Kota Kinabalu : Some 30 families in Sugut, Beluran, have initiated their own homestay programme by building a Rungus longhouse in line with the Government's call for people in rural areas to venture into tourism.
Led by the village's chairman of planning and implementation, Jakiy Tayan, they built the longhouse, believed to be first in Beluran, using their own resources.
Taking cue from the 1Malaysia concept, they named the village Kampung Malaysian. It was officially launched on Nov. 28 by Sugut Assemblyman Datuk Surady Kayong who was represented by PKR Rahman Atang.
Jakiy said as a cost-saving measure, they used materials obtained from the jungle to build the longhouse as authentic as possible. Stretching on a 30-acre site, he said, woven Nipah leaves were used as roofing and round timber for its structure.
However, due to the difficulty in obtaining Nibung timber, they had to use planks bought from the local hardware store for the middle "tingkang" floor. The "raised" floor on the each side of the longhouse were built using bamboo.
"It is 80 per cent completed and we are in the midst of constructing the rooms," he said. For a start, they would be building 15 rooms and is in the process of adding another 10 spaces.
The former Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) Chairman said he sponsored nails and diesel to ease the participants' burden.
"The villagers were so enthusiastic about the homestay programme that they pooled their resources to send a young man from the village to study English at the Advanced Management College (AMC) in Karamunsing," he said.
Jakiy said they hope to complete the longhouse by March next year so that people could start visiting the premise.
"We will be showcasing various tourism products, in particular from the Rungus tribe, such as our culture, handicraft skills in weaving and beads-making and daily normal lives of the people," he said.
In addition, visitors would have the opportunity to witness traditional harvesting of honey if they visit the longhouse in September.
Jakiy said because most Rungus have nowadays embraced modern lifestyle, the previous way of life was almost "extinct".
So, to let the visitors have a feel of the situation then, he said they have prepared a special programme for the visitors.
To officially launch the homestay programme, they plan to invite State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
"We also hope the Government would render us some assistance especially to build a bathroom facility for visitors," he said.
At the same time, he said they hope the relevant authority would speed up the gazetting of the village so that the villagers could commence on their income-generating activities.
He also said they hope to link the homestay programme with the Tourism Ministry for it to be better promoted. Also planned is a website so they could "sell" the programme to a wider audience.
Jaiky said the longhouse would be slightly different compared to other homestay programmes because prayer houses and burial grounds from each of the major religions would be constructed for the convenience of the participants and visitors.
They would also be preparing a site for the construction of relevant government departments or agencies to build their office there.
