KUALA LIPIS, Jan 22 — Residents in the Felda schemes around Sungai Koyan want the shortage of automated teller machines (ATMs) and cash deposit machines (CDMs) in the area resolved.
They claim that many financial-related matters had to be done at a petrol station in Felda Sungai Koyan 3, which only has one ATM machine.
A settler, Mohd Affandi Daud, 54, from Felda Sungai Koyan 2, said the ATM had been in operation in the area for over 10 years and it was unable to accommodate the increasing number of people in the area.
Currently there is only one bank – Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Rakyat) – in the area.
“These (ATMs, CDMs, ) now have become a necessity. So, we are urging the candidate who is elected to bring the matter up to the financial authorities to set up a bank here,’’ he told a news conference on the problems faced by children of the settlers in the Jelai state constituency, which comes under the Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency.
Azman Nurulddin, 58, from Koyan 3, said residents in Sungai Koyan and surrounding the areas often had to travel to Kuala Lipis or Raub, towns which were between 30 and 50 kilometres away, just to withdraw money.
“Whenever there too many people using an ATM machine, the machine will run out of cash, sometimes it is faulty and during an emergency, we have to travel far, sometimes at night to get to the bank,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Affandi claimed that Felda under the previous government had earlier discriminated against settlers based on their affliations to political parties
“It was clear that Felda’s action caused the settlers, especially those who did not suppory Barisan Nasional (BN) , were sidelined.
“All opportunities here are under the control of Jelai state assemblyman Datuk Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail (from BN)).
Sungai Koyan has about 13,000 residents who are settlers of Felda Gugusan Koyan 1, 2 and 3, the traditional villages which are by the banks of Sungai Jelai and the Orang Asli of Hulu Jelai.
The Cameron Highlands is seeing a by-election this Saturday followng the Election Court on Nov 30 annulling the victory of Datuk C. Sivarraajh of the BN in the 14th General Election (GE14) for vote-buying.
The by-election is a four-cornered contest involving the Pakatan Harapan and BN and two independent candidates.
Pahang DAP deputy chairman M. Manogaran is the candidate for the Pakatan Harapan coalition, while BN is represented by Ramli Mohd Nor, a former senior police officer. The two independent candidates are a former lecturer at the Aminuddin Baki Institute, Sallehudin Ab Talib, and farmer Wong Seng Yee, who holds a Masters Degree in Horticultural Science. — Bernama
