Village grapples with identity crisis

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KUCHING:  Kampung Tengah Sungai maybe as old as, or even older than, most other nearby villages, but for all the years it had seen passing by since its birth in the 40s, the village has not been able to attract the attention of the authorities – at least not in the right amount.

VIEW OF VILLAGE: The narrow road to Kampung Tengah Sungai .

VIEW OF VILLAGE: The narrow road to Kampung Tengah Sungai .

Kampung Tengah Sungai, hardly three kilometres from Batu Kawa town, has remained nondescript simply because it has never been gazetted.

And being not gazetted means a whole lot of miseries and missed opportunities – no relief fund when flood hit the village last year and women forced to deliver at home because the ambulance could not locate a village that doesn’t exist on the map!

With all the bureaucracy and setbacks, hence expecting little help from the authorities, the villagers decided to form their Village Action Committee in the hope that their plight would soon get to the attention of the right people.

Tasked with the job is chairman Muhammad Juki who claimed that Kampung Tengah Sungai suffers from three ‘illnesses’ – being not gazetted, without a village head, and most of all, having a name frequently mistaken for neighbour village, Kampung Sungai Tengah.

“Too frequently, things like goods deliveries meant for our Kampung Tengah Sungai, ended up in Kampung Sungai Tengah,” he said.

“We neither have a playground nor a committee hall. The mosque project which started three months ago will be completed by February. Even then, the fund was raised through donations from the ‘servants of Allah’. Last Maulidur Rasul, we conducted our prayers on the road due to the unavailability of a mosque,” Muhammad told a visiting team of Utusan Borneo.

The village population of over 200 people is 100 per cent Malays. History stated that the village was founded in 1940’s when a group of land owners opened up a rubber plantation, built houses and inhabited the area. Now Kampung Tengah Sungai comprises 28 houses.

Water and electricity supply were connected to the village only in 1990’s. However, a few houses are still inaccessible by road.

“What saddened us is that although we live in the city, it feels as if we live in the rural area because we don’t have proper public facilities such as a multi-purpose hall for village meetings or gatherings,” Muhammad said.

According to Muhammad, Batu Kawah assemblyman Tan Joo Phoi only visited the village once in November 2009, that too by invitation while Stampin MP Datuk Yong Khoon Seng has yet to visit.

“Like I said, the authorities hardly know Kampung Tengah Sungai exists, so we can’t blame anyone for not happening by,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad also said that the problem of not having an officially appointed village head and the ungazetted village status should not be prolonged because these are basic to future development of the village in areas like infrastructure, healthcare and welfare.

“Most importantly, we plead with the government to take a look at the needs of this village,” Muhammad said.

It is understood that the welfare of Kampung Tengah Sungai at the moment is handled either by chiefs of Kampung Sejijak or the Kampung Rantau Panjang.

The Kuching District Office when contacted for comments said that appointment of new village chiefs has been frozen since 2006.

An officer there said: “This situation not only happens at Kampung Tengah Sungai but also involves Bandar Baru Semariang and a few other places which have made similar request for village chiefs to be appointed.”

He also stated that District Office cannot simply appoint someone village headman even though that person is elected by the villagers.

“Appointment of village chiefs is made by the State Secretary’s Office and once a person is appointed his allowance will be paid by the government. District Office will act as directed,” He added.

On the gazetting of the village, he said it comes under the jurisdiction of the Land and Survey Department.

“It is up to the department to gazette the village under the Traditional Village status or the Resettlement Area Scheme,” he clarified.