third entry

What a great escape. (Actually it was a bittest ever journey)

I am writing this blog while I am on my way back to Kuala Lumpur from my lovely charming hometown, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. So many car and so many peoples on the road make my head feels so dizzy and start to asking how was the government of Kelantan especially the leadership of our respectful Dato’ Nik Aziz handle on the fast development of Islamic City of Kota Bharu. Traffic jams are everywhere, from the main roads even to the remote village’s roads. This is not happening for the first time. You can expect when each time there are school holiday especially during the Hari Raya, the roads in Kelantan were undoubtedly will be filled with thousand of car that you cannot think where does all this cars comes from. I clearly can see from my right and left windows different number’s plate of the cars. What I can tell that the traffic jams in Kota Bharu are even worst compared to Kuala Lumpur. Can you imagine a one hour trip can suddenly changed to 3 or 4 hours trip just because of traffic jam? I myself had experienced that moment when I was on my way back to my house from one of my best friend’s open house in Tanah Merah. In normal day it only takes 45 to 60 minutes to reach there from my house in Kota Bharu but in Hari Raya time it changed to 2 hours! If my experience about the traffic jam is still meaningless for you or you had experienced that before (maybe worst than me), I will tell another story that have happened to me during this Hari Raya’s break. It is only a 45 kilometers and about one hour journey from my house in Kota Bharu to Kuala Krai in a normal day but this time it takes 3 hours for me sitting at the back with the cars speeding around 15-20 kmp/h only! With the high temperature outside makes me who is sitting at the back feel like in a microwave and this is happening during the time I was typing this blog. If you think that this is cool or something usual, I would say that you are out of your mind.haha..
What I can say here is that the government of Kelantan needs to do something about this matter. When the time Hari Raya comes, all the Kelantan’s peoples will suffer in traffic jam. First of all, the roads have to be broadened and the flows of the traffic have to be managed systematically. For the reader information, the roads in Kelantan are only available in single lane/way road, different in many other states that their roads are mostly in two lanes. There are no single number of highway in Kelantan that made the traffic even worst and cannot move easily. Even me (the origin peoples of Kelantan also get confused with the traffic in Kota Bharu). But at the same time we cannot put the problem only on the state government. As the state government do not have enough budgets to enhance the traffic structure. Even to repair a damaged road it will take time to a month for the authorities to do something or the people of Kelantan have to wait for the nearest election then their voice will be heard, especially for the villagers. I would like to share something with the readers some information that have been hidden by the central government for almost 5 years ago. If you had come to Kelantan within this year you would probably found so-many signboard telling that Kelantan is the one of the oil and gas producer. (I am not sure whether this is true or not but from what I have heard, the petroleum had been found in Tumpat, Kelantan but then the central government said that the oil does not belong to Kelantan as it has become a disputation between the state government of Kelantan and also the Government of Thailand who had claim that the oil was in their territory.). But if this is true, it would some sort of discrimination and abuse of right for the people in Kelantan. The central government should take over or handle the argument between the state government of Kelantan and Government of Thailand as it is an international disputation. (The same way like the federal government takes part in a mission to get the Pulau Batu Putih in Johor even though the argument was between the state government of Johor and the Government of Singapore). In my opinion, if it is true that Kelantan owned the petroleum (like its neighbor do, Terengganu) the Kelantanese would be very happy and the development of the state will become more healthier thus the state government can use the money from the profit to improve the traffic and enhance the roads into two lanes or maybe changed all of them into a highway.
Back to the situation of traffic in Kelantan during Hari raya time. It is true that is a common thing when hari raya comes, people’s excitement to celebrate hari raya in hometown will arise. So, in other perspective, whether we want it or not we all have to accept the dilemma of traffic jam during the Hari raya especially for the people in Kelantan.
But in my own opinion (truly deep in my heart), I would say that this problem of unsystematically traffic should not be happened when the Hari Raya comes. As I think when there is improper management on the roads, it will bring bigger problem for the users of the traffics. For example, the drivers will easily become impatient (because they had stucked/stranded in the traffic for hours) and start to drive-like-crazy thus and accident could be happened.
As a conclusion, in what-so-ever problems or difficulties during this Hari Raya, my family and I had enjoyed much of our best moments. It is normal to be stucked in the traffic especially when all people back to their hometown. As for me, the biggest challenge is the time when I arrive at Kuala Lumpur, when the time that I have to face the week of challenges where I have to face the PBL’s presentation weeks. That’s all. Thank you~