The Labi Longhouses

Labi, a rural settlement scattered on either side of the road, is a centre for fruit production and other agriculture. Lime, orange, rambutan, jackfruit, cempedak, durian, and other tropical fruits are all grown in the area. The Labi Hills are also an example of a classic oil trap - an anticline - which was spotted very early in the history of oil exploration in the country and probed by 18 wells between 1911 and 1988, many of which found hydrocarbons but none in commercial quantities. In fact the Belait-2 well, drilled in 1913, was the first hydrocarbon discovery in Brunei Darussalam. The find was not commercial however and oilmen had to wait 16 years more before the first exploitable find was made in Seria.

The road through Labi crosses a number of bridges the last of which is at Sungai Rampayoh. After that the road is no longer sealed but is still passable in a saloon car. Along the dirt road are a number of Iban longhouses, the principal ones being Rumah Panjang Mendaram Besar (Rumah Panjang means longhouse) and Rumah Panjang Teraja. Longhouses in Labi are no longer built with palm leaves and the last traditional one in the area disappeared in the mid-1980s. Now longhouses are made from wooden planks with corrugated iron roofs. Modern staircases have replaced the traditional notched log that used to be common. Rumah Panjang Mendaram Besar which has 12 doors and is home to some 100 people, still has a wooden roof and the floor area comprises planks and split nibong palm. It is three kilometres from the start of the unsealed road on the right hand side.

Most men at the longhouse work with the Government or Brunei Shell, commuting daily or weekly to Seria or Kuala Belait. Built in 1971, the longhouse has piped water and a generator for electricity. Inhabitants grow some vegetables, plant padi and keep chickens. Pigs can be seen foraging below the stilted building. Children go to the Rampayoh primary school three kilometres away but when they reach lower secondary level they have to go to school in Kuala Belait and live in hostels.

Longhouses are not permanent. When they start falling apart, the inhabitants simply build another a short distance away choosing a new site because they have to live in the old longhouse until the new one is complete. Each family member plays a part in the construction and each family is responsible for the building of its own 'door'.

The six-door Rumah Panjang Teraja at the end of the 11.5-kilometre long unsealed road was constructed in 1987 and is now home for 30 people. Like Mendaram Besar, it is quiet during the week with workers away in Seria and Kuala Belait. It has a full complement only for important celebrations such as Gawai, the rice harvest festival, at the beginning of June when celebrations go on for a week and visitors are welcome. The longhouse has its own generator and in 1991 completed a project to draw water from the Teraja waterfall (see page 120). The residents grow their own fruit and vegetables including pineapples, pumpkins, beans, mangosteens and bananas and rear pigs and chickens. They also plant padi.