Borneo Highland Resorts

Golf courses on top,  paddy fields below .

1. Borneo Highland Resort was developed in the 1995-1999 by Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, friend of Tun Mahathir. The resort is located at 1°14’41.4”N 110°17617’28.39”E.


2. If you go up to the resorts, there are first class golf courses, flower gardens, massage parlous and beautiful houses and one of them belongs to Tun Mahathir. 


3. I've worked in there in 1996 as a gardener during school holiday. I collected small stone from the golf courses and cutting grass. During that time, the wage was RM10.00 per day. I managed to get RM 60 for my 1 week holiday part-time. I stayed in a small lodging house;- a temporary shelter (pankeng). It was very cold at night and I used a thick blanket to sleep.

4. Now, the resort is well managed and receiving tourist everyday. I still have some friends who are working there as gardeners, general workers and "massager". Now they can get RM 25.00 per day and some are paid monthly wage with E.P.F and SOCSO contribution. 

5. What make me curious about the resorts is that the mountain top was suddenly declared as state land and the state government sold it to Borneo Height Berhad. There is not compensation given to the surrounding villages which claimed that the resort is build on the NCR land. They are, Annah Rais, Tebia, Sadir and other villages who used to plant paddy at the mountain foot. 

6. Nevertheless, there are some ugly picture below the beautiful resort. There are still hardcore poor living below. Along the Jalan Puncak Borneo, there are still bamboo houses which are not relevance with the development of the resort. The local people who works there are cheap labor who worked very hard to feed their families. 

7. The mountain are surrounded by paddy fields. At the south-east they are belong to the Kalimantan aborigines and at the west side are belong to the local people. Whenever the tourist or visitors enjoying themselves on the land that they never know about its story, the people below are toiling hard everyday. Who cares on the story of the resort if you have money to spend on the resort? 

8. I hope that the politicians could do something to compensate the NCR land and reimburse the local dwellers' lost form the resort. Otherwise, the resort will only keeping a hatred and dispute among the local who are affected by the government.