Masing (left) briefed by Land and Survey officers at the Kuala Baram dumpsite on Tuesday. On the background are the shacks the squatters are occupying.
Masing (front row, fourth left) in a dialogue session with the squatters.
Masing at the dumpsite that provides a livelihood for 29 families.
KUCHING: The 29 families squatting near the Kuala Baram dumpsite must be taught some skills after they are resettled at the Tudan Desaras Scheme.
Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing said such training could stop them from reverting to their current lifestyle of scavenging for a living.
Masing, who visited the dumpsite with Land and Survey Department officers on Tuesday, applauded the department for setting aside 27 lots in Tudan Desaras Scheme for these squatters.
Aware that these families chose to stay near the dumpsite because they relied on scavenging for a livelihood, Masing said their breadwinners must be taught some skills to help them earn decent incomes.
“They must be taught how to fish. If nothing is done to help them break away from the cycle of poverty, they will be doomed for generations,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Saying that education was the best way out for these families, he challenged international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to adopt the young squatters by financing their education.
Masing said the squatters were Ibans from places such as Baram, Saratok and Layar.
He was shocked that some families had been living this shabby and stinking lifestyle for three generations.
“One young man, Johnny Pero, told me he makes between RM300 and RM500 by scavenging through the garbage to collect reusable and recyclable items.”
These squatters built simple shacks near the dumpsite, and their environment were unhygienic and unfit for human occupation.
There is, for instance, no sanitary system as there is no supply of clean water. In addition, a stench lingers in the whole place all the time.
“I couldn’t stay long at the site because the miserable condition made me want to cry. How can we allow this to happen for so long?”
The Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president expressed his disappointment with the political party in the area for not helping these families and also for not making an attempt to join him for the visit on Tuesday.
“Poverty has made these families easy prey to be enticed into other religions and beliefs. It is the source of all problems,” said Masing, referring to the case of Sabrina Ngumbang, 13, who was a victim of a forced conversion to another religion.
Sabrina’s family is also part of the dumpsite community, whom Masing had a dialogue session with yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Land and Survey Department considered the case settled after allocating land to the 27 families.
Land and Survey Department Miri superintendent Yunus Tambi said there were 29 families residing in the area, but it was later found that two families were already given land in Tudan Desaras Scheme.
“Of course, we can’t give again to these two families. So, only 27 families are given the land, and they are expected to move from Kuala Baram dumpsite to the new place within three months,” said Yunus.
Once all the families are relocated, their shacks would be demolished and the whole area closed to scavengers.