Kelantan villagers ‘cut off from the outside world’

Compiled by FAZLEENA AZIZ AND TAN SIN CHOW

MORE than 50 residents of Kampung Sungai Bayu Dalam in Gua Musang, Kelantan, are forced to trek 3km through plantations to the main road just to get mobile network or Internet access, reported Berita Harian.

Residents said it has been this way for the past 10 years since they first moved into the area.

Villager Che Hussain @ Che Ahmad Che Kob, 75, said the lack of mobile network access has made life difficult for them.

He said without such a network, they are cut off from the outside world even though they have handphones.

“I’m sitting here like an outcast and it is hard to know of current developments outside the area because I don’t have handphone network coverage or Internet facilities.

“We have to go to the edge of the main Gua Musang-Kuala Krai Road just to get coverage.

“We hope the authorities will take note so that people in rural areas can also enjoy telecommunication facilities like those in urban areas,” he added.

Mek Som Awang, 73, said she was worried when there was a wild elephant attack about three weeks ago at a farm that killed a foreigner.

“I only knew about it after seeing police cars passing by the road in front of the house,” she said.

Gua Musang MP Mohd Azizi Abu Naim said he would bring up the issue with the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission.

> Kosmo! reported that Datuk Siti Nurhaliza added another feather to her cap when tickets to her concert were sold out within two hours.

The mega popstar had to apologise to those who were unable to get tickets to her ‘Sebuah Epitome Saya Siti Nurhaliza’ concert scheduled for March 9 next year at the Axiata Arena.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m sorry to those who couldn’t buy tickets. I understand that some people kept trying but were unable to get any,” she said.It is understood that as soon as online booking for the tickets opened, buyers flocked to make reservations, with somecomplaining that they could not even access the website.

Many have since expressed disappointment at not getting the chance to be part of the audience at the venue, which has a seating capacity of 15,000.

Some even asked Siti to add another day to her concert.

“Make an extra concert for one more day, make it Saturday night. Please consider our request,” wrote a fan.

Tickets to the concert went for between RM129 and RM799.

Previously, the country’s Queen of Rock, Ella, 56, created history when her ‘Jilid Akhir Ella Puteri Kota 2.0’ concert was recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the first by a local singer whose tickets were sold out within 24 hours.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.