KINABATANGAN: Returning the Gomantong Cave to the Orang Sungai community here, especially in Suan Lamba, Sukau and Bilit, is among the missions set by Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (pix) if Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) received the peopleâs mandate in the Sept 26 state election.
He said this was because the caveâs natural products, especially as edible birdâs nests, used to be a source of revenue for the state government.
âThe Gomantong Cave used to be a source or income for the people in Kinabatangan.
âOver the past 10 years, however, there was a significant decline in economic activities in Gomantong Cave, forcing the locals to move to bigger towns to find a new source of income,â he told reporters after attending the meeting with BN election machinery in Suan Lamba near here.
Bung Moktar said by returning the cave to the people here would not only help them to earn a living, but would also open up more job opportunities, especially to the local youths.
Gomantong Cave is a limestone cave inhabited by wild swiftlets whose valuable nests were harvested as nutritional food for human consumption.
The introduction of the tender system by the then state government for collecting birdâs nests from the cave, however, had denied the customary right of the Orang Sungai community.
For centuries, the Gomantong Cave has been a renowned producer of the worldâs best edible birdsâ nests. The cave was inherited by the Orang Sungai community through an agreement between the Buluh Upid tribe and the British North Borneo Company in 1884. â Bernama
