Port Dickson’s lost glory

By Zefry Dahalan - Free Malaysia Today

SPECIAL REPORT PORT DICKSON: Twenty years ago, Port Dickson was among the top holiday resorts serving the most populous region of Malaysia. It was almost the natural destination for fun lovers wanting some respite from their jobs in the Klang Valley, Seremban, Malacca and some major towns in Johore.

How things have changed! Nowadays, Port Dickson seems barely able to compete with the many resorts and theme parks that have been cropping up in the country in the last two decades.

Yes, there are still weekend traffic jams on the road leading to and from Teluk Kemang, but they are not as maddening as they used to be, according to traders at the resort and other locals.

The most crowded spot is the Batu 8 beach near Teluk Kemang. FMT spoke to traders and holidaymakers there and heard them complain about poor public amenities, the dearth of good entertainment, and the lack of creativity among tourism planners.

Many of the traders were unwilling to give their full names and let themselves be photographed for fear of retaliation by licensing authorities.

Mariam, 50, spoke of how her income as a hawker had been shrinking.

"I used to earn around RM900 per day on weekends in 2007 and 2008. Last year and this year, my average weekend earning is RM600 a day,” she said.

"This year, especially, the situation has really been bad. There are weekends when I earn as little as RM400. The tourist arrival rate has really declined."

She offered an explanation for the decline. “In the 80s and early 90s, Port Dickson was popular for its holiday programmes, such as Pesta Port Dickson. We used to have tourists from as far away as the East Coast.

"These days, carnivals and other celebrations are rare, and when they happen, they are small-scale and don’t attract many tourists.”

Local council blamed

Maimunah, the manager of a souvenir shop at Dataran Teluk Kemang, also said business had been especially bad in the past year. She blamed the Port Dickson Municipal Council, which early this year demolished shops at Batu 1, forcing the traders there to relocate at Dataran Teluk Kemang. Many of them sell goods that are similar to Maimunah’s merchandise.

"The traders were promised they could continue doing business at Batu 1 once a new building to house their shops was ready,” she said. “The council said that the building would be ready by the middle of the year, but it’s already August and there’s no sign of any construction work going on.

"This has resulted in a situation where the number of the traders selling the same items as I do exceeds the demand from tourists. So all of us have ended up losing.”

Maimunah works for her parents, who inherited the business from her grandmother. They too have seen their income diminish over the years. The drop has been especially drastic since 2007, when the business would earn about RM1500 per weekend day. It now earns about RM700.

She also complained about the absence of toilet facilities in the block of building housing her shop.

Roslan, 53, rents out boats and tents. His main grouse was the poor toilet facilities.

“As you can see from here, there’s a long queue waiting to enter the washroom,” he said.

“During peak days, the water pressure becomes extremely low and this poses a lot of problems for the tourists and ourselves."

Scarcity of toilets

Roslan also spoke of the lack of space on the beach for him to set up his tents for rent.

"You have to put up your tent at the lower part of the beach, not at the more comfortable upper part, where there’s not too much sand,” he said.

"Tourists with small kids prefer to rent the tent at the sand-free upper level, but I can't do much for them. Enforcement officers from the municipal council will issue me a summons if I set up tents at the upper level.

"As you see today (Sunday), most of my tents are empty. Tourists don’t like to have their picnic here. It’s too sandy.”

A quick survey conducted among tourists confirmed Roslan’s claim that the most frequent complaint was about the gross scarcity of toilets.

Abdul Shukor Maarofe of Kajang, who was holidaying with his family of six, said he did not expect the toilet situation to be so bad.

"They are charging RM1.00 for a shower and RM0.50 for using the toilet, but the toilets are very dirty and the water pressure is very low. We have to wait for a very long time before we can use the bathrooms and toilets,” he said.

He also complained about the lack of parking lots, but was particularly disappointed that the beach had become much narrower than it once was. "The beaches are congested,” he said. “Much of the beach space has been taken up by hotels, and they will eventually become private beaches.“

Another tourist from Kuala Lumpur, Koh Kim Sea, 33, had similar complaints about limited parking lots and dirty toilets.

Asked why she chose Port Dickson for her seaside holiday even though she was aware of the problems, she said it was because it was close to Kuala Lumpur.

"I can't afford to go to Langkawi or Kuantan as that will be much more costly, taking into consideration that I have big family of five," said Kim Sea.

Nothing to offer
Nurulikhma Rusnan, a finance clerk working in downtown Port Dickson, was with a friend to try to enjoy the weekend carnival.
She was obviously disappointed. “Apart from the beaches, what else you can find here?” she said.

“The local authorities do organize a few carnivals and concerts on and off, like today, but how do you expect tourists from other states to come here when even locals like us were not aware of them because there was no publicity.

"It was just a boring Sunday; so I and my friend decided to come here after lunch to see if there is anything interesting going on.

“We didn’t know there was a small carnival.”

She also said many youngsters from Port Dickson preferred to go to Seremban for their weekend entertainment.

"When I was in Standard Six in 1999, there was at least one cinema in Port Dickson,” she said. "Nowadays we have to go to Seremban on weekends to watch movies.”

Nurulikhma's friend, Norhamizah Munira Azhari, said most of the tourists were from outside Negeri Sembilan.

"Many people from Negeri Sembilan no longer come here because they know Port Dickson is not as attractive at it used to be for a holiday,” she said.

"When I was kid I used to see many foreigners here. Nowadays, there are hardly any. See for yourself.”

A tourist from Kuala Lumpur, Hardi Razlan, spent a night with his family of four at a popular hotel here. He said the service was not worth the money he paid.

"I paid RM390 for a night and I expect the room condition to be at least comfortable. But a plug point was faulty and the drawers could not close properly."