By Sidi Munan
her, I hope that the politicians of all descriptions, canvassing for votes in the by-election concluded yesterday, have also discovered a place of predilection of their own – Lundu, not a bad place to visit at all. A visitor’s first sight of a place is an important feedback for tourism planning. The assumption is that he may return for the second or the third time. New tourist destination Personally, however, I would not like to see Lundu as a tourist destination without its basic assets having been properly assessed and action plans made before the visitors descend in large numbers on the town. Water must always be available at all times; its current source at Gunung Gading is not even enough to cater for the local population. How can it supply the new tourism facilities? The scenic attractions of Lundu must remain unspoilt; its people’s friendliness must not be exploited. The locals must be able to participate meaningfully in the industry. I don’t mean that a few will be employed as bellboys and chambermaids, I mean as managers of those hotels! The government should help local investors with funds for their participation in the industry; its resorts and restaurants must be properly regulated. The council should improve its practice of rubbish collection and disposal.
In fact, for many years now, Lundu has been attracting visitors from within Sarawak and occasionally from overseas without any officially generated publicity, just the individual efforts of a few private entrepreneurs.
The road to the end of Sarawak
Tourism potential is great indeed if and when the road to Telok Melano (TM) is completed and sealed. The seaboard flank of the road may be earmarked for tourism related developments. For this purpose, sealed spur roads leading to the beaches at Telok Parek, Labuan Gadong, Telok Serabang and Tanjong Datu would be necessary.
Again, where does one get the fresh water for all the resorts and homes there? The Bengoh Dam may have to come to the rescue soon. Power supply – all the way from Batang Ai or Bakun – will be no problem I should imagine. I’m sure all these tourism supporting facilities are being planned by that nebulous entity ‘the authorities’.
Needless to say, foreign investment is necessary for all these projects to be successfully sustained over a long time.
I’m looking forward to driving on that road and meeting with some old friends at the village of TM.
Other attractions are plenty on the way to TM. At Telok Parek, there’s a place where crabs are (were?) plenty. I don’t know what the crabbing situation is now. For those who love crocodiles, there are plenty of them at the Samunsam Wild Life Sanctuary. There will be the River Samunsam to cross; let nobody try to wade the river, even at its shallowest part. There lurks real danger.
It is tempting to cross (by boat) to the Turtle Islands of Talang-Talang but they are out of bounds to ordinary visitors though I have seen people scuba diving around them. May be the authorities should think in terms of allowing visitors to spend a few hours on a day trip to the islands (confine the visit to the bigger island –Talang-Talang Besar). Priority should be given to those members of the Turtle Adoption Programme.
The town planners may like to think of how to divert visitors to Sematan Bazaar once the road to Telok Melano is completed. I fear the bazaar will languish as people from Kuching travel in the direction of Tanjong Datu, bypassing it.
A small trading bazaar is bound to appear at TM itself. As more border trading takes place, a customs/immigration checkpoint may be necessary there. There are bound to be visitors/traders to and from across the border. I won’t be surprised if turtle eggs and similar ‘prohibited items’, easily available at Pulo Serasan (Indonesia), will turn up in the TM market.
Smugglers will find this village nearer than Sematan itself. From TM many things can be transported all the way to Kuching by road. Semiprocessed timber (bata) will find easy market in sawmills around Kuching; at present such materials come by boat.
In the 1960s, Sematan was a booming bauxite mining town; since the Japanese Occupation time, it has been a transit point for most of the smuggled goods from Indonesia. The last role is in danger of being lost to TM.
That’s the price of progress, mate.
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