All About Pattani, Thailand...

Border at Rantau panjang









[ Last edited by  mamakcute at 14-11-2006 07:47 PM ]

Pasir Mas - Sungai Golok Railway : sad herstory of branch lines in Malaysia



A railway fan from Pasir Mas, Kelate, Muhd Rasdi Saamah, wrote passionately in Keretapi.com's Guestbook about the current sad state of KTMB's passenger operation. He recalled the good old days when their family took train from Pasir Mas to Sungai Golok, probably in the mid-80s last century. The service has been withdrawn since then.



Pasir Mas, my friend Miss Koh Huey Peng's kampung, is situated on the East Coast line, just a few stops way from its north-most terminal Tumpat. It is also the junction for the branch line going towards Sungai Golok. Sungai Golok, on the other hand, is the southern Thai town in Narathiwat province. Separated by a river which also conveniently carries the name Sungai Golok, it is now only accessable from Kelate side's cowboy town Rantau Panjang by road and sampan, as the rail option is no longer available. The bridge linking the two was nicknamed "Jambatan Muhibbah" (Harmonious Bridge), as to signify the superficial friendship between Malaysia and Thailand.



Apparently we Malaysians are mudah lupa and ignorant. Irrational politicians and hip-hop funky partying girls and guys in KL or elsewhere alike, they have alreadi forgotten the glorious past of the once powerful Sultanate of Pattani Darussalam, which was the center of Islamic studies even before Malacca was found. The way Siamese annexed Pattani, chopped into 5 pieces (Pattani, Songkhla [Singgora], Yala [Jala], Satun [Setul] and Narathiwat), the way Siamese discriminate local Pattanese are all but forgotten. Pondoks and Madrasahs were shut, local language and customs were banned, kampungs burnt, people who didn't kneel down and menyembah Buddhas were shot by army, but our great leaders in Putrajaya tak kisah, buat tak tau je. We don't care. We uphold Asean's "No interference, mind your own business" ostrich policy. Perhaps one blog entry will be dedicated to this topic soon to bring up the awareness.




Sungai Golok is the famous and popular shopping, makan and "entertainment" paradise in southern Thailand for Malaysians together with Hatyai and Songkhla. It is said that Sungai Golok is the graduating school for the lucrative blooming xxx industry in Thailand. Once you gain your foundation here, you will be "graduating" to more popular tourist destinations such as Bangkok's Patpong, Pattaya or Phuket. Otherwise you will go to Betong or worse, don't know where.



Compared to the Tampin - Malacca line which was disassembled by the Japs during the Japanese Occupation, Golok line does not lie so low. Malacca line was torn, materials brought to River Kwai for the infamous "Death Railway" linking Thailand and Burma. After Japs surrender, Thais, due to their hatred towards Japs, torn the line. People often say "Take it or leave it." But these inconsiderate Thais with short memory neither take it nor leave it. The line was torn but the materials were never returned to FMSR (Federated Malay States Railway) to rebuild the Malacca line, leaving the Malacca town station standing lonely beside the Stadhuys (Christ Church Melaka), without not only trains but tracks as well, overlooking the tourists who come and enjoy the ice cendol in front of the Stadhuys.



As more and more attention given to freight traffic and the logistic industry, railway branch lines are prosperily developing especially in ports area such as Pasir Gudang, Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) and Westport. Petronas even sponsored a line between the refineries in Kerteh and the industry areas and port in Gebeng and Tanjung Gelang area near Kuantan. While Port Klang line is pretty busy thanks to KTM Komuter, Butterworth line acts as the gateway to the Pearl of the Orient, and Pudu - Salak South - Ampang line was successfully converted to the LRT line and now part of the urban mass rapid transit system.



However, not all are as lucky. Other branch lines such as Seremban - Port Dickson line, Kuang - Batu Arang line, Tapah Road - Teluk Anson line and even our first rail link in the country, Taiping - Port Weld line have all faded away from people's radar screen, rust, ignored, torn, abandoned, and finally dissapeared completely with the grand finale of tin and charcoal mining industries.



It was not only the passenger service on Golok line has ceased to operate. The was also passenger service to Teluk Anson. Now, even the business on main lines are facing depression. For the KL - Butterworth - Hatyai sector, first it was the Express Rakyat from Singapore starting to terminate in KL instead of Butterworth, then the merger of (northern) Express Sinaran Pagi / Petang, Express Langkawi and (northern) Senandung Malam into one single nightly Senandung Langkawi. The reason quoted was the beginning of construction work on Rawang - Ipoh double tracking and electrification project, which left the KTMB operation to a window period of only 10 out of 24 hours everyday. 4 daily trips effectively decreased to only one.



