Transforming future for Lawas and Limbang
IT HAS always been the personal dream of Second Planning and Resource Management Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan to transform his hometown of Lawas in Limbang Division into a bustling economic zone since he entered politics in 1981.
“It is a difficult challenge but I am determined to do it. My first and second terms as assemblyman (of Lawas, and now Bukit Sari) have been focused on developing infrastructure like roads, water treatment plants and electricity supply in the far reaches of Lawas and Limbang,” he told reporters on a tour of Lawas organised by the State Information Department recently.
Lawas, with a population of 40,000 in a 3,811.9 sq km area, is a district that shares its borders with Sabah and Brunei. Lying at the foot of Gunung Murud, its fertile soil and agrarian culture has made it the main supplier of poultry, meat, fish, vegetables, rice and even mountain salt to Brunei and the southern areas of Sabah.
Scenic: A fishing boat moored in Kampung Awat-Awat.
Lawas’ signature product is a smoked fish called tahai produced by the Malays in Kampung Awat-Awat, a 120-year-old water village in Sundar district.
Awang Tengah said: “The transformation of Awat-Awat gives me the greatest satisfaction. When we built the road to Awat-Awat and I saw how excited the villagers were, I could not help but shed tears.”
He stayed in Awat-Awat for two months during his school days and fully understood how inaccessible the village was.
Far from the administrative centre in Lawas town, the people there lived in poverty and enjoyed no basic amenities, but today, Awat-Awat is among the most densely-populated villages in Lawas.
For the album: Group photo of a media group taking part in the Kembara Media 2010 programme organised by the Information Department of Sarawak in Kampung Bestari Tang Itong Lawas.
With about 160 houses on stilts in the middle of the Brunei bay estuary, it has become a tourist attraction.
The 1,400 villagers are mainly fishermen and are major suppliers of fish and prawn. Aside from the tahai, which is sold at RM22 per kg in Lawas town, they also produce fish crackers and sambal paste.
Awang Tengah said, besides the road link to Awat-Awat, the state had spent millions on upgrading a plank walk in the village and other infrastructure and amenities.
Touching on agriculture development in Lawas, Awang Tengah said an agreement had been signed with Brunei to make Lawas and Limbang the suppliers for halal food to the sultanate.
Beautiful faces: Kampung Bestari Tang Itong’s children in attractive Lun Bawang traditional costumes.
Brunei will market the product in the outside world.
“We supply fish and fish products to Brunei. We also supply meat, chicken, rice and organic vegetables,” he said, adding that the local economy had been boosted by oil palm and rubber plantations and other cash crops.
Awang Tengah said that tourism was a new industry to explore and Lawas was naturally endowed with attractions like hot springs, highland areas, beautiful beach fronts, waterfalls and the majestic Gunung Murud, Sarawak’s highest mountain.
In February next year, Lawas’ first three-star hotel, the five-storey Seri Malaysia, will be opened. It will have 104 rooms, two meeting rooms and a banquet hall to accommodate 500 people.
Earning a living: Lydia Radang of Long Tuma Lawas demonstrating how she rolls clay into beads.
Awang Tengah said a 12-storey annexe would be built next to the hotel in its second phase to house a shopping complex, offices and more hotel rooms.
There are also plans to make Lawas and Limbang the power-generating centres of northern Sarawak.
Brunei is keen to buy the electricity and has urged Sarawak to speed up the construction of two hydroelectric dams in two divisions. The dams have the potential to produce 345MW of power.
Awang Tengah, who has been assemblyman for the area for 23 years, is excited about the future of Lawas and Limbang.
With his deep-rooted connection with the land and partly responsible for transforming it into a jewel of the north, Awang Tengah is fulfilling his dream.
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