In Balai Ringin, the people fight to achieve the same status that BN has bestowed upon a pig farm.
BALAI RINGIN: Ranty Gimang has lived in Kampung Limau for most of her life. Her modest cement house is one of the better ones in a tiny village that has long existed in quiet isolation.
Like her neighbours, Ranty leads a starkly simple life.
Her brother, on the other hand, enjoys more creature comforts being the head of a neighbouring village. But since the 10th Sarawak state election began the two are no longer on speaking terms.
He is furious that she has offered her house as an operation centre for PKR’s first Iban candidate, Ibi Uding, instead of supporting Barisan Nasional which puts RM600 into his pocket each month.
She meanwhile has refused to back a government that provides electricity and air-conditioning to a pig farm while its people still live without them.
“Can you imagine how we feel knowing that pigs live a more comfortable life than us?
“The lights and air-conditioning at the farm are turned on 24 hours a day. And here we are hoping that one day we will get electricity and clean water,” she said.
Balai Ringin is a two-hour drive from Kuching and is among the nine new states seats created by the Election Commission after the re-delineation of electoral boundaries in 2005.
It is also home to the highest number of Iban voters in the Sri Aman constituency. The 127 villages house 89.08% of Ibans who have a bone to pick with incumbent BN’s Snowdon Donald Lawan.
Some claim that the only time they have seen his face since the 2006 election was in the last two weeks and that too, only on the copious BN banners and posters.
Snowdon’s eco-tourism vision
But Snowdon once had big plans for his then new seat.
On his website, he had shared his vision of turning Balai Ringin into an eco-tourism destination with “careful, aggressive implementation of strategic programmes and a good publicity and promotional campaign.”
He also spoke of future job opportunities that the centralised pig farm, situated in Sungai Pinang, was expected to generate for the locals as it would accommodate all pig farms in Kuching and Serian.
In acknowledging the hardship faced by his new constituents, Snowdon said, “While currently most of the area except the main town are still deprived of reliable power and treated water supply, a proposal has been forwarded to connect electricity to most if not all of the longhouses in Bukit Begunan and Balai Ringin under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.”
The Tenth Malaysia Plan is already in full swing but life for the Ibans in Balai Ringin has barely budged from where it was six years ago.
A visit by FMT yesterday saw the main roads in Balai Ringin lined with electrical poles and cables – none of which are connected to the brick houses right beside them. The residents pointed to generators when asked how they got their power supply.
“The cables are just for show,” Ranty said. “Just like the Project Kilat. My, we were so lucky!”
The small group of women listening to her chortled, and she explained, “They fixed our roads earlier this week that’s why it’s so nice now. And they handed out small donations to the villagers but only to those whom they favoured. That isn’t right at all. Everyone here deserves help.”
FMT requested to be taken to the pig farm but after a quick consultation among themselves, the group decided that it would not be a good idea.
“It’s a long drive and you won’t be able to get past the gates,” one of them said. “The farm is too far inside to be seen from the gates anyway. And people are on the lookout for us bringing journalists there, so it’s not safe.”
Water from drains
What they felt will be a worthwhile trip was to the nearby villages where desperation has driven the residents to turn to drains for water supply (photos above and below).
Crude structures fashioned out of rotting wood and zinc dotted the main road. Each structure is designated to a particular cluster of homes.
The portion of the drain that the structures are built over has been blocked to stop the flow of water and create a small pool that become the resident’s water source.
“This is where they bathe and brush their teeth,” said Ibi’s daughter grimly, pointing to the dark, dank and speckled with moss liquid. “Sometimes it’s even their drinking water.”
“If they’re lucky they can find enough zinc to shield them from the traffic. Otherwise they just have to bathe when it’s dark.”
Other houses place buckets below their gutter to collect rain water or use a makeshift pipe from which water trickles into the basin beneath. But no matter how the water is obtained it is never crystal clear.
“We have always been ignored by the government,” Ranty said. “And now we are being threatened to give them our votes again. I don’t know what to say.”
The Ibans in Balai Ringin are not ungrateful for the job opportunities that came with the development but feel that it was ironic to earn an income when you cannot use it to pay for electricity or water bills.
