Boat to be used as hearse for longhouses

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(From second left) Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi and Jamit are seen with the Sri Goram. Nyabong is at fourth right.

KAPIT: A forty-foot longboat equipped with a 30hp outboard engine will function as a hearse for longhouses along the Rajang and Baleh rivers.

Longhouse folk in need can request to use the Sri Goram, which can carry a coffin and up to 10 passengers, from the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Kapit or Bukit Goram service centres.

Bukit Goram assemblyman Jefferson Jamit Unyat pointed out that many Kapit folk work outside the division, including in Singapore, Brunei, and the peninsula.

“When anyone passes away outside Kapit, the family members and relatives will have a hard time to transport the body back to Kapit for the burial ceremony. To transport by express or commercial boat is too expensive,” he said.

“This boat provides benevolence services to the needy. In the past, when longhouse folk passed away in Sibu Hospital, they used to request the police and Fire and Rescue Department to transport the body from Sibu to Kapit.”

Jamit said the boat would hopefully resolve the transportation problems of the bereaved.

Earlier this year, Pelagus assemblyman Wilson Nyabong Ijang also had a boat built for the same purpose.