On the southern front, things are not as bad, with only one service being withdrawn. The daily (southern) Express Sinaran Pagi / Petang was merged with the weekend only Express Tebrau, renamed Express Sinaran Tebrau and now operates on only Fri, Sat, Sun and Mon. Similar incident has also taken place in the East sector, where the newly introduced daily Express Kenali (named after Kelate's famous ulama Tok Kenali ?) was reduced to a weekend service shortly after its inception.



Things are starting to look better, or is it ? With the commencement of Padang Besar - Johor Bahru double tracking electrified train service four years from now (acording to MMC-Gamuda, 3 years for civil works and another year for signalling works), the outlook is excellent. But who cares about East Coast line serving our Serambi Makkah ? And Golok line is just a branch line extended from East Coast line. It was reported that Golok line is under major refurbishment to accomodate the new PTP - Bangkok (freight / container) landbridge service via East Coast line. However, as passengers, we will still need to wait till perhaps beyond 2020 to enjoy a comfortable passenger service to Sungai Golok in KTMB coaches.

* hope Umno won't sack ShinShin as the main blogger of our Ada apa dengan ShinShin ? Blog for telling the truth about Thailand's discrimination against Pattani Malays, the way ex-Editor-in-Chief of NST Dollah Kok Lanas being sacked, since KL is hostile towards Pattani Malay, as shown in the detention of BRN / PULO leader Lukman Iskandar under ISA in 1992 *

razifah

Tak pernah lak cube......lalu kat gate tue jer dah seram huhuhuh

razifah

Pos Pemeriksaan Kastam  
Stesen Wang Kelian

razifah

Stesen wang kelian adalah laluan masuk melalui darat yang terletak ke Utara bagi Perlis-Thailand.
Pentadbirannya diletakkan di bawah Ketua Stesen Padang Besar
Diwartakan  sebagai laluan pejalan kaki, kemudahan kepada penduduk di Wilayah Selatan Thailand - Perlis.
Bersempadan dengan Pekan Wang Prachan (Thailand) , terdapat Pekan Nat (Hari) pada Hari Ahad sebagai tempat jualan dan pemasaran hasil-hasil pertanian dan makanan yang dikeluarkan oleh penduduk tempatan.
Pada musim buah-buahan, pekan ini menjadi tumpuan utama bagi mendapatkan bekalan buah-buahan dan beras pulut.

razifah

divasweet_77

Wang Kelian ni first time aku gi time study dulu.. memula gi camping kat Gua Wang Burma pas tu hari Ahad jalan kaki pegi shopping kat Wang Kelian.. tapi time tu tak der mender sangat.. pasar dia pun tak der ler besor sangat.. tapi best ler jalan kaki beramai-ramai ke sana

Joe Hahn

Originally posted by mamakcute at 13-9-2006 11:53 AM
selatan thai...yala,narathiwat,pattani ngan songkhla...bandarnyer memang super bersih!...majoriti org islam yg kuat pegangan agama...rakan paling rapat ngan kelantan selain terengganu...nak shopp ...

tulah pasal..aku pegi betong..bandar bersih tak ingat..compare ngan bandar2 besar kat mesia ni .. ada la 2 3x ganda lagi bersih
dan paling best..kat sana mcam2 makanan tradisi org pattani, yang kat mesia takde...contohnye pulut ayam..kat mesia jarang nak jupe

Dunhill.

mentang2 hang dok kat Baling, bulehlah pergi Betong.




Masjid Betong, Yala.

[ Last edited by  Dunhill. at 30-5-2007 11:31 PM ]

Joe Hahn

Originally posted by Dunhill. at 30-5-2007 11:12 PM
mentang2 hang dok kat Baling, bulehlah pergi Betong.




Masjid Betong, Yala.

naasiha

Setahun sebelum pergolakan diselatan Tahi saya berkereta dari Rantau Panjang sehingga ke Pattani. Di Pattani saya bermalam dirumah kawan lama.Setahun sebelum itu saya pergi ke Pattani dengan menaiki van berbayar di Golok.

Seronok bila kita melalui perkampungan orang melayu dari Golok ke Pattani.

GuaAnakMelaka

Ghamai ikut sungai golok...ok je....

nissangetz

Orang Pattani pandai masak eh?

mohd76

Pi Patttani melalui Pengkalan Kubur-Takbai-Naratiwat..naik motorsikal..

mohd76

Feri Pengakalan Kubur -Tak Bai

mohd76

Pekan Tak Bai

mohd76

Naratiwat

mohd76

Kesan tembakan

mohd76

zameyla

Last 2 years aku pegi pattani, and cuti sekolah minggu lepas pun aku pegi Pattani lagi...
Naik Sky Walk kat Rusamilea..