KUCHING: Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau has pledged that he would do whatever he could to avoid a further rift in the Long Bedian community.
He acknowledged that lately there had been some misunderstanding among the people in the Kayan/Kenyah settlement in the upper Baram River over certain matters.
“I don’t deny that the people there are now divided into two major groups. Basically the other group is unhappy with the leadership at the longhouse level over some petty issues.
“But I will not let this continue. As the people’s representative and a resident from there I will try to do something about it. In fact now I am trying to work things out with the village headman to see how we can do the patching up,” said Ngau.
He said this when met after the swearing-in ceremony for all the 71 assemblymen at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building in Petra Jaya here yesterday.
The community in Long Bedian was known to have been living in peace and harmony but a visit by The Borneo Post to the longhouse last week discovered that the village which has a population of about 1,400 people was no longer as united as before.
The split was more obvious when the disgruntled group started to have their separate place of worship despite having the same belief.
It was said that only those on the side of the village headman, Usung Wan, performed their prayer service at the original Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church while the rest would have their service at a separate location also in the same longhouse.
A resident, when met during recent visit by The Borneo Post, said he did not really understand why the split occurred.
“Obviously there are camps among us now. There is one camp here and the other there. The splinter group doesn’t even want to go to our village church,” he said as he shook his head.
He said that disunity among them would gradually prevent the community from progressing further, for which he suggested that the learned people from the area, including Dennis who is from the village, do something about the problem.
“We have to be united as we used to be before. As a senior citizen I feel sad to see the younger generation becoming disunited. My challenge to the intellects from our longhouse, since there are quite a number, is do something to reunite the villages before it is too late.
“Don’t always think about you personal interest and disregard others. Work hand in hand and guide the younger generation so that no one in the community will be left out,” said the elderly villager who did not want to be named.