Belaga
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Belaga is the capital of the Belaga District (19,403.2 square kilometers) in the Kapit Division of Sarawak in east Malaysia. It is located on the upper reaches of the Rejang river. The district population as of 2002 was 25,300. Belaga grew up in the early 1900s when a few Chinese traders set up shops and started trading with the Orang Ulu, supplying essentials such as kerosene, salt and manufactured goods.
Belaga is a good place to start exploring the Sarawak's interior and there are many Kayan and Kenyah longhouses along the Balui and Belaga rivers and along the Rejang rivers we have the Punan, Sekapan, Kejaman and Tanjung longhouses. It is connected with Kapit by boat known locally as express boat (4.5 hours) and with Bintulu by air (once a week) and by trunk road.
To the north is a massive dam project, the Bakun Dam. The damn is the largest dam in Asia outside of China. The dam is intended to provide electricity for Sarawak, but its construction has been delayed several times due to economic circumstances. As of 2005, the federal government intends to continue the project, as billions of ringgit have already been spent on it. The dam has been accused of uprooting 11,000 Orang Ulu from their traditional homes with minimal compensation, clear-cutting hundred of square kilometers of ancient virgin tropical rainforest with consequent losses of hundreds of endangered plants and endangered animals, increasing the presence of water-borne diseases, and forever changing the natural environment of Sarawak.
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| Sarawak |
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| Divisions: Betong Division | Bintulu Division | Kapit Division | Kuching Division | Limbang Division | Miri Division | Mukah Division | Samarahan Division | Sarikei Division | Sibu Division | Sri Aman Division | ||
| Cities: Kuching | Miri | ||
| Towns: Asajaya | Bau | Belaga | Betong | Bintulu | Dalat | Daro | Debak | Julau | Kanowit | Kapit | Lawas | Limbang | Lubok Antu | Lundu | Mato | Meradong | Mukah | Marudi | Pakan | Pusa | Samarahan | Saratok | Sarikei | Serian | Selangau | Sibu | Simunjan | Song | Spaoh | Sri Aman | Tanjung Kidurong | Tatau | ||
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