http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=20155
Fair recognition for highland products
by Zoee Hillson
March 29, 2010, Monday
BA KELALAN: Products from the highland community in Borneo will finally be given fair recognition through the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) ‘Green and Fair Products (GFP)’ certification.
PREMIUM RICE: Pade Adan Item (black Adan rice).A GFP workshop organised by WWF in collaboration with Forum Masyarakat Adat (FORMADAT) Ba Kelalan held in Long Langai, Ba Kelalan has identified six products to be marketed as GFP.
Participants in the workshop helped by facilitators from WWF have identified Adan rice, salt, cinnamon, Tenem, Benamud and Jerangkau Merah as suitable to be marketed as GFP.
According to WWF Indonesia Social Development advisor Cristina Eghenter, these products will use WWF’s brand power to help promote it as GFP.
The packaging’s design will include the name of the product’s origin and WWF’s ‘Green and Fair’ logo.
Eghenter said to ensure fairness, it is important to include the name of the product’s origin.
“For example if the Adan rice (wet rice) comes from Ba Kelalan, it will be branded as ‘Organic Rice from the Highlands of Borneo-Ba Kelalan’ and vice versa for other areas designated as the ‘The Heart of Borneo’,” she said.
That way, she said all of the villages in the highlands of Borneo will get equal recognition for their products.
The move will also help promote areas in the highland for potential tourism purposes.
WWF Malaysia community liaison officer Dora Jok added that it is very important to educate the community that the rice is actually their identity, and that is why it is important for them to put the place of origin in the packaging.
The ‘Green and Fair Products’ workshop was held in Long Langai, Ba Kelalan to educate and expose the local community regarding GFP.
The workshop held on March 24 to 27 was attended by over 26 participants from Ba Kelalan, Krayan and Bario.
During the workshop, participants shared their knowledge and ideas on GFP and came out with an action plan for marketing and developing their GFP.
According to Eghenter, the development of GFP from the highlands of Borneo is one of the various efforts through the ‘Heart of Borneo (HoB) Initiative’ which was declared in 2007 between the governments of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
She said Long Semadoh, Ba Kelalan and Bario in Sarawak, Ulu Padas in Sabah and Krayan and Krayan Selatan in Kalimantan, Indonesia were identified as the highlands in the HoB.
The HoB initiative is a voluntary transboundary cooperation of the three countries that combine the stakeholders’ interest based on local wisdom with respect for law, regulations and policies in the respective countries, multi-level environmental agreements and existing regional and bilateral agreements.
Participants of the workshop are to come out with a common consensus on packaging, branding and documentation of GFP.
Besides that, the workshop has also managed to document various varieties of Adan rice including Pade Adan Buda (white Adan rice), Pade Adan Item (black Adan rice) and Pade Adan Sia (red Adan rice).
The ‘Green and Fair’ products from the HoB will be introduced to the market by FORMADAT and WWF at the Rainforest World Music Festival to be held in July this year.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Money to save Kelabit language barely enough
Borneo Post http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=18383
Money to save Kelabit language barely enough
March 21, 2010, Sunday
MIRI: The RM70,000 raised from the recent raffles run by the Rurum Kelabit Sarawak (RKS) education unit was barely sufficient for the save Kelabit language project.
OVER TO YOU: Apoi (second left) receives the keys to the grand prize of a Honda Wave 100 motorcycle from Lucy witnessed by Dick (left), Marcus (third left), Mary (fourth right), Grace (third right), and others.
Speaking during the handing over of the grand prize to the winner of the raffles yesterday, RKS education unit head Lucy Bulan said: “Though we have raised some money through the raffles draw, it is still not enough for the education project which involves quite a lot of money. The raffles draw date had to be extended from Dec 12 last year to Feb 20 this year to enable more tickets to be sold.”
Lucy said much money had to be set aside to pay for the services of staff to teach the Kelabit language, and in the maintenance of the premises to be used for the classes tentatively identified to be in the existing office of RKS Miri branch in Saberkas Commercial Centre here.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datin Fatimah Abdullah had sounded the alarm when launching the RKS Education Raffles Draw on July 19 last year that the Kelabit language was at a critical stage.
Most of the estimated 6,000 Kelabits of Sarawak are in Miri Division where the main homeland lies in the Bario highlands.
According to language experts, only the older generation among Kelabits still speaks the language, while most of the younger generation no longer speaks their mother tongue, and the problem is compounded by inter-racial marriages.
The disappearance of a language will also mean the loss of a community’s culture, values, identity, and way of life – hence the urgency to revitalise and preserve the Kelabit language before it becomes extinct in the next 10 to 15 years.
“The main aim is to save the Kelabit language through the Tawaq Raut project,” said Lucy, who is a school principal.
She said there were some Kelabit students in her school, but lamented that most of them did not know their mother tongue at all.
