Beridang (right) and other villagers show the ever-nearing riverbank.
LAWAS (April 22): Kampung Baru Mission is situated next to the Lawas River.
The once-strategic location, when the village was established some 50 years ago, could now be the reason it disappears completely as riverbank erosion has been worsening since the 1990s.
Spokesman Beridang Tuie, 59, said acres of land have already disappeared along with a church, several houses, and a football field.
“We have brought up this issue many times to the relevant authorities, including the district office in the past years, but until today, there has been no news on whether or not there will be repair works to stop the erosion,” he claimed today.
According to him, the villagers have grown tired of waiting for assistance from the relevant parties, especially for long-term solutions to the decades-long issue.
He said there was previously some effort to prevent further erosion whereby sandbags were put along the riverbank from the Maktab Injil Malaysia Bible school to the village.
“However, that project was a failure. I actually went to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) in Limbang to bring the issue to their attention. It was before my house collapsed and fell into the river.
“I requested for them to do piling works along the river but later was told to get assistance from other parties instead,” he claimed.
More erosion occurred in the past two days following heavy rain.
According to him, the erosion has now gotten very close to the village road, especially in the last two days following heavy rain.
“If it’s raining heavily again, our concern is that this part of road would be underwater. And how would villagers who live further inside come out then?” he asked.
A visit to the village earlier today found that part of the road was just one metre away from the riverbank, while tiles in the village church were showing cracks.
“We have nowhere else to turn to. It is our hope that the state government would step in and help us overcome this problem which is getting more serious day by day,” Beridang stressed.
When met, several other villagers also voiced their concern over the worsening situation.