Latok smooths out a chopping board.
(From right) Rami, Latok and Mancha show their wooden products.
Chopping boards, decorative furniture and hoe handles ready to be transported to Miri.
Decorative furniture made from belian.
BINTANGOR: Woodworkers from Rumah Rebi and Rumah Rami Sandai in Sungai Stumau have called on the government to help them procure better equipment and machinery to improve production.
Tuai Rumah Rami Sandai said almost all heads of families at his 24-door longhouse and at the 25-door Rumah Rebi earn a living from making wooden products.
He said five years ago they received equipment from the government following the ‘One District, One Industry’ programme under the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.
“The equipment and machines were meant to help us increase our production but that is not what happened. They were found to be unsuitable and as a result, we still have to use traditional tools such as the axe, chisel and parang,” he told The Borneo Post recently.
Rami, 51, said they submitted requests to the authorities for the machines to be replaced in 2010 but did not get a response.
He said they need a wood cutter, wood planer and wood boring drill bits costing around RM300,000.
Currently, Rumah Rami artisans produce chopping boards, hoe handles, tissue boxes, pestles and mortars as well as decorative furniture from belian and other hardwood for buyers that include furniture shops from Kuching and Miri.
Artisan Latok Belintong, 38, who learned the craft from his father and grandfather, said he earns around RM1,500 per month.
Latok said he had sold some 10,000 chopping boards priced from RM5 to RM300 depending on the size.
“Our products have received good demand from customers. Our chopping boards sell well during festive seasons. Our supply could not meet the demand as the traditional method has slowed down our production,” he lamented.
Fellow artisans Bana Aling, 64; Umpang Nyayum, 80; and Mancha Sumbang @ Zakaria Abdullah, 54, agreed that they require modern equipment to increase production.