ORIGIN OF SARAWAK....breeding ground of future social ills

Normally on Saturday/Sunday, either I went back to MyVillage and be at peace with the rural easy life or stay at home browsing MyBooks or papers while on full blast musics as the backdrop...but today, 22 March, 2009 I took MyCanon to a walk along these human habitats....from Sumatera, to Java then down in Kuching....in about two hours....let walk your hearts and minds with me

(2) My walk began at (Kg) Boyan (Kalimantan) the upper (ulu) edge of the whole settlement series, packed with kampong semi-wooden style homes……probably the oldest settlement,….…followed by Gersik, Soerabaya (Java), Panglima Seman, Semarang (back to Java)…all these villages symbolized the origin of the first settlers…immigrants from across the border (early days Indonesia),…merging with the new Pulo and Bintawa…where the coastal Malays probably just settled due to the great rural-urban drift in the 1970s….

(3) What are considered typical to these villages….are their unorganized housing setting (once in the 1990s I heard a State Minister said, macam taik manok…mengambur...sik tentu pasal)….a friend of mine informed me that in the olden days (1970s)….they used to fight among each other….over simple things or argument…and this is signified by the very ‘indifferent life-style’ portrayed to this day…the way they parked their cars, discharging their garbage, played their ear deafening music, drying their clothes, plank walks….all sort..I couldn’t imagine just across the river there are so many great life-styles to be emulated but here….I believe these villages gonna be a breeding ground for future Kuching all sort of social ills…..should we keep our eyes tight closed on this?

(4) The ‘indifferent life-style’ of these villages I believe is a normal phenomena especially among the immigrants….either in the US and Australia or elsewhere…..initially they preferred to be by themselves and hardly trust each other…or each of them were just too busy wanna established their own territory and or lives…..and probably, during the Brooke time, they were just being left alone….without being guided…that make them drifting further into smaller ‘societies’ that seem to co-exist but never properly unified….they just co-exist for territorial protection rather progressively living as civilized society….

(5) Small winding road, no proper facilities, muddy smelly and inundated compound, poor drainage, probably…worst, their land tenure had not been properly sort out…creating the worst ‘indifferent attitude’ not only in the society but among the family members……the issue might be the cause to all sort of dispute among neighbors (family members) and thus catalyst the ‘social discomfort’ among the society…..

(6) I hate to quote the observations made by Mushi Abdullah during his visit to Trengganu……to describe what I have seen…maka aku jadi heranlah, orang Melayu, tiada terususn akan rumah mereka…..tiadalah mereka terbuat parit, berbau hanyir keliling rumah mereka, sampah merata-rata…tiada mereka itu berakal untuk menjaga kebersihan dan keamanan kampong sendiri…..I’m wondering are these not the symbols of our Malays style of thinking….unorganized, not far sighted, easily giving in, inability to stand on their own feet,….all those negative image and characters…..that make us easily being colonized and exploited?

(7) As I reached Bintawa, the worst among these worst organized settlements…..signs of ‘law and orders non-abiding attitude’ are prominent.

(8) Kids playing along the road….their faces…some seem fierce, some seem indifferent, some..silent…..a reflection of hopelessness!

(9) What do these people need…..let just go to basic probably….proper housing with proper facilities, basic social infrastructure,….chances to do in-situ income earning…and nearby place for entertainment…..are these too difficult to organized….?

(10) Let think hard and work hard…to mend these hopelessness phenomena among these people…they are our brothers and sisters…they are our people…His people….don’t let them become the nuisance to our ‘probably beautiful lives’……Muhammad said: It is a sin for us to enjoy our sleep, while our neighbor are in hunger and misery……where are we..

(11) Let talk, quarrel, crack our head…solidified our soul….these people need guide…they need golden hand touch….to make them real human… let think how to mobilized our 'saving' in EPF, Tabung Haji, Permodalan Nasional, etc....see how we could rebuild these settlements into modern yet keeping our tradition alive....an asset to better urban life-style!