SIBU: The first task that businesswoman Ling Leh Eng has set to accomplish after she becomes the penghulu of down-stream villages of Sg Sadit, Engkilo and Nawah is to bring other women out to play a more prominent social and political role.
In an interview with The Borneo Post yesterday, the 48-year-old mother of two said while some women had successfully ‘intruded’ the men’s working world, most women in her villages had stayed home as housewives.
She said the wind of change was blowing and women had to change their mindset to correct the gender imbalance in our community.
Ling has reasons to set such a challenge for other women in her villages. By her appointment on Monday, she has become the first woman penghulu in Sibu Division.
Being young, vibrant and with rich experience in social and political field, she will be an example of what a woman could do to lead in the process of change. She admitted that women in her villagers were generally still conservative.
“Bringing changes might be a difficult task, but, we can walk together a step at a time,” she said.
Lim said she had the patience, and the most practical way was to bring them out to take part in social activities.
“I shall try to host more activities. I shall encourage not only women to be active, but the men as well. To build our villages together, I see a need to bind us in solidarity,” she said.
She said there was already a united force among the villagers, or else there would not have been positive changes in their villages which in just a little over a decade has become a bustling settlement.
She said residents had moved out in great numbers during the Emergency Period in the 60s and 70s, but development had now lured them back. People from the surroundings are moving in as well.
In such an exciting scenario, she said there must be a better interaction, “and being appointed as the penghulu, I am put as a bridge here for the people and the government.
“I am willing to take this challenge, and I hope what I am doing will inspire other women to stand up as well.”
Ling is already bringing changes into her own family. Her daughter is now going for a Masters Degree in Psychology Computing in Unimas.
The woman penghulu has seen her villages grow by leaps and bounds. She was born in Sg Sadit and was raised there. Then, she married a man from Engkilo and moved over.
“For 48 years, I have been close to all the villages and the folks,” she said.
Ling thanked Second Finance Minister and Minister of Environment and Public Health Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh for this challenge on her shoulders now.
Wong is also the heads of SUPP Sibu Branch and Sibu BN Visionary Development Team. Ling described him as an aspiring leader “who has made these changes possible for all”.
Under the wings of SUPP Sibu Branch, Ling is now the Women’s head of SUPP Engkilo Service Centre.
She has also served in Sibu Rural District Council as councillor for nine years from 1999. She is also active in Ling’s clan association and was a member of the board of the management of SJK Do Nan in Engkilo.
Recalling her younger days, she said she needed to take a motor boat to go to town – a journey that would nearly take an hour. “Now, there is a bridge across Rajang River and our villages are linked by tar-sealed trunk roads.”
She said over 80 per cent of the villages are linked and folks also enjoy piped water, power and telephone communication services.
Basically, the villagers are farmers. “The farmers in Engkilo plant vegetables while those in Sg Sadit and Nawah plant tropical fruits,” she said.
All through her life, she said, she had enjoyed bountiful harvests with them and gone through bleak days as well when their crops were infested.
“There might still be turbulent days ahead with the hike in prices of the fertilisers and the pesticide, but I am helping them to apply for government subsidies. We see better days ahead. We are a united force, too,” she added.