Whoever wins, Kimanis villagers just want an end to flooding

Gantasin Lingkabai says the floodwater level rises to the upper floor of his house at Kampung Pusak, Membakut, Sabah.

BEAUFORT: Every time dark clouds form, Gantasin Lingkabai prays that the downpour will not last for too long.

The last time there was prolonged rainfall, he and his family were trapped in their home by floods in Kampung Pusak, a remote village tucked within an oil palm estate in the sub-district of Membakut.

“Our house is on stilts and yet the water reaches the upper floor. It’s like that every time it rains longer than a day,” said the 66-year-old rubber tapper.

His village is one of many flood-prone villages in Membakut, a state constituency that is part of the Kimanis parliamentary constituency, where a by-election will be held on Jan 18.

Last year alone, Gantasin said, his village had been flooded three times, the worst in December. Hundreds of people from various villages were moved to relief centres.

“My family and I have never been evacuated but we can’t go out of our house to get supplies or food, let alone to go out to tap rubber,” said the father of 10.

This is one headache that he and his wife, Rosi Ilo, 75, hope the new Kimanis MP will finally resolve.

“Since moving here 25 years ago, this is the biggest issue for us. Our village has been pleading with the authorities to address this issue, by widening the river or something. We just want the problem to go away,” Gantasin said, adding that Sungai Membakut was just a stone’s throw away from his house.

Karim Bujang of Warisan and Mohamad Alamin of Barisan Nasional are the two contenders for the Kimanis seat.

Severe flooding also affects another village further up the road, Kampung Bambangan, a Muslim Bumiputera-majority area.

Najip Anjah (left), with relatives Abu Bakar Jabah (right) and Rodey Nurik. Their house in Kampung Bambangan, Kimanis, is flooded after every downpour, Najip says.

Abu Bakar Jabah, 24, said he and his family would stand by with their valuables and personal documents whenever the rain poured up to 24 hours.

“It’s the norm here. My house will be inundated with water up to waist-level. Land-clearing in the nearby hills for oil palm trees causes the run-off to flow into our village.

“And our village doesn’t have a proper drainage system,” he said.

His relative, Najip Anjah, 26, said the villagers had requested for assistance from the time the BN was in power but claimed nothing had been done till now.

“The villagers held a gotong-royong to dig a ditch to alleviate the situation, with only spades and hoes. So, how good can it be? The problem still persists.

“Some of the houses here, like the low-cost homes, would be submerged, with only the roof left to be seen,” he said.

Najip said many of the villagers voted for Warisan in the last general election — Karim eventually lost to former Umno federal minister Anifah Aman — as they wanted change.

“They promised to solve this issue by building a better drainage network but yet nothing has been done.

“Hordes of people continue to be evacuated from their homes because the floods still occur.

“It has been almost two years since Warisan took over the state government. How much longer should we wait?”

He claimed that flood assistance, such as food supplies, also reached only certain people when it should be distributed to every affected villager.

“Maybe it would be a wake-up call if the people voted for BN in this by-election so the government will buck up and deliver on what it pledged,” Najip said. - FMT