Sarikei longhouses may not be named after headmen

One interesting article appearing in The Borneo Post today (4 May) is about the views expressed by the Resident of Sarikei Michael Dawi Alli on longhouses in the division that may not be named after their headmen.

Michael said: “His office has listed changing the longhouse naming system as one of its key focus activities (KFA) for this year’s Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

“A special meeting would be held for all longhouse chiefs in the division soon,” he said.

Michael mentioned the proposal during the meeting between community leaders and Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum in Pakan on Saturday.

He explained that the idea was mooted because of administrative problems caused by the naming of longhouses after their respective Tuai Rumah.

The most common problem was that longhouse names needed to be changed whenever a new longhouse chief was appointed.

“This is where and when such problems surface. This can happen many times to a longhouse and when there is no effort made to update the records with the authorities concerned, many problems crop up.

“The postal service provider will face problems in delivering mails or parcels as the names of the longhouses do not exist in their records.

“Similarly, the various agencies face problems in tracing residents after they change their longhouse names,” he said.

The Resident’s office has suggested longhouse be named after geographical features such as river, place or mountain, he said as these names would remain even if all the residents moved out.

This is a very good suggestion by the Resident of Sarikei Division, a suggestion other divisions should adopt.

The only longhouses in Kota Samarahan, Kuching and some in Sri Aman divisions where they are named after trees, rivers, mountains and even animals. They are called Kampung Gayau, Kampung Isu, Kampung Sematong (a type of jambu), Kampung Sibau, Kampung Nangka, Kampung Sungai Pinang, Kampung Jagu, Kampung Tekura, and so on.

But in other divisions like Betong, Sibu, Kapit, Bintulu, Miri and Limbang, the longhouses are named after their headmen.

Their biggest problem is that they need to change their identity cards with the change in the names of their longhouses. When they register themselves as voters, they need to update their ICs now and then following the change in their longhouse chiefs.

The problem now has been made worse when the government appoints longhouse chiefs and replaces them once a while.

The longhouse people no longer elect their own headmen.

Michael’s suggestion is really food for thought.

The future Dayak headmen

No one takes much notice of a statement made by Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Fadillah Yusoh appearing on The Eastern Times on 14 December 09, when he said that in future village chiefs and longhouse headmen (Tuai Rumah) including women would eventually be filled by younger people with qualification.

“Over in Peninsular Malaysia, only individuals with at least a diploma qualification are considered for the post. And they are paid allowance based on their qualification.

“In Sarawak, the issue of raising the allowance of Ketua kampung has been discussed, and eventually, when all have been settled and agreed upon, a standard allowance scheme would be applied to all,” he said.

“But for the posts of Penghulu and Pemanca, we still need the elderly people,” he said.


The Broken Shield comments:

Yusof’s suggestion should be taken seriously as it has far wider implications and should therefore be supported by especially the Ibans. Firstly, we should go further to suggest the creation of a department for community leaders and a special scheme of service complete with salary structure and qualification.

For Tuai Rumah, he must have a diploma of any discipline with a starting salary/allowance of RM1,200 a month; a Penghulu, a Pemanca and a Temenggong should have a degree and should be paid salary/allowance RM1,500, RM1,700 and RM1,800 a month respectively.

They should serve at least six years.

For the Iban community, there are over 7,000 longhouses in the State and this would mean over 7,000 posts of Tuai Rumah and a few thousand posts for Penghulu, Pemanca and Temenggong.

The creation of a department for community leaders will give employment opportunities to our (Iban) graduates since they find themselves unable to compete with Malay or Chinese for government jobs or jobs in the private sector.

While it lessens the unemployment rate among the graduates, it certainly will provide effective services to the people in the longhouses and villages as well as acting as a “bridge” between the people and the government.

Currently, the Tuai Rumah is paid an allowance of RM50.00 from the State Government and RM400 from the Federal Government. Such allowance was introduced in the 2006 State election to induce them to support the BN.

As the appointment of Tuai Rumah is approved by the government, they have often been abused and misused by BN politicians to support the BN.

But with a proper scheme of service, salary, and etc. they are like civil servants and are therefore subject to general orders. In other words, they must remain neutral in politics. And anyone who is active in politics, must resign or has his appointment terminated. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Kickbacks: Who should be blamed?

SRI AMAN: Tuai Rumah (longhouse chiefs) and village headmen have been warned against asking for any kickbacks from villagers under them for endorsing their applications for financial assistance from the government.

Bukit Begunan assemblyman Mong Dagang, who gave this strong warning, said illegal practice of asking for kickbacks would only tarnish the reputation of the Tuai Rumah and village headmen.

He said as leaders of their respective villages, they should be genuine and honest in helping the people under them. (The Borneo Post dated 28 September, page 6).

It is a good advice and a timely warning coming from YB Mong. We all know that many Tuai Rumah and Penghulu have been asking for “kickbacks” or “commissions” or “kopi o money” from their anembiaks before they sign any application.

But can we blame them for asking such “kopi o money”?

I would have thought that YBs and political leaders should be blamed, because they are the ones who have been “teaching” the community leaders to be corrupted. Come election, the Tuai Rumah would be called to assist in bribing their anembiaks into voting for the BN candidates. Some money would be passed to the Tuai Rumah who distributed them to their followers. Of course being the Tuai Rumah, they would be given bigger “commissions”.

Other forms of corruption include promising the Tuai Rumah some businesses, penghuluship, pemanchaship, temengongship, and even councillor posts as well as minor rural development projects.

Some Tuai Rumah have also seen some YBs receiving some “kickbacks” from timber or oil palm plantation companies which wish to fell timber or plant oil palm in their constituencies. Some YBs have also been asking from 10 to 20% commissions from minor rural development projects from those who are lucky enough to be given the contract works.

Reporting such corruption to MACC is wasting our time. We have lodged a number of reports before with MACC (ACA then) until today no action has been taken.

No wonder the Tuai Rumah and other community leaders are getting bolder nowadays in asking for “kickbacks”. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com