Balai Ringin is one of the hotly contested seats in Sarawak with six candidates vying to be its elected representative.
BALAI RINGIN: Ranty Gimang has lived in Kampung Limau for most of her life. Her modest cement house is one of the better ones in a tiny village that has long existed in quiet isolation.Like her neighbours, Ranty leads a starkly simple life.
Her brother, on the other hand, enjoys more creature comforts being the head of a neighbouring village. But since the 10th Sarawak state election began the two are no longer on speaking terms.
He is furious that she has offered her house as an operation centre for PKR’s first Iban candidate, Ibi Uding, instead of supporting Barisan Nasional which puts RM600 into his pocket each month.
She meanwhile has refused to back a government that provides electricity and air-conditioning to a pig farm while its people still live without them.
“Can you imagine how we feel knowing that pigs live a more comfortable life than us?
“The lights and air-conditioning at the farm are turned on 24 hours a day. And here we are hoping that one day we will get electricity and clean water,” she said.
Balai Ringin is a two-hour drive from Kuching and is among the nine new states seats created by the Election Commission after the re-delineation of electoral boundaries in 2005.
It is also home to the highest number of Iban voters in the Sri Aman constituency. The 127 villages house 89.08% of Ibans who have a bone to pick with incumbent BN’s Snowdon Donald Lawan.
Some claim that the only time they have seen his face since the 2006 election was in the last two weeks and that too, only on the copious BN banners and posters.
Snowdon’s eco-tourism vision
But Snowdon once had big plans for his then new seat.
On his website, he had shared his vision of turning Balai Ringin into an eco-tourism destination with “careful, aggressive implementation of strategic programmes and a good publicity and promotional campaign.”
He also spoke of future job opportunities that the centralised pig farm, situated in Sungai Pinang, was expected to generate for the locals as it would accommodate all pig farms in Kuching and Serian.
In acknowledging the hardship faced by his new constituents, Snowdon said, “While currently most of the area except the main town are still deprived of reliable power and treated water supply, a proposal has been forwarded to connect electricity to most if not all of the longhouses in Bukit Begunan and Balai Ringin under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.”
The Tenth Malaysia Plan is already in full swing but life for the Ibans in Balai Ringin has barely budged from where it was six years ago.
A visit by FMT yesterday saw the main roads in Balai Ringin lined with electrical poles and cables – none of which are connected to the brick houses right beside them. The residents pointed to generators when asked how they got their power supply.“The cables are just for show,” Ranty said. “Just like the Project Kilat. My, we were so lucky!”
The small group of women listening to her chortled, and she explained, “They fixed our roads earlier this week that’s why it’s so nice now. And they handed out small donations to the villagers but only to those whom they favoured. That isn’t right at all. Everyone here deserves help.”
FMT requested to be taken to the pig farm but after a quick consultation among themselves, the group decided that it would not be a good idea.
“It’s a long drive and you won’t be able to get past the gates,” one of them said. “The farm is too far inside to be seen from the gates anyway. And people are on the lookout for us bringing journalists there, so it’s not safe.”
Water from drains
What they felt will be a worthwhile trip was to the nearby villages where desperation has driven the residents to turn to drains for water supply (photos above and below).Crude structures fashioned out of rotting wood and zinc dotted the main road. Each structure is designated to a particular cluster of homes.
The portion of the drain that the structures are built over has been blocked to stop the flow of water and create a small pool that become the resident’s water source.
“This is where they bathe and brush their teeth,” said Ibi’s daughter grimly, pointing to the dark, dank and speckled with moss liquid. “Sometimes it’s even their drinking water.”
“If they’re lucky they can find enough zinc to shield them from the traffic. Otherwise they just have to bathe when it’s dark.”
Other houses place buckets below their gutter to collect rain water or use a makeshift pipe from which water trickles into the basin beneath. But no matter how the water is obtained it is never crystal clear.
“We have always been ignored by the government,” Ranty said. “And now we are being threatened to give them our votes again. I don’t know what to say.”
The Ibans in Balai Ringin are not ungrateful for the job opportunities that came with the development but feel that it was ironic to earn an income when you cannot use it to pay for electricity or water bills.
Balai Ringin is one of the hotly contested seats in Sarawak with six candidates vying to be its elected representative.
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