Tenang by-election: information of the battleground
More than two weeks away from the nomination day on Jan 22 and almost a month from the polling day on Jan 30, the Johor state constituency Tenang already sees hectic activities on the ground. The Tenang seat sits just next to my home town Segamat, so I decided to make a visit and share some information and photos here.
A word of caution is that I only covered the town areas. There is substantial population in the Felda estates (UMNO’s vote bank?) and plantations (still MIC loyalists?), which I have no time to explore into.
Geography
Click to see enlarged version
The name “Tenang” is actually misleading here. The seat covers mainly one half of the bigger town Labis and the entire smaller town called Tenang. There is not even a hotel in Tenang while you can find a few small ones in Labis. It is a distance of about 10km between Tenang and Labis. The closest major town is Segamat, which is about 18km to Tenang and 28km to Labis.
How to get there
The easiest way to reach Labis town by road is to take the North South Expressway (E2), exit at Yong Peng and take the Federal Route 1 heading north. It is about 45km drive from Yong Peng and the road is actually ok, with a few sections with overtaking lanes. You will pass through a small town called Chaah before reaching Labis.
If you drive from Pahang or Negeri Sembilan, you may take the Federal Route 1 heading south, pass by Segamat before reaching Tenang and then Labis.
There is a KTM station at Labis which is served by most of the express services. So train is a viable transport option.There is also a small KTM station in Tenang but most services do not stop there.
Accommodation
By now you probably can hardly book any room at the few small hotels in Labis. For longer stay, you may want to explore local houses for rent. But I have heard the rent has gone up multiple times to more than RM1k per month. The other practical option is to stay at Segamat, which is about 18km drive from Tenang and 28km from Labis. There are plenty of small hotels and a few bigger, more decent hotels.
[You need help on the local logistics like accommodation and transport arrangements, drop me a mail at pratamad (at) gmail.com. ]
