PAKAN: Rumah Bujang at Ulu Wak in Pakan finally has a taste of modernity with constant flowing water now! But not before dramatic twists and political turns delivered the humanitarian punch.
‘Impian Sarawak’ has just completed yet another gravity-feed water project under the DAP “Go Rural” initiative in Sarawak.
There are many firsts for this project; the first project planned and executed in 2014, the first project to be launched in the Central Region of Sarawak and the first project in an Iban longhouse community.
The gotong-royong initiative involved 13 volunteers from East and West Malaysia, with their ages from 18 years old up… to 65! Impian Sarawak learnt from DAP Pakan protem committee representative Rinda Alexander that the longhouse has been living without water especially during the drought season.
Applications to the government to reinstall a new gravity-feed water system had met with no response. Since then, the longhouse has seen three ‘tuai rumah’ being installed.
With no answer forthcoming to the plight of the longhouse’s occupants, Impian Sarawak first took the plunge with a visit in November 2013.
After several months of planning and volunteer recruitment, the project only kicked off on Feb 15 and concluded with an opening ceremony on Feb 21.
The launch was attended by Sarikei MP Andrew Wong Ling Biu, Lanang MP Alice Lau, Repok assemblyman Dr Wong Hua She and Damansara Utama assemblywoman (Selangor) Yeo Bee Yin.
TuaiRumahBujang’s speech was a touching one with heartfelt gratitude as he shared the longhouse folk’s livelihood before any reliable source of water and how they are finally getting a taste of basic infrastructure which has eluded them for ages.
Initial plans then saw quotations for building materials needed to supply two longhouses with consistent running water; Rh Bujang and Rh Jantan, located just barely 100metres apart.
But week before the project’s commencement, Impian Sarawak was informed that Rh Jantan no longer wanted to be involved in the project.
The reason for that was soon clear when Impian Sarawak personnel arrived at Rh Bujang for pre-project preparations. The ruling government, after a decade of silence, has finally heard the cries of Rh Jantan.
Building materials for a dam and pipes were transported in to Rh Jantan on the very same day.
The amount of materials was excessive and was even “enough to construct a swimming pool” joked an occupant of Rh Bujang.
Yet, Rh Bujang was left out of this allocation.
Volunteers of the Impian Sarawak project then proceeded to live and worked alongside the locals of Rh Bujang for nine days, bearing all their own expenses.
“This is definitely an invaluable experience for me, having lived with people from this longhouse,” said Khong Zhi-Wei a 20-year-old student from Selangor.
Another volunteer, Albert Wong, 65,added, “Although coming from a mechanical engineering background, I never thought that the local way of doing things was so practical. We exchanged ideas which benefited the work that needs to be done.”
Another occupant of Rh Bujang opined that, “if not for the ‘gotong-royong’ with the volunteers, it would have taken at least a month for everyone in the longhouse to work on the project”.
Some of the daily working routine of the ‘gotong-royong’ involved hand-mixing cement with a tarpaulin, hauling sand and cement up a 700-metre trek up to the dam site, constructing the dam and connecting the pipes from the dam site to the longhouse.
Rumah Bujang is located in the constituency of Pakan, which is held by the Minister of Social Development, Tan Sri Wiliam Mawan Ikom.
The political twists had to be negotiated before Rumah Bujang received what really matters to them, clean water.
Thanks to anyone and everyone scoring political points but in the end, the longhouse regards it as God-sent.
The water is free.