RTC Sungai Rambai A Catalyst For Progress




By Ahmad Muliady Abdul Majid

JASIN (Bernama) -- It is an established fact that those who live in cities have access to better facilities than those in rural areas.





Cognisant of this, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has worked hard to find a way for rural folks to gain access to much needed amenities without having to relocate.

This effort culminated in the establishment of the Rural Transformation Centre (RTC), launched in 2012.

In Sungai Rambai, the RTC set up in 2015 has indeed become a catalyst of transformation for the rural area.

For Sungai Rambai State Assemblyman Datuk Hasan Rahman, turning Sungai Rambai into a big city with skyscrapers was not what he thought of . Instead, he had wanted for the amenities available in major cities to be availed in the area, for the benefit of the people.

The establishment of the Sungai Rambai RTC, he said, has vastly changed the way the local population did things as many of the amenities had made their lives much easier.

"Among the services available at RTC is a one-stop payment centre for bills, death registration, welfare assistance matters and to pay land assessment.

"There are currently 33 agencies serving at the RTC. Now the people here no longer have to go to Jasin or Melaka town to settle such matters as the services are available here," he told Bernama.

Hasan said that he had also set up his office at the Sungai Rambai STC to make it easier for his constituents to meet with him.

NOT JUST A SERVICE CENTRE

He said that RTC Sungai Rambai did not only serve as a service centre but as a community centre that generates income as well as a centre to plan transformation programmes for the entire Sungai Rambai State Assembly area.

"For example, several mega projects that have been planned and are in the works such as Kota Budaya, the Sungai Rambai Aerodrome and the Agro Port can help bring about socioeconomic changes and generate income," he said.

Other development projects are also in the planning in the bid to upgrade the Sungai Rambai into a full district in the next five years.

"We are also working at building our own Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) to facilitate the development of the Sungai Rambai and aerodrome and port," he said.

Hasan said the facility would make it easier for tourists, particularly those from Singapore and Indonesia, to settle immigration matters as they no longer would have to go to the Batu Berendam Airport to do so.

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Hasan said the success of the Sungai Rambai RTC in propelling change in the area has prompted the government to recognise the area as the first sub-district of Melaka on March 1, 2017. This is in turn has greatly helped in boosting further development in the area.

He said the Sungai Rambai five-cluster development plan has opened the eyes of many parties and garnered positive reaction across the community.

"As a representative of the people, I entertain everyone irrespective of their background and this has made them more receptive to me and the development plans being brought into Sungai Rambai," he said.

Aside from infrastructure development, Hasan also focused on developing the local human capital in order to create a society that was progressive in all aspects.

"We want to create a dynamic community that knows how to make an independent living instead of fully relying on the government," he said.

As 80 percent of the 21,000-odd population in Sungai Rambai were Malays, Hasan said there was a need to focus on creating more Malays who were empowered in their thinking. This was so that they would shift from their wait-and-see attitude to seizing opportunities as they come, he added.

BN'S MANDATE

To ensure the continued development of the plans in Sungai Rambai, Hasan called on the local community to continue putting their trust in the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the upcoming 14th General Elections.

"If the people of Sungai Rambai choose not to do so, the ones on the losing end would be them and the coming generations," he said.

He reminded his constituents of BN's contribution to the development of Sungai Rambai and said that it would not be wise for the community to suddenly switch sides.

"The analogy is like building an aeroplane together with BN, but when it is time to take off, you allow that aeroplane piloted by BN to be hijacked by another party. That aeroplane will be headed for a crash and you will never be able to fly it again," he said.

Hasan, who represented BN in the 13th General Election, won against Kintan Man from PAS with a majority of 2,363 votes.

Based on the 2017 Third Quarter Voter Registration list gazetted on Nov 30, 2017, the Sungai Rambai State Constituency has 11,755 voters from the total of 73,020 voters in the Jasin Parliamentary area. Melaka has a total of 491,716 voters.

BERNAMA