Power outage angers longhouse chief, political secretaries

KANOWIT: The power disruption affecting longhouses, settlements and houses in Nibong Tada area here on Sept 25 has irked a longhouse chief and two political secretaries to the chief minister.

Tuai Rumah Mathews Chuat Seribu from Nanga Tada Resettlement Scheme said the unwarranted incident happened when he was hosting a farewell dinner for participants of Sibu BASE Jump 2016.

We are aware of the frequent power outage in Nibong Tada area but when it happened during such an important event, I feel like being sabotaged. Mathews Chuat Seribu, Nanga Tada Resettlement Scheme Tuai Rumah

“This is truly embarrassing to me as a host to more than 50 foreigners from 15 countries.

“We are aware of the frequent power outage in Nibong Tada area but when it happened during such an important event, I feel like being sabotaged,” he said when met at his 16- door longhouse on Sunday.

The political secretaries, Romeo Christopher Tegong and Maurice Giri, said the incident had painted a bad image of the longhouse community.

Romeo feared the foreigners might relate to their friends and families in their respective countries about their bad experience during the event.

He said Sarawak Energy Berhad ( SEB) should explain the cause of frequent power outages in Kanowit.

“The visitors come to enjoy their time at the longhouse. But how are they going to enjoy in darkness like tonight?

“If there is possibility to improve the system, we improve and rectify it,” he said.

Maurice regretted that the outages often happened despite Sarawak being known as the main power producer in the country.

“Here we are talking about Bakun, Batang Ai and Murum hydroelectric dams but why are we still having power breakdown?” he asked.

Meanwhile, SEB in its official response explained that the outage that occurred on Sept 25 affecting Rumah Mathews Chuat was caused by bad weather.

According to its spokesperson, two trees fell on the High Tension ( HT) line affecting supply from Sibu Airport substation to Rumah Mathews and the surrounding areas.

“There have also been a number of planned shutdowns affecting the areas this year for the purpose of connecting more rural electrification projects and also for the erection of 500kV transmission lines.

“SEB apologises for the inconvenience caused to our customers in the area as we strive to connect more customers to RES ( Rural Electricity Scheme) and upgrade our distribution and transmission system,” the spokesperson said.