As Tenang as it gets

With the campaigning for the Tenang by-election officially starting this morning, the tiny town has become a hive of activity with the locals cashing in on the windfall.

Rents for double-storey houses in the town centre are now going for RM6,000 for the entire duration of the campaign period, while single-storey houses are going for RM3,000.

But as early as last week, cars with outstation number plates have been pouring into the town centre, filled with party workers and journalists wanting to catch a bit of the action in the by-election.

On any other day, Tenang itself is as much a cookie-cutter as any Malaysian semi-rural town can be, with a generally early-to-bed, early-to-rise populace.

Lying in the northern part of Johor, visitors to Tenang are greeted by miles and miles of rubber and oil palm plantations. An agricultural town by any measure, the Tenang settlers have made quite a killing for themselves with the rising prices of commodities.

But the plantations in Tenang town are not just those owned by mega-conglomerates or government-linked companies. The outskirts of Tenang are littered with private limited companies, many of them bearing Chinese names.

The good life

Life is good in Tenang, if a drive around the residential areas is any indication.

Amidst the wooden houses in the new villages are several posh-looking ‘nouveau riche’ bungalows, conspicuous with their plaster ceilings, chrome gates and cars parked under the porches.

The Tenang folk are well taken care of, especially the Felda settlers. While other Felda settlements around the country may have their pockets of dilapitation, such is not the case with the Johor Felda estates.

The three Felda settlements in Tenang are even dotted with newly-renovated bungalows, with designs that could rival properties in the Klang Valley.

A newly-renovated KFC fast-food joint sits in the middle of the town centre while a municipal carpark is well-maintained, with plush green spaces and unbroken tiled floors.

The roads are dual carriageways with double lanes, unblemished by potholes or damage, although there are yet to be signs of the Public Works Department doing its traditional elections rounds.

With the state constituency spanning only 295 square metres, three main roads cut through the area - Jalan Muar, Jalan Segamat and Jalan Tenang.

How do the Tenang folk unwind?

Much of Tenang constituency is green because of the oil palm and rubber plantations.

However, there is a quaint hotspring just at its northern part. Locals say the water can get so hot that one can boil an egg in it.

The da bao, in particular, is also different here in Tenang where the buns are handmade and steamed atop log stoves.

But if pork is not your thing, Tenang, like most parts of Johor, is known for its gigantic fruits.

A pineapple sold on the street can weigh as much as 6kg while the jackfruit - which happens to be in season now - can be up to a metre high when propped up.

With the political buzz in Tenang and the additional traffic due to the by-election, locals are excited about the boost it will give the local economy.

The 14,753 Tenang voters will on Jan 30 go to the polls, which is a straight fight between Normala Sudirman of PAS and Umno’s Mohd Azahar Ibrahim.

Non-Malay voters make up more than half of the constituency with 39 percent Chinese, 12 percent Indians and 1.3 percent others. Malay voters make up 47.54 percent.