Curiosity Calls

Travelling by sea was long and arduous, but Sui and his family eventually made it to their destination. They were allotted a piece of 15-acres land in Peringkat 5, one of many Peringkats established at Rancangan Sungai Manila. The first few months were challenging as they had to adjust to their new surroundings, but with the help of the other settlers particularly his good friend Hasin, they soon managed to get all their affairs in order. Both Sui and Hasin worked hard to till the land granted to them and cultivated oil palms as well as some fruits. Their wives, Kisoi and Damba were both working in Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) as general workers, commuting daily to their workplace by boarding the Jabatan's truck. After several years, all the hard work paid off. Sui eventually managed to send all his children to school, as he fervently believed that good education was the only way to lift them out of the vicious cycle of poverty. He very much did not want his children to suffer the hard...

Once upon a time in Bayag, Kiulu. In the after math Second World War, Sui, a young Dusun rice farmer was toiling blood and sweat under the blissful heat of the Sun to make ends meet for himself and his pregnant, young wife Kisoi. It was 1952, when a son, firstborn, was born to the couple. Over the next few years, they had 4 more sons and 3 daughters, bringing the total number of their children to 8 (1 didn't make it out of infanthood). With the increasing need of a now enlarged family, young Sui was in deep dilemma. The district of Kiulu in 1960s were still largely undeveloped, and lack of development means lesser economic activities. With the exception of the traditional paddy fields and the recently planted rubber trees in some villages, the rest of Kiulu then were still part of the pristine, Borneo rainforests. Then came 1969. Eager to mirror the success of FELDA programme of his Malayan counterpart Tunku Abdul Rahman, the then Chief Minister of Sabah, Tun Mustapha Harun announc...