KUCHING, Sept 12: The Punan community has expressed disappointment over a protest group preventing the authorities from repairing and preserving a ‘klirieng’ near Sungai Maskin, Ulu Sungai Penyarai several days ago.
In a joint statement today, several community leaders said the protest group does not represent the majority of the Beketan (Bagatan) community.
“Their act is against the consensus achieved and agreed to by the community leaders and folk in Tatau district chaired by Minister in The Premier’s Department, Datuk John Sikie Tayai, last month,” it said.
The joint statement was signed by Penghulu Sanok Magai, Penghulu Nicholas Mering Kulleh, Penghulu Nyipa Tingang, Punan National Association (PNA) president Donny Dhwie, PNA Kakus branch president Philip Sung, Ketua Kaum (KK) Ado Bilong, KK Jayan Kanun, KK Kiah Najing, KK Paren Bunyam, KK Arjey Kenai, KK Ladang Keluka, KK Brain Mering, KK Kulleh Siluk, KK Herman Tingang, KK Mariam Belarek, KK Hasan Kilah and KK Nyaring Minggu.
The klirieng, said to be about 200-years-old and 6.7 metres long, was found in the Maskin area on Oct 16 last year.
Following the discovery, the Sarawak Museum Department and the Sarawak Customs Council (MAIS) planned to restore the klirieng by moving it out of the river and temporarily placing it at the Tatau District Office before being moved to a permanent site to be determined later.
Upon learning about this, a group allegedly involving seven longhouses in Penyasari, Kakus led by Bagatan Penyarai Tatau Heritage Conservation Committee (JPWBPT) chairman Jaing Bubun, protested.
Meanwhile, the statement signed by the Punan community leaders further revealed that the klirieng at Maskin Penyarai has been mentioned in many written records especially in The Sarawak Gazette.
They said the Beketan community itself has admitted that the artefact is not theirs but it belongs to the Punan community (Tatau), as stated by Jaing in recent media reports.
“Jaing’s statement is in line with the statements made by previous village chiefs of Beketan.
“In 1978, TR Beluchoak and the Beketan community at Rh Kuang, Rh Patung also admitted that the klirieng belongs to the Punan ethnic (sic).
“They have repeated the statement to a group of researchers from MAIS and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in 2000,” the statement continued.
The group of Punan community leaders further said they understand the intention of Jaing’s group but stressed that the klirieng has to be removed to a safer site due to soil conditions and the possibility of floods at the present site which may affect the klirieng.
“Additionally, the present site is very far deep in the interior, making it hard to access and dampens the continuous efforts to preserve the klirieng.
“Due to these reasons, we the Punan community want to leave it to the Sarawak government to decide what’s best to ensure that the klirieng can be continuously preserved for many hundreds years to come.
“The klirieng has now become not only a heritage of the local community but the heritage of the whole people of Sarawak,” the statement emphasised. — DayakDaily
