KUCHING: Residents of a squatter colony at Jalan Chawan in the city centre are appealing to the authorities to provide them with basic amenities like supplies of water and electricity. They claimed that they have been staying in the area for over thirty years in makeshift houses built of discarded planks and plywood because it is nearer to their place of work. To date some 50 families are
living in the area, many of whom have children and grandchildren living with them. Nawi Layang, aged 70, said she has lived there for almost 30 years since she and her late husband decided to move from their village to Kuching to find a better job.
“My husband and I decided to move to Kuching in the late 80s with our children and we lived here as it is nearer for my husband to go to work,” she told New Sarawak Tribune reporter when met at her house yesterday. “Unfortunately, in 2005 my son passed away due to bone cancer while in 2011 my husband passed away due to asthma.
We were so poor and could not even afford to seek medical treatment. “My daughter in-law and her two sons then decided to return to her hometown in Sibu after my son passed away. Now only my grandchildren sometimes come here to visit me,” she related.
She said she had tried to seek help from NGOs and sympathisers to enable her to purchase medications for her asthma and high blood. “The RM350 monthly aid that I receive from the Welfare Department is not enough to cover my medications and other basic needs, plus I am all alone by myself now”, she lamented. Nawi, a single mother, also receives RM350 monthly aid from the Welfare Department. She said the allowance does help to cover her expenses, but she hopes other parties could help as she is old and could not work anymore.
Meanwhile, Jemba Lindang, 36 years old from Sri Aman said she has lived there for almost 15 years soon after she got married and followed her husband to Kuching to look for a good job and better life. “We have lived here for the past 15 years without electricity. We had to fork out our own money to buy a generator set to supply electricity for our children. “Now it is too expensive to buy diesel and whenever the generator set breaks down, it is too expensive to repair. That is why we are appealing to the authorities to supply us with electricity so that it is
easier for our children to study at night,” she told New Sarawak Tribune.
“The only way to change our lives here is by sending our children to school, so that with good education, they can have better future.” Last Monday the newly formed Kuching Urban Poor Committee (KUPC), comprising of Iban community leaders visited the squatter colony with members of Persatuan Ketua Masyarakat dan Tuai Rumah Kaum Iban Bahagian Kuching (Pemaik). They planned to pay a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to brief him on the predicaments faced by the squatters. KUPC was set up under the patronage of Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas to tackle issues surrounding urban poverty and squatters.
