Long Lama is a town in

Marudi District Marudi is a List of districts in Malaysia, district, in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Its seat is the town of Marudi. References

Marudi District, {{Sarawak-geo-stub ...

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

state in Malaysia. The town is located at 143 km from

Miri Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , located northeast of Kuching and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest ...

with a population of 1,500.

Etymology

The name of the town is taken from a nearby river named "Lamah" that joins into the Baram River. The word "Long" is a Kayan word that means "estuary", so "Long Lama" means "estuary of Lamah river".

History

The Chinese first set foot in this town between 1905 and 1910 and built several shophouses for trading. Long Lama was connected to water supply in 1976 and electrical supply in 1986. Cable telephone was only connected in 1990. Ferry services transporting cars across the

Baram River The Baram River () is a river in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The river originates in the Kelabit Highlands, a watershed demarcated by the Iran Mountains of East Kalimantan, which form a natural border with Sarawak. Geography The Baram ri ...

started in 2002.

Geography

The town is located at 160 km away from Mulu National Park. Long Lama was submerged in four feet of water during

flood in May 1962.

Climate

Long Lama has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

Economy

In 2017, there were 26 shophouses running various businesses such as groceries, coffeeshops, and hotels.

Other utilities

SMK Long Lama, built in 1965, is the only secondary school near the town. It caters to Form 1 to Form 6 classes. The first Chinese primary school in Long Lama was built in 1939, named as "Tong Ya" primary school. However, it was forced to shut down during Japanese occupation. Second Chinese primary school was built in 1947, named SJK (C) Kee Tee.

Transportation

In the early days, Long Lama can only be connected to the outside world by Baram River. The boats from Long Lama need to make a stop at

Marudi Marudi is a town in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and is a part of the division of Miri. It is the seat of Marudi District, and is located on the banks of Baram River, about upstream from the river mouth. Marudi was the administrative cent ...

and

before traveling to

Sibu Sibu is a landlocked city located in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It serves as the capital of Sibu District within Sibu Division and is situated on the island of Borneo. Covering an area of , the city is positioned at the conf ...

, which would take a total of three days.

References

{{Reflist Marudi District Towns in Sarawak