“We need to start somewhere, and the project will begin with the younger pupils from pre-school up to the primary school levels, but may consider older students who are interested in saving the Kelabit language,” she added.
Other activities of the project include creating a Kelabit dictionary, story-telling and songs in Kelabit, and collecting related articles.
According to her, the main sponsor of the prizes totalling about RM10,000 is Honda Motors Company which delivered the grand prize through its agent Egahjaya Motors Sdn Bhd in Centre Point Commercial Centre here.
The grand prize winner of a Honda Wave 100 motorcycle is Apoi Ngimat who bought the winning ticket last year while he was in Peninsular Malaysia where he had worked and stayed in Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Apoi had now returned to his hometown of Bario this year to help run his family business in homestay and the cultivation of the famous Bario rice.
Other prizes included a HP laptop computer, microwave ovens, a three-day-two-night stay in Bario, Nokia handphones, electric water heaters, and slow cookers.
RKS Miri branch chairman Dick Bala, RKS Miri branch education unit head Marcus Raja, member-in-charge of prizes for the raffles draw Grace Asim, and committee member of RKS education unit Mary Peter were among those present.
The public may call Grace at 019-8146104 for more information.
Money to save Kelabit language barely enough
March 21, 2010, Sunday
MIRI: The RM70,000 raised from the recent raffles run by the Rurum Kelabit Sarawak (RKS) education unit was barely sufficient for the save Kelabit language project.
OVER TO YOU: Apoi (second left) receives the keys to the grand prize of a Honda Wave 100 motorcycle from Lucy witnessed by Dick (left), Marcus (third left), Mary (fourth right), Grace (third right), and others.
Speaking during the handing over of the grand prize to the winner of the raffles yesterday, RKS education unit head Lucy Bulan said: “Though we have raised some money through the raffles draw, it is still not enough for the education project which involves quite a lot of money. The raffles draw date had to be extended from Dec 12 last year to Feb 20 this year to enable more tickets to be sold.”
Lucy said much money had to be set aside to pay for the services of staff to teach the Kelabit language, and in the maintenance of the premises to be used for the classes tentatively identified to be in the existing office of RKS Miri branch in Saberkas Commercial Centre here.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datin Fatimah Abdullah had sounded the alarm when launching the RKS Education Raffles Draw on July 19 last year that the Kelabit language was at a critical stage.
Most of the estimated 6,000 Kelabits of Sarawak are in Miri Division where the main homeland lies in the Bario highlands.
According to language experts, only the older generation among Kelabits still speaks the language, while most of the younger generation no longer speaks their mother tongue, and the problem is compounded by inter-racial marriages.
The disappearance of a language will also mean the loss of a community’s culture, values, identity, and way of life – hence the urgency to revitalise and preserve the Kelabit language before it becomes extinct in the next 10 to 15 years.
“The main aim is to save the Kelabit language through the Tawaq Raut project,” said Lucy, who is a school principal.
She said there were some Kelabit students in her school, but lamented that most of them did not know their mother tongue at all.
“We need to start somewhere, and the project will begin with the younger pupils from pre-school up to the primary school levels, but may consider older students who are interested in saving the Kelabit language,” she added.
Other activities of the project include creating a Kelabit dictionary, story-telling and songs in Kelabit, and collecting related articles.
According to her, the main sponsor of the prizes totalling about RM10,000 is Honda Motors Company which delivered the grand prize through its agent Egahjaya Motors Sdn Bhd in Centre Point Commercial Centre here.
The grand prize winner of a Honda Wave 100 motorcycle is Apoi Ngimat who bought the winning ticket last year while he was in Peninsular Malaysia where he had worked and stayed in Subang Jaya, Selangor.
Apoi had now returned to his hometown of Bario this year to help run his family business in homestay and the cultivation of the famous Bario rice.
Other prizes included a HP laptop computer, microwave ovens, a three-day-two-night stay in Bario, Nokia handphones, electric water heaters, and slow cookers.
RKS Miri branch chairman Dick Bala, RKS Miri branch education unit head Marcus Raja, member-in-charge of prizes for the raffles draw Grace Asim, and committee member of RKS education unit Mary Peter were among those present.
The public may call Grace at 019-8146104 for more information.
Rethink on Development
Rethink on development
by Margaret Apau
March 21, 2010, Sunday (The Borneo Post)
SOMETIMES, money can’t make problems go away.
PARADISE: Isolated and remote, the Bario Highlands are the best testing ground for an ICT project.In 1971, the Norwegian government made a generous donation of $22 million to Kenya. The funding would go to building a fish-processing plant on Lake Turkana in the hope of providing the residents with gainful employment.
The plant was up and running immediately after completion but was shut down after only a few days. Why?
What was meant to give work to the Turkana people through fishing and fish processing for export became a drain on finances. The cost to operate freezers was phenomenal and the demand for clean water in the Kenyan desert too high.
To add insult to injury, the Turkana people they were trying to help were desert nomads with no history of fishing or even eating fish.
