Leaving one’s heart in Belaga

FORMER councillor Daniel Levoh believes that his hometown Belaga holds ‘a certain kind of magic, so captivating that many visitors, near and afar, would leave a piece of their hearts there, even after a brief stay’.

“Some who came here for research work loved Belaga so much that later on, they even brought their family to revisit this remote town and be reacquainted with its people,” said the Belaga man, who is now in his 60s.

These days, Daniel runs a tour-guiding business and operates his own homestay, Daniel’s Corner, established not long after his early retirement in 1997.

“My guests are mostly international backpackers and also researchers going to Ulu Belaga, Bakun and sometimes, to Indonesia.

“But I’m getting older, and have not been healthy after the pandemic – I may want to retire soon,” he smiled.

Nicknames

I met Daniel recently at a five-footway food shop in Belaga, where he was hanging out with several of his retiree friends.

“Belaga was once the remotest place in Sarawak, and because of this, during the Brooke and colonial days, it was among those few places of exile to punish the ‘bad hats’,” he blurted.

We were enjoying our coffee and ‘kampua’ noodles when a group of Sihan people, who were in town for business, came and greeted Daniel and the shop owner Sih Yew Lian – just ‘Ah Lian’ to his friends.

“Here, everybody knows everybody – we’re like a big family.

“We get to listen to their stories, very informal. Even the SAO (Sarawak administrative officer) Zain Rocky always meets up with the ‘ulu’ (remote upriver) folks and travels to their villages.

“This is our way of living in the Upper Rajang. If we could help, we would always help.”

Daniel talked about so many things, one of which was about many of the Orang Ulu and Malay folks finding Chinese names hard to pronounce; hence, ‘Ah Lian’ and many other nicknames given to their Chinese friends.

“Ah Tong is a name most people can remember, but he is actually the esteemed Chinese community leader Teo Hee Tong! But these nicknames are more of terms of endearment and camaraderie – in no way that they’re meant as disrespect,” said Daniel.

Ah Lian, knowing full well about this matter, interjected: “No, we’re not being disrespectful at all. We’re all childhood friends and have been calling each other nicknames. We’re really close – that’s all.”

Recounting history

Belaga is a district in Kapit Division and a state constituency under the Hulu Rajang parliamentary area, about 120km northeast of Kapit town. Long time ago, it had an airport but these days, the small town is reachable via river express from Kapit, and also by land from Bintulu.

Its population mainly comprises the Orang Ulu of various sub-groups: the Kayans, the Kenyahs, the Sekapans, the Punans, the Penans, the Kejamans, and the Tanjungs; along with some Chinese and also the descendants of the Bruneian Malay traders, who came to Ulu Belaga in the mid-1800s and decided to settle down there.

The Belaga Bazaar was established in the late 1800s by Rajah Charles Brooke for the Chinese traders to stock up and supply the much-needed goods like kerosene, salt, sugar and cotton.

Up till 1968, the bazaar was still on stilts, directly facing the Rajang River.

Since those days, Belaga has continued to develop and now, the people enjoy decent basic amenities such as treated water and electricity supply, and modern concrete shophouses line up along the town’s square where the homestay, Daniel’s Corner, occupies a lot.

“The small hotels in Belaga accommodate the logging workers and backpackers,” said Marta Jeti Manjang, our helpful contact.

If you booked a stay at Daniel’s Corner, the owner himself would take you around town in the morning, and should you need transport to Bintulu, he could arrange it as well.

Burial poles

A highlight of our visit to Belaga was a boat ride to see the Sekapan burial poles, called ‘kelire’i’.

With the help of the headman, Ketua Kampong Lenjau Sirek, we chartered a boat down, which was a 20-minute journey down the Rajang River from ‘Sekapan Peit’ (Shorter Sekapan), one of the two Sekapan longhouses in Belaga, to reach the cemetery.

The boatman, who is Marta’s father Jeti Manjang, manoeuvred the vessel close to the riverbanks so as to give us a good view of river ‘jambu’ (local guava) trees, which were at the time, in their flowering stage.

The Sekapan cemetery is actually made up of two: the Christian cemetery, and the old kelire’i site. We could see four burial poles, all beautifully carved, still standing; and there were six, which had collapsed due to rotting.

