NEGERI Sembilan MCA will build a monument in Rasah Chinese New Village – touted to be the first such settlement in the country – to remind the younger generation of the rich heritage and history of its early community.

State legal bureau head Ng Kian Nam said the new village, which was the biggest in Negri Sembilan, was said to be the country’s first such settlement by Chin See Yin from MCA who won the Seremban Timur parliamentary seat in the 1959 general election.

“Chin, who was English-educated, had written a book on this and which was translated into Mandarin in the 1990s.

“He said that the Rasah new village was opened in 1949 and was then located a short distance away from its current location along Jalan Rasah.

“It was moved to its present location in 1951 after floods ravaged the village,” said Ng.

He said the new village had steadily expanded since then and its population today stood at 5,373.

He explained that there was a need to build a monument so that the younger generation would know their roots.

“Each family was given by the British colonialists a 4,000sq ft area to build their house.

“It was said that new villages which were created after that had all followed the Rasah new village model,” he added.

Ng said his team would interview the older folks in the village to verify Chin’s claim.

“We will peruse historical documents to ascertain this.

“Whatever the outcome, we will still go ahead with the project to build a monument somewhere in the village,” he said, adding that the state MCA would seek fundings from the Prime Minister’s Department for the project.

Ng said the monument would be built in a strategic location so that more people would see it.

“We only need a small area but it has to be both suitable and strategic.

“Who knows it may also become a tourist attraction one day,” he said, adding that the fact that the village was located a short distance away from Seremban town was an advantage.