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Monday, May 4, 2015

The Iban longhouse that stood up to BN and prospered

Two of the Unjie brothers (from right) Lungan and Adam, who helped their community to become self-sufficient, with another resident Emparang Gling, at the Pelepok longhouse, near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.Two of the Unjie brothers (from right) Lungan and Adam, who helped their community to become self-sufficient, with another resident Emparang Gling, at the Pelepok longhouse, near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.
Deep in the forests of central Sarawak is a remote Iban longhouse that is a bogeyman for Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN), but a beacon of hope for the PKR as it works to win more ground in state elections due next year.
The people of the Pelepok longhouse have thrived despite rejecting BN in the past two state elections, in 2006 and 2011, which is rare in Sarawak.
To hear Pakatan Rakyat (PR) politicians put it, Sarawak BN has long cultivated a dependency mentality among the indigenous peoples in the state.
But people here have managed to find a way to procure these things, and even thrive, carving out their own road through the steep hills surrounding their longhouse in the Betong district.
The economic and subsequent political independence of Pelepok would not have been possible without the Unjie brothers; Adam, Angut and Lungan.
Adam says their approach has captured the imagination of Ibans in surrounding villages, showing them that it is still possible to vote for something other than the BN and still prosper.
Economic independence is political independence
An Iban woman picking peppers at the farm cultivated by residents of Pelepok longhouse, near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.An Iban woman picking peppers at the farm cultivated by residents of Pelepok longhouse, near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.The Unjie brothers have always been opinion makers in their longhouse due to the success of their pepper and oil palm ventures.
They attribute their success to their unflinching defence of their ancestral lands from being taken over by the government, which according to them is what turns land-rich indigenous tribes into paupers.
For years, the brothers and others in the longhouse had helped the BN campaign among the Ibans of Betong.
But when their pleas for a road to the longhouse went unanswered after several elections, the community felt enough was enough, said Adam, the eldest of the three brothers.
"I used to help (Tan Sri) Alfred Jabu campaign in these parts, using my own money," said Lungan, the youngest.
"At each election, the BN promised to build us a road but they never fulfilled it."
Starting in the state 2006 election, the longhouse voted for the opposition Sarawak National Action Party. They voted for PKR in the 2011 state election, and in the 2008 and 2013 general elections.
But retribution was swift, said the 50-year-old Adam.
"Our names would be blacklisted at the district office when we went to ask for fertiliser and seeds.
"Sarawak BN leaders would go around and tell other longhouses, 'Don't be like Pelepok, which voted for the opposition and now has to suffer'.”
The brothers helped set up other families in the longhouse with their own pepper or oil palm orchards, lending them seeds and fertiliser.
The Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak. Residents here have found a way to stop depending on the state government for handouts and development projects in exchange for their votes. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.The Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak. Residents here have found a way to stop depending on the state government for handouts and development projects in exchange for their votes. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.Their increasing prosperity can be seen all over the longhouse, which still retains its traditional belian wooden beams. Planks are piled up on the veranda as families build new rooms or upgrade older ones.
Off-road pick-up trucks and motorcycles zip down the lane in front of the longhouse as residents haul the pepper harvest to Betong town.
In 2009, the brothers collected RM80,000 to hire contractors to build their own road to connect the village to the outside world instead of waiting for the government.
"The road really helped boost our economy," said the middle child, Angut, adding that it allowed farmers to bring their harvests to the Betong market faster.
Although it is a rutted, pock-marked dirt road that is only accessible by a four-wheeled drive vehicle, it is better than having to trek five hours through steep hills and jungle to reach Betong.
A bunch of villagers using their own money to build their own road is almost unheard of in villages across Malaysia, where rural folks are accustomed to depending on the government for such facilities. In Sarawak, it is almost legendary.
Residents of the Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak clean up the clogged dam for their mini-hydro project which would provide them electricity. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.Residents of the Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak clean up the clogged dam for their mini-hydro project which would provide them electricity. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.“When we first started no one believed that we could do it. But once it was done, all our neighbours were talking about it,” said Adam.
Breaking the mould
When the Sarawak government heard that Pelepok was building a small dam in early 2014 to install a mini-hydro system which would give them free electricity, electrical poles went up a month later, from the main road to their longhouse, said Adam.
The poles and cables were put up by Sarawak Energy but electricity has yet to be connected.
“They said we would get electricity by the end of 2014. But there has been nothing until now,” said Adam.
The electricity poles, he claims, were a ploy to get the longhouse to abandon the mini-hydro project and to get votes.
It is widely known that many communities in the Sarawak and Sabah interior have neither roads nor running water or electricity.
PR claims that Sarawak BN politicians often withhold these basic services in order to win votes.
Once the mini-hydro system is complete, Pelepok folk would get uninterrupted electricity without having to wait for the state government.
Each family in the longhouse currently forks out about between RM150 and RM200 a month for their diesel generators.
Semambu state assemblyman, Lee Chean Chung and Sarawak PKR information chief, Vernon Aji Kedit, walk between the pipes to install the mini-hydro for the benefit of residents at the Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.Semambu state assemblyman, Lee Chean Chung and Sarawak PKR information chief, Vernon Aji Kedit, walk between the pipes to install the mini-hydro for the benefit of residents at the Peletok longhouse near Betong, Sarawak. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, May 4, 2015.Like the road, Pelepok’s own supply of cheap electricity would break the notion that an indigenous tribe's success was dependent on their continued support for the government, said Vernon Aji Kedit, who is Sarawak PKR information chief.
The mini-hydro project is being funded by non-governmental organisation Light Up Borneo, which also designed and paid for the system’s components. Sarawak PKR rounded up volunteers to help the longhouse folk install the system.
Yet, Vernon said even such obviously beneficial projects can be seen as a threat to the Sarawak ruling party.
“If given the chance, many longhouses would want such as a project. But they are scared of angering of the BN because they would be cooperating with an NGO and PKR.
“In fact, the main reason we brought this project to the people of Pelepok is because they are not scared of angering the BN,” said Kedit when met at the longhouse.
Again, the story of how Pelepok would soon get cheap electricity has spread far and wide to other Iban communities.
“There are all these young Ibans from surrounding villages who see what we’re doing. They are starting to believe that they too can do this on their own. That they don’t have to depend on the government,” said Adam.
- TMI

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