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By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, July 6: For the women folk of Rumah Guyu, Nanga Ukom, Ulu Engkari in Lubok Antu, being independent comes in the shape of a boat with a motor engine and the ability to navigate it.
As residents of the riverine longhouse along the Engkari River which is not accessible by road, the watercraft enables the women here to get to a destination without relying on their husbands or male family members.
Mother of three, Lilin Ngalambong, said the women have no choice but to learn to operate the watercraft as part of the riverine community.
“Many women folks here are resilient, and living in the twenty-first century, to be independent is the right thing to do,” she told DayakDaily when met recently.
“Many of our women at the longhouse now bring their family’s boat, and if we rely on our husbands and family members, we cannot do many things when they are not around.
“We are as good as them in handling the watercraft, and life is better for us as we still need to send our children to school, to go to get provisions and visit our farm. So it is our lifeline in rural riverine settings.”
Lilin noted there is no public water transport or e-hailing boat service but hoped it could be a reality one day.
She shared she learned to operate a boat engine and navigate a boat from her husband a few years back out of necessity.
“It would be easier for the two of us to take turns operating it,” she shared.
Lilin revealed that she and her husband used a boat with a two-stroke, 15-horsepower engine that could go up to speeds of 15-17 knots, powerful enough to transport them to their destination.
She said the 15 hp engine is comfortable to operate and navigate the river to a destination.
“In the city, women might own a car or get a ride from e-hailing car services and modern transportation, but that is not as awesome to operate twenty-feet-long watercraft,” she said.
Rumah Guyu is a riverine longhouse comprising 37 doors with 161 residents, mostly farmers.
The longhouse lies along the Engkari River in Lubok Antu and is a 15-minute boat ride from the Nanga Sapaya longhouse, accessible by timber road or an hour’s boat ride from the Batang Ai hydro dam main jetty. — DayakDaily
