In the past the seasons were very regular and the pace of life revolved around this regularity. The skies were clear and the rainy season came with the regularity of women’s menses.
The building and development of the towns and cities in Sarawak was slow, but addressed the needs at the times. People were slowly becoming home owners and becoming more affluent. Traffic in the towns and cities was bad, but not grid locked.
Everyday life was slow and uncomplicated. We visited more, talked and socialized more with our neighbors. Our children played outside with the neighbor’s children and they asked for fewer things. We had more time to spend with our children.
What happened in the 1990’s? Life became like life in the 1960’s in the USA. The economy was booming, more and more people were becoming middle class.
People bought more cars one or two or more per family. The cities became nightmares for getting around and in towns you avoided going into the town centre on certain days and at certain times.
Contractors built shop houses and condominiums like there was a never ending supply of buyers and occupants. Hugh projects were proposed, started and completed.
During the early nineties in Sarawak there were small changes. The school calendar was changed to accommodate the landas season. This became unnecessary when the landas slowly changed. There were more periods of drought during this time.
This was the time the stock market was booming. Housewives were learning how to speculate there. Every bank was going into the mutual fund market. New banks were popping up like mushrooms.
In 1997 the month of May the Coxsackie B - Virus started. Seven and half months later, after the closure of all nurseries and kindergartens, thirty three children were dead. The exact cause is still unknown.
Then came the blanket of haze from our neighbor to block the blue skies and send alarm bells ringing all over South East Asia. Schools and Offices were closed. We woke up to a blanket of smoke each morning.
This haze went away, but the ringgit went down, down, down. Will it stop? Many students came back from overseas. Slowly the value of the ringgit went down and it was harder to send money for children’s education overseas. Stocks were unstable and projects were stopped.
When the New Year came in 1998, we hoped for a better year to come. Everyone was excited about the double celebration - Chinese New Year and the Hari Raya. Housewives were cleaning and cooking. Then the water was no more.
Now the struggle was on to wash, cook, and bathe and clean. The guest was to find water, store it and conserve it. Everyone was carrying water to their homes from pipes near the road. Carry, lift, and pour. How long would it last?
In 1998 rationing was on now. Don’t flush that toilet and don’t let the tap run. My plants were dying, the cars were dirty and my sheets were unchanged.
What was to come now? Fires, fires all around the town in Tudan, Pujut and Lambir. Ash was everywhere - on the screens, on the floors, on the porches and in the garages. Also there was smoke. You could smell it and see it each morning inside your home.
We looked out each morning to see how thick the haze was. Could we see the neighbor’s houses across the street? If we could, it wasn’t that bad and if we couldn’t it was really bad.
We considered if we should keep our children home each day or send them to school? We listen to the coughs of all the family members. Would my child get over her cold? We needed our face masks to go to school.
When would the fires be put out? As soon as a fire was out a new one started. Would we get more haze from our neighbor as the drought continues?
Driving in the haze to school each day, we saw completed empty shop houses and condominiums, or more of these being built. Where were the buyers and tenants? Some projects were half built - or businesses closed – Bakun, Saeaga Air and Sime Bank.
Our students were still coming home with shattered dreams. The consumers saw it everyday when buying chicken, rice, vegetables and other necessities. What has happened to the paradise? Would it ever return, or was it lost forever?
