When the lights go out in Kampung Sungai Relang

When night falls over Kampung Orang Asli Sungai Relang, darkness settles quickly. Inside some homes, solar lamps provide a little light, while elsewhere a television flickers to life with the help of a diesel generator.

For Yati Yusof, 25, even that modest supply is welcome. Her family had spent two months relying on candles after their solar-powered battery pack stopped working.

“We have to use candles at night because the lamps are broken,” she said during a recent visit by technicians checking the village’s solar equipment.

Kampung Sungai Relang is home to about 50 residents from 12 households. Located just 500m from the KL-Karak Highway, the Temuan village is hardly inaccessible – yet reliable electricity remains elusive.

According to government data from 2024, at least 116 Orang Asli villages in Malaysia remained without electricity. In Sungai Relang, the consequences are felt in small, everyday ways.

Without round-the-clock power, there are no refrigerators or freezers. Otok Singgah, who is in her 70s, said her son has to drive about 30 minutes to buy fresh meat every couple of days.

“That is, if we have money. If not, we just eat cassava leaves,” she said.

The village has not been forgotten entirely, with several attempts made over the years to bring electricity there. Near its community hall stands an abandoned hydro-solar microgrid installed in 2012 by Tonibung, a Sabah-based indigenous-led NGO.

According to founder Adrian Banie Lasimbang, the system operated until floods damaged it in 2014, and repairs proved too costly.

Elsewhere in the village, large solar panels sit atop disused metal sheds – remnants of another off-grid project installed in 2018. Villagers said that system lasted for about a year.

“Once they had installed it, they never came back. They just told us to manage it on our own,” Otok recalled.

For those who work on rural renewable-energy projects, that is precisely the problem: Adrian said installing equipment is often easier than ensuring it continues to work years later.

“One day of training is not enough,” he pointed out, noting that communities should have their own operators and committees equipped to handle basic maintenance.

Centre for Orang Asli Concerns coordinator Colin Nicholas similarly said communities need to be involved from the start and taught how to troubleshoot smaller problems themselves.

For now, SOLS Foundation, a non-governmental organisation involved in energy-access projects, is trying to bridge the gap with small off-grid solar systems funded by Google. The setup provides enough electricity for several hours of lighting and to charge phones and power banks.

The foundation also provides residents with guidance on using the equipment and sends staff to the village every two or three months to check the systems, which come with a 24-month warranty.

The equipment is expected to last about five years with proper care, although the villagers will eventually have to maintain it themselves.

Selangor’s Economic Planning Unit has also said it is considering funding another energy project for the village once its needs have been assessed. A joint site visit involving the relevant agencies is expected to be carried out after that assessment.

On the recent visit, a technician was unable to repair Yati’s faulty battery pack but replaced it with a spare. Soon, a green light flashed on the bright yellow box fixed to her wall, restoring enough power for a few hours of lighting and phone charging.

Still, Yati would like something more dependable – but for now, some light is better than none. “We’re scared even to go to the toilet at night because there are a lot of snakes here,” she lamented.

Indeed, for families in Sungai Relang and elsewhere, reliable electricity is not simply about convenience. Often, it is about having enough light to see what lies directly in front of you.

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