It is learnt that the Sekapans are good boat-builders and, not surprisingly, highly-accomplished and competitive regatta racers. In many past regattas all over Sarawak, many winners were the teams from the Sekapan community.

At Sekapan Peit, there is a 70-paddler longboat on display, and at its community hall, regatta trophies and medals line up on the walls for the visitors to see.

‘Watering hole’

In the early evening, we went to the Belaga Waterfront and sat at a Malay coffeeshop there, where we all ordered ‘mihun goreng’ (fried rice vermicelli).

The operator and his workers were friendly, and even served us their own freshly-opened durians, which they said were ‘welcoming gifts’ for us.

The other diners were friendly and chatty as well – it actually felt like a big family outing.

We later went for a stroll across town. A Cantonese-speaking ‘towkay’ (business owner) stood at his small old wooden shop, where there were only four tables and there was a television set.

I could see a continuous line of customers coming in and out.

My guess was it was the local watering hole that did not offer finger food. Daniel bought a few cans of imported beer for us to bring back to his homestay for our own ‘happy hours’.

There was no late-night cinema, no club and no karaoke joint in Belaga.

Only a few cars made some noises to punctuate the rustic silence throughout the night.

Morning walk

That early morning in Belaga, I was treated to a very serene sight – a blanket of mist over the mighty Rajang River.

Upon seeing this, it crossed my mind that perhaps, this was exactly what Rajah Brooke had seen.

“Could the mist remind him of the one over the moors in Devon?” I wondered.

As the town was ‘waking up’ and the street lights were still on, Ah Lian was already standing at the waterfront, having a very animated conversation with his friends from the wharf.

We joined him.

“I’m an early riser – by 3am, I’m already up and getting things ready for my coffee shop,” he said.

When I told him about the beer place in Belaga the night before, he chuckled and simply said: “Good! Good!”

However, he acknowledged Belaga not having a ‘late night life’.

“Many backpackers would resort to buying instant noodles for late-night hunger pangs.”

It was a bright, sunny morning that day, and Belaga came alive when people from upriver and downriver began to arrive, bringing along with them fruits, vegetables, fish and other produce.

Daniel then took me to visit an antique shop owned by Kapitan Teo Hee Tong.

The place was like a mini-museum, full of Chinese ceramic wares, as well as old Kayan and Kenyah beads, headgears, brass wares, handcrafts, and jewellery items.

As Kapitan Teo was in Kuching at the time, his son allowed us to take photos of the antiques in the shop.

The Junior Teo is a noodle seller, and it is recognised that his ‘kampua’ is the best in town!

According to historian Daniel Chew, the first Hokkien to set foot on Belaga was Neo Teck Hua.

“He arrived in 1880 by boat and was assisted by six locals. The vessel was carrying precious goods like beads, clothing and pottery.

“The boat journey from Kapit to Belaga, at the time, would have taken three days depending on the water level. Upon the completion of Fort Vyner in 1884, the number of Chinese trading in Belaga grew.”

According to Sarawak Gazette, by 1893 there were 14 shops in Belaga town and 15 were being built at the time.

Many of the Chinese traders and their children married the locals, so it would not be a surprise that they could speak Iban and Malay fluently – some could even speak Kayan, Kenyah, Sekapan, Punan and Penan as if these were their own mother tongues.

Harmonious diversity

The Valentine Café is operated by Awen Liew, whose father Liew Fu Chiang, hailed from Kanowit. Awen speaks Kenyah, Iban, Malay and Kayan and is married to an Indian. His modern establishment offers a good menu, with some Foochow dishes and the ‘Labang Fish Rice Vermicelli Soup’ tagged as the signature.

Awang Radin Awang Sulaiman owns several shophouses in Belaga and Bintulu. According to this pensioner, a huge mosque is being built at the end of the Belaga town, next to the SMK Belaga.

The Malay Ketua Kampong for Belaga is Tuan Awang Japar Awang Akhbar. He always makes his round in the morning, meeting his friends and fellow villagers. Just like Awang Radin, he used to be attached to the Health Department Sarawak, but later retired as a chief clerk of SMK Agama Sibu. He returned to Belaga after retirement.

Ah Lian and the owner of the ‘beer place’ are among the Chinese business community in Belaga.

The river express service is run by a Punan, and the land transport businesses are run by Orang Ulus.

I could see how all these things would make you leave a piece of your heart in this wonderful town.