Money burnt on fuel

River transportation cost up by three folds making economic activities extremely difficult for longhouse folk

ENGKILILI: When rural dwellers asked to be given fuel subsidies to ease their burden, it is no small joke or any political gimmick. The reality is that they have been struggling under the strain of the recent fuel price hike, with transportation cost eating into much of their earnings. In Rumah Rantai in Lepong, Kepayang for example, a return trip to the nearest market, which used to cost about RM250 in petrol now costs RM700.

“This is the problem we are facing since the increase in the price of petrol,” villager Karim Gerambong, 38, said. “With such high cost, we are finding it hard to do things that we need to do in town. We are losing on so many important things like marketing our goods and making government-related documents because we are finding it too expensive to travel,” he said. Yet for the folk of Rumah Rantai, travelling along the Skrang River is their only means of getting to town. It means they have to fill up the tanks of their outboard engines and head for Pangkalan Murat before taking a ride along a dirt road to Engkilili.

“Petrol is sold at RM14 a gallon at Pangkalan Murat and for a return trip we will need at least 40 gallons. This is actually the amount of petrol used when the river is shallow, which is when the longboats have to be pulled part of the way and engines are idle. But if the water level allows us smooth travel and our outboard engine runs all the way, we will be using more petrol. So you see, the present fuel price is really killing us,” Karim said. He said the recent drastic increase in fuel prices was, therefore, causing a lot of hardship to the longhouse folk.

“Yes, we do look forward to the promised subsidy that has been bandied around by the government because in the present situation, our economy is being burnt by our outboard engines,” Karim said. He said the villagers were hoping that the subsidy would be extended to owners of outboard engines so that some form of normal economic activities could be carried out especially where they involved movements along the river. Karim also expressed the hope that the government would build a road to link the longhouse to the “outside world”, saying river transportation was really going beyond the means of rural villagers.