KUCHING: When she received an offer from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in 2012, her mom tried to disapprove her decision to further her studies in Sarawak – as it was far away from home.
Apart from knowing that she needed to take approximately a 1.5 hour flight to fly from Johor to Kuching, Irish Ng Pei Yi, did not have much idea on how Sarawak was like.
“But I was adamant to accept it and embraced myself with life in Sarawak. So, it was my first time visiting Sarawak in 2012 for my degree and I decided to continue my master’s degree there too,” she recalled.
After spending nearly seven years in Sarawak, she is now calling ‘Land of the Hornbills’ as her second home or her ‘kampung’ as she was falling deeply in love with the largest state in the country, over and over again.
She also wrote a book as a gift for Sarawak; titled “Sarawak Rajang River and The People: Living and Coping with Disasters” to let more people know the real beauty of Sarawak.
“When I said Sarawak is beautiful, it is not merely from a tourism standpoint.
“The common impression of Sarawak – richness in cultural diversity, historical heritage and anthropological heritage, the region’s beauty and biodiversity… These are all understatements.
“For me, Sarawak is beautiful for its humbleness, serenity and great ambiance elucidated by the genial Sarawakians. These are what I want to portray in this book,” she said.
Speaking to New Sarawak Tribune recently, Ng described the best part about writing the book was the overall experience and opportunity to engage with the rawest beauty in the nature of every corner along Rajang River, the villages, rivers and small towns.
For her, the most important and valuable thing remains the close relationship she built with the people in Sarawak, especially the villagers and longhouse folks. It was irreplaceable.
Ng also has a foster family in Kanowit where she is called ‘anak rumai panjai’ (daughter of the longhouse) and they welcomed her to ‘balik kampung’ anytime.
“When I am working on this book, I am telling myself that this is the best gift as repayment and appreciation for their existence in my life – love, care, hospitality and the feeling of family are precious gifts to me,” she said.
“This is not only a childhood dream for myself of publishing a book, but to do something significant for this place I called home for nearly seven years.
“It is a gift from me to Sarawak,” she added.
Sarawak Rajang River and The People: Living and Coping with Disasters
The 31-year-old author said the 170-page book is an inspiration to bring readers to Rajang River in Sarawak via picture and words and it consists of an overview of a number of villages all along Rajang River, with mesmerizing riverine scenery.
It documents some interesting stories and anecdotes of the people, homes, lives and cultures of rural riverine communities in detail, particularly on how Sarawak riverine communities cope with disaster by employing local knowledge. Interestingly, religions also play a part in their disaster mitigation.
On top of that, she said the book aims to envision a different angle of definition of disaster to riverine communities. Instead of recounting the stories of despair, this book managed to capture the ability of local riverine communities in turning adverse situations into opportunities.
In some contexts, a flood is seen as “disaster” in some settings, like urban; but on the other side of the spectrum, riverine communities place “pukat” (fishing net) when water rises to catch fish for food.
How did it start?
Ng first visited Rajang River in 2016, right after she enrolled herself into master’s programme and confirmed her research title with her supervisor, Dr Elena Chai. It was a research title under a two-year Fundamental Research Grant Scheme Project entitled “Developing Disaster Relief Protocol for Riverine Communities in Sarawak”.
After passing her proposal defence, the author began her data collection and between that year until her completion of Master of Arts (MA) in 2018.
In 2019, Ng started to work with UNIMAS Publisher after graduating from UNIMAS and pursued her career in Klang Valley.
However, the process to publish the book got delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic; the first batch was finally printed in March last year.
“So, it took almost three years for me to publish the book. I am fortunate enough to have a supportive publisher (UNIMAS Publisher) who accommodates my requests in terms of cover design and editing,” she said.
Ng explained that writing a dissertation is different from a book as publishing a book has another set of market value to be considered.
However, she stressed that the core objective was still to enlarge the pool of audience who are interested to understand about Sarawak.
“In fact many people do know about Sarawak but there is much more beautiful insight stories needed to be shared with the world.
“The style of writing needs to fit the targeted audience, especially the prowess of academicians, students, foreigners and individuals who wish to deep dive into local rural communities,” she said.
Editing, she said, was definitely a tedious work and required massive effective communication with the editorial board and she was glad that she has a very supportive editorial team from UNIMAS Publisher who always work hand-in-hand with her to accommodate the needs of the production of the book.
“Printing will be one of the challenging stages I would say, given that the geographical differences where I am in Peninsular Malaysia, some logistical costs need to be considered for any procurement or agreement that involves transportation.
Reaching the wider market
To ensure her book is able to reach more readers and wider market, Ng approached Gerakbudaya to learn about the opportunity to engage with the distributor.
“I want to know about the process of distributing a title to the market. I did site visits in almost every bookstore, took photos and videos to do my own digital marketing. I talk to the bookstore keepers and request for marketing of the title.
“I have no fear, I only fear if I do not even try so I have been taking any feasible action that is on top of my mind. I know this is the only way I can learn, and also to envision Sarawak to the eyes of the world. I want more people to know about Sarawak,” she said.
She also optimised her resources just to ensure maximum penetration of this book into the market due to some logistical concerns, even though this means that she will not be earning a huge margin of profit.
Ng firmly believed that the onus was on people like her who have the opportunity to live in Sarawak to spread the word of mouth to people who have not been to Sarawak.
She opined that having stereotypes on Sarawak with narratives like “Sarawakians live in trees” is a reflection of the need for a stronger unity in the diverse society.
The book is now available at Kinokuniya, MPH (Midvalley, The Spring Kuching, Nu Sentral), Borders (The Curve, IOI City Mall, Bangsar Village II), Eslite Bookstores, Gerakbudaya (physical and online) as well as Shopee and UNIMAS Publisher official website.
“I never thought that my title would be sitting humbly among other big titles at those prestigious bookstores. And now, I am adding an “author” in my bio, making my childhood language a reality.
“Although I have not received the sales report, there were some enquiries on the book as well as readers who approached me on social media for book orders,” she added.
What’s next?
Ng is currently based in Kuala Lumpur and working in the industry as a researcher. She is also pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) but always makes time to “balik kampung” to Sarawak.
Moving on, she is affirmative that the boiling enthusiasm in her is still wishing to explore more human stories.
“I am hoping to document some heartfelt bite-size stories happening around us in everyday life, giving warmth, compassion, and empathy to people for some peace of mind amidst the hectic urban lifestyle,” she added.
For those who are interested to purchase the book or to know more, can contact Ng via her email rajangriverbook@gmail.com, or visit her Instagram account @irisngpeiyi.
