‘Balangay’ sailors come with best wishes for unity and friendship

September 1, 2010, Wednesday

KUCHING: Three traditional sailboats found themselves fleeing from pirates somewhere off the coast of Mindanao on Labour Day 2010.

WELCOME TO CAT CITY: Rashid (far left) welcoming Valdez (second left) and the Kaya ng Pinoy crew to Kuching yesterday.

With no wind to fill their sails, the Filipino crew of 35 rowed their ‘balangays’ for three days before they got out of pirate-infested waters.
Expedition leader Art Valdez said if they had not listened to instinct and sailed into the cove, they would have not made it out of the country at all.
Instead, they would have made the news in an entirely different manner.
“It was lucky that we stayed out on the water while the powerboats came after us,” he said.
“If we went onshore, we would have been trapped.”
The flotilla of balangays – Diwita ng Lahi, Masawa Hong Butuan and Sama Tawi-Tawi – docked at the Kuching Marina at about 7am yesterday.
They were ahead of schedule and were surprised to learn that they arrived during their host country’s Independence Day.
Valdez said they were honoured to have come in on such an auspicious day.
“We want to give the people of Malaysia our best wishes for unity and friendship,” he told reporters.
“We are the same people. It is colonisation that divided us.”
The crew themselves also had reason to celebrate. Today marks their first anniversary since setting out on this voyage.
Kuching is their 90th port, and their 10th international stop.
Valdez noted that the original balangays were used by Southeast Asians in trading with China almost two centuries ago.
“We want to commemorate this through this new voyage of friendship and unity, and share the message of pride and unity of being one region using this historical regional boat,” he said.
The relic of a balangay was first dug up in Butuan, Mindanao in the Philippines. It was carbon dated to be 1,600 years old and was used by the ancestors of the region in crossing from the South Pacific.
The Kaya ng Pinoy Foundation took up the task to rebuild the boat, being as faithful to the original design and material, and retrace the migration route.
According to Valdez, The Philippines cannot lay claim to the boat because it was the Southeast Asian people who originally built it.
“The greatest threat to our voyage is not the weather or the sea,” said Valdez.
“It’s modernity. You cannot just sail in just like that, with today’s busy ports and narrow channels. Having no communications from the boats mean you can get hit.”
One of the boats is an escort vessel, built traditionally like the other two, but outfitted with modern communication so they can liaise with port authorities.
Valdez said their replicas were 95 per cent faithful to the original design, right down to using wooden pegs instead of metal nails, and tar from the tree sap for waterproofing the hull.
“Colonialism taught us to be afraid of the sea,” he added.
“Making this voyage is showing what we are capable of if we work together as one people.”
The crew is made up of members of the Philippines coast guards and navy, boat builders from the Sama tribe of Tawi-Tawi, people from Butuan and volunteers from the outdoor and mountaineering community.
Also on board is a team of six men and three women from Kaya ng Pinoy, who conquered Mt Everest in 2006.
The vessels will be docked here for about a week before heading off to Kalimantan.
The crew was welcomed by Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Datuk Rashid Khan.