Sungai Pelek

[1] It was believed that the Mah Meri Orang Asli first identified this area with their language when they stumbled upon trees that bearing fruits along the river.

Ong Eng Siang was given a walking stick by Sir Gerald Templer as a symbol of respect and "authority to cane" the Assistant District Officers (ADOs) should they not do their job well.

In order to eliminate this chain, Sir Gerald Templer was adamant to evict and re-distribute the villagers to other areas.

Ong Eng Siang was among the then village community leaders to convince and appeal to Sir Gerald Templer to change his decision and to understand the problems faced by the villagers who had to scratch for a living at the fringes of the forests, risking their lives daily should they be confronted by communist guerillas.

Therefore, they had to oblige reluctantly with fear for their lives and family members, to supply rations whenever the villagers were asked to do so by the communist guerillas.

Communist guerillas also did do their rounds, knocking on doors in the village, in the wee hours of the night to source for rations.

Therefore, Sir Gerald Templer had to acknowledged the legitimate fears and dilemma faced by the villagers of Sungai Pelek.

Bukit Bangkong was once a small aboriginal settlement, which now houses a predominantly ethnic Malay population of Javanese descent.

The settlements consisted of dwellings mainly occupied by Tamil-speaking Indians, with some Malays and small number of Chinese.

The main religious communities in Sungai Pelek are split between Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Methodist Christians and Muslims.

Sungai Pelek also consist of other places of worship like a small Methodist church preaching in Chinese, a Catholic chapel situated behind the Post Office building, a mosque for the local Muslims.

Besides its thriving brick-making and clay products industry, Sungai Pelek has numerous small plantations of rubber trees, coffea plants and oil palms.