Wintering season forces villagers to do odd jobs for extra income 23 Feb 2021 / 15:07 H. Pix for illustration purposes.
KUALA
NERANG: The dry wintering season from February to May is when rubber trees shed leaves which also causes sharp fall in volume of latex produced, thus affecting rubber tappers’ income.
For the sake of survival, these rubber tappers, especially smallholders in the interior, do various odd jobs to generate extra income including finding forest produce while a group of them in Kampung Tanjung Piring in Naka, near here, choose to embark on “menghambat ikan” (catching fish using traditional method).
This is a unique technique of the local villagers who take advantage of low water level in the river during dry season to catch fish and this method has been practiced for decades.
COMMENT | Colonial roots in law against ganja and ketum
Modified20 Feb 2021, 3:21 am
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COMMENT | I will not use the scientific name, or even colonial names, for plants which are native to our tropical Malaya. These names are strange, foreign and difficult to spell.
These two plants which are native to tropical Malaya are ganja and ketum (
above). In fact, everyone in Malaysia knows that ganja and ketum grow naturally and abundantly behind Pak Usin’s shop in Batu Tujuh, Bendang Raja in Kuala Nerang.
In fact, there are areas in Malaysia where local villagers call ketum leaves
biak leaves. This is because the leaves grow abundantly (
20 Jan 2021 / 21:27 H. Pix for illustration purposes.
PENDANG: A lorry driver was arrested yesterday in Jalan Kampung Tong Prok, Padang Kerbau after police pulled him over and discovered he was transporting ketum (Mitragyna speciose) leaves.
Pendang district police chief, DSP Arriz Sham Hamezah, said: “After stopping the three tonne lorry which was being driven in a suspicious manner, police found 80 bags of ketum leaves weighing 1.5 tonnes worth RM22,000.
“The suspect confessed to being paid RM2,000 per trip to transport the leaves from Kuala Nerang, Kedah to Seremban, Negeri Sembilan,” he said in a press conference today.
He said the man had lost his job as an express bus driver in June and used his i-Sinar payment from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to rent the lorry which he also used to deliver goods like furniture and food – for RM2,500 per month.
More hospitals for Covid-19 patients in Kedah
January 20, 2021
ALOR SETAR – Three more Health Ministry (MOH) hospitals in Kedah are being used as COVID-19 treatment hospitals to accommodate the increase in patients at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB), here now.
State Health and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman said the hospitals were Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital (HSAH) in Sungai Petani, Kuala Nerang Hospital and Kulim Hospital.
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“Earlier, HSB was the only hospital for treatment of COVID-19 in the state. Based on current information received today from the Kedah State Health Department (JKN), as much as 72 per cent capacity of the COVID-19 patient ward at the hospital has been occupied, while 89 per cent of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward has been filled.
KUALA NERANG (Jan 9): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) will do a comprehensive assessment of losses it suffered once the floods that have hit Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor currently are over, said its chairman Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
“We have experienced this before in 2014 when many TNB assets like substations were damaged due to floods, so in the six years till now many things have been done to protect our assets.
“For example, locations of substations before were at lower levels but now on higher ground. So if floods occur even once, there are assets that will be safe,” he told reporters after handing over school uniform aid to students from around Padang Terap, here today.