A section of the Cultural Centre in Kampung Gumbang.A section of the Cultural Centre in Kampung Gumbang.
KUCHING (Nov 28): The Cultural Centre at Kampung Gumbang in Krokong, which was built at a cost of over RM1 million, has been fully completed.
Serembu assemblyman Miro Simuh said the Centre portrays the original and authenticity of the Bidayuh Culture in Krokong and Bau as a whole.
He said the infrastructure at the Centre includes a Bidayuh baruk, conference rooms and community hall.
“The homestay facilities are also available, where visitors can experience life in the old-style house made with palm leaves roof and bamboo atap walls,” he said.
Miro said the community hall was built with the fund from his Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) while the other infrastructures were built using the federal government allocation of RM1 million.
He said the most unique and authentic feature at the centre is the baruk, a round building, which was built about 300 years ago.
He said RM100,000 from his RTP fund had been spent to repair the old baruk while maintaining its authenticity.
“In the baruk there are eight human skulls. This baruk is where the community holds their ‘Gawai Ngabang’ every year to appease the spirit.
“Except for this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, every year between 1000 and 2000 people converge at Kampung Gumbang to participate in and to witness the Gawai Ngabang.
“The participants will include the Sungkung, a community from West Kalimantan,” he said.
He said the baruk were also normally used in the olden days by the community to meet and discuss the welfare of the village.
The baruk, which is the remaining heritage of the Bidayuh in the village, is built on stilt, about five feet from the ground.
Kampung Gumbang sits near the Sarawak-Indonesia border, about 40 kilometres from Kuching. It shares the kinship and culture with several Bidayuh villages in West Kalimantan.
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