Add this to the list of other failed development projects and too many times, you’ll see such funded projects around the world flopping because project-managers just don’t ask the right questions.
Which is what the Rural Informatics Team at Unimas did.
Bario, for all its isolation and remoteness, was the perfect testing ground for a daring project — e-Bario, comprising eight academics from various disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive science, community development, education, electrical engineering and computer science.
“The thrust of the e-Bario project was twofold — bring sustainable social and economic development to a remote community, and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to uplift the people’s well-being,” said Dr Alvin Yeo Wee, e-Bario project team leader and today, director of the Centre of Excellence for Rural Informatics (COERI).
It was 1998. Barring several weeks of travelling across rivers, valleys and mountain ridges, there was only one practical way to get to Bario — daily flight by Twin Otter.
Moreover, the remote community had no telephone or Internet access to Bario.
While the community had developed their own means of communication between Bario and the rest of Sarawak (including a tedious two-way radio service hookup), they would gather at the airport and wait for passengers to Kuching to deliver letters to loved ones. The urgency for speedy communication was essential.
“At this time, nobody thought about using satellite technology for rural areas,” Dr Yeo noted.
But they weren’t going headlong into it either without getting the community onboard first.
Although Bario was already familiar with Unimas from a previous biodiversity project, the community were still skeptical about the ICT project. They had already had bad experiences when another organisation failed to bring technologies in as promised.
Creating rapport and building trust with the community then was key.
“We wanted to make sure they were involved because this kind of partnership gives the community a sense of ownership and pride,” he said.
The exchange of ideas and the brainstorming between the team and the community leaders as well as planning took about two years from first contact to the actual introduction of ICT.
The first step was to understand the community — how they live, their cultures, existing uses and access to information sources as well as their needs for improved information delivery.
“The project was very much community and technology-based. When community development happens, you have community empowerment,” Dr Yeo added.
So while the researchers learned about life in Bario from the community, the community learned about ICTs from the researchers. Together, they would mutually benefit from the project.
It also helped that Kelabit lecturer Poline Bala was part of the e-Bario Project Team. Besides, a steering committee, comprising community leaders and local champions like John Tarawe (project coordinator in Bario) and Lucy Bulan (SMK Bario principal), were vital in keeping the momentum going to the end.
“For the people in Bario, communication, especially Internet connectivity for their children, was the first thing they wanted,” Dr Yeo said.
“The community played an equal and active role throughout the project. For example, proposals for information systems using the Internet were agreed upon together with the community representatives.”
Gatuman Bario
In the next phase, two schools received computers with training provided for teachers and the community.
They would surf the Internet through VSATs (a satellite communication system) before computers and Internet access were made available through a telecentre — Gatuman Bario.
Transport was an issue. Without road access, everything had to be flown in, including fuel for generators.
Today, the telecentre may be running on solar panels but in 2002 when first opened, it was partly dependent on diesel generators — not practical for a region where logistic costs are sky high.
In 2000, one gallon of diesel in Bario cost RM12 compared to a paltry RM3.21 in the city.
Today, it costs RM25. Imagine the cost when a generator needs a gallon of fuel to run for three to four hours. So the generator was dropped.
Now, the power problem has been solved with collaboration and funding from the Organisation for Sustainable Engineering in South East Asian Nations (Osean), Unimas, Cambridge University and Engineers without Borders, UK.
In June 2005, more solar panels were installed, enabling the telecentre to run six hours a day, six days a week. More activities have been made possible with the power solution resolved like training, and using the telecentre as a resource centre for government workshops.
Today, bringing ICT into Bario has brought a wealth of benefits not just to that community but also the rest of Sarawak and Sabah. Tourist traffic via Internet has increased, giving birth to at least seven homestays and lodges in Bario. The more subtle but no less significant offshoots of bringing business to Bario means the community enjoys a sustainable income to keep the community thriving.
From e-Bario, COERI was formed. Anchored at Unimas’ Faculty of Computer Science and Information technology (FCSIT), the centre was created to replicate the success of e-Bario in other remote locations like Long Lamai, Ba Kelalan and the most recent addition — the island of Larapan in Sabah.
Perhaps, most notable is the role (centre of operations) the telecentre played in the search and rescue mission when a helicopter crash in July 2004 claimed four lives.
On the global scale, e-Bario has become a model of sustainable development via ICT. The project has garnered a slew of awards, the most outstanding one being the International Innovations Awards, Commonwealth 2006 when they beat out 112 submissions from Commonwealth countries for the gold medal.
The e-Bario project is a true reflection of innovation, more significantly perhaps, for its emphasis on the most important part of development — the people.
by Margaret Apau
March 21, 2010, Sunday (The Borneo Post)
SOMETIMES, money can’t make problems go away.
