HIDDEN in the Melanau heartland, deep in the shadow of forests along the narrow coastal belt of Sarawak, lies the lonely town of Matu – quiet, calm and serene.
The first thing one would notice immediately are the stilt houses in Matu which is a common sight in the area.
Despite being a small town, Matu has many intriguing stories waiting to be told.
One of them being is about the sekiu oil, famously known in Kampung Jemoreng.
Sekiu oil is extracted from the seed kernel of a sekiu fruit also known as skiu that can be found in the village.
The village has about 2,000 residents and about 400 villagers in the surrounding areas, all from the Melanau community.
Today, Matu is connected by coastal roads linked with bridges and ferry points with Daro being the closest town some 25km away while Sibu is the nearest city approximately 80km away.
A WAY TO MAKE A LIVING
A family can now own a car or a motorcycle from processing and selling sekiu oil.
Penghulu Mesaleh Che Jeni Shahdan took time to share about the benefits of producing sekiu oil stating that it is one of the ways for the local community to earn a living.
“The results of selling and processing sekiu oil can help buy a motorcycle, not only for the elderly, but also the youth who work hard,” he said.
Throughout the years, sekiu oil has received recognition not only from visitors within Sarawak but also from West Malaysia.
The 69-year-old said that the sekiu fruiting season happens once in every four to five years and it requires a lot of work, from its extraction process to the selling process.
“Young people prefer to immediately take and sell the fruits of the sekiu.
“But the older folks prefer to extract and process the fruits into sekiu oil and continue the traditional methods inherited from our ancestors”, he explained.
Sekiu oil is priced at one ringgit per millilitre due to the labourious and complex process to make it.
As such, 500ml of sekiu oil would go on sale for RM500 while 250ml is priced at RM250.
“Ten kilogram of sekiu fruit can produce about two and a half bottles of sekiu oil – each bottle contains about 500ml,” he said.
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK
The whole process requires teamwork from the community, regardless of age.
Che Jeni explained that processing sekiu oil is rather complex.
“It is difficult to work with one or two persons, you would need a minimum of five to six persons.
In order to make everyone work together and speed up the process of producing sekiu oil, he said the villagers would organise communal work.
The process of making sekiu oil involves eight hours per day under direct sunlight.
According to Che Jeni, the drying process usually takes about three days, and this can only be done after the villagers shake the seed to listen for any sound coming from them.
Sound indicates that the kernel has been separated from the seed shell – only then, the kernels would be pounded into fine powder prior to being used.
“The dried kernels are pounded into a powder and cooked traditionally using leaves which are layered onto a tree bark.
“It is then rolled and placed over an open stove”, he said, explaining the process of making sekiu oil.
A UNIQUE TASTE, A LASTING TOUCH
Sekiu oil is traditionally used by the locals as food flavouring which helps to add a touch of unique taste – the oil is bitter.
Aside from that, sekiu oil can be considered a healthier source of fat similar to olive oil.
As to whether sekiu oil has medical benefits, Che Jeni revealed that Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) is currently at the research stage of commercialising sekiu oil.
“SBC is looking into its nutritional contents and the vitamin E contents present in sekiu fruit,” he added.
