The Covid-19 pandemic has, however, put a halt on hiking activities at Rundum and its temperate climate highlands, like community tourism activities elsewhere.
Kampung Rundum villagers like Rosli Tampisan are anxious to get more visitors coming into the area about 230km from the state capital.
While the villagers, who are mostly of the Murut Tagol community, could do with the income from the tourism activities, their overriding concern however is ensuring the pristine forest around their kampung are preserved as logging activities inch closer towards them.
“We want as many people to see how beautiful this area is and how it is worth preserving,” said Rosli who, like his fellow villagers, felt that conserving the forest around them was not only crucial for the sake of the environment as well as for preserving a piece of Sabah’s history.
More than a century ago, their backyard was the scene of a rebellion by hundreds of Murut warriors united under chieftain Ontoros Antanom who led a series of attacks on the garrison of the British North Borneo Chartered Company.
The incident became known as the Rundum Rebellion, in which Murut warriors from Keningau, Tenom and Nabawan attacked the Chartered Company’s outpost at Rundum in 1915.
It was brought about by a slew of taxes imposed on the indigenous communities as well as the forcible recruitment of natives to build roads in the area.
The Rundum station and the uprising were mentioned in the book British North Borneo authored by British colonial officer Owen Rutter.
The buildings of the Chartered Company’s garrison no longer exist but earthen mounds at the site give an indication of their location.
Renowned Sabah travel guide Tham Yau Kong, a Tenom native, has affirmed the find by comparing geographical landmarks such as the hills in the area against photos of the garrison taken some time in the 1900s.
“I have no doubt about the location of the Chartered Company’s outpost and that it must be preserved as a historical site,” said Tham, who used the photographs of the Rundum station in Rutter’s book to identify the location of the Chartered Company’s garrison there.
Tham was recently commended by the Australian government for his efforts in identifying the ‘Death March’ trek that saw more than a thousand mainly Australian and British prisoners of war who perished after being forced by Japanese soldiers to walk hundreds of kilometers from Sandakan to Ranau during the Second World War.
The 200 or so Kampung Rundum villagers like Rosli are worried as the forest around them is classified as a Class 2 forest reserve, meaning that it can be applied and logged over to make way for oil palm plantations.
Anxiety levels among the villagers have gone up in recent months after they discovered forests about 30km away were being logged over.
“We wonder when they will come for the forest around our kampung,” said Rosli in adding that villagers had voiced their worries to former Kemabong state assemblyman Jamawi Jaafar who had highlighted the matter in the Sabah state assembly in November 2019.
This prompted the then tourism, culture and environment minister Christina Liew to state that the ministry would carry out studies on Rundum’s tourism potential.
Not much has happened in the area since except for the logging at forests near the kampung, leaving Rundum villagers wondering how much time is left for them.
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