PARADISE: Isolated and remote, the Bario Highlands are the best testing ground for an ICT project.In 1971, the Norwegian government made a generous donation of $22 million to Kenya. The funding would go to building a fish-processing plant on Lake Turkana in the hope of providing the residents with gainful employment.
The plant was up and running immediately after completion but was shut down after only a few days. Why?
What was meant to give work to the Turkana people through fishing and fish processing for export became a drain on finances. The cost to operate freezers was phenomenal and the demand for clean water in the Kenyan desert too high.
To add insult to injury, the Turkana people they were trying to help were desert nomads with no history of fishing or even eating fish.
Add this to the list of other failed development projects and too many times, you’ll see such funded projects around the world flopping because project-managers just don’t ask the right questions.
Which is what the Rural Informatics Team at Unimas did.
Bario, for all its isolation and remoteness, was the perfect testing ground for a daring project — e-Bario, comprising eight academics from various disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive science, community development, education, electrical engineering and computer science.
“The thrust of the e-Bario project was twofold — bring sustainable social and economic development to a remote community, and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to uplift the people’s well-being,” said Dr Alvin Yeo Wee, e-Bario project team leader and today, director of the Centre of Excellence for Rural Informatics (COERI).
It was 1998. Barring several weeks of travelling across rivers, valleys and mountain ridges, there was only one practical way to get to Bario — daily flight by Twin Otter.
Moreover, the remote community had no telephone or Internet access to Bario.
While the community had developed their own means of communication between Bario and the rest of Sarawak (including a tedious two-way radio service hookup), they would gather at the airport and wait for passengers to Kuching to deliver letters to loved ones. The urgency for speedy communication was essential.
“At this time, nobody thought about using satellite technology for rural areas,” Dr Yeo noted.
But they weren’t going headlong into it either without getting the community onboard first.
Although Bario was already familiar with Unimas from a previous biodiversity project, the community were still skeptical about the ICT project. They had already had bad experiences when another organisation failed to bring technologies in as promised.
Creating rapport and building trust with the community then was key.
“We wanted to make sure they were involved because this kind of partnership gives the community a sense of ownership and pride,” he said.
The exchange of ideas and the brainstorming between the team and the community leaders as well as planning took about two years from first contact to the actual introduction of ICT.
The first step was to understand the community — how they live, their cultures, existing uses and access to information sources as well as their needs for improved information delivery.
“The project was very much community and technology-based. When community development happens, you have community empowerment,” Dr Yeo added.
So while the researchers learned about life in Bario from the community, the community learned about ICTs from the researchers. Together, they would mutually benefit from the project.
It also helped that Kelabit lecturer Poline Bala was part of the e-Bario Project Team. Besides, a steering committee, comprising community leaders and local champions like John Tarawe (project coordinator in Bario) and Lucy Bulan (SMK Bario principal), were vital in keeping the momentum going to the end.
“For the people in Bario, communication, especially Internet connectivity for their children, was the first thing they wanted,” Dr Yeo said.
“The community played an equal and active role throughout the project. For example, proposals for information systems using the Internet were agreed upon together with the community representatives.”
Gatuman Bario
In the next phase, two schools received computers with training provided for teachers and the community.
They would surf the Internet through VSATs (a satellite communication system) before computers and Internet access were made available through a telecentre — Gatuman Bario.
Transport was an issue. Without road access, everything had to be flown in, including fuel for generators.
Today, the telecentre may be running on solar panels but in 2002 when first opened, it was partly dependent on diesel generators — not practical for a region where logistic costs are sky high.
In 2000, one gallon of diesel in Bario cost RM12 compared to a paltry RM3.21 in the city.
Today, it costs RM25. Imagine the cost when a generator needs a gallon of fuel to run for three to four hours. So the generator was dropped.
Now, the power problem has been solved with collaboration and funding from the Organisation for Sustainable Engineering in South East Asian Nations (Osean), Unimas, Cambridge University and Engineers without Borders, UK.
In June 2005, more solar panels were installed, enabling the telecentre to run six hours a day, six days a week. More activities have been made possible with the power solution resolved like training, and using the telecentre as a resource centre for government workshops.
Today, bringing ICT into Bario has brought a wealth of benefits not just to that community but also the rest of Sarawak and Sabah. Tourist traffic via Internet has increased, giving birth to at least seven homestays and lodges in Bario. The more subtle but no less significant offshoots of bringing business to Bario means the community enjoys a sustainable income to keep the community thriving.
From e-Bario, COERI was formed. Anchored at Unimas’ Faculty of Computer Science and Information technology (FCSIT), the centre was created to replicate the success of e-Bario in other remote locations like Long Lamai, Ba Kelalan and the most recent addition — the island of Larapan in Sabah.
Perhaps, most notable is the role (centre of operations) the telecentre played in the search and rescue mission when a helicopter crash in July 2004 claimed four lives.
