By Satiman Jamin

Berakit-rakit ke hulu,

Berenang-renang ke tepian,

Bersakit-sakit dahulu,

Bersenang-senang kemudian.

It has been raining heavily since morning and Sungai Keniam has swollen to more than twice its usual width. The river flows silently as the ripples and sound of water breaking over the rocks in its flow are gone. The numerous jagged rocks along the river bends are inundated, with only their top parts visible among trapped debris and fallen trees.

Seliau Asmi,17, knows he must act fast. The raging river could soon be too dangerous to travel on.

The Orang Asli teenager of the Bateq tribe quickly lashes together five dried bamboo lengths from an old raft. Being lighter, the dried bamboo floats better and would make the raft more manoeuvrable. Seliau pulls with all his might on the fresh rattan cords to ensure the bamboo raft will not break apart in the fast-flowing river.

Although it has become his routine to go downriver to Kampung Cangkung on a raft every Friday afternoon, Seliau’s parents are concerned as the river has swollen so much. However, they do not try to stop him as they know that Seliau is determined to make his weekly journey to Kampung Cangkung, almost an hour’s boat ride away downriver.

Just so he can learn to read and write.

Many kids his age play truants although their classrooms have much better amenities than Seliau’s

The weekly Kelas Rimba Bateq in Kampung Cangkung is to have their 11th instalment on Saturday and Seliau does not want to miss it for the world, swollen river or not. The initiative by Sahabat Jariah Malaysia (SJM), Bird Group Taman Negara (BGTN), Ikhlas.com and Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia (YBFM) was started in 2020. Covid 19, Movement Control Order (MCO), lack of funds and a mountain of other problems have caused the weekly classes to be temporarily stopped at one point. The project was rekindled with monthly classes last year and the current round of weekly classes on Saturday and Sunday only started in November last year. I will write about the trials and tribulations faced by the organisers of the Kelas Rimba Bateq in another story because it is as amazing as the story of Seliau, if not more.

Unfortunately for Seliau, his parents moved further upriver in search of better jungle products just as the weekly classes re-started. And that was when Seliau started his weekly journey downriver.

Albert Einstein had a late start in education as he was labelled as a slow learner during his early schooling days, but he later came up with many physics equations. Seliau also had a late start, much later in fact as he is still learning to read, write, and do basic calculations at 17. However, Einstein’s theoretical physics pales compared to the real-time constant calculations Seliau does in his head as he dexterously manoeuvres his tiny bamboo raft in the raging Sungai Keniam to avoid rocks, fallen trees and floating logs.

The whole world knows about how United States’ president Abraham Lincoln had to battle poverty in his quest to get an education, but Seliau is fighting a bigger battle than Lincoln did, living deep within the Pahang National Park in a village only accessible by boat.

And like Lincoln, Seliau also has a big heart.

“It is too dangerous to take my two younger sisters with me. They want to attend the weekly class too. I wish there is way to take them with me,” says Seliau when asked what worries him the most about his weekly journey. Instead of asking for something for himself, he asks for help to get his younger siblings the education they deserve.

I stand there, my jaw agape, lost for words. The whole camp of volunteers go silent.

Seliau, ever smiling, is unaware of how his words have sliced through our hearts, conveying home the fact that he is fighting not only for himself but also for his family and his people.

After the silence comes the cheers, loud and boisterous.

YBFM Chief Executive Officer and SJM president Johan Halid say that they will give Kampung Cangkung a boat to enable the elders to fetch Seliau, his younger siblings and other Bateq kids to attend the weekly classes.

“We welcome donations to help us cater to the needs of the Bateq kids, not just for the boat to help them travel to class safely, but we are also in the process of replacing the old huts that were used as classrooms with a more permanent building made of concrete,” he says after presenting Seliau with prizes for his efforts to attend class and making huge progress in his lessons (he is now in the A Class for those with the best reading and writing fluency).

Donations can be made to SJM Maybank account 5627 5969 4628.

Note: I am just a little-known journalist and writer and I apologize for not having the ability to really bring to you the story of Seliau. I have never felt so inadequate as a writer. This story has been re-written countless times as I try to do justice to the story.

In the end I realise that there is no better person to write the story than Seliau himself, I just have to write a story of my perspective, however limited that is.

One fine day when Seliau has the ability to write the story, we will feature it here on Apakhabartv.

Who knows, maybe one day he can write a book about his struggles to get an education. “Kisah Seliau” will most definitely be in the list of books that I want to have.

I started with a classic Malay pantun and I will end with another one I think embodies Seliau’s struggles to get an education.

Berakit-rakit ke hulu,

Berenang-renang ke tepian,

Bersakit-sakit mencari ilmu,

Menjadi orang berjasa kemudian.

Main Pix: Seliau Asmi rafting to class.