Beauty of Life with Jo: Kampung Hakka Mantin

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Kampung Hakka Mantin

I went hunting for this particular Hakka Village @ Kampung Hakka situated in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan. I had read about its history and was so eager to see how an original Hakka village looked like. Since the land was taken over for modern development 2 years ago, I was praying and hoping that I would still be able to witness remnants of the village. To my surprise and shock, there are families still living in this dilapidated village!

I read the news again and again so that I knew how to find this village. It was not difficult at all. It is situated opposite the magnificent St. Aloysius Church along the Main Road of Mantin town.

I was overjoyed to see that the Kampung Hakka board was still standing.

History of Hakka Village:

About 100 years ago, families from Huizhou in Guandong, China, travelled to Mantin to work in the tin mines. It was formerly known as Attap Village @ Kampung Atap. Once upon a time, there were about 300 families living here and it became one of the oldest Hakka settlement in the country. Today the newspaper reported that there are about 30 families still living here. My personal opinion: Maybe about 10 families are here now. I believe that these people are still fighting for their land and homes.

Walking into the village, this is the only tuck shop operating and serving the villagers.

Some houses have been destroyed.

Some were still standing tall but clearly, no one is living in it anymore.

Original Hakka houses with their family name on top of the front door.

The Chinese characters on top of the blue door (photo above) is read as "Hoong Noong", the original surname for Jong.

And then....there were houses with families still living in them!

We walked around the village cautiously after realizing that there are families still living there. We managed to talk to some people and they told us that they refused to move as modern living is just not suitable for their lifestyle. Moreover, these houses belonged to their ancestors and they want to continue living here.

I do not understand why history do not matter to our country. Instead of modern development, why don't people focus on preserving historical landmarks, especially people's homes? Historical events are what made us today. Can't just brush it off and move generations away. Kampung Hakka could be made a heritage settlement.