Kangkar Pulai
Kangkar Pulai is a small town in Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia. It is situated along Skudai-Pontian Highway (Federal route ).
Geography
This small town is divided into 5 zones, namely A, B, C, D, E zones, with each zone having more than 50 families or houses. Zone E is the zone that is located along the main road, where most of the business units, i.e., shop houses, markets are located. Zones C and D are located at the south side of the road while zones A and B are located at the north side of the road. Due to the fact that zones A and B are located at the higher ground in terms of topography, the residents of zone A and B are traditionally called "the people from the mountain top".
There are two parallel water pipe lines with diameter around 1 meter each extrude out of the ground and run approximately 100 meters before they submerge into higher ground. These exposed pipe lines used to be the good memories of many childhoods as the children would climb on top of them, jump around, play games like "police catches thieves" and so on. These pipe lines "carry" a story of Water Conflict between Malaysia and Singapore. The local people call the pipe lines as Xui Ham Tong.
They have been a few rivers flowing around its neighborhood, recent development have made the rivers shallow
There are several small towns at its vicinity, namely, Bandar Kangkar Pulai, Taman Desa Permai, and Kampung Melayu Kangkar Pulai.
Culture
The Chinese people has reached and resided in the land of Malaysia since more than 600 years ago, however during the great migration of southern Chinese from the province of Guangdong and Fujian during the period between 1900 to 1940, many such Chinese who were with the dialect of Hakka, resided at this small town of Kangkar Pulai. Therefore, the language being used for communication among the residents in this town is Hakka, be it when you buy something at the shop houses, markets, or when you greet each other in the temples, or in the streets.
The residents in Kangkar Pulai know each other well, since most of them share the same origin, and most are at their second, third, or fourth generation. Intermarriage among the residents is common.
The weekly Pasar Malam at Kangkar Pulai is held on Saturday, it is only a short stretch of 20 to 30 meters, with stalls selling food, clothes, music, accessories and all kinds of stuff. The stalls at the Pasar Malam start to sell at around 6pm, and the whole activity lasts till 9:30pm.
The best socialization for the residents are religious festivals, dinners of marriages, sports, and of course, the gossips at the coffee shops and markets.
The residents travel within the town with motorbikes, bicycles, or even walk.
Education
The school of S.J.K (C) Pulai has served this small town well, it has been established since 1955, has been renovated multiple times. It is a primary school that has its students taught in Mandarin Chinese, the language teachers use, the text books students use are communicated in Mandarin, apart from Malays class or English class of course.
Even though the population in Kangkar Pulai is 95% Chinese Malaysian, there is also an Indian primary school, S.J.K (T) Kangkar Pulai, located at zone D, where many of the Indian Malaysian at its vicinity send their children for study.
Religion
One of the most prominent temples in Kangkar Pulai is called the San San Guo Wang Temple (Temple of the Kings of 3 mountains). The Kings of 3 mountains are traditional the gods or idols of the Hakka people. This temple doesn't just serve for religion purpose, but it is also a venue for wedding, social events and celebrations.
Economy
Many of the residents own a piece of small land somewhere 5 to 10 km from Kangkar Pulai itself, and the small lands are mainly used for farming purpose. Some lands have been sold to outsiders in recent years. However, the youngsters nowadays seldom work in the farm anymore, they seek jobs elsewhere.
Safety
Kangkar Pulai has been a peaceful small town. Visitors are easily identified, and residents are cooperative and reactive for any negative issues, i.e., crimes, accidents, conflicts, etc.. There is a Balai Polis located at Zone E and there is also RELA in this small town.
Politics
In terms of political administration, Kangkar Pulai belongs to DUN 162 / 49 - NUSAJAYA, and Nusa Jaya belongs to Parlimen of GELANG PATAH.