On the global scale, e-Bario has become a model of sustainable development via ICT. The project has garnered a slew of awards, the most outstanding one being the International Innovations Awards, Commonwealth 2006 when they beat out 112 submissions from Commonwealth countries for the gold medal.
The e-Bario project is a true reflection of innovation, more significantly perhaps, for its emphasis on the most important part of development — the people.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Homestay plan to draw tourists
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/3/12/sarawak/5837846&sec=sarawak
Friday March 12, 2010
Homestay plan to draw tourists
By ZORA CHAN
zora@thestar.com.my
A HOMESTAY programme is in the offing at Pulau Larapan, one of the 49 islands off Semporna, Sabah.
Researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) are collaborating to help the villagers kickstart the homestay programme.
Villagers will be trained in ICT so that they can use the village’s telecentre, eLarapan, to promote the homestay programme worldwide, said eLarapan project leader Dr Mohd Faizal Syam Abdol Hazis.
eLarapan is a replica of a community ICT project in Sarawak’s highlands of Bario called eBario. Unimas’ Centre of Excellence for Rural Informatics (CoERI) is implementing eLarapan.
“We are developing a business model for the people, which is a homestay programme that will involve the whole community.
“Ten houses have been identified for the programme.
“Visitors will have to book rooms online,” he said in Kuching recently.
He said the telecentre with three laptops, three desktops and a VSAT satellite would be powered by solar energy.
Although scenic, Larapan is one of the poorest islands off Semporna. From Tawau, it takes an hour to reach Semporna and from Semporna, it is a half-hour boat ride to the island.
Populated by the Bajau, the island has two villages — Kampung Larapan Hujung and Kampung Larapan Tengah. The island has about 1,365 residents.
The main economic activity is fishing while a handful of the locals work at pearl farms nearby. Many women in Pulau Larapan are into small-scale tapioca farming to support their families.
Dr Faizal said the villagers lacked health services, depended on generators for electricity and travelled to mainland Semporna to buy water for washing and drinking.
He said the island had a lot to offer in terms of tourism and hoped that the telecentre could be of help in improving the people’s livelihood.
“Villagers will eventually be taught how to communicate with their children who are studying in Semporna using the telecentre,” he said, adding that the island’s primary school only provided education up to Primary Three.
Friday March 12, 2010
Homestay plan to draw tourists
By ZORA CHAN
zora@thestar.com.my
A HOMESTAY programme is in the offing at Pulau Larapan, one of the 49 islands off Semporna, Sabah.
Researchers from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) are collaborating to help the villagers kickstart the homestay programme.
Villagers will be trained in ICT so that they can use the village’s telecentre, eLarapan, to promote the homestay programme worldwide, said eLarapan project leader Dr Mohd Faizal Syam Abdol Hazis.
eLarapan is a replica of a community ICT project in Sarawak’s highlands of Bario called eBario. Unimas’ Centre of Excellence for Rural Informatics (CoERI) is implementing eLarapan.
“We are developing a business model for the people, which is a homestay programme that will involve the whole community.
“Ten houses have been identified for the programme.
“Visitors will have to book rooms online,” he said in Kuching recently.
He said the telecentre with three laptops, three desktops and a VSAT satellite would be powered by solar energy.
Although scenic, Larapan is one of the poorest islands off Semporna. From Tawau, it takes an hour to reach Semporna and from Semporna, it is a half-hour boat ride to the island.
Populated by the Bajau, the island has two villages — Kampung Larapan Hujung and Kampung Larapan Tengah. The island has about 1,365 residents.
The main economic activity is fishing while a handful of the locals work at pearl farms nearby. Many women in Pulau Larapan are into small-scale tapioca farming to support their families.
Dr Faizal said the villagers lacked health services, depended on generators for electricity and travelled to mainland Semporna to buy water for washing and drinking.
He said the island had a lot to offer in terms of tourism and hoped that the telecentre could be of help in improving the people’s livelihood.
“Villagers will eventually be taught how to communicate with their children who are studying in Semporna using the telecentre,” he said, adding that the island’s primary school only provided education up to Primary Three.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Pilot project to re-green Sarawak
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/11/nation/5835969&sec=nation
Thursday March 11, 2010
Pilot project to re-green Sarawak
By STEPHEN THEN
stephenthen@thestar.com.my
MIRI: Watersheds, rivers and forests degraded by human activities in the state are to be “re-greened” and “nursed” back to their natural state via a serious, integrated and comprehensive effort.
The state government, realising the urgent need to restore these depleted natural eco assets, has roped in the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), the Sarawak Forestry Corporation and the local native communities to jointly “repair” the natural environment through a series of “integrated water and forest conservation” projects.
The pioneer project began in Ulu Merario in Bario, adjacent to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, some 400km inland from here. It was launched on Monday by Bakelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining.
Balang told The Star that the project involved the Ulu Merario River and its surrounding forests as well as the upper reaches that serve as a watershed from where many river tributaries channel water to villages and farmlands for human consumption and irrigation.
