Pits Stop

For about 100 years, the stately bungalow on top of the hill in Sg Lembing, about 40km from Kuantan, was the residence of a mining company's general manager.
The European Bungalow 1, or EB1, started out as little more than a shed with roofs of nipah palm and walls of bark.
For a brief period during World War II, the building also served as a Japanese army headquarters.
From the vantage point atop the hill, Sg Lembing spreads out into the distance, a town that Pahang Corporation Ltd (PCL) - as the British tin mining company was known from 1898 to 1906 - built.
For a long while, it was by far the wealthiest mining town in Pahang.
The area boasted the second richest tin deposit in the world, after a site in Bolivia, and operated the world's biggest underground mine. Its mine shafts and subterranean tunnels reach depths of between 450m and 650m - reputedly the deepest in South-East Asia.
The British began digging around in the area in 1898 following an agreement with the then Sultan of Pahang, Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Muazzam Shah I, for a company to set up tin mining operations there.
A 1,000ha concession was eventually awarded to PCL (which changed its name to Pahang Consolidated Co Ltd or PCCL in 1906), for a grand sum of one cent per year.
PCCL's concession was supposed to end in 1968 but after negotiations with the State Government, it was extended for 21 years from July 1, 1965.
In its years of operation, 13 million tonnes of ore which translated into 150,000 tonnes of pure tin worth $2 billion were mined.
During its heyday, Sg Lembing had a population of 10,000 people in the town area alone. It prospered despite facing its fair share of catastrophes: Most of the town's shops were razed in a fire in 1921, and five years later, there was a major flood. Then there was the Japanese invasion, and immediately after the war, the communist terrorist activities.
But it took an economic shake-out to do the town in - the tin market crash in 1985.
Restaurant owner Warisah Yunus has seen her birthplace going from being rich and famous as the state's main producer of tin to becoming a "ghost town" of not more than 1,000 people.
"Dulu ramai orang, sekarang tak lagi (There were many people before, not anymore). I wasn't working then, my husband was with PCCL," the soft-spoken 50-something says over lunch on a lazy Friday afternoon.
Her husband, whom she refers to as Pakcik Din, worked in the company's laboratory. "He analysed rocks and ores from the mine pits."
"He was doing well. Most of the people who worked at the mine were earning good money," she adds.
Five years after PCCL closed, Warisah and her husband opened their restaurant at No. 5, Jalan Besar in town.
Most of the kampung people have moved away, including her parents, she says.
"Dah tak ada kerja lagi di sini (No more work here.) Go into the village and see for yourself the abandoned houses. I've left the kampung house and moved upstairs here," she says, referring to Warisah Restaurant, which sells nasi campur, mee jawa, nasi ayam and kuih-muih.
There is an hourly bus service to connect Sg Lembing with nearby towns. Young men on modified motorbikes race the main street on occasion, breaking the monotony of the day.
She says her restaurant largely depends on the tourist trade, people who come to town to visit the double-storey bungalow, which has since been converted into a museum by the Tourism Ministry.
It houses a fine display of artifacts such as a drilling machine, railway tracks, mine lamps and communications equipment. There are also gems, minerals and rocks, tagged with explanations.
Outside are a few more mining equipment exhibits, and the Mini Mox, a car used by the managers.
Two other old buildings, the sports club and the cinema, are supposedly being rehabilitated as part of a zon bersejarah (historical zone) project.
They overlook the padang where games of cricket and other social activities were held during those bygone years.
The notice board put up by the Tourism Ministry offers few clues on the project, and the local people are in the dark as well.
"Dengar dah lama (heard about it a long time)," says a drinks seller who has his stall opposite the entrance to the museum.
"The museum itself opened only two, three years ago although we heard about it ages ago." The RM1.8 million museum opened its doors to the public on April 1, 2002.
He says he had also heard of plans to revive one of the 23 tunnels in the mine for visits by tourists.
"The mine has been abandoned for quite some time now and certain areas are flooded. Tak tahu lah macam mana dia orang nak buat. Tak nampak macam ada orang kerja pun (Don't know how they are going to do it. I don't see anyone working on it too)."
Warisah is not convinced the state government will proceed with the project although she believes it will create jobs for the town folk.
"A lot of funds will be needed. The mines are in a sorry state. The pits must be flooded now and the structure would no longer be strong."
There was a major flood in 2001, she says. "We were on the first floor of the restaurant. We moved our things upstairs but still the water rose to knee height," she says, showing the water level marks on the wall.
During the war, the British had also "drowned" the pits.
Press reports had said that the RM7 million mine restoration project under the Eighth Malaysia Plan would involve rehabilitating portions of the tunnels and shafts network, the factory, the officers' quarters and a few of the mine's historical components.
About 40m of the mine shafts would be opened for tours by the public.
From the beginning, pit mining was not a favoured method of tin extraction as it was both dangerous and costly. But the tin deposits in the area were so rich that the company found it worthwhile to do so – for nearly a 100 years.
There are 23 levels of tunnels in the mine, each separated by about 30m of rock. The ore was mined by way of drilling the walls and panning. It was the largest and oldest tin mine in the world.
In 1987, then Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ghafar Baba announced in Parliament that a Canadian company would take over the mine. However, the company, Asamera, subsequently dropped the idea, citing among other reasons, socio-economic problems and the tin quota.
The following year, the state government ordered the mine shut.
Further up the road from the museum, passing what used to be PCCL's ore processing factory, several signs can be seen declaring Kolong (underground pit).
We stop at Kolong Pahat, where a rope-bridge spans the river. On the opposite bank, a pathway leads into the jungle where metal tracks can still be found. They were for the carts that transported the rocks and ores to the factory.
Two boys at the bridge declined to serve as guides when asked. "Tak boleh masuk, kak. Tak pernah masuk pun. Mak tak bagi (Cannot go in, we've never gone in. Mother doesn't allow)," one says.
Sg Lembing is today one of the state's billed tourist destinations. The well-paved road from Kuantan that passes new townships and industrial estates bears testimony to the Pahang government's commitment to the town.
Local and foreign tourists are known to hike up Bukit Panorama behind Sg Lembing specifically to catch the sunrise.
"I can hear them arriving in town as early as 3am," says Warisah. "Then, they'll come down, have breakfast and head for the museum." At weekends, they arrive by the busload.
Gunung Tapis and the seven-tier Air Terjun Gagak are also attractions. Other hills surrounding the town have their own peculiar names such as Bukit Segantang and Bukit Enam Cupak, which allude to the amount of tin ore mined per day.
And then there is the mysterious Gua Charas, believed to be a site of human settlement that dates back to prehistoric times - some 250 million years, according to estimates.
Three separate caves make up the Gua Charas complex which covers 92ha. One has since become home to an 8.1m long statue of a reclining Buddha. It was discovered by a monk named Tham Achran Sakatapunya in the 1950s during his journey to find an ideal place of worship.
"I haven't gone there myself but my children have," says Warisah. "They tell me interesting stories. Go check it out."