Sibu Tales: Boat Hawkers

There are only a few boat hawkers or floating grocery shops left in the Rajang River.

The Foochows call these boats Mandong Xun. The boatmen who are actually shopkeepers who ply along the river to offer all sorts of sundry goods to the villagers. Sometimes they are also the middle men for some of the local produce like rice, pineapples, fruits and even chickens and ducks.

Many of the Iban longhouses and Malay kampongs actually need their services, especially if they are not serviced by rural roads.

the River Hawking Business has been affected by three significant social and political changes in the Rajang. First the Communist Insurgency in the 1960's put a stop to many of these hawkers and their business. They were either stopped by government regulations (curfews) or by their own choice. Many of these hawkers packed up and left for either Sibu or other places like Limbang, Lawas or Kota Kinabalu if they had the financial means.

Secondly, the fast Express boats in the 1980s provided fast transport and many villagers could go to get their own provisions in Sibu. By then many villagers had already left for the bigger towns too.

When the government started to build roads to join Sibu to Bintangor, SArikei, Belawai, and other parts of the west banks of the Rajang, it was deemed unnecessary for river boats to supply provisions.

Hence a micro culture in the Rajang Basin, familiar to many of the Foochows and others who are now in their 60's and above, has taken a back seat and may one day be covered by the sands of time.

My maternal grandmother had a tenant family in her Nang Chong house. He owned a bandung boat. He would leave before day break and sail down river as far as 16 Company and sometimes even to Bintangor. His customers were mainly Ibans who lived in the longhouses along the river.

He would be bringing home mats and rice. Whenever he came back at sunset we would run to his boat to buy his ice cream potong or ping teal.

He also served a post man, delivering letters to the Cooperative Society next door. People from further inland would collect their mails from the Cooperative or Hak Chok Sia.

Recently I met up with the canteen operator who used to own a few boats, including a Bandong boat. He said that the bandong boat business is really on the way out of our social system.