After three days with the Basap cave dwellers we had to take the long journey home by a sea vessel.
From Teluk Sumbang I hired a cargo vessel Anugrah Indah (Beautiful Gift), owned by a Bugis from Poso in Sulawesi (Celebes).
Yunos Padui, who was the Juragan (skipper) of the ship had recently moved to Teluk Sumbang in search of better opportunities in the maritime business.
Yunos charged us 160,000 rupiahs (about RM200) for his “swift beauty”.
I thought it was reasonably priced and a “bonus” considering and it was the only vessel leaving the village within the next few days.
Also on board was pastor Rostam’s teenage daughter Susanti who was down with a serious bout of malaria.
But the family could not afford to pay for Susanti’s trip to the clinic at Batu Putih considering Rostam’s monthly salary was only 40,000 rupiah.
But her condition worsened and I asked to family to join us for the eight-hour journey
It was a scenic journey along the coast with locals in small vessels, waving at us.
As we headed for Batu Putih to rendezvous with our Cessna, the ship captain took us through the coral reefs.
Rostam recalled that not long ago a group of missionaries were trapped in the coral reefs in a “perahu” in the shark-infested sea for almost a day until prayers saved the day!
At 5pm the sea was becoming choppy and dangerous and so we decided to stop on the coastal road and continue to a village of Tembudan Dayaks.
It took us 30 minutes by Land Rover to get to the village next to the Bangun River.
By the time we arrived it was almost 6pm and getting dark so we spent the night at the headman “Pak Lurah” Adinti’s humble home.
Adinti, who was of Chinese-Bajau parentage, married Lukah, the daughter of Tembudan chief Ibol.
A village where malaria was pandemic, all the inhabitants had at one time contracted the disease.
Our arrival we learnt that several young people had died because they could not afford to pay for the journey to the general hospital in Batu Putih.
I had bought some anti-malaria Fansidar tablets which I bought for 1,000 rupiahs and distributed them when told two tablets should be effective.
In the old days there was always some form of black magic practised by the people.
However, only the missionaries who were weak in faith succumbed to charms, said Penias Lasung, the Lun Dayeh pastor at Tembudan.
Often natives used charms which caused boils to infect the newly-arrived Christian pastors.
Said Penias: “Some were deliberately given satanic potions of coffee and fell ill. One enthusiastic preacher fell ill after he had reproved a member of his congregation for smoking in the chapel.
“Part of his genitals seemed to have disappeared. He was only cured after visiting a Pagan bomoh and refused to continue preaching.”
Apparently, he left the church to become a farmer in the Kerayan highlands.
The great Dutch explorer H. F. Tillema, who came across numerous cases of malaria in Kalimantan during the 1930s said in his book ‘Journey Among The Peoples of Central Borneo’ that the biggest fear at that time was ‘the troublesome and dangerous creatures (mosquitoes) of the forest mosquitoes whose sting spread the diseases of malaria.”
In the old days malaria was spread by pigs which dug up holes causing them to fill up with rainwater and provide breeding places for mosquitoes.
Like the natives, I bathed in a nearby stream despite being told there was a recent outbreak of cholera in the area.
During our two days with the Tembudan, we discovered that logging is the main industry while farming is a subsistence activity.
Loggers can earn between 250,000 rupiahs and a million rupiahs (RM300 to RM1,200) per month.
Some families have worked for several years and saved enough to become full-time businessmen farmers.
There was a “trans-migrasi” (trans-migration) project for Javanese settlers nearby.
Most families had basic amenities, many own TV sets and generators and some even owned parabolic satellite dishes.
Two of three families own motorcycles. There were several shops selling clothes and drugs, including painkillers and various types of anti-malaria tablets.
The village had a primary school, post office and a health clinic in the area. Indonesians are tolerant religiously, abiding by the first principle of the Pancasila – Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa (Belief in one divine presence).
Sleeping without a mosquito net with mosquito-repellent smeared all over the body is not the kind of holiday even the most adventurous would expect, but this is something a visitor to Kalimantan must do for his or her own safety.
At one of the church gatherings many charismatic Indonesian songs of praise were sung, one to the tune of ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ – the song played by the ship’s band as the Titanic went down.
The song was appropriate, for who knows what would have happened had we continued our journey through the stormy sea?
As scheduled, our American pilot Larry Whiting arrived on time in his Cessna at Batu Putih.
We headed over the deep blue sea to Tarakan and then back home to Tawau to the safety of “home sweet home”.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
