MARUDI: Marudi District Officer Mackos Sibong has slammed a newspaper for reporting that communication with Long Banga and its surrounding areas was cut off due to flooding last week.
He said there was no truth to the report, which was forwarded to him by Long Banga longhouse headman Gabriel Jau Lirang.
“If they aren’t really sure about the situation in Marudi, there is no need to do a write up,” stressed Mackos.
“They always learn the wrong information about Marudi and Baram in general from the outsiders. The readers who read it would have thought it was true but instead it was not what happened in Baram.”
The article had claimed some 260 villagers from Long Banga were completely cut off due to flooding.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, who was in the area on Monday to inspect a damaged suspension bridge, reiterated that the village was never cut off due to flooding.
“This story is not correct,” he said.
He advised Long Banga villagers in low-lying areas affected by the recent flood to submit a list of the damage to their properties including paddy fields.