Jenjarom is a town located in the

Kuala Langat District The Kuala Langat District is a district of Selangor, Malaysia. It is situated in the southwestern part of Selangor. It covers an area of 858 square kilometres, and had a population of 307,787 at the 2020 Census (exclude foreign). It is bordered ...

Selangor Selangor ( ; ), also known by the Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the e ...

state in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Around 95% of the 30,000 residents are

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and the

dialect is the main language used locally (although

Malaysian Mandarin Malaysian Mandarin ( zh, s=马来西亚华语, t=馬來西亞華語, p=Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ, first=s) is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in Malaysia by ethnic Chinese residents. It is currently the primary language used by the Malay ...

as well as the national language,

Bahasa Malaysia Malaysian Malay () or Malaysian ()endonymically known as Standard Malay () or simply Malay (, abbreviated to BM)is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Singapore and Brunei (as opposed to the variety us ...

are widely spoken by its multi-ethnic residents from three main ethnicities acting as a lingua franca).Jenjarom, a friendly Hokkien new village

Sin Chew Daily ''Sin Chew Daily'' (), formerly known as ''Sin Chew Jit Poh'', is a leading Chinese-language newspaper in Malaysia. According to report from the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the period ending 31 December 2011, ''Sin Chew Daily'' has an avera ...

, 19 Apr 2014 The town also administered by the Zones 9, 10 (Chinese) and 6 (Malay) of the

Kuala Langat Municipal Council Kuala Langat Municipal Council () is the municipal council which administers Kuala Langat District. This agency is under the purview of Selangor state government. History Established on January 1, 1977, under the Local Government Act 1976 by a com ...

. The majority of the town's Hokkien population trace their roots to the Fujianese counties of Yongchun, Anxi, Nan'an and

Dehua () is a county located in central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Quanzhou City and covers an area of with a total population of 332,148 ( 2020 census). History Dehua is rich in kaolin and famous ...

. Other residents are mostly native

ethnic Malays Malays ( ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnoreligious group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations. These locatio ...

of Javanese,

Minang Minang may refer to: Sumatra * Minangkabau people, an ethnic group in Sumatra * Padang cuisine or Minang food, the cuisine of the Minangkabau people * Minang language, the language spoken by the Minangkabau people Australia * Mineng Mineng ...

, Banjarese and

Bugis The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...

descent, fellow ethnic Chinese of

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

or Teochew descent, with a small

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

community of both predominantly Hindu

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

and

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

History

In the early 20th century, Jenjarom was an agricultural village, with around a dozen shops along the main street. Pig farming was significant in the surrounding areas. Fewer than 20 families were Chinese. During the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

in the 1950s, as part of the

Briggs Plan The Briggs Plan () was a military plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs shortly after his appointment in 1950 as Director of Operations during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960). The plan aimed to defeat the Malayan National Libe ...

to cut off supplies to the (mostly Chinese) Communist insurgents,

New Village New villages (; ), also known as Chinese new villages (, ), were Internment, internment camps created during the waning days of British Empire, British British Malaya, rule in Malaysia. They were originally created as part of the Briggs Plan, fi ...

s were set up to segregate rural Chinese villagers from the insurgents. Jenjarom was one of them and is today the largest such 'village' in the state.Utar New Village Community Project Report

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (abbreviated as UTAR; ) is a not-for-profit private research university in Malaysia. UTAR ranked among top 100 in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2018 and top 600 in the Times Higher Educatio ...

undergraduate project, Sept 2011 In 1950 and 1951 the population grew rapidly to around 5,000. In the early years of independent Malaysia, on 26 April 1967, Prime Minister

Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...

visited the burgeoning town and announced an upgrade to its infrastructure, which was then implemented under the

Second Malaysia Plan The Second Malaysia Plan ( Malay: ''Rancangan Malaysia Kedua'') was an economic development plan introduced by the government of Malaysia with the goal of implementing the Malaysian New Economic Policy (NEP). It lasted from 1971 to 1975 and aim ...

. Industrial activity in Jenjarom increased, along with the development of

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from o ...

production in the surrounding land.NZ's role in the Malaysian plastics dumping ground
Radio New Zealand: Insight, 23 September 2018 In the 1990s, following a period of high youth unemployment, the town became known for various social ills, including

gangsterism A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

. In the nine years to 2000, Jenjarom's population more than doubled, to 24,483. By the turn of the century, these troubles had abated.

Attractions

Jenjarom is the site of the Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple (佛光山東禪寺) and Institute in Sungai Jarom. Though this predominantly serves the Chinese Buddhist population, the non-Chinese community benefits from the tourism it attracts: there were about a quarter of a million visitors in 2004. There are also several prominent Chinese Temples like Ban Siew Keng Temple (仁嘉隆萬壽宮) and Tung Loh Temple (仁嘉隆铜锣庙) located in Jenjarom.

Illegal plastic waste processing

In the months following China's January 2018 banning of nearly all

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

imports,How mountains of U.S. plastic waste ended up in Malaysia, broken down by workers for $10 a day
Los Angeles Times, 29 Dec 2018 around 40 factories sprung up around Jenjoram to take up some of the business. Often hidden in the local palm oil plantations, 90% had no permits, as Malaysia suddenly became one of the world's biggest plastic importers. In many cases, existing Chinese waste processing businesses relocated to Jenjarom, attracted by its proximity to

Port Klang Port Klang () is the principal port of Malaysia on the Strait of Malacca. Known during colonial times as Port Swettenham (), it was renamed to Port Klang in July 1972 and has since become the largest port in the country. It is located about sou ...

Plastic pollution: One town smothered by 17,000 tonnes of rubbish
BBC, 13 February 2019 - Malaysia's largest port and the entry point for most of its plastic imports - together with the cultural fit of the town's Chinese business population, and allegedly corruptible officials. Unrecyclable plastics should be sent to waste centres but Jenjarom's illegal operations simply burned them, releasing poisonous and

carcinogenic A carcinogen () is any agent that promotes the development of cancer. Carcinogens can include synthetic chemicals, naturally occurring substances, physical agents such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, and Biological agent, biologic agent ...

fumes into the atmosphere, causing respiratory complaints and skin rashes among local people. Several local fish and prawn business lost all their stock, apparently due to toxic wastewater from the factories. When 33 of the plants were closed down, more than 17,000 tonnes of the waste was left behind as an unresolved problem for authorities. Most of the operations quickly reopened nearby.

Education

Primary schools

* Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Jenjarom (short form: 'SJK(C) Jenjarom'), established 1924 * Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil) Jenjarom, originally housed within SJK(C) Jenjarom. * Sekolah Kebangsaan Jenjarom * Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Bukit Fraser (Kuala Langat) (short form: 'SJK(C) Bukit Fraser'), established 2022

Secondary schools

* Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jenjarom * Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Saujana Putra

References

{{coord, 2, 53, N, 101, 30, E, display=title, region:MY_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Kuala Langat District Towns in Selangor