Colour of Time: Chapter 10: Rampas Gumpai - A Man Dedicated to Public Service

Rampas Gumpai was another brother of my grandmother, Lotimboi. He lived a rather short life but nevertheless a colourful one indeed.

1907 - 1966

He was the opposite of his older brother, Dungko whom I consider to be a private person and a family man and who had dedicated a part of his life to serve his community as a pastor - a servant of God.

On the other hand, Rampas lived a rather "wild" life and chose to live a life unbounded by Christian values and expectation. He had five wives and married six times. After the divorce of his 5th wife, he re-married his 4th wife whom he divorced earlier. His wives in sequential timeline were Lomidai, Linting, Normin, Limpoton and Bongnyok. Limpoton remained with him until he died. He had 13 children through his marriages with these 5 women.

Rampas was a local community leader and one who was instrumental in the founding and development of Kiulu. He had also served the people in Kiulu well and his life and deeds have been fairly well documented in a little booklet entitled "Hari Kenangan, Jadau Kahandaman - OKK Rampas Gumpai" published on 25 May 1997.

EARLY LIFE

Rampas Gumpai who was initially called Gampas was born in 1907 in Kg. Lumpoho. He later moved and grew up in Kg. Tiung. In 1938, he and his elder brother, Dungko moved to Menggatal where he worked as a labourer in a Chinese rubber estate.

With the encouragement and advice of his brother, he was steered away from a possible blue collar life to a white collar endeavour serving the community. This turn of event began when he was encouraged to study the traditional laws and custom of the Dusun from Orang Tua Majangkat who was an English interpreter in the court of Menggatal.

In the 30's and 40's, lives of villagers were very challenging. Besides the frequent rampages by wild animals which destroyed their crops, they had to contend with outbreak of epidemic such as cholera which may decimate significant number of the people. In 1941, Rampas left Menggatal and went back to Kg Ranap because that was the only village which still had some inhabitants after the people in nearby villages were instructed by one OKK Impas in 1939 to leave their kampung after a cholera outbreak which killed almost all the inhabitants.

JAPANESE OCCUPATION

During the period when North Borneo was occupied by the Japanese, survival in the kampung was even more challenging. Besides being unable to get things from the Tamu, they were forced to build road and to surrender their farm produce to the Japanese based in Tuaran. Local inhabitants appointed by the Japanese Kempetai to act as their representatives and agents were directed to collect food items from the villagers needed by the Japanese. Anyone who failed to obey would be shot and executed.

In 1945, Orang Tuan (OT) Lingguman, the village head of Kg. Ranap was executed by the Japanese on suspicion of collaboration with the Chinese resistance. To fill up the vacant post of village head, the Japanese Kempetai then appointed Rampas as their agent and as a clerk to continue the task of collecting produce from the areas. He performed his duties well and gained the trust of the Japanese. During that time, movement of people was restricted and survival was tough. Many people decided to move to other areas to hide. Almost all Dusun labourers who worked in the rubber estates which belonged to the Chinese and the Europeans left for their villages to seek refuge. Many conscripted workers recruited to build road died because of cholera, malnutrition and the lack of medical treatment.

BRITISH ADMINISTRATION 1947 – 1963

The defeat of the Japanese by the alliance in the pacific brought peace to North Borneo. The people felt hopeful when the British took over from the cruel Japanese as the new ruler. In 1947, Rampas was appointed as the OT of Kg. Kiulu by the District Office of Tuaran.

In 1948, he was promoted to become the OKK of Kiulu area which he held until the late 50’s. During his tenure as OKK, he displayed leadership quality and capability when he initiated the distribution and clearing of land for rubber plantation. OKK Rampas also asked the rural people to move away from remote areas and shift closer to the more developed urban area. At that time, the British government did not allow individual to plant rubber. Whoever was found to disobey this ruling would be punished. Contrary to the directive, OKK Rampas displayed his courage and leadership by issuing personal instruction to the people to proceed with the rubber plantation. People who were in doubt and afraid were assured by OKK Rampas who told them:

“If anyone asks you who gave you the permission to plant rubber, just say it’s from Rampas.”

With this assurance, many settlers started clearing forests and began planting rubber. Some also started ploughing their land.

In the distribution of land, OKK Rampas practised a fair system wherein anyone, male or female was given land as long as he/she was prepared to work on it. In the beginning, each was given only 5 acres. But later on, this was increased to 15 acres. He also appointed village heads tasked with the distribution of land. He visited all the different kampung to make sure the land was being worked on.

In 1951, he applied for a grant to build a road from Tamparuli to Kiulu. The application was approved with the condition that the road would be built by the local people. The actual allocation was not known. OKK Rampas established a payment system for each worker. For example, a worker who was involved in the construction of 1 chain of road would be paid RM60. Worker who worked in steeper road section would be paid RM80 for 1 chain and RM40 only on flat land. Although the road was built by 1953, it was not until 1955 that the first vehicle, a Land Rover managed to reach Kiulu because many sections of the road were narrow and prone to accident.

OKK Rampas initiated the building of a school for the folks in Kiulu to meet the educational need of the people. Thus, in 1952, SRK Pekan Kiulu was built. Due to the transportation difficulty, most of the building materials such as cement, nails etc were airlifted by helicopter. Roofing zinc sheets were put on rafts and brought to the site along Tuaran River. This proved to be very challenging due to the many rapids the raft had to overcome. Timber required for the construction of the school buildings and teacher quarters was obtained from the forest nearby. OKK Rampas also taught the people how to plank timber boards from the timber logs. The old shophouses were erected by local workmen using local materials.

In 1950, OT Saguman was the only person who had a trading license to operate a shop and he was one of the earliest shop keepers in Kiulu. OKK Rampas owned a few shop houses but sold three of them to others later on. He was also responsible for bringing in a Chinese trader. He became very successful and his subsequent family continued maintaining such success even up to these days in Kiulu.