CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

This chapter serves as a general outlook of the research. It will provide the background and scope of the study, purpose of the study, the objective as well as the limitations in doing this research.

Background of Study

Labis started as a small village known as Kampung Paya Merah. The village got its name from a type of river grass which became the favourite food for river terrapins. In early 20th century, British officers came to the villages to survey for new areas to be developed in Segamat district. The British officer was surprised to see the river terrapins since they had not seen those animals before. They asked the villagers the name of those animals and the villagers answered, “labi-labi tuan” and because they did not know the name of those animals the British officers referred to them as Labis in the plural form. Therefore, the British officers decided to name the settlement Labis.

Another theory is that in the 17th century, a member of the Malacca royal family was travelling through the area. He saw something that intrigued him. He called out to his advisors to tell him what it was, he went “Habis? Habis?” then accidentally is blurting out the name Labis. Labis is the second largest town in the district of Segamat, Johor with a population of about 20, 000 people and the largest community there is Chinese. Labis is an agricultural town and the main export is rubber.

This study is focusing on the impact of wireless technology towards rural areas resident at Kampung Sawah Baru, which one of Labis part. Kampung Sawah Baru has 500 villagers which equals to 114 houses. Their main activities is gardening and trapping rubber trees.

The wireless service provider for this village is Telekom Malaysia (TM). Normally, the villagers use this technology in term of social network, education,