ABOUT 600 residents of the Orang Ulu settlement in Long Ekang, deep in Baram, Sarawak, are living in fear that one day their longhouses will slip into the murky waters of the Baram River.

Severe erosion of a 3.5km stretch of the bank fronting the settlement in the last two decades has left one of the four longhouses there, the 10-door Kenyah longhouse Uma Kaeng, a mere 3m from the riverbank.

Ten years ago, the longhouse was more than 15m from the river.

Over the years, the predominantly Kenyah residents of this settlement – the Kayans being the other – had seen their storehouses built just beside the river being swept away.

These storehouses, for safety reasons, were built far away from the longhouses as this was where inflammable items such as boat engines and fuel were kept.

The waterfront now is a picture of damaged concrete footpath, abandoned homes and tilting electricity poles with some precariously close to slipping into the river.

At present, the residents are working to save the one building they cherish most, their 42-year-old chapel.

For the past one week, skilled craftsmen have been painstakingly dismantling the St. Peter’s chapel bit by bit so that they can rebuild it on a new site, some 2km from the settlement.

It will be in a rubber garden owned by a family from the settlement. The riverbank has reportedly reached a corner of the chapel.

“It will fall into the river any time,” the settlement’s most famous son, Peter Kallang, said.

Kallang, the chairman of environmental group Save Rivers, is the activist credited with forcing the state government to abandon the proposed construction of the mega hydroelectric dam on the Baram River.

It will take the team dismantling the chapel two weeks to complete the task, Kallang said.

He said the process is slow so as not to damage the building materials.

“Why we are doing this is because it’s extremely expensive to transport building materials from Miri to Long Ekang,” Kallang, whose longhouse in the settlement is the 68-year-old, eight-door, Uma Belata, said.

He said it is better to recycle the materials, especially the hardwood such as belian, which are now difficult to find or have become too expensive.

While they wait for the new chapel to be completed, the longhouse verandas will have to make do to hold their masses and prayer services, baptism and wedding services.

Long Ekang can be reached by road from Miri. It is a two-hour drive on asphalt road from Miri to Long Lama, and from there on, a precarious three-hour drive on a maze of oil palm plantation dirt roads that could turn dangerous when it rains.

Kallang said the most popular way is by boat from Long Lama. It is only a 40-minute ride even on a boat with the small 10 or 15hp engine.

He said the residents have been advised to move to higher ground but there is a problem.

“Where to find higher ground in the area that can accommodate all the people of the settlement?” he asked.

“The population of the settlement is increasing. Now the four longhouses have 72 doors. If we have to move, we need to move to an area that can accommodate longhouses with at least 90 doors.”

But moving will be heartbreaking for Kallang, who is sentimental about this place as it was built by his father.

“He did it so that my siblings and I have a place to call home,” he said.

His father’s longhouse was Uma Betua, which his grandfather and those who had followed him to migrate to the area built almost 70 years ago.

Kallang, who now lives in Miri, said he had a memorable childhood growing up in Long Ekang.

He said moving out will wipe away the good memories.

The settlement was a popular “country retreat” for white government officers of the colonial government.

“They came for the cultural experience, to savour our songs and dances,” Kallang said.

Today, Long Ekang is still a major draw, but the visitors are mostly sports fishermen who head for the nearby oxbows. – February 13, 2022.