“This is the first time that we have embarked on such an integrated conservation project,” he said. “Before this, river protection projects were usually carried out separately from forests rehabilitation. We will replant trees in the forests near the river and clean up the river and shore up the quality of the water by rearing fish.”
Balang said, if successful, the Ulu Merario River project would serve as a model for the rehabilitation of other similar areas in the Bario highlands and the Bakelalan constituency.
He noted that some 40 years ago Ulu Merario was known for its big trees and crystal-clear rivers.
“However, since the original settlements in Bario Asal were relocated to the present Bario settlements by the British during the Malaysia-Indonesia confrontation (1962 to 1965), the environment has deteriorated to what it is today,” said Balang. “It is now even difficult to get any firewood from the forests.
“We want to replant the area with fast-growing trees and other plants. The local communities will be roped in to help replant these trees, maintain them and ensure they are protected,” headded.
Balang said the Ulu Merario River fed four other river tributaries, supplying water to dozens of settlements and longhouses.
The river runs through the Pulong Tau National Park as well, and is also the source of water that powers the turbines in micro-dams for the production of electricity for the minority Kelabits and Lun Bawangs.
Thursday March 11, 2010
Pilot project to re-green Sarawak
By STEPHEN THEN
stephenthen@thestar.com.my
MIRI: Watersheds, rivers and forests degraded by human activities in the state are to be “re-greened” and “nursed” back to their natural state via a serious, integrated and comprehensive effort.
The state government, realising the urgent need to restore these depleted natural eco assets, has roped in the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), the Sarawak Forestry Corporation and the local native communities to jointly “repair” the natural environment through a series of “integrated water and forest conservation” projects.
The pioneer project began in Ulu Merario in Bario, adjacent to the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, some 400km inland from here. It was launched on Monday by Bakelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining.
Balang told The Star that the project involved the Ulu Merario River and its surrounding forests as well as the upper reaches that serve as a watershed from where many river tributaries channel water to villages and farmlands for human consumption and irrigation.
“This is the first time that we have embarked on such an integrated conservation project,” he said. “Before this, river protection projects were usually carried out separately from forests rehabilitation. We will replant trees in the forests near the river and clean up the river and shore up the quality of the water by rearing fish.”
Balang said, if successful, the Ulu Merario River project would serve as a model for the rehabilitation of other similar areas in the Bario highlands and the Bakelalan constituency.
He noted that some 40 years ago Ulu Merario was known for its big trees and crystal-clear rivers.
“However, since the original settlements in Bario Asal were relocated to the present Bario settlements by the British during the Malaysia-Indonesia confrontation (1962 to 1965), the environment has deteriorated to what it is today,” said Balang. “It is now even difficult to get any firewood from the forests.
“We want to replant the area with fast-growing trees and other plants. The local communities will be roped in to help replant these trees, maintain them and ensure they are protected,” headded.
Balang said the Ulu Merario River fed four other river tributaries, supplying water to dozens of settlements and longhouses.
The river runs through the Pulong Tau National Park as well, and is also the source of water that powers the turbines in micro-dams for the production of electricity for the minority Kelabits and Lun Bawangs.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The simple life
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/3/7/lifefocus/5779891&sec=lifefocus
Sunday March 7, 2010
The simple life
By ROUWEN LIN
Many Sarawakians who live in Kuala Lumpur miss the peace and quiet of their hometowns.
IN Ba’Kelalan, an area encompassing nine villages near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, the occasional motorbike makes its bumpy way through the paddy fields and village houses. Why own a car when there are no tarred roads – it’s sometimes more practical to walk.
In this part of the interior highlands, about 305m above sea level, electricity is generated using micro-hydro power from the nearest waterfalls and water is piped from streams in the jungle. Rice farming remains the main source of income for most households. The locals sleep early and wake up before the sun rises to go to church. Morning service starts at 5am.
Sandra Tagal, 34, owner of tour company Borneo Jungle Safari, hails from this place. She belongs to the ethnic group Lun Bawang and still calls Ba’Kelalan home despite having lived in KL for the past 10 years.
“What I like best about my hometown is the peace and quiet. I often go home – sometimes up to four times a year – to soak up the beauty of the natural surroundings, to unwind and recharge myself. It is my sanctuary from the hectic life in KL,” she says.
Tagal, the youngest of seven children, has been running the family tourism business for the last six years. She says that Borneo is fast becoming a popular destination for holiday makers from all over the world.
“People are slowly starting to appreciate what we have to offer. When I see them on vacation in my hometown enjoying the things I take for granted, it makes me realise just how blessed I am to be able to call a place like this home.
“It would be a sad day indeed if its rustic charm is compromised by rapid development,” she says.
Sandra Tagal has lived in KL for 10 years but still considers Ba’Kelalan home.
When Tagal first set foot in KL, she was overwhelmed by how quickly everything seemed to move here.
