the rat race here, there is nothing to race for.

Home in a FELDA settlement

The chicken coop

The grocer on wheels

My sister-in-law and her late husband

Rural Malaysia - FELDA Settlement

The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) began in 1956 as a resettlement scheme for the poor to develop land clearings into smallholder farms growing mainly oil palm. FELDA stopped establishing new settlements by the 1990s but still manages the schemes. It is also involved in manufacturing and marketing of palm oil products for the domestic and world markets.

Today FELDA settlements can be found in the rural areas across Peninsular Malaysia but there only a few in East Malaysia. These settlements are more remote than most villages in Malaysia, and often far away from the smaller towns, but there is electricity and piped water. Furthermore, the homes are side by side forming a neighbourhood rather spaced out as in the villages.

Homes in a FELDA scheme

Road through a FELDA scheme

Cow looking suspiciously at me

Rural Malaysia - Farmers' Market in Batu Kikir

Every Sunday, from morning till noon, there is a farmers' market (pasar tani in Malay) in Batu Kikir's town centre. This is the time when village folks come to town and do more than just shop for groceries. It is also the time to bump into someone, whether a friend or relative, and exchange the latest village news or gossip and then possibly for a drink at a nearby coffee shop.

For a city guy, I am curios to know what village folks (besides my in-laws) here put in their cooking pot. There are the locally grown produce like water spinach, wild yam, mangosteen and bananas. The folks have also acquired a taste for imported produce like broccoli, cauliflower, apples and oranges. Times are changing and even village folks are eating what once considered a luxury.

Rural Malaysia - Another Village in Batu Kikir

This is another village scene in Batu Kikir, which happens to be the home of my wife's aunt. It's a home surrounded by rubbers trees, where the trees are tapped for their latex. The latex is what makes the tyres for your cars, the eraser on the pencil, gloves used by surgeons and the 'little device' called condom. There are also the fruit trees for the family's consumption like bananas, guava, mangoes and rambutan. There is also the pet goat, which would probably end up in the cooking pot one day.

Rural Malaysia - My Wife's Village in Batu Kikir

While Batu Kikir is the town itself, locals also refer Batu Kikir to include the villages situated around the town. My mother-in-law's home is in one those villages. It's a half-brick half-wooden house on a hectare (2 acres) of land surrounded by rubber trees, bananas and a few fruit trees. Then there are the few odd chickens roaming around and when fat, it's into the pot!

For those unfamiliar with rural Malaysia, most homes in the villages have electricity and piped water. So you have the basics - a fridge, television, washing machine and flushed toilet. Cooking used to be firewood, now it's the gas stove. There's even free internet access from the nearby aerial receiver/transmitter, courtesy of the government's rural internet access program.

Meet the in-laws

The kitchen and dining area

Rural Malaysia - Town of Batu Kikir

Batu Kikir is a rural town in the state of Negri Sembilan, located about 45 km (27 miles) east of the state's capital of Seremban. This small laid back town is situated between the larger towns of Kuala Pilah and Bahau. Being a city guy, Batu Kikir has a special significance in my life. My wife was born here and many of my in-laws live in this unheard part of Malaysia.

Batu Kikir is a small town cut in two by a trunk road and you can walk from one end to the other in less than five minutes. An uneventful town but far from being called sleepy, though life comes to a halt as evening approaches. There is a small bus station, old mosque, post office, school, several shops and would you believe it, a 7-Eleven in the middle of nowhere.