Kelantan village in decade-long comms blackout
NEARLY 1,000 residents of a village in Gua Musang, Kelantan, have been deprived of all telecommunications for over a decade, after the breakdown of a local signal tower, which has yet to be repaired, reported Kosmo!
The residents of Kampung Sungai Relai reported that they have had to travel 15km from their village each day, in order to get mobile or Internet coverage.
Razak Jali, 38, said that before 2014, the tower built on a hill at the edge of Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Berang functioned well.
He believed the tower had been damaged by irresponsible individuals.
'We have to leave the area and go to the roadside along Jalan Gua Musang-Kuala Krai or head to Felda Chiku just to get a phone signal or Internet coverage.
'The lack of phone and Internet access has made life difficult for us, especially in emergency situations,' he said.
> The troubles of a mother of five in Johor Baru worsened when she was diagnosed with cancer, the daily also reported.
Nur Hafizah Omar, 37, said she learnt that she has stage three cervical cancer after undergoing a biopsy at Sultan Ismail Hospital early last year.
'I was advised to undergo a hysterectomy to remove the uterus in addition to chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from spreading to other organs. But due to financial constraints, I couldn't proceed with the treatment.
'Even though I've received some financial aid, it's not enough to cover the full cost of treatment,' she said, adding that she only takes traditional herbs and remedies to manage the pain.
Her husband, Mohd Asri Ali, 39, currently only takes home RM800 a month as a cleaner, which is barely enough to meet the daily needs of their children, aged 14, 10, eight, five, and two.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
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