Once tranquil, Pengerang now dusty, overrun with migrants and crime

Geh Hua Kim zipped through a small village road on his kapcai, its sputtering engine drowning out the chirping crickets and waves lapping against the beach.

The sun had yet to rise and residents of Kg Pengerang were still asleep, but the stocky 52-year-old fisherman was already weary after his hour-long journey from home to his fishing spot.

Two years ago, the trip would have taken him less than five minutes.

But that was before the RM170 billion Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) project gobbled up his village.

It came with promises of development and job opportunities, as well as compensation for villagers like Geh, who were to be resettled from Kg Jawa to Taman Bayu Damai some 20km away, to make way for construction.

Three years, Several briefings, a rally and one General Election later, dissatisfaction is brewing in the Government-Friendly otherwise constituency, as locals of the Once-Sleepy Town of Pengerang Feel the Effects of “Development.”

Pengerang’s Kg Sungai Rengit is now dubbed “Pekan Bangla” (Bangladesh town) after countless migrants working on PIPC began setting up homes and even shops there.

The village’s sparse facilities were not enough to accommodate the rising number of residents, while the influx of migrants and their foreign culture has alienated some locals.

Meanwhile, fishermen such as Geh and Umar Bujang, 55, found their income plunging ever since the PIPC project drove them away from their usual fishing spot in Kampung Jawa.

Their current fishing area has shrunk with the boundary set by the ships from the PIPC project and structures developers built in the sea.

“We are earning a lot less now. Before the project came, we could get RM200 a day. Now, it’s half, or sometimes less,” Geh said, his face impassive as he dragged his boat down the beach, avoiding the empty plastic bottles and other rubbish buried in the sand.
…
On bad days, Umar said he earned just RM25 after three days of fishing – a far cry from the time when he netted fish worth up to RM1,000 a day.

Pengerang will remain a fishing village “for a thousand years” without the multi-billion ringgit petrochemical projects, with the local community missing out on thousands of high-valued jobs and development, Dialog Group says.

But with the controversial projects, Dialog executive chairperson Ngau Boon Keat said, the village could in 15 years expect to grow to be like Jurong in Singapore.

“It’s such a beautiful and wonderful site that we can create a lot of economic value for the country. If you don’t do anything, you will remain a fisherman’s village for a thousand years to come…

“Jurong is contributing to one-third of Singapore’s GDP,” Ngau told reporters today.

………..

Dialog Group is partnering with the Johor government and Dutch company Royal Vopak to invest up to RM4.08 million for the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage, loading and regasification terminal to import LNG for trading purposes and domestic use.

Dialog  is also behind the RM5 billion Pengerang Independent Deepwater Petroleum Terminal (PIDPT) project.