Sungei Ringit- soon will be sleeping fishing town no more

Location: Sungei Rengit, Johor, Malaysia (1° 21' 0 N, 104 ° 13' 0 E)
Date: 17 April 2008 10.20am
Camera: Canon 400D with Sigma 17-70/f2.8-4.5

Sungei Rengit is a small sleepy fishing town in the Pengerang district in the southeast corner of West Malaysia. It is popular with Singaporeans who come over in the weekends, either with their bicycles to cycle around the quaint countryside or in buses to pray at the various Chinese temples. Most of these weekend tourists will top off their visit with a sumptuous but cheap seafood meal in or around the town. However all of these are about to change with plan to build a RM5 billion (US$1.6 billion) independent deep-water petroleum terminal project and a regional oil storage hub due for completion in 2016. There are already various construction activities going on. Cyclists will soon have to cycle along highways, sharing them with tankers. Tourists coming over looking for “peace and quiet” quaint setting for their activities may bemoan the development and changes but the local population welcome such economic activities which bring employment and economic benefits to them. Ultimately that’s what’s more important rather than standing still as a playground for others.