Sarawak: Not So “Ulu” After All

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Sarawak’? For some Malaysians living in the Peninsular, the first thought that comes to their mind is ulu (meaning rural). Lots of idea bubbles form in their mind wondering if Sarawakians still live in the Paleolithic age – living on trees and travel by ‘sampans’.

There are quite a number of Sarawakians studying and working in Peninsular Malaysia, and I am part of the statistics. I came across the South China Sea to further my studies at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, and I have been studying here for almost four years. In that duration, I have been asked funny questions in regards to Sarawak.

In 2006, when I stepped foot in UCSI U to start my Foundation year, I remember the shocked facial expressions of my West Malaysian friends when I introduced myself as a Sarawakian. The ‘interrogation session’ started right away, as if I was a foreigner from another country!

The questions ranged from “Oh! You are from Sarawak! Sarawak is quite ulu, how did you come here?”, “In Sarawak, do you still stay on trees? There got electricity and road or not?” to“Sarawak is in Sabah, right?” I was lost for words and perplexed at their ignorance. Those were the weirdest question I have ever heard. I had to pause for a while to think of a suitable answer.

Simply wanting to find out more about their perception towards Sarawak, I told them that “Sarawakians still do stay on trees but we use lifts to go up to the tree tops“. “As for transportation, we still use small boats although we have highways simply because we love the environment and nature”. Surprisingly, some of them didn’t get the joke!

A friend of mine, who hails from Sabah, was also bombarded with the same ridiculous questions as well. We compared notes, and we were very shocked to find out that our hometowns were actually stereotyped as ulu and our lifestyles perceived as similar to those in the Paleolithic age. I was disappointed because all of us are Malaysians staying under one ‘roof’ with just the South China Sea separating Malaysia into East and West.

Contrary to popular belief that Sarawak is a rural state, it is actually well-developed in industries like Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), tropical hardwood timber and black pepper. In Bintulu, Sarawak’s LNG plant is one of the largest in the world with the production capacity of 26 million cubic meters. On top of that, Sarawak is also famous for its timber industry as more than 80% of the tropical hardwood timber from Sarawak is exported to the Japanese market. Likewise in the black pepper industry, Malaysia ranks fifth as the world’s pepper exporter, and Sarawak produces more than 90% of the pepper in the country.

Even though Sarawak profits from its industries, it is still not as well-developed as Peninsular Malaysia. But in Sarawak we have properties, roads and transportation just like what you see in the Peninsular. However in comparison, the development of Sarawak is still very much left behind and needs to be enhanced further for the benefit of its ‘rakyat’.

It is the hope of every Sarawakian for more focus and attention to be given by the ruling government to boost the infrastructure and facilities in order to ensure balanced development throughout the country. After all we are 1Malaysia.