About 1,000 in Lusong Laku ‘cut off from the outside world’
KUCHING: Some 1,000 people, mostly Penans of Lusong Laku, are now virtually cut off from the outside world following the collapse of two bridges along the 30km road leading to the area.
Penan community chief Penghulu Luhat Ayup has raised urgent concerns over their livelihood and well-being.
“We are living very far away in the interior of Sarawak. With the collapse of the two bridges, we are now totally cut off from the outside world and I am very worried about the fate of my community.
“So we would like to appeal to the government for immediate assistance as we need the road very badly,” Luhat told thesundaypost yesterday.
He is appealing for urgent repair of the two bridges and upgrading of the road.
“The whole stretch of road is a former logging road. But since logging activities have been reduced significantly in recent years, the logging companies have stopped maintaining the road,” he said.
A Kayan community leader Pemanca Umek Jeno said community leaders and elected representatives of the area have met Friday night and had written a letter addressed to the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing for immediate assistance.
“In the letter, we are seeking RM10 mil to upgrade the road, build bailey bridges to replace the current timber bridges and to improve the drainage system so that it would ease communication to the people living in Lusong Laku,” said Umek.
He disclosed there are currently a school, a health clinic and an agriculture station at Lusong Laku and that the collapsed bridges have also affected the lives of the government servants working there.
“Before Hari Raya Aidilfitri the teachers and government servants there did the gotongroyong but the bridges can’t last,” he said.
Umek said, the local community leaders have been instructed by their elected representatives, namely Murum assemblyman Kennedy Chukpai Ugon and Hulu Baram MP Datuk Wislon Ugak Kumbong to assist a logging company that still operates there to repair the bridges as temporary measure.
“But a long-term solution has to be put in place to ensure the people including civil servants serving in the area could have better road accessibility,” said Umek
Meanwhile, when contacted, Masing said even though he had not received the said letter from the elected representatives from the area, he will send his men to assess the situation before he could comment further on the matter.