They Prefer to Live in Houseboats

KOTA BARU: In London, living on a houseboat has become the trendy thing to do and many of the rich are living in luxury on the water.

But here, houseboats are still largely seen as a housing solution for the poor and landless.

But businessman Nik Ismail Salleh is an exception. The 53-year- old who runs a factory making pallets is neither poor nor landless, and he has been happily living on a houseboat on Sungai Kelantan for the past 10 years. He has no thought of moving.

His is one of more than 20 houseboats on the river.

He says that when he moved there in the 1990s, there were many more. His was number 70.

“I was renting a house in Jalan Pengkalan Chepa, but the landlord wanted it back.

“My young daughter and I had nowhere to go. A friend operating a floating chalet for backpackers then offered to sell it to me as he was moving to Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Nik Ismail took over the chalet near Kampung Atas Kubur and spent about RM200,000 to turn it into a traditional houseboat and a major attraction here.

It has been included in the latest edition of Rough Guides, a best-selling series of travel guides published in the United Kingdom that covers over 100 countries.

Nik Ismail lives on a modest houseboat next to his floating chalet.

“It’s quiet, windy and very peaceful. I have a family home at Jalan Merbau but I prefer living on the river,” he said.

He said some local celebrities from Kuala Lumpur who stayed in the chalet told him that their time on the houseboat made them forget their problems.

It’s a different story for the family of Ibrahim Yaakub a kilometre away at Lorong Minyak Gas.

They want to leave the houseboat they have lived in for the past 38 years.

Sixty-year-old Ibrahim was bitten by a crocodile recently. And though he had only minor injuries, the whole family was traumatised.

His 53-year-old wife, Che Kamariah Che Mahmud, said they had planned to dismantle the house and rebuild it on the nearby river bank.

“But the land belongs to the government and we are afraid that it will be repossessed later. If that happens we would have nowhere else to go,” she said.

“Nowadays, you can hardly find a piece of land to rent. Even to find a suitable house to rent is difficult,” said Ibrahim, who lives on the houseboat with eight other family members.

State Local Government and Housing Committee chairman Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the state government had plans to maintain the houseboats as a tourist attraction.

“There is no reason for us to get rid of them but changes have to be made to the houses, especially in terms of cleanliness and security.”

He said many of the houseboat owners had homes on land but rented them out because they preferred living on the river.

(c) 2007 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.