New design an insult to the Iban community

jamesjg.com hopes that these few feedbacks will not represent the majority views and opinion of bilek owners throughout Sarawak. I do not know how this longhouse leaders define their ruai, but being born an Iban and who keeps our Iban customs and tradition intake, I am entitled to my own personal opinion based on my roots from the Kapuas Valley, to the tributaries of the Krian River, right up the Baram into Tinjar. We may come from different roots but this design and this concept, if fully implemented, will see the extinction of the Iban race, customs and practices, regardless the assurance of the Majlis Adat Istiadat Sarawak.

1. The proposed designs (four of them) are totally an insult to the Iban community. Where on earth do we have our ruai outside (considered to be outside) of the longhouse and is equivalent to a balcony or a car porch seen in most terrace homes. What has become a common meeting place, our dining area looks like a small cafeteria available at any Starbucks coffee outlet!

2. The concept do not put forward the fate of the existing bileks, whereby, some longhouse (like ours) are of age 72 years old. Does this mean that the Land and Survey Dept. will not be issuing our bilek a title?

3. How do the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development treat the individual homes that are not physically attached to the main longhouse but are within the administration of one tuai rumah (village chief). What will be the fate of my fellow Bidayuh homes who are not considered as a longhouse?

4. Why so much hu ha on issuing titles to the bilek? Kalau nak bagi, bagi la.. There is no need to imposed so much this and that to the owners of this bilek.

To the participants of this seminar series, your future generations are the ones who will pay their loans, risk losing their values because of the decision you made today.

Note: The writer did not attend the Seminar since the audience was pre-selected by the government, hence the writer treat the seminar as non-representation of the Iban community. There was no prior aum (longhouse meeting) to select who shall represent our longhouse at this seminar.

View the various design options for the new concept at my Facebook Photo Album.

Points to note:

• The villagers through their tuai rumah need to write-in formally to request the Land & Survey Dept. to do a land surveying work on their longhouse land that is to be applied for a title (individual title like our terrace houses in the urban areas). Our experience on this, EVEN the court has ordered the L&S Dept. to conduct a survey to verify our claim on NCR land within 30-days, the department never reach the ground and do it. How effective is our formal request in this matter?
• The L&S Dept. do not have any program yet to conduct any survey for this NCR land.
• What happen if the longhouse built is considered ‘Angat’ ? Meaning not a good longhouse to stay on, normally bc orang mati berturut2 ba rumah panjainya, then sida terpaksa pindah tau ke ngaga rumah baru nearby. Pia mega ti rumah nya nyadi mali udah tiki … See morejelu or burung jai (don’t forget some longhouse still practice traditonal belief) Are the gov’t going to issue another title n the previous one still valid?