Activist brings ‘green' toilet, and hope, to Sabah water village

Free Malaysia Today

a day ago

A communal toilet (left), which looks like a wooden shed, and a more modern one belonging to one of the villagers in Kampung Bukit Besi.
PETALING JAYA : For many years, activist Lina Ramsah spent her school holidays at her father's village—Kampung Bukit Besi—nestled in the waters of Beluran, Sabah.
Although she always enjoyed her time there, there was one reality that Lina was unable to ignore.
Despite its charm, the village—located 160km from Kota Kinabalu and accessible only by boat—has long struggled without access to clean water.
Its 220 villagers, mostly fishermen, rely on Sg Labuk for their bathing and other daily needs, but the river's waters are not fit for drinking.
The lack of a proper sewage system means villagers must either flush their waste directly into the river or bury it in the ground.
They would also have to take a one-hour boat ride to Beluran town to buy bottled drinking water.
Now, Lina believes she has the solution to Kampung Bukit Besi's decades-old problem. She wants to introduce biogas toilets.
Biogas is methane-rich gas produced through the decomposition of organic waste. It is a renewable and sustainable energy source.
All that is needed is for the village's existing communal and individual toilets to be retrofitted with a 'biodigester' —a closed container which will capture and store human waste, and allow it to decompose safely.
The resulting biogas can be harnessed for energy, while the remaining sludge can be converted into fertiliser.
The process will significantly reduce the amount of waste being discharged into the river, Lina said.
NGO Beluran Hope founder Lina Ramsah (right), with her cousin, Karim, a resident of Kampung Bukit Besi, in Sabah.
'When MYbiogas told me of their project, I kept thinking how suitable it would be for Kampung Bukit Besi,' she told FMT, referring to the non-profit organisation that equips communities with biodigesters.
Biogas, she said, can be used as cooking gas, a game-changer in a village where gas tanks are expensive and difficult to transport from the nearest town.
With most households still relying on wood-burning stoves, biogas offers a cleaner, more accessible alternative.
'It's also good enough to replace diesel that's used in generator sets. The village has been using generators since I was a child,' said Lina, the founder of local NGO Beluran Hope.
Both organisations have now joined forces to launch the biogas toilet initiative in Kampung Bukit Besi, with the first system set to be installed in the home of the village chief.
Explaining the two organisations's roles, Lina said MYbiogas was contributing the technical expertise needed to install the system, while Beluran Hope is spearheading on-the-ground coordination, including managing logistics and sourcing for building materials.
The project is currently being crowdfunded, with the team so far raising half of their RM10,000 goal.
Lina said that the NGOs will have to use a barge to transport the necessary building materials, 'which will be a little expensive'.
Another challenge, she said, is roping in the needed manpower, pointing out that it is not easy for those on the mainland to travel to the village.
Despite the challenges, Lina hopes the success of the pilot project will draw funding from corporate donors and individual benefactors.
'I hope the biogas toilet will give villagers an electricity supply that is free and relieve their financial burden of having to buy diesel.
'This is not the life we should want for our fellow Malaysian citizens. It's absolutely ridiculous that some people still have to live like this.'
To help in this endeavour, please channel contributions to MYbiogas Enterprise, Maybank Account No. 5624 0570 3759.