Ba’kelalan Apple - Sarawak

Have you ever thought you can find apple farm in Malaysia? Ba' kelalan is the only apple farm you can
find in Malaysia which is at Sarawak. You have to take a flight to Miri, then transit with smaller plane to
go this place. Ba'kelalan is located in the highlands among the mountain ranges. The weather is cooling
and you don't even need air-con or fan at night.

They use the apple to make apple pie, apple strudel, apple tart, apple cake....sound delicious? These are
homemade desserts by the local aborigine. It's nice!

This place is not famous with apple only but also salt. They have a salt spring which is the source of the
salt they produce and sell to the market. The salt is not like we saw at the market usually, The salt colour
is brown and it's more healthier ingredient than the normal sea salt. We have to cross 3 streams, a little
jungle walk to reach salt spring. On the way, the organizer has arranged something fun for us such as
eating the bamboo vege kind of thing, watching the culture performance at the riverside, tasting those
jungle things which I don't even know what it is. Eu....

Other than that, the Bario rice is also famous where most of the Borneo residents will know about that.
It is also kind of healthier rice compare to the rest. SO, these are the main income for the locals.

This place is so close to Kalimantan border and we have a walk to the border. It takes almost 2 hours to
the place and the walking for me is a long journey but it's fun. After we reached the border, they use the
4 wheel drive send us to the village to have lunch. Those dishes are so special and I really don't know
how to name all the dishes. But the fun thing I like is using the bamboo as the spoon, plate and cup. You
can feel the actual and real local culture taste where you can't have else way.

Homestay is the choice of stay. I was arranged by the organizer to stay with a family. They will start the
electric generator at 5pm and stop around 11pm. As such, you will not have any electric or even light
during mid night. So better be prepared with torchlight but I wasn't to have that. :(
The whether there is cold, the water are mountain water which is very cold like ice, and I have to bath
with icy cold water everyday. Gosh!!! You know how fast is my speed for a bath that making me jumping
in the bathroom. It's cool to wash hand but not that fun to use for bath, isn't it?

Another fun thing was we can walk across the airport runway and the dog can freely enter the runway. I
can take picture at the runway! And we need to climb across the fences when were going to the apple
farm and salt spring. Na! This is the real "kampung" life that you can really feel the village taste.
In sync with apple cultivation

The quaint Ba’Kelalan town at the northeast of Sarawak is today synonymous with apples,
literally the fruit of one man’s labour.

Tagal Paran, 75, affectionately known as Pak Tagal, is the man credited with cultivating apples
in Ba’Kelalan, the only place in Malaysia where apple trees thrive.

Apples are known to survive in the temperate climate but the former pastor’s inquisitiveness and
de-termination made them thrive here.

Where others tried and failed, he persevered and triumphed.

In fact, Pak Tagal is confident that one day Ba’Kelalan will provide all the apples that Malaysia
needs.

Fruits of his labour: Pak Tagal showing apples

Located 900m above sea level, the placid district has a cool atmosphere similar to New Zealand
but apples are certainly not indigenous here.

The apples and the annual Apple Fiesta make Ba’Kelalan an enchanting destination for visitors.
Pak Tagal’s younger brother Andrew Balang Paran brought 50 wild apple seedlings from
Kalimantan in the 1960s after he saw locals there cultivating the fruit, and the rest is history.

However, only in the mid-1970s did he seriously venture into apple cultivation by taking over
300 apple trees planted on a trial basis on his land by agricultural authorities.

He realised that the trees were dying slowly and the authorities had limited knowhow on apple
cultivation.

“I immediately set off for Batu Malang in Indonesia to learn more about apple cultivation and
enlisted the services of two apple growers from there.

“I went to Indonesia three times to obtain new seedlings. It was all by trial and error,” he said,
reminiscing on his foray into apple cultivation.

Pak Tagal’s 3ha orchard in his village of Buduk Nur now has 2,000 apple trees, and he has four
workers to assist him.

About one tonne of apples are produced in a season at his orchard, he said.

The apple trees bear fruit twice a year, normally during the middle and the end of the year.

The trees are pruned to simulate winter and the leaves are shed manually.

Soon, after the induced stimulus, the trees begin to bloom and bear fruit.

The apples are grown without pesticides and chemicals fertiliser.

There are varieties of apples grown here.

The Manalagi (Golden Delicious), has been renamed the Ba’ Kelalan Apple. The fruit is
greenish-yellow in colour and tastes sweet and crunchy. It is suitable for apple pie and fruit
salads.

The Anna, which is red on top and yellow below, is sweet and sour and feels soft.

Rome Beauty is green with a reddish tinge at the bottom. It is similar in taste to Anna.

The Granny Smith is green and tastes sour. It’s the apple for cooking and making cider.

The apples are marketed in Lawas and Miri but are in limited quantity.

Pak Tagal is confident that, if people in the nine villages in Ba’Kelalan start growing apples,
Malaysia can export apples.
He pointed out that there were other temperate fruits like citrus, strawberries and grapes that
could be grown in Be’Kelalan.

He is already experimenting with strawberries and some villagers are cultivating Arabica coffee.

Nonetheless, there is a serious setback.

Ba’Kelalan is virtually isolated as it is located in a remote area close to Kalimantan in Indonesia.

Thus, there is no way to export the apples in big quantities.

But Pak Tagal need not despair as plans are underway for a 170km road from the nearest town of
Lawas at the foothills.

He is confident the road will pave the way for big companies to undertake apple cultivation on a
big scale, and the apples can move up the value chain when processed into jam or cider.

With the road, Pak Tagal envisions Ba’Kelalan emerging as a leading producer of highland fruits
and ve-getables for Sarawak, like Cameron Highlands is to the Peninsula and Kundasang to
Sabah.

Nevertheless, apples are not the main produce of Ba’Kelalan.

The fragrant Adan rice (Bario rice) is the main commodity of locals.

Yet, Pak Tagal believes that apples will remain as Ba’Kekalan’s forte in wooing the tourists.

Ba’Kelalan receives up to 3,000 tourists annually, mostly Europeans, and the number is expected
to increase.

The retired missionary with agriculture close to his heart is reaping the fruits of his labour.

The genial Pak Tagal and his wife Yamu Pengiran have seven children – Dr Judson, Mutang,
Dina, Rangai, Gerit, Martha and Sandra.

Like the apples, Pak Tagal’s family is the pride of Ba’ Kelalan and its people.

His son, the late Dr Judson, was a former Ba’Kelalan assemblyman and state deputy minister.
Another son, Mutang, a lawyer, is the former Member of Parliament for Bukit Mas.

The family operates the Apple Lodge homestay facility in Buduk Nur where visitors can get a
taste of the customs and traditions of the Lun Bawang people.

The annual Apple Fiesta at the end of March is in the Sarawak Tourism calendar and visitors can
see and savour the apples right at Pak Tagal’s orchard.
This humble man has vowed to continue with his passion.

Pak Tagal does not seem to realise that his passion for cultivating apples has made him an icon
and helped Ba’Kelalan gain prominence in tourism.

Apples in Ba’Kelalan are no myth, thanks to Pak Tagal. – Bernama