How I lost my kampung...

If kampung is where your parents are then for me it has always been Seremban. My parent is there now and the house they are living was bought in 1979. They were not always living there as being Felda officers, they had to move around a lot, which I had to also and the most memorable was the time they were in Pahang.

However, kampung in Malaysian definition is supposed to be where the earlier generation before your parents originated meaning it should be where your grandparents or relative resides. So, mine must be in Nilai, N.9 for my mom and Salak Tinggi, Selangor, which is geographically adjacent to each other but in different states.

The one that I lost is in Nilai. Kg. Bukit Kadir is supposedly opened up by my great-great-great-grandfather. His name is Haji Kadir. It is still there but half of it including the house where my mom wais born is no more. It was the last to go but the other 5 houses adjacent to it was gone way before that. It was on top of the hill just across my mom's flower nursery and it was so traditional that TNB did a short-lived commercial using it once.

The kampung started to be abandoned when Bandar Baru Nilai was born in the Nineties. Then KLIA and F1 happened. All these is just at the back of this small kampung. People started to leave to better houses and being the victim of robbery, as the houses were far from each other by at least 200 metres, the old occupants of the houses just couldn't cope. Migration of better educated children (my parents among them) made them leave behind their houses with acres around them to play with for houses in housing estate where walls and yards are shared.

The kampung house may be gone but my parents maintained a fruit orchad which has a small pondok beside this defunct kampung and I do try to entertain friends and clients each time durian, manggis and other local fruits are in season. This is the only kampung that I know although I never had the oppurtunity to really feel missing it as I am always schooling (SMAP, KGV, UKM) or working (Seremban, Sunway) just 50 km away from it.

So, like some of my friend who did experience kampung life the Malaysian way with river flowing through and sawah padi with mountains, appreciate what you have, because it may not be long before your kampung is just another terrace houses in a housing estate. Or maybe a bungalow in a golf course. Or a super-condominium across KLCC...