REMINISCING THE PAST: HARDSHIPS AND PHYSICAL LABOUR LATE 1930S

4.1 REMINISCING THE PAST: HARDSHIPS AND PHYSICAL LABOUR LATE 1930S

“It was misery back then, really miserable, if we were to carry stuffs we would have to carry it on our backs to carry vegetables from belait, to row our boat, to go by foot, from keriam by small boat from semburu river then we would have to

go on the big ship…it is about three miles from the junction, to carry the load and travel by foot…we don’t stay overnight we would reach there by late afternoon. Around two to 3 in the afternoon we would reach belait. Ah but when the Japanese were here we would stay overnight, took us a few night in kuala balai. There would be the four us back then…back then we would sell tekiding to the city. The active ones were rubber, three miles from the junction, if its dry season but it would be different if it was in the rainy season. There’s no more water in that river, it is damaged by the logging company, there used to be water flowing in that river, water for drinking. ”

My respondent is a retired village chief took his time to tell his story as he looks into space, his paced slowed down as he ventured into his younger days in the village. It was a mix of emotions one moment he was smiling in silence, but I can only imagine what must have gone through as he rekindled his journey as a young man. He was still living in the same area where he once grew up, Mukim Labi, now resides in their own house not far from his late father’s land. There was excitement in his tone as exchange conversations; he was keen on

telling these stories about the Belait ethnic group. I had to repeatedly ask the same question on his experiences growing up in the village as he has the tendency to drift into another dimension of conversation with my grandmother.

He would always mention just how difficult it was growing up as a young Belait in Mukim Labi, their life depended on the river that connects them to Kuala Balai, the area where they sell their produce. The river, one can only imagine the activity it once had with the community commuting back and forth from Kuala Balai to Mukim Labi. Brunei during the years from 1930 until the 1940s did not see any major development, even after the discovery He would always mention just how difficult it was growing up as a young Belait in Mukim Labi, their life depended on the river that connects them to Kuala Balai, the area where they sell their produce. The river, one can only imagine the activity it once had with the community commuting back and forth from Kuala Balai to Mukim Labi. Brunei during the years from 1930 until the 1940s did not see any major development, even after the discovery

“We got the chance to row our boat after Subuh prayers from here all the way to Labi through the river. The big river then into the smaller rivers, it takes about 8 hours or so. If we move here by the break of dawn, we will probably reach there by sunset to Labi, it’s the truth.”

Was this enough to motivate a whole community to out-migrate from their villages? Was agricultural life and poor living conditions so severe that they had to find an alternative home away from home? My respondent described his experiences as miserable as he had to endure long travels with his family but they never left Mukim Labi, they were amongst the few that still reside in the area. Below are a couple of extracts taken from my data to illustrate the living conditions that the Belait natives had in terms of hardship and economic deprivation;

“Ehh dulu ah dari sini ke kuala balai, bukannya nda sengara, kemudian jalan ani dulu, bah jalan kuala balai bah, teriam dulu, semburu hari2 sungkai ke belait, pag2i

sudah jalan, jalan kaki la gi. Sampai lapan jam tu kn ke kuala belait “

“Back in the days from here to kuala balai, it was torturing, then this road did not exist, the route to kuala balai, through Teriam first then semburu everyday by the river to belait, we would leave in the morning by foot. It took us eight hours to get to Belait. ”

“ Di kuala balai tu, kehidupannya kebanyakkannya bekerja sendiri lah. Ada yang ke labi menanam padi; di kuala balai membuat ambulung, keraja membuat ambulung dan hasilnya di hantar ke belait. Ia jua di ha ntar di labi kalau ada banyak padi di

labi; turun drg membawa padi ke belait atau kuala balai”

“In Kuala Balai, life was primarily working alone. Some would go to Labi for padi farming; some would produce ambulung in kuala balai, the products from making ambulung are sent to Belait. It is also sent ot Labi, if there are surplus of padi in Labi they would bring them down to Belait or kuala balai. ”