Kampung Air Jernih’s hidden attraction
WhenIwasthere, onaFriday afternoon, with a long weekend ahead, the street was deserted. The silence was broken by the distant strains of Chinese songs from the ‘60s. The doors of the occupied homes were either half-open or shut. Most of the coffeeshops, including the most popular one named Yeen Her, beside the Hainanese Association, were closed, or about to.
A villager later told me that most of the residents had gone down to Kuala Terengganu to join the Mazu Festival, a celebration of the community’s patron saint.
The early settlers were farmers who mostly cultivated pepper and other cash crops. During the 1950s and ‘60s, they turned to rubber and oil palm. Today, rubber appears to be the main income earner as can be seen from several scrap collection centres operating from the old shophouses. Two big ones are located at the back of the town, with sacks of
The Hainanese Association of Kemasik is housed in this white building. stinking dried latex clumps awaiting transportation. There is also an oil palm fruit collection centre 100 metres away from here.
“This village is in its twilight,” a 60-yearold tells me. “Most of the descendants of the original settlers have moved on to seek greener pastures in bigger cities. Many have shifted to the new village nearby to live in brick, instead of the timber, houses here. Only the older generation remains and some of the houses have been left Kampung Air Jernih was believed to be one of the largest Hainanese settlements in country. empty for years or rented out to outsiders who came to work in the plantations here.”
During my trip there last year, while taking a break at the coffeeshop next to the Hainanese Association, I learnt that life in Kampung Ayer Jernih has not changed muchoverthe decades. I remembereating some local cakes, presumably made using recipes passed down over the generations. One was a steamed rice cake that I had not seen elsewhere and another, steamed brown tapioca cake. This time, though, I did not get the chance to try these delicacies.
I also learnt that the Kampung Ayer Jernih has been identified as another tourism attraction for Terengganu but this being Visit Terengganu Year 2017, I did not sense any signs of the winds of change — save for the lanterns that were hung near the archway. I wonder if they were lighting the way to the village’s new beginning or were merely decoration left over from Chinese New Year. I will return again to enjoy the rustic charm of this quaint village. The steamed glutinous rice cake said to be made according to a decades-old recipe. Even the leaf used as a base came from shrubs that were originally used for the said purpose.