Lundu-Biawak Road: Nothing much changed since 1972.

Lundu-Biawak Road has been in existence since the year 1972. It was built by the Engineering Corps of the Malaysian Armed Forces. The main purpose of the road (at that time) was to allow for easy movement of troops to fight the communist guerrillas and to make it easy for (Malaysian) folks living along that area to go to Lundu town to buy their daily neccessities. Up till now there is a military camp in Kampung Biawak manned jointly by the Malaysian and Indonsian Armed Forces.

The road was declared open in 1972 by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. He flew in a Nuri helicopter and was proudly welcomed by the populace living along the road. Tun Razak and his entourage had lunch at the house of the late Pemanca (at that time still Ketua Kampong) Anggu Anak Pengarah Otoh.

Very sadly, for the last 36 years of it's existence, nothing much has changed. Millions of ringgit have been extracted from the nearby areas especially in the form of prime timbers. Trade has been in existence between Malaysia and Indonesia even before the road was built. Rubber, pepper and other jungle produce were the main items traded where Indonesians would sell them to Malaysians in exchange for basic needs such as food.

Now that the timber along the road was gone and instead replaced by oil palms estates and farms. The locals have not benefited much except for a lucky few who were meagerly paid as oil palm fruit pickers and other odd jobs in those estates. Mean while, the size of the local customary rights land are declining by the day because more and more areas are cultivated with oil palm. These mini estates and farms are mostly owned by "outsiders" who got hold of the land by "acquiring" them through dubious means.

The question is, even though millions and millions of ringgit have been extracted from that area ever since it is accessible by road, WHY is the road not upgraded and tar sealed up till now?