CHAPTER 1.2: The History of Dusun Tua

Welcome back! So as mentioned in the previous post, we'll be telling you how Dusun Tua came to be and what it has become today.

The naming of a place

So, Dusun Tua actually means 'old orchard' in Malay, and like a lot of places (think Kuala Lumpur, literally 'muddy confluence' or Pulau Pinang, 'pinang palm island') have similar naming method based on what was abundant or plentiful at a given time and it was the orchards that was making the kampung prosperous.

Heh, we have padi too

Besides fruit plantation, there was also enough land and proper irrigation for paddy plantation, which would eventually become their main food source.

Free food! well, kind of...

With land comes the purpose of sustain oneself, and with that, the people of Dusun Tua are able to grow their own food and they need not shop for food.

As always, something bad has to happen

Unfortunately, things got worst for them, flooding became a serious problem and it ruin a lot of the orchards and paddy fields.

Ta-da! And by that, we mean 'transform'

Inevitably, modernization is bound to happen, and the younger generation of Dusun Tua are now more or less part of a society yearning for a better living standard and they go after it.

This looks like ghosts moving to a cemetery but it's not, they're going to a city

With the attraction outwards the kampung, traditional means of self-sustaining is no longer viable as the older generation are probably tired and weary minus the help of the younger generation.

And today, what we see of Dusun Tua could be said to be the remnants of its former glory, there but not there, visible but invisible.

Following this post, we'll write about how the kampung is being managed by a group of people, aiming to help balance out the modernization with the traditional values of the kampung.