by DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 26: As Sarawak moves to expand its cabinet and accelerate major projects, political observer and academic Datuk Prof Dr Jayum Anak Jawan has questioned the fairness of prioritising the needs of larger population centres while smaller, remote communities are left behind.
Jayum was responding to a viral TikTok video of a Tuai Rumah from interior Oya, who highlighted the plight of his community and the lack of basic facilities. In the video, the longhouse chief said his 20-door longhouse, along with three nearby longhouses, still has no electricity supply, no piped water, and very poor internet access.
The video also showed that the community, who once worked for timber companies, now rely on intermittent tree-cutting jobs for meagre income. Despite the hardship, the longhouse chief expressed gratitude that the surrounding forest still provides bamboo shoots, cassava and other food sources, while the river continues to supply fish.
“I cannot but feel compassionate for my fellow Ibans who are left out of development,” Jayum said.
“How does one explain to these Iban families who are deprived of basic facilities that have been taken for granted by urban inhabitants? Is it right to tell them that a huge budget is being used to finance a bigger cabinet because the present number of ministers and their deputies could not manage the affairs of Sarawak.
“And in the meantime, their challenges would have to wait. Pan Borneo is the pride of Sarawak but tell these peoples who cannot properly access this trunk road from their home in Interior Oya. Is it fair and just that they must make the sacrifice for the sake of the ‘many’.
“They number several hundred compared to several hundreds of thousands elsewhere in the State. Is the idiom ‘the good of the many outweighs the interest of the few’ justify?”
Jayum stressed that elected leaders, as public servants, have a moral duty and obligation to answer to these rural communities.
He added that it is “almost certain” elected representatives would rush to appease such communities if these issues were raised during election season, when votes are being sought. – DayakDaily
