Penambang of Sarawak River

Bor mengebor rak mengerak

bunyi perahu melanggar ombak

Kampunglah gersik,kampung boyan ,kampung semarang

ya sayang

sourabaya ulu,panglima seman

di kampung ulu sinjan,ke kampung Lintang

Dari sinjan ke pengkalan batu

singgah di ceko ke pasar minggu

o ya sayang

o ya sayang

bawa penumpang sepanjang malam.

1.For those who are not sarawakian,this song is dedicated to Pak Tambang of sarawak River that his job carrying passenger across the river from the village across the river to the other side.This song is aired in the radio during middle and end of 1980's.On that i'm still in primary school..mm about 9 to 11 years old.So when wake up and want to go to school,almost every morning i can heard this song. Its just an ordinary song telling the Pak Tambang daily life crusing the river from morning to midnight.From which location to which location.I did blogging about pak tambang before,a few months ago.

2.In my previous blog,my blog is relating the proposed bridge that will be build from the new Dewan Undangan Negeri to other side of the river.It maybe useful for tourist or people who lived across the river,but for Pak Tambang..the future hold nothing but confrontation (huhu sound like lyric from song)

3. No one knows about the reality and life of Pak tambang beside the villagers living by the rivers and daily users of this Pak Tambang..( it was me before..)So where should i start,i live at the kampung of sarawak River Shore not exactly near to river but my kampung is near to river..its kampung semarang.nearby to kampung panglima seman and kampung pulo(exactly between).So during the years 1960 and 1970's according tomy fahter,when there is no jambatan Tun Abdul Rahman at Satok,there is no car in our road kampung.

4. So when everybody want to go for working,go to town ,go to school they use Penambang or sampan.So penambang is the main transportation on that time.as what i can recall during my childhood days,early 1980's is when car entered our kampung Road.But still that time people prefer using penambang as it save time and money of course.You see,Kuching is made from several island and lagoon(if usee from google earth) the Kampung and city centre is just opposite each other but it takes times using car to reach for the destination.

5. My father was a marine police and work at Bintawa Marine police base andto save time etc we stay at the police quarters.When we want to return to Kampung semarang,so we use the penambang.The jetty is at Padungan area at jalan Ang Cheng Ho( not far from the elephant Bistro and snooker centre).The jetty shared by Kampung Pulo ulu to..and not far from the jetty there was "Tukang Besi" area which blacksmith working and staying there.And there was Kampung Buah Jetty which used by kampung Buah folks from across the river (Kampung Buah is another name for Kampung Panglima Seman lama..actually buah in malay meaning fruit but until today i cannot relate the fruit and the village)
6. And so on,time change..Tukang Besi Area now become part of Kuching history and Tukang Besi(Blacksmith area) now become Blacksmith Road and now there is condominium there.At present time there is two other bridge build along sarawak river beside Tun Abdul Rahman Bidge at satok..one at Demak Jaya and the other one is Jamabatan Tun Salahuddin at Bintawa area.So road access to Kampung area nowadays is easier and much better.But the other side of reality,Penambang become an endangered job.There is few jetty that have not used for several years and demolished like :-

a.Bintawa tengah and Bintawa Ulu jetty(both at kampung and opposite river)-beside old Kuching Port Authority
b.The kampung buah and Tukang besi jetty(now become condominium)
c.Kampung panglima seman Ulu Jetty(in kampung)
d.Kampung Pulo tengah and Hilir

7.Compare to Kampung Upriver(Kampung seberang Ulu) Lot of the jetty still in operation.Or like at Kampung Boyan,pengkalan haji Omar,the jetty is still active with local kampung people and tourist using it.But for those who doesnt know,there is slightly differences sampan use by the upriver kampung and my kampung.I dont have the photo with me but most of the difference is :-
a.the size of the boat
b.the boatmen(pak tambang location) at ulu the pak tambang is in front while in kampung hilir the pak tambang is behind.
c.and usually pak tambang in my kampung area is local fro kuching while the others are from kota samarahan.

8.Yes Kota samarahan,and its far from kuching considered they use their boat to come to Kuching...away from their home..the Pak tambang actually sleep inside their boat,eating,praying and doing other stuff there..so pity of them.They come with shift.ususally for one week a month in Kuching and change their shift with other members.Life nowadays is not like during 1960's,1970's and 1980's.I can say it that this is not their time anymore,people prefer travelling by land than using penambang.penambang is just merely become Kuching iconic symbol..sarawak River with Pak Tambang..thats all..

9. During my school years i always use penambang to go to school ..that was on 1995 and 1996(my form 6 at s.m.b st thomas)During that time school children charge 10 cent ,adult 20 cent,compare to today it rise 10 cent..(what i heard from my father during 70's it cheaper..)..For those school children using the penambang,usually they went to :-

a.smb st thomas
b.smb st mary
c.kuching high school
d.st theresa
e.st joseph etc etc...

10. that time,i use my uncle bike (yamaha 100) and then park the bike at kampung boyan then use penambang then walk about 5 minutes to school..i remember one incident ,morning times,we were nearly accident as the pak tambang actually customised his boat into something weird,he change the navigator into a car stering..just imagine,its hard to control when the navigator which was simple then customised into car stering..and so a fisherman boat pass infront of us..the wave give a big impact,the pak tambang doesnt have enough time to navigate it and we nearby drown...

perghh that was really scary experience for me..as i dont know how to swim heheh

this story will be continue other time in another blog topics..as now pak tambang still exist,but it likely to become extinct soon..huhu