Formed on April 2, 1972, Nanga Jagau with 22 longhouses is one of the most isolated of the resettlement schemes in Sarawak. – File photo
KUCHING (July 31): Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will be the first chief minister to visit Nanga Jagau, an Iban resettlement in Kanowit, today, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing.
Masing, who is Baleh assemblyman, said the 48-year-old Iban resettlement had never been visited by a chief minister before.
“I am so pleased to know that a chief minister of Sarawak, by way of Abang Johari, will finally pay a visit to Nanga Jagau.
“This resettlement site was part of ways to defeat the communist insurrection in the 1970s,” he said in a statement yesterday.
According to Masing, the Iban community there hailed from Ulu Sungai Ngemah, which at that time was infested by communist terrorists.
“These groups of Ibans from Ulu Sungai Ngemah were asked to move downstream to Nanga Jagau and Nanga Ngungun,” he said.
He added that the willingness of these Ibans to be resettled to their respective resettlement sites in Jagau and Ngungun “had made it possible for us to live in peace now”.
“Therefore, I am so pleased to know that the Sarawak government, after almost half a century, will finally pay its respects to the Ibans in Nanga Jagau. Thank you, Abang Johari,” added Masing.