The Bentong hot spring is a popular leisure spot alongside Genting Highlands and the Chamang waterfall.
Komunitikini visited the site some 52km away from Kuala Lumpur over the weekend and it soon felt like entering into no-man’s land. The spring has gone to seed; it was filthy and several used condoms could be seen on the ground.
Besides an absence of a security person, the site was also overgrown with weeds besides the two pools of heated groundwater from the Mother Nature.
Several signs of rubbish-burning were also seen at the place, which have left black scars on the ground.
Worse, when one enters the changing room, a strong stench of urine assaults the senses, followed by rubbish and a humid, dark room due to the lack of electricity.
The washroom situated near the entrance is not anywhere better. Water supply has been cut off, the floor is soiled and all toilet facilities are spoiled.
UFOs in the pool
“It’s really dirty. It smelled of shit and pee. I had to hold my breath when I changed clothes in the toilet,” journalist Gan Pei Ling who visited the place recently, told Komunitikini.
“I hope the authorities can do something about it. I wish to go back to the spring, but not an ill-maintained spring,” she added.
Marketing writer, Cindi Loo, said she was hesitant to go into the pool as she saw some unidentified floating objects.
“I wasn’t sure whether it was algae or human waste,” she said.
Judging from its overall condition, Loo wonders why the place still attracts a throng of visitors.
Bentong Municipal Council urban planning department head, Affandi Razali, when contacted, said the spring is owned by the state government and was only managed by the council for a brief period.
“In 1990s, the district land officers, who were also the municipal council officials, were selected by the state government to manage the place,” he explained.
“But beginning last year, the state awarded the management contract to Suria Management Berhad,” he said.
He added that the company is now surveying the land and will soon clean up and revamp the place.
“They will build a resort and a conference room at the place, and start imposing door fares at the gate,” he added.
But the question remains: why is the cleaning job not done now, as the spring is listed in a Tourism Ministry’s website and tourists would not wait for the right time to visit the place?
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Dr Keith Tan Kay Hin
