What is your name?
Churchill Rinet
What years were you in Borneo?
Born in Borneo in 1965
What areas of Borneo were you in?
Kuching, Sarawak
If you had 3 minutes on a loud speaker that would be heard by the whole world (or all Americans) what would you tell them about Borneo?
I love my homeland of Sarawak. Seeing the rate of forest destruction makes me sad. The river we used to fish and swim in are no longer there; instead it’s muddy and clogged up. The jungle that used to give us meat is getting smaller and wild animals are more and more rare, some have even been driven to extinction.
I hope that we can use other alternative power generating solutions, like wind and solar, instead of blocking the river with dams that are destructive to the environment and upset the life of our people. I hope the government and the public can work together toward a better, or alternative solution to the problem faced by the people of Sarawak in terms of the environment and also the wildlife habitat.
What do you think people in the US who have never been to Borneo should know about it?
We are no longer living in trees. We have modern facilities like Internet, though not everybody has access yet, particularly in the rural areas. We want you to know that we want to have a modern lifestyle but not to the extend of destroying the environment and the natural habitat. You can travel to our homeland by air and get around by various means of transportation, bus, boats, etc.
Do you have a story or experience you would like to share with us?
During my early childhood living in Borneo, I would fish and swim in the clear mountain rivers and hunt for animals, but now I can’t do that anymore — the rivers of my homeland are muddy and clogged with logs.
All photos used with the full permission of the interviewee. Please do not use or share.