KIULU, THE FORSAKEN BACKWATER OF SABAH

HUMANITY…..A child in a bamboo house in Kiulu.

Dear Editor,

I TRULY believe, Kiulu is one of the most unfortunate of areas in the whole of Sabah. It is still staggering, trying to walk upright after almost half a century after independence. Too many of its people feel they have been sidelined.

Even to this very day, they have been denied the fruits of independence which have long been enjoyed by other Sabahans. In spite of their smiles and poiliteness, they are still suffering and struggling to keep bodies and souls together.

Let’s just look at the most basic of needs that they still don’t have – roads. Unbelievably, so many villages (actually a shocking 60, repeat SIXTY, of them) still don’t have roads, and this lacking is causing them untold losses because they cannot take out their farms produces to town.

They toil the land for nothing except to fill up their own tummies; they cannot turn the fruits of their back-breaking toils into cash. This is the harsh reality still being faced by the people of Kg. Tombung, Kg. Namadan, Kg. Bayag, Kg. Poturidong Baru, Kg. Rikos, Kg. Ranau-Ranau, Kg. Nalitang, Kg, Kakib, Kg. Rambai, Kg. Sinansag, Kg. Lingga, Kg. Pinagon Baru, Kg. Bambangan Ulu, Kg. Talungan Ulu and tens of villages in Mukim Lembah and Nabalu since a very long time now.

What a tragedy for an area which is only a stone’s throw away from the state capital! They say Kiulu is only a rice boil away (jauh setanak nasi) and yet after almost half a century thousands here are still living like their ancestors.

Kiulu, whose name literally means ‘has’ (ki) ‘head’ (ulu) seem to have had the wrong heads most of the time in its political history. For a long time, it was led by outsiders, as if it never had its own head, or never qualified to grow its own head. Its first assemblyman was Datuk Payar Juman, a man from Tenghilan.

Later it was Tun Fuad Stephens, also an outsider. We expected him to bring great changes to Kiulu but he departed too soon. Thereafter his widow, Toh Puan Hajjah Rahimah took over, also an outsider. Because she held the post of a full minister in the Berjaya government, Kiulu saw some real developments. The Tamparuli-Kiulu-Pukak road was sealed for the first time.

Later, we had Datuk Gisin Lombut a son of Kiulu as our assemblyman for the first time. Despite his humble education and quiet demeanour he managed to bring a lot of changes. Every village had a community hall, and the imposing Kiulu Community Centre still stands as his legacy today!

After his death, we now have Datuk Louis Rampas as a Barisan Nasional assemblyman. He is an irony in that, while the BN keeps saying only the BN can give development, there has been very little development for Kiulu under him.

Strangely, Kiulu has not seen anything significant in term of development or change since he took over the late Gisin. And this is after 15 years, or three terms, of his leadership! And this forces us to question why had this anomaly happened even though BN, every time there is an election, it is the promise of developments that are thrown at the faces of the people, with condemnation against the opposition which they accuse of being able ‘only to make big promises only.’

There is no question it has been a disappointment, with so many basic needs not being fulfilled and the JKKKs, churches and schools are still waiting for the funds to lighten their longstanding burdens. And most absurdly, Kg. Poturidong, Louis’ own kampung and the kampung of his PKR, still doesn’t have a road until this very day!

The backwardness of Kiulu is still very, very obvious. When Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim went to Kiulu in 2008, he reached the so-called Kiulu township, and asked the people, ‘Di mana Pekan Kiulu?’ unable to believe that he was standing right inside it.

That township is Kiulu greatest embarrassment and an inconsolable shame after all the fiery speeches promising developments and progress since the last 48 years! It is just a row of dilapidated huts with hardly a pathway for cars to pass by, and they call it a town.

The government of the day seems to see Kiulu as a distant interior region, a forgotten backwater, while at the same time interior regions like Pensiangan, Sipitang and Pitas have enjoyed tremendous developments.

It is as if Kiulu is a stepchild, forsaken because it is too hilly, as if the people here will never complain, even if they stay poor in the jungles forever. The world see Kiulu as a tourist destination for its white-water rafting, but this is no joy for the people who still have to walk through the rocky white water every day because there is not even a hanging bridge above!

The main Tamparuli–Kiulu road keeps collapsing in many parts and yet the repairs made never seem to solve the problem permanently. The people are not asking for a highway or an expressway but just simple access roads to their villages to give them more mobility in their daily lives.

They are asking, until when do they have to live like they are still in the pre-independence days? Many years ago TV3 publicised the problem of children walking through the jungle before dawn to reach their school.

Well, such a scene is still a daily reality for many children in this unfortunate, BN-forsaken region! Children from Kg. Sinansag still have to walk more than two hours to reach SK Lokub and the residents of several villages in Mukim Ulu still use bamboo rafts as their mode of transport to bring out their farm produces!

Because of these difficulties, and the decline in incomes, a huge number of people from Kiulu have migrated to open new settlements in many parts of Sabah. It is a fact that Kiulu has the highest record in the number of intra-state migrants in Sabah.

We do not even know the number of kampungs called ‘Kiulu Baru’ all over Sabah! Why has this happened? It was because they saw no hope in their future by staying in Kiulu; no thanks to the half-century neglect of the government!

To many Kiuluans, the slogan of 1Malaysia is just a huge and cruel joke. ‘People First, Performance Now’ is meaningless to them because they ask, ‘Which people, what performance?’

Their struggle continues, and to them the coming days will continue to be bleak, and they are tired of applying for even small projects because the ones they have submitted since many years ago have been forgotten.

Too many villagers have forgotten when was the last time their YB had come to visit them. In the meantime, they toil the land without any help (while fishermen are paid monthly subsidies and allowances), they traverse the jungles and rivers to feed their families, and the small children light their kerosene lamps to light their way in the pre-dawn darkness to pursue a much-needed education. Are they doomed to their fate, or will the YB wake up from his long slumber and come to the defense of his people as he had promised? Have their precious votes come to nothing at all?

Best Regards,

SINDIN RANGGANGON