“It’s not the first time I have been away from home (she studied in Newcastle, UK), but it took me about three years to adjust to the fast-paced lifestyle and the heavy traffic. I’m used to it now and I like my life in KL, but I will always be a Sarawakian at heart,” she says.
Life in a longhouse
LIFE might be simple in the Bario highlands in Sarawak, but people there do not live on trees.
Nicholas Sagau, 30, head of web development and design division at Alt Media, a Media Prima subsidiary focusing on new media, is amused when people from Peninsular Malaysia assume Sarawakians live that way.
“I often say in response – yes, and we use lifts to get up to our tree houses,” he laughs.
Born in Miri, Sagau was raised in Bario and thereafter moved to Kuching. After completing secondary school, he left for KL to further his studies.
It was a new chapter in the young Kelabit boy’s life: “It was a big culture shock at first – the local Malay dialect took some getting used to and everyone hangs out at shopping malls and mamak stalls”.
In Bario, entertainment is defined differently, especially through the eyes of a child.
Nicholas Sagau is amused about the misconception that people in Sarawak live on trees.
Sagau grew up flying kites, cock fighting and playing with guli (marbles) and gasing (spinning tops) with the neighbourhood kids.
“We also fashioned sleds out of banana tree trunks and rode them downhill at top speed. It was dangerous, of course, but we were not concerned about it then. We just knew it was really fun,” he says.
They didn’t have electricity but managed with the generator for special occasions. Monday night was one such event: it was MacGyver night for the kids. (MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series that aired from 1985 to 1992 and featured an intelligent, resourceful secret agent played by Richard Dean Anderson.)
“Children from the whole village would gather at my place to watch the show. I was fortunate to live in quite a modern longhouse – my grandfather was the penghulu (paramount chief) and we had a cement floor, a corrugated zinc sheet roof and a TV,” says Sagau.
Communication was limited to radio calls and people from all over the village would line up to use it.
Bario only got mobile phone network coverage a few months ago and Sagau’s grandparents, who still live there, had much difficulty grasping the concept of charging the phone battery.
“They were really puzzled at first – they thought that if you charge the phone you shouldn’t need to pay to use it,” he relates.
“I think Sarawakians are very patriotic to the land and many people don’t want to leave. In Bario, people are very communal. Almost everyone knows each other, and I like that.
“I love how it’s so kampung – it feels like you’re in a place that is cut off from the rest of the world!”
Same difference
“WHAT culture shock? We are not all that different,” says Kelly Koh when asked whether his move to the big city was difficult to adjust to.
“Kuching has seen rapid development and has changed quite a bit from my childhood days. Now it’s just like KL – even our shopping malls are like those you find there,” he says of his hometown.
The 33-year-old project manager, who left Kuching in 1995 to pursue a business degree, says he toyed with the idea of returning home after completing his university studies but decided against it in the end.
“I thought about returning to Sarawak to work but the opportunities were better here,” he says, citing massive traffic jams and pollution as drawbacks to living in KL.
“The worst traffic you get in Kuching is probably a 30-minute crawl in front of the cinema when everyone leaves after a movie. In KL, traffic jams happen anywhere and at any time of the day,” he says.
One of the first things he noticed when he first moved to KL was that he had to spend longer time on the road.
“The heavy traffic on the Federal Highway still remains a mystery till this day!” he says.
Relying heavily on public transport as a college student, the first time Koh took a bus in KL was to Lot 10, a shopping mall in Bukit Bintang.
“I hopped on the No. 10 bus from Subang to Lot 10. That was a really big adventure for me at that time!” he says.
Koh, who has been living in KL almost as long as in Kuching, is now happily married with two young daughters.
He says that it’s a common misconception that people from Sarawak are very different from those in the country’s capital city.
“People tell me Sarawak is a really nice place. They tell me that Sarawakians are friendly and approachable. Some people say we are hardworking. Others say we are lazy. Truth is, you find all kinds of people in every state,” he says, pointing out that many people you meet in KL are not actually from there.
“They might live here, work here – but they hail from other states. Maybe we are not so different after all”.
Sunday March 7, 2010
The simple life
By ROUWEN LIN
Many Sarawakians who live in Kuala Lumpur miss the peace and quiet of their hometowns.
IN Ba’Kelalan, an area encompassing nine villages near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, the occasional motorbike makes its bumpy way through the paddy fields and village houses. Why own a car when there are no tarred roads – it’s sometimes more practical to walk.
In this part of the interior highlands, about 305m above sea level, electricity is generated using micro-hydro power from the nearest waterfalls and water is piped from streams in the jungle. Rice farming remains the main source of income for most households. The locals sleep early and wake up before the sun rises to go to church. Morning service starts at 5am.
Sandra Tagal, 34, owner of tour company Borneo Jungle Safari, hails from this place. She belongs to the ethnic group Lun Bawang and still calls Ba’Kelalan home despite having lived in KL for the past 10 years.
