One big happy family (Wong Village at 11th Mile Cheras)

This article is very interesting and it tells us how communities were built and how we lived in the not too distant past.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Star, Wednesday September 14, 2011

One big happy family

The traditional Wong Village in 11th Mile Jalan Cheras, where everyone has the surname Wong, still exists today. Although the village has lost many of its elderly residents and no longer practises some of its archaic rules, it still retains an old world charm. It has been 12 years since her first visit, and BAVANI M is still mesmerised after her recent trip there.

 

NOT much has changed since I last visited the rustic village in 11th mile Jalan Cheras over a decade ago. Wong Ka Chun (Wong Village), popularly known as Kampung Keluarga Wong still looks the same though some of its elder members of of the families and several wooden homes are missing.

Lalang bushes form the vegetation here and wild chickens are seen roaming freely; but the children no longer play outside like they used to do decades ago.

With a population of less than 100, the majority of the villagers, who are Cantonese, carry the surname Wong, hence the name Wong Village.

Clinging to the past: The Wong village still looks rustic and untouched by development.

 

It’s no coincidence how this came about. Everyone here is related to one another, there is an army load of cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunties, and grandchildren who have blood ties with one another.

The simple village spanning some two acres was created in the early 1900’s when the late Wong Lim bought the land for his seven sons from China who were popularly known as the Seven Wong brothers.

The brothers chose their brides and brought them here to live as one big family. They built small makeshift huts in the beginning. They then started clearing the land and planted vegetables.

Their wives sold the produce in the market, while their husbands worked at different mining areas.

When I visited the village in 1999, I spoke to Chong Yin who was married to one of the Wong brothers known as Wong Kiew. Wong Kiew had died in 1986.

No function : Hoh (left) with Wong Lee Heng (centre) and Serdang MCA Public and Services Complaints Bureau chairman Allan Liew Sin Kim outside Wong Lee Heng’s house looking at an old well that has been closed up for years.

 

I remember Chong Yin telling me how she came here many years ago — a young girl barely in her teens with great hope for the future. She was 87 years old when I last spoke to her.

When I visited the village recently I was saddened to hear that Chong Yin passed away in 2006.

Interestingly, there was an unwritten rule that the surname Wong be retained within the family and the village.

As the years rolled by, the brothers got married and had children. The children also grew up and got married too but the “Wong-hood” is still strong among the families in the village.

Sadly, if one of the Wong daughters were to marry a man without a Wong surname, she would not be allowed to stay in the village.

Only daughters who marry men with the Wong surname are allowed to stay on after getting married.

While there are some Chinese who consider marrying someone with the same surname taboo, it has been a custom which the Wong family has been preserving for decades.

Some of the Chinese characters spelt in Wong are different but it did not matter as long as it is pronounced Wong. When I visited the village 13 years ago, I spoke to several members of the family including Chong Yin’s nephew Wong Lap Ming who was then 62 years old.

I remember Lap Ming as a strong believer in the old way of life and a person who respected tradition a lot.

Lap Ming has since passed away but I met his son Wong Lee Heng, 50, whose wife’s surname is also Wong.

“Things have not changed much here,” Lee Heng said. “This is still a peaceful village. During Chinese New Year or other festivals, all the families get together under a tree to celebrate on a moderate scale,” Lee Heng added.

When I asked about the “surname rule”, Lee Heng admitted that the rule has been broken a few times especially after many of the elder folks have passed on. “No one cares about that (rule) anymore,” he added.

Chong Yin’s nephew, Wong Sung Loong, 64, is a changed man today compared with the time when I first met him 13 years ago.

Back then, I remember Sung Loong being adamant about preserving the Wong surname within the village, but today watching him babysit his three-year-old grandaughter, Lee Hui Mei, it is easy to understand why some traditions are meant to be broken.

While this little aspect (name rule) of the village is not preserved, Wong Ka Chun is still pretty much a traditional Chinese village with its inhabitants still practising some of the old ways of life.

The land has multiple owners, hence it is difficult to develop the area. This probably explains why the Wong Village still looks very much the same as it was, since the Wong brothers moved here over 80 years ago. Currently, there are about 13 houses with about 100 people living there.

There was a time when the village contained over 20 houses with some 1,000 family members residing there. Many have moved out of the village and not returned.

The few remaining houses are still very utilitarian in design with zinc roof.

Most of the houses have a plot of vegetable farm in front. Some houses still have wells but these are no longer their main souce of water.

While the inhabitants there still leave their homes, cars and motorcycles unlocked; the camaraderie that was seen during Chong Yin’s time was clearly missing.

I was accompanied by Serdang MCA deputy chairman Datuk Hoh Hee Lee. Hoh was the Balakong State Assemblyman when he first brought me to the village in 1999.

It was only after a little persuasion from Hoh that the villagers allowed us to take pictures of the place and spoke to us.

The families are now more careful and cautious with strangers today as opposed to the olden days. They only spoke to me after Hoh showed them a 13-year-old clipping of the The Star showing them the story that I had written about their great grandmother when I first visited the village.

I noticed that the children whom I remembered seeing 13 years ago were no longer living there while the one staying there now refused to be interviewed.

As I left the village I wondered how long will it take before development takes over the Wong Village and whether the younger Wongs will continue living in the village in future. Only time will tell.