Fears Over Kampung Ayer
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - There was a tear in her eye. Perhaps. Maybe it was the ' smoke from the nearby tamu.

You were not sure. But she was certainly in earnest. There was no doubt. Her feeling was deep. How many were like her, you wonder.

What made her so emotional was the subject of her home and village: Kampong Ayer, the very heart of Brunei, where she and her ancestors were born and raised.

"It is going. Fast disappearing," she said sadly.

"So many things have happened since I was a little girl," she added. The country's very heart is bleeding.

"Yes, Brunei's heart is bleeding away," she repeated. She was puzzled. "I do not know why that has happened." She had watched her neighbours moving away. So many had gone to a new life on land.

But she would never leave. "This is the place I was born and I plan to end my life here." She will be with 30,000 or so villagers on the water in their ancient stilt homes to her last day.

However strung along Brunei River like a garland, Kampong Ayer is threatening to become a thing of the past. As time goes by, the lights that twinkled like so many distant stars in an arc on the dark waters are going out one by one.

"That is very sad," she remarked.

"In time there will be no KampongAyer. The heart of Brunei will cease to beat."

And she is right, and regrettably so. Yet it is hard to believe that Kampong Ayer, in years gone by, was the centre of a vast empire.

It was once the throbbing centre of trade and commerce. An interesting description of 19th century Brunei capital by Dr D.E Brown, a well-known writer on Brunei history has this to say.

"Substantial communities were found at or near river mouths where a usually Malay populace attempted to control trade and in some eases tax and control upriver people.

`By far the largest such community was the capital city having a population in tens of thousands.

"Estimates varied tremendously as low as 10,000 toward the end of the century," he added, in a footnote writing in the Brunei Museum Journal. "Almost wholly composed of houses on stilts, it was located in a bend off the Brunei River, some 10 miles inland from a large bay rich in seafoods.

"The city was laid out in three sections, one along the south bank of the river and two along the banks of a tributary where it joined the Brunei River. "The mosque, the palace and the homes of most of the nobility clustered in wards or villages (both called kampong) near the centre.

"Commoner wards of high status were generally upstream of the centre, those of low status generally downstream. "The wards within the capital were distinct social entities, usually similar in structure to a village and commonly named after the occupation of the inhabitants or after a leading man.

"Occupationally specialised wards included those of dip net fishermen, drag net fishermen, throw net fishermen, shell fishermen, palm fibre weavers, rice cleaners, wood workers, brass founders, gold and silversmiths, iron smiths, oil manufacturers, and so on.

"Given a vague tendency for the wards to be ranked, and given the endogamous marriage tendencies of the Brunei's, the occupationally specialised wards were somewhat similar to castes.

"At any rate, occupational specialisation was elaborate by Bomean standards, and clearly linked - albeit loosely - to the status system as well as the village or ward divisions.

"The capital city was a trade emporium which, with the aid of far-flung outposts of Brunei, dominated most coastal and international trade throughout the empire," Professor Brown added.

"Yet you do not have to go too far back in history to savour the teeming, living, vibrant Kampong Ayer that once was. It was so until living memory of many older Bruneians.

"Something terrible is happening," the woman said. "And that is taking place before. my very eyes, as each day passes." What is happening is the result of sheer neglect, others said.

There was once a master plan. That was, perhaps more than a decade ago. Very little is heard of it now. Perhaps it is gathering dust in a forgotten corner of some department.

Effort to revive what is now considered as Brunei's heritage, has been so far half-hearted. There has been no concerted push. One of Brunei's treasures is in danger of being lost forever.

What then can be done to save it? That is a matter that should be taken seriously, many here believe.

If Kampong Ayer is to be rebuilt, its character should be preserved, they say.

Barrack- like habitations should be avoided. Each house should have its own characteristic based on Malay architectural outlook. Already many thinking Bruneians are concerned. That is good. The only thing that remains is sufficient vision and followed by implementation.

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News

Brunei's Fastest Growing Website with