Tales of porous border, highway and water woes in Sri Aman

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Another stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway near Pantu.

Another stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway near Pantu.

A stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway project near Pantu which is now under construction.

A stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway project near Pantu which is now under construction.

The Nabau stone, located some 3km from Engkilili bazaar.

The Nabau stone, located some 3km from Engkilili bazaar.

BETONG: The death of PKR politician Bill Kayong, 43, who was shot early yesterday in Miri, is a shocking news for Sarawak — a place known for its peace and harmony and also home to people of various races and religions.

The incident has, in a way, triggered these key questions — who are the perpetrator(s); what is/are the motive(s); and where did the perpetrator(s) obtain the firearms to carry out such a heinous act.

Some time ago, The Borneo Post highlighted a reason, among many others, behind the rise in serious crimes such as armed robberies, murders and drug cases in the state could be due to the porous border between the state and Kalimantan, Indonesia.

This is a fact, as acknowledged by Deputy Home Affairs Minister Masir Kujat. According to him, there has been a plan to fence up certain areas along the border but due to the current economic slowdown, the government has decided to put the project on hold.

Masir had said that once these fences were set up along the jalan tikus and jalan gajah (porous routes), it would greatly minimise such illegal activities.

“But the thing is we can’t implement it now due to the current economic slowdown. Still, we hope that we will be able to implement it in the next five years to curb illegal activities, especially the smuggling of goods and human trafficking,” he told The Borneo Post recently.

He said among the critical areas that needed fencing would be certain areas in Bau like (and especially) Kampung Stass and Kampung Serikin, Tebedu and Bunan Gega in Serian, Lachau, Bukit Begunan, Batu Lintang and Lubok Antu in Sri Aman, Long Busang in Kapit, as well as Bario and Ba Kelalan in Limbang.

“It’s going to be costly. That’s why we can’t implement it now. However, the security along the border is not compromised because we have the Border Security Agency (BSA) comprising the police, army, Customs and Immigration (personnel).

“However even with the BSA manning the border areas, we still need more personnel. On top of that, we need to put up the fences as well,” he said.

Masir, who is Sri Aman MP, pointed out that the worrying issues now were the cross-border smuggling of drugs and firearms.

Asked on the seriousness of the matter, he replied: “How serious it is, we do not know because our border area is very porous.”

The Pan Borneo Highway

The mammoth RM16 billion project will be a major impetus for the economic growth of the state over the next six years. According to Saratok MP and pakan assemblyman Tan Sri William Mawan, the project would undoubtedly bring greater accessibility to the whole of Sarawak.

“I have never seen this kind of project in Sarawak before. Now we can see it is taking off simultaneously in many areas such as Sematan, Pantu and Bintulu. Hopefully it will be completed on schedule so that we will have a much better road network and subsequently, allow a much smoother drive from Kuching right up to Miri and even to Sabah,” Mawan told BAT at Lachau Bazaar on Monday.

The wish of the people is that the federal government would be able to complete the project on time as it would greatly ease traffic flow between major towns and cities across Sarawak.

Still, there are many sceptics who think that the project is just an election gimmick.

In this respect, the government must take the implementation of the project seriously to prove that its commitment as stated on the election manifesto.

Having been on the road since Monday and clocking some 350km on our MU-X, we see massive earthworks and a large number of machinery along many stretches between Serian and Lachau, but surprisingly we hardly see any worker.

We do hope that this is just a temporary thing, with the current Ramadan month and all. According to the people whom we met along the way, they believe that if the current rate of works on the mammoth project is anything to go by, the highway would not be completed by 2022 — the year set by the government as the project’s completion date.

Water woes in Sri Aman

Some concerned citizens in Sri Aman highlighted to us about the dry taps that they had been experiencing over the past three days. This had badly affected many people and businesses there, especially the eateries.

However, it surprised us that our accommodation, the Sri Simanggang Hotel, was not affected at all — it is learned that the establishment has large water tanks that could provide enough supply for several days.

With the assistance of two very kind-hearted locals, we went to Sri Aman water treatment plant — located about 10km from the town — to check the cause of the water shortage. We were told by the person in-charge that the three pumps were undergoing repairs as they were submerged in flood water last Sunday.

The person-in-charge then assured us that the three pumps would be fixed over the next few days, and the water supply would resume soon.

Still, the Sri Aman folk hoped that the relevant authorities, especially the Rural Water Supply Department, would ensure that such incident would not recur, as it had brought them much hardship.

Batu Nabau

We then proceeded to Engkilili — about 45km away from Sri Aman — to see the Batu Nabau (Giant Snake Stone). The natural structure, located about 3km from the small town, looks exactly like its name. The local Chinese had painted the ‘body’ yellow, including its ‘eyes’. We shall highlight Batu Nabau in our coming feature slated for thesundaypost soon.