We had an interesting visit to Kampong Iran, after I was tipped off about a century old Malay(?) house. I asked some friends about getting to Kampong Iran which was by the banks of the Suai River.
suai river is a large river and was famous for tales of Iban migration. At the same time the Vaie people of Bintulu also make claims of their settlements in the Suai Valley up to Kampong Iran.
The name Iran could be a short form of the Malay word Hairan so there was a legend about the settlement of Vaie people in that kampong. The pioneers were said to say "Hairan." when they saw an appiration there., Nevertheless they decided to chose the left bank of the Suai River at that spot and settled down there. Thus Kampong Iran developed from that time onwards.
The folks here are mainly Vaie people and Ibans who live in their seperate longhouses along the river. They were originally padi farmers sponsored to start farming in the Suai valley by Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke. /the hardworking Ibans were also agressive jungle product foragers, exporting rattan, jelutong and damar to Niah and even Miri. Later when timber merchants came to the Sua, they were also very industrious loggers.
Today the Ibans in the Suai grow their own oil palm.
fishing has been a mainstay of both the Vaie and the Ibans. Prawn fishing is a local tourist attraction here.
The photo is of a hardworking fisherman who has fashioned a boat from a repurposed blue water tank.
It was a good visit for my friend Chen Lu (Mei Sieng) and I.
although there were some language problems, we managed to speak to some Iban ladies who were waiting for their children studying in SK Kampong Iran (a very modern 21st century school). The ladies were so friendly that they were willing to share their lunch with us.
The Iban ladies were comfortable sitting on the floor of the pengkalan (ma tou) while waiting throughout the morning. There is no shop in Kpg Iran for these ladies to wait.
The scene brought into my mind the Hua Khiaw coffee shop in Sibu where Iban ladies waited for their school going children the whole morning. These Iban ladies have come all the way from the villages of Bintangor to send their children to Methodist Primary School in Sibu.
Longhouse women do that for their children when there is no boarding facilities for primary school nearby.
This is now a new kind of social phenomenon. Iban mothers are so aware that they have to send their children to school no matter what....
NO MATTER WHAT.....
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