Kota Kinabalu MP, Jimmy Wong, said to reach the Dusun-majority village, it takes three hours from the city and another one hour of off-road driving before reaching a location to go to the village.
After parking the car, villagers need to cross a thigh-high river, he said, adding during rainy days the water level can rise up to waist-level.
"This is their routine when they go in and out of the village," he said in a statement. Kampung Samparita, he said, has a population of more than 200 people with no access to piped water.
He said the villagers rely on the river for drinking, washing and cleaning.
"In fact they don't even have toilets because there's no point in having toilets if there is no water (in the village)," he said.
Wong said water from the river always looks like "Nescafe susu" (muddy or brownish) and during rainy days the colour turns "Nescafe kurang susu" (more brownish).
And whatever water they could store during rain, will be used for drinking, he said. "So, with this project, we will be able to provide running water to the entire village," he said.
According to him, the project will involve two batches of volunteers from Nov 30-Dec 8 and Dec 12-21 during which the volunteers will be staying with the villagers. He said they would be involved in all work related to building a gravity water feed system.
The "Impian Malaysia" or "Malaysian Dream", Wong said, is a movement started by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang in May.
He said that its vision is to create a plural society where all citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences to exceed the differences that divide them because of their ethnic, religion, linguistic and cultural divisions.
"The movement hopes to gather more Malaysian volunteers (including non-party members) to be "Impian Malaysia" agents for our activities and programmes to promote a Malaysian identity and consciousness particularly among the younger generation," he said.
In September, this year, he said, they DAP launched the first pillar of the movement, "Impian Sarawak" and has completed several projects, involving nearly 40 Impian Malaysia agents.
He said that the DAP will explore, study and identify critical programmes and projects that needs to be carried out in Sabah so as to uplift the wellbeing of the rural and poor villagers.
"We will organise teams comprising members and volunteers to penetrate these remote villages and undertake projects such as micro-hydro electric dams, gravity feed water systems and also to repair roads and bridges," he said.
This includes also economic uplifting programmes via sustainable sources of income, he said.
Wong said Impian Malaysia agents are required to take part as volunteers in these programmes so as to bring significant changes to the livelihood of the villagers who have been marginalised by the government.
Impian Malaysia agents, he said, who can't take part directly could take part by attending DAP's fund-raising dinners or donating online via https://dapmalaysia.org/donate.
"You may even run your own fund-raising activities, and our leaders will be more than happy to attend these functions," he said.
Daily Express
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