Belaga District Office
Belaga District Office. Sarawak Sarawak Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...
Total population	37,102 (2010 census)
Ethnic composition	Kenyah, Kayan, Punan Punan Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia. They are distinct, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found in Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have been living time immemorial. They do... , Penan Penan The Penan are a nomadic aboriginal people living in Sarawak and Brunei. They are one of the last such peoples remaining. The Penan are noted for their practice of 'molong' which means never taking more than necessary... , Kajang & Tanjung

Belaga is the capital of the Belaga District (19,403.2 square kilometers) in the Kapit Division

Kapit Division

Kapit Division, formed on April 2, 1973, is the seventh of eleven administrative divisions in Sarawak, east Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It has a total area of 38,934 square kilometers, and is the largest of the administrative divisions of Sarawak....

 of Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

 in east Malaysia. It is located on the upper reaches of the Rajang River

Rajang River

The Rajang River is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. The river is located in northwest of Borneo and it originates in the Iran Mountains. The river flows approximately 563 km to the South China Sea, making it the longest river in Malaysia....

, some 120 kilometers northeast of Kapit

Kapit

The town of Kapit is the capital of the Kapit District in the Kapit Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia on the south bank of the Rajang River. The district comprises 15,595.6 square kilometers and as of 2002 has a population of 60,200....

 as the crow flies but considerably further on the river and slightly less than 100 kilometers from the South China Sea coast near Bintulu

Bintulu

Bintulu is a coastal town, and the capital of Bintulu District in the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is about 650 kilometers from Kuching and about 215 kilometers from either Sibu or Miri....

. It is located within the Hulu Rajang

Hulu Rajang

Hulu Rajang, in the state of Sarawak, is Malaysia’s largest parliamentary constituency. At 31,817 km2 it is about the same size as the state of Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia's largest state....

 parliamentary constituency.

The district population as of 2010 was 37,102. Belaga was established in the early 1900s when a few Chinese traders set up shops and started trading with the Orang Ulu

Orang Ulu

Orang Ulu is an ethnic designation politically coined to group together roughly 27 very small but ethnically diverse tribal groups in Sarawak, with a population ranging from less than 300 persons to over 25,000 persons. Orang Ulu is not a legal term and no such racial group exist or listed in the...

, supplying essentials such as kerosene

Kerosene

Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...

, salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 and manufactured goods.

The last frontier

Belaga is considered a good place to start exploring the Sarawak's interior. There are many Kenyah  and Kayan longhouses along the Balui

Balui River

Balui River is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. It is a tributary of the Rajang River. The 2400 megawatt Bakun hydroelectric dam is located on the river....

 and Belaga rivers, and along the Rejang rivers are the Punan

Punan

Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia. They are distinct, unrelated to the Penan and also the other so called Punan found in Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have been living time immemorial. They do...

, Sekapan, Kejaman and Tanjung longhouses. It is connected with Kapit

Kapit

The town of Kapit is the capital of the Kapit District in the Kapit Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia on the south bank of the Rajang River. The district comprises 15,595.6 square kilometers and as of 2002 has a population of 60,200....

 by boat known locally as express boat (4.5 hours) and with Bintulu

Bintulu

Bintulu is a coastal town, and the capital of Bintulu District in the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is about 650 kilometers from Kuching and about 215 kilometers from either Sibu or Miri....

 by logging road.

Tourism

Belaga is set beside low forested hills that descend to the river. There is a square with a small park in the centre of the town where locals spend their leisure time in the afternoon and sometimes engage in cockfighting. Walk along the river, past the Malay Kampung where most of Belaga's Malay residents live. There are lots of interesting fruit trees. Try to spot the tribal burial sites on the other side of the river that are decorated with carved wooden archways, which have been placed there by the local Kayan tribal people. On the outskirts of Belaga Town. there are apartment complexes, schools, police complex, telco station, decent roads, and everything looks clean.

The relaxing town of Belaga is also a good base to visit some tribal longhouses.

Bakun Dam

To the north is a massive dam project, the Bakun Dam, which is the largest dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 in Asia outside of China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. The dam was intended to provide electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 for Sarawak, other surrounding regions and Peninsular Malaysia, but its construction was delayed several times due to economic circumstances, in particular the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. The federal government decided to continue the project, as billions of ringgit had already been spent on it. However during the early implementation stage of the construction the plan was scaled down in order to reduce cost.

Nevertheless in January 2007,the Malaysian federal government announced its intention to reactivate the initial plan to transfer the power generated by the dam to Peninsular Malaysia via a submarine power cable.The submarine cable will span a distance of 670 kilometres and reach the shore of Peninsular Malaysia at Yong Peng, at the state of Johor, southeastern part of the peninsular.It is expected to be completed the earliest by 2012.Before flowing through the submarine cable, the electricity will flow from Bakun to the western tip of Sarawak via over head electric transmission cables traversing a distance of 700 kilometres.The additional project is expected to cost between RM9 billion and RM10 billions.

The dam has been accused of uprooting 11,000 Orang Ulu from their traditional homes, clear-cutting hundred of square kilometers of ancient virgin tropical rainforest

Tropical rainforest

A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator . This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall...

 with consequent losses of hundreds of endangered plants and endangered animals, and forever changing the natural environment of Sarawak. More information about belaga, please visit www.e-belaga.com
www.e-belaga.com