“What I like best about my hometown is the peace and quiet. I often go home – sometimes up to four times a year – to soak up the beauty of the natural surroundings, to unwind and recharge myself. It is my sanctuary from the hectic life in KL,” she says.
Tagal, the youngest of seven children, has been running the family tourism business for the last six years. She says that Borneo is fast becoming a popular destination for holiday makers from all over the world.
“People are slowly starting to appreciate what we have to offer. When I see them on vacation in my hometown enjoying the things I take for granted, it makes me realise just how blessed I am to be able to call a place like this home.
“It would be a sad day indeed if its rustic charm is compromised by rapid development,” she says.
Sandra Tagal has lived in KL for 10 years but still considers Ba’Kelalan home.
When Tagal first set foot in KL, she was overwhelmed by how quickly everything seemed to move here.
“It’s not the first time I have been away from home (she studied in Newcastle, UK), but it took me about three years to adjust to the fast-paced lifestyle and the heavy traffic. I’m used to it now and I like my life in KL, but I will always be a Sarawakian at heart,” she says.
Life in a longhouse
LIFE might be simple in the Bario highlands in Sarawak, but people there do not live on trees.
Nicholas Sagau, 30, head of web development and design division at Alt Media, a Media Prima subsidiary focusing on new media, is amused when people from Peninsular Malaysia assume Sarawakians live that way.
“I often say in response – yes, and we use lifts to get up to our tree houses,” he laughs.
Born in Miri, Sagau was raised in Bario and thereafter moved to Kuching. After completing secondary school, he left for KL to further his studies.
It was a new chapter in the young Kelabit boy’s life: “It was a big culture shock at first – the local Malay dialect took some getting used to and everyone hangs out at shopping malls and mamak stalls”.
In Bario, entertainment is defined differently, especially through the eyes of a child.
Nicholas Sagau is amused about the misconception that people in Sarawak live on trees.
Sagau grew up flying kites, cock fighting and playing with guli (marbles) and gasing (spinning tops) with the neighbourhood kids.
“We also fashioned sleds out of banana tree trunks and rode them downhill at top speed. It was dangerous, of course, but we were not concerned about it then. We just knew it was really fun,” he says.
They didn’t have electricity but managed with the generator for special occasions. Monday night was one such event: it was MacGyver night for the kids. (MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series that aired from 1985 to 1992 and featured an intelligent, resourceful secret agent played by Richard Dean Anderson.)
“Children from the whole village would gather at my place to watch the show. I was fortunate to live in quite a modern longhouse – my grandfather was the penghulu (paramount chief) and we had a cement floor, a corrugated zinc sheet roof and a TV,” says Sagau.
Communication was limited to radio calls and people from all over the village would line up to use it.
Bario only got mobile phone network coverage a few months ago and Sagau’s grandparents, who still live there, had much difficulty grasping the concept of charging the phone battery.
“They were really puzzled at first – they thought that if you charge the phone you shouldn’t need to pay to use it,” he relates.
“I think Sarawakians are very patriotic to the land and many people don’t want to leave. In Bario, people are very communal. Almost everyone knows each other, and I like that.
“I love how it’s so kampung – it feels like you’re in a place that is cut off from the rest of the world!”
Same difference
“WHAT culture shock? We are not all that different,” says Kelly Koh when asked whether his move to the big city was difficult to adjust to.
“Kuching has seen rapid development and has changed quite a bit from my childhood days. Now it’s just like KL – even our shopping malls are like those you find there,” he says of his hometown.
The 33-year-old project manager, who left Kuching in 1995 to pursue a business degree, says he toyed with the idea of returning home after completing his university studies but decided against it in the end.
“I thought about returning to Sarawak to work but the opportunities were better here,” he says, citing massive traffic jams and pollution as drawbacks to living in KL.
“The worst traffic you get in Kuching is probably a 30-minute crawl in front of the cinema when everyone leaves after a movie. In KL, traffic jams happen anywhere and at any time of the day,” he says.
One of the first things he noticed when he first moved to KL was that he had to spend longer time on the road.
“The heavy traffic on the Federal Highway still remains a mystery till this day!” he says.
Relying heavily on public transport as a college student, the first time Koh took a bus in KL was to Lot 10, a shopping mall in Bukit Bintang.
“I hopped on the No. 10 bus from Subang to Lot 10. That was a really big adventure for me at that time!” he says.
Koh, who has been living in KL almost as long as in Kuching, is now happily married with two young daughters.
He says that it’s a common misconception that people from Sarawak are very different from those in the country’s capital city.
“People tell me Sarawak is a really nice place. They tell me that Sarawakians are friendly and approachable. Some people say we are hardworking. Others say we are lazy. Truth is, you find all kinds of people in every state,” he says, pointing out that many people you meet in KL are not actually from there.
“They might live here, work here – but they hail from other states. Maybe we are not so different after all”.
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