Wednesday, December 09, 2009

A Rungus 1Malaysia homestay

Kota Kinabalu: Some 30 families in Sugut, Beluran, have initiated their own homestay programme by building a Rungus longhouse in line with the Government's call for people in rural areas to venture into tourism.

Led by the village's chairman of planning and implementation, Jakiy Tayan, they built the longhouse, believed to be first in Beluran, using their own resources.

Taking cue from the 1Malaysia concept, they named the village Kampung Malaysian. It was officially launched on Nov. 28 by Sugut Assemblyman Datuk Surady Kayong who was represented by PKR Rahman Atang.

Jakiy said as a cost-saving measure, they used materials obtained from the jungle to build the longhouse as authentic as possible. Stretching on a 30-acre site, he said, woven Nipah leaves were used as roofing and round timber for its structure.

However, due to the difficulty in obtaining Nibung timber, they had to use planks bought from the local hardware store for the middle "tingkang" floor. The "raised" floor on the each side of the longhouse were built using bamboo.

"It is 80 per cent completed and we are in the midst of constructing the rooms," he said. For a start, they would be building 15 rooms and is in the process of adding another 10 spaces.

The former Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) Chairman said he sponsored nails and diesel to ease the participants' burden.

"The villagers were so enthusiastic about the homestay programme that they pooled their resources to send a young man from the village to study English at the Advanced Management College (AMC) in Karamunsing," he said.

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