In the old days the border village of Ba’Kelalan with its friendly people, temperate climate and green valleys was touted as the “Shangri-La” of Sarawak.
But in recent times it has been reduced to a “ghost town” because of circumstances that led to the authorities abandoning this small Lun Bawang community 3,000.
Buduk Nur village elder, retired pastor Tagal Paran, 86, remembers well the days when Ba’Kelalan was a hub of tourism for the “born-again” Christians from the Borneo Evangelical Church (BEM) in this remote region.
A former President of the BEM, Tagal said: “Ba’Kelalan was a great tourist attraction because of our friendly folk”.
“In the late 1980s we built a Church at a saddle at the 7,950ft Gunung Murud and we attracted thousands who made a pilgrimage to the village to attend the annual revival service in the mountain church,” he said.
Over the last 25 years, Christians as well as nature lovers would make the annual trek up South East Asia’s highest church (7,000ft) to worship or enjoy the unique montane flora and rock formation.
“Each July the pilgrims which included elderly folks would trek close to nine hours to the church at Camp Halleluyah and an additional four hours to get to the peak.”
”But over the last few years we have built a road half way up the mountain and now it takes less than four hours to get to the Church,” he said.
Times were so good that Tagal started an apple farm and tried to breed horses in the early 1990s — he also established a motel-type ‘homestay’ which could accommodate about 40 people.
Looking back at the good old days, Tagal said: “Even the Governor of Sarawak Tun Salahuddin visited us to sample the apples at my farm. Later we diversified and took visitors on treks through the jungle, bird-watching and basically eco-tours. I even offered my horses for rides in the countryside”.
Business was thriving as the Lun Dayeh neighbours from across the border in Indonesian Kerayan bought their provisions from Buduk Nur.
Five years ago the government provided micro hydro dams to all the cluster of 11 villages in Ba’Kelalan so that they could enjoy unending supply of electricity.
It was a glorious time because the assemblyman for Ba’Kelalan was Dr Judson Sakai Tagal, Tagal’s eldest son who had great plans for his village.
However, Judson was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in 2004 while scouring the area for a location where the government could built a large hydro dam to serve the region.
Following the incident, Ba’Kelalan’s fortunes began to wane; more timber trucks began to use the old 160km Lawas-Ba’Kelalan ploughing up its surface it on a daily basis.
Five years ago the army upgraded a 60km stretch from Long Sukang to Buduk Nur, but within two years it too began to disintegrate.
“I’m not sure what happened but they could have used inferior material to construct the road. Only a section of the road from Lawas to Ba’Kelalan is tar-sealed and so it’s a long and bumpy ride to the village,” he lamented.
Today, what should be a 90-minute drive from the Lawas coast to the Kelalan valley, is a dusty four-hour roller coaster drive during the dry season or slippery and dangerous ride when it rains.
Sadly, the 29km “Highway” connecting Sarawak to Indonesia is worst stretch of roads.
“A year ago the Indonesian stretch was a mud-field until President Jokowi pumped in millions of dollars to build a highway from Long Api to Long Bawan, Lun Bawang businesswoman Sinang Meru disclosed.
Several years ago, the Indonesian community from Kerayan were given permission drive to Lawas to buy essentials instead of stopping over at Buduk Nor.
Tagal lamented: “So we became a ghost town and the business community suffered to the extent that the village co-operative had to be closed down”.
However, recently there was a glimmer of hope as the government has stated building an CIQ-customs, immigration and quarantine complex not far from Ba’Kelalan.
“We were told that the CIQ will be opened soon and when that happens it appears that our fortunes will change,” said Tagal who has started a sheep farm and hopes to buy a few more horses.
“If all goes well then I might even re-establish my apple farm and buy a stallion for my mare. Three of my horses were killed when they were hit by careless road users,” he complained.
During a recent visit to Ba’Kelalan, the authorities agreed to limit travel into Sarawak to by-pass Ba’Kelalan until the CIQ is completed.
Anticipating that the Kerayan community will have to buy their essentials and sell their produce in Ba’Kelalan, Tagal is planning to build warehouses to enable his community to start investing in small business.
On another issue, Tagal said that the proposed road between Ba’Kelalan and Bario is almost complete but has been work has apparently been suspended.
He said: “I was told that the highland road is just several kilometres from Bario but the contractor laid off his workers because he was not fully paid.
“If the road to Bario was completed the people from both regions would have better busienss opportunities. It will make it possible to travel by land from Miri to the highlands without having to pass through Brunei.”
In fact the 60km Bario-Ba’Kelalan highland road will be the inaugural ‘Pan Borneo’ highway because Malaysians would be able to drive from Kuching to Miri and then all the way to Sabah.
The 86-year-old Tagal added: “We are going through exciting times and I hope that I will be able to use the highland road to Bario to meet my long lost friends and church members. They too will happy because the Kelabits and Lun Bawang are related”.
Since Minister of Works Baru Bian is from the Lawas highlands, it hoped that this will only become a matter of time before the missing link is connected.
Indeed, if Baru can achieve this, he will make the Borneo highlanders great again.
