Segamat.com

Taken from Sin Chew Online

Date:18th Nov 2008

Located in northern Johor, Segamat used to be an important point along the north-south trunk road on Peninsular Malaysia. But with the opening of North-South Highway, vehicles no longer need to pass through Segamat, and the town that lies away from the expressway badly needs a new lease of life as well as a new east-west link highway in order to stay afloat.

As a matter of fact, Segamat is the second largest agricultural district in the state, with agricultural activities being the main source of income for many locals. Over the decades, rubber and oil palm have lent much support to the town's economy while Chinese smallholders and Malay estate settlers constitute a major part of the local consumption power. Nevertheless, the town's economy does not rely solely on agricultural activities. Segamat's economy needs to be diversified so that its development could be sustained.

When former MCA president Tun Ling Liong Sik was the MP for Labis, a TAR College branch campus and inland port were set up in Segamat. However, due to poor planning, these two major infrastructural projects have not provided Segamat the much needed lifeline. When locally born and raised youngsters look for more promising learning opportunities elsewhere, TAR College's inadequately diversified curricula, compounded by limited job opportunities in Segamat, has failed to lure the student mass.

Although the inland port has been blessed with the support of the peninsula's trunk railroad system, plans for a major road link to Johor's west coast have been shelved. Besides, due to the fact that the major highway leading to the main port in the south is far away and local industrial activities remain lacklustre, the inland port has failed to thrive.

In order to salvage Segamat's economy, the district has outlined plans to reinvent the town and lure more tourists in a bid to revitalise local commercial activities, in its 2007-2020 masterplan. "Uexpected treasures are hidden in places sidelined by mainstream developments and overlooked by the government." The masterpan has identified three major strategies to develop Segamat's tourist industry: its historical and cultural heritage, agricultural and aguacultural resources, as well as carnivals.

The district office has wanted to fully harness Segamat's unique characters to inject a new lease of life into the town and reinvent it to attract more tourists. However, the major travel packages outlined by the masterplan have not included all the town's unique features. Although the official travel packages have attempted to protrude the town's multicultural aspects, they only selectively introduce the culture of one particular community. The traditional performances and homestay programmes heavily promoted by the government also tend to lean towards a certain ethnic group.