The high cost of living has somehow irked the populace but nothing compares with the livelihood of the 2,000 odd people, mostly of Indonesian Lundayeh descendent, living in Long Bawang in the remote northern tip of Indonesia who endure sky high prices of essential commodities like fuel, cooking gas, food and cement.

Motor cycles are their only workhorses to ferry their goods from Ba’Kekalan, another village in the Sarawak 7th Division that is about 168km from Lawas, a border town between Sabah and Sarawak.

The arduous 40km track from Ba’ Bekalan to Long Bawang will take at least a 9-10 hour walk. This stretch of extreme off-road condition is manned by armed forces at two Malaysian and Indonesian check points.

Recently, a group of four wheel drive enthusiasts from Kota Kinabalu, joined by few hard cores from Lawas embarked on a journey to Long Bawang.

A total of 16 four wheel drives (some are souped up machines) led by Kinabalu Four Wheel Drive Club (KFWDC) and X-Ray radio amateur members Andy Wong, Thompson Teo, Hilary Francis and Fred Leong, joined by Lawas’s Clarence Labo, Denis Paulus, Samuel, John, Jeffery and Walter Paulus in five vehicles took up the challenge to reach the remote village of Long Bawang in Indonesia.

The convoy roared off from Lawas at 9am, taking the Sam Ling timber road to Long Semado where the actual off road sector got really rough and very precarious, and after much recovery, towing and lots of winching process along the way, they finally arrived in Ba’ Kelalan at about 10pm.

The group proceeded straight into the wilderness, a stretch of extreme off-road track or basically motorcycle track across ravines and streams. Hungry and exhausted after crossing numerous obstacles, they eventually arrived in Long Bawang at 2am the next day while the others arrived at 4.30am.

Along the way despite a hazardous one-way road condition, men, women and children on foot were seen earning their living by carrying goods from Ba’ Bekalan while others were on motorcycles pilled up with all sorts of essential commodities, taking them hours or sometime days, depending on the weather, to reach their destination.

For the people it was their normal way of having to cope with life in Long Bawang. A fried chicken wing in a small stall can cost RM7, a bowl of plain Maggie mee at RM5 and a tank of cooking gas at RM90.

When asked why the people there did not cultivate their land to plant vegetables or indulge in fish farming or chicken raring, a businessman from Samarinda known as Pak Yusup replied that they simply cannot afford to pay the high price of fish food or chicken feed and more so, the land is not conducive for cultivation.

“Even our electricity supply is being rotated nightly among the clusters of houses, meaning if we enjoy electricity tonight, we will face darkness the next two nights of so, that is why we are unable to store fresh food,” he said.

The group’s trip had been properly planned through the Lawas off-road people led by Labo, who managed to secure prior approval from the Malaysian and Indonesian Border Posts, despite having to pay toll of RM200 per-vehicle and face some hitches while crossing the borders.

The group’s trip coincided with the Northern Indonesian Pesta Augustus where Long Bawang saw an influx of people from the surrounding areas of Samarinda coming to celebrate the occasion.

After putting up two nights at Yusup’s homestay, the convoy resumed the off-road return journey to Ba’ Bekalan at 8am and than on to Lawas, arriving at 11pm.

However, despite the ordeal the group eventually arrived Kota Kinabalu at around 2am on Sunday (August 17) with an unforgettable experience and witnessing the hardship of the community in Long Bawang. (By FRED LEONG/ MySinchew)