Anthony Lawai Karing
MIRI: Long San has been waiting for a better clinic since 2001 when the Sarawak Ministry of Health approved its request for one to be built under the Eighth Malaysia Plan (8MP).
“We need a better clinic in Long San and have requested for one to be built on a piece of land that has been surveyed and gazetted by the Land and Survey Department (LSD) near the airstrip,” said former Baram district councillor Anthony Lawai Karing.
Long San is the Kenyah longhouse and hometown of the first paramount chief for the Orang Ulu community, Temenggong Oyong Lawai Jau, situated in the Long Akah town district with a population of three to four thousand people.
“Our first clinic was built in colonial times in the 1950s by the Catholic mission, and has seen better times.
“It has served Long San well for decades and it’s time a bigger clinic is built to serve a larger population,” said 72-year-old Anthony who was once a Parti Bersatu Bumiputera (PBB) Baram branch’s information chief before retiring from politics in 2006.
It all began in 1996, when he wrote a letter as Baram district councillor to request for the clinic to be built in Long San.
A 13-acre piece of land identified near the Long Akah airstrip accessible by road from Long San was surveyed by LSD and approval was finally received in 2001 with allocation for the new clinic to be made under the 8MP.
“Some people complained that it is a bit too far from Long San, so an alternative but smaller piece of three-acre land beside Long San was also provided,” he said.
The proposed clinic, if built, will serve nine longhouses, two schools, four timber camps, and six Penan settlements in the vicinity.
Many people, including workers from the timber camps, relied on the old clinic because it has maternity staffs who can do deliveries and a medical attendant, but no doctor.
“In a medical emergency that the clinic cannot handle, the helicopter service has to be called upon to send patients to the hospital,” he said.
Although retired from civil service and politics, Anthony is still actively involved in the local tourism industry which coincides with his interest in travelling and meeting people.
Many people still look to him for help to certify their documents and consult him about their problems which he will help to raise with the relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, Anthony is very happy with a government development project approved for Baram parliament which included building a 1Malaysia Clinic in Long Jekitan for RM500,000, which will benefit the Penan settlements.
However, the clinic is too far away, about one-day’s trip away by land, so he hoped that a similar one would materialise in Long San soon.
On May 6, the Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry and Baram MP Dato Jacob Dungau Sagan said he would follow up with projects with the federal government to ensure that they were started in stages before the upcoming 13th general election.
“I hope that the government through our Baram MP will forward our long awaited request for the clinic in Long San in line with People First, Performance Now,” he added.