KANGAR: When Ramli Ismail wanted to move house, he went public about it.

‘MOBILE’ HOME: Md Isa (centre) joins the villagers to move Ramli’s house to a new site at Kampung Wang Belimbing. — Bernama photo

Last Friday, he asked the local mosque to make an announcement and then he conveyed the message by word of mouth to fellow villagers in Wang Belimbing near here, at times even going from door to door.

Yesterday, more than 250 turned up as early as 7am to help him ‘usung’ or literally move the wooden house, lock, stock and barrel, hoisted on their shoulders, to a new location just 10 metres away.

Even the Perlis menteri besar, Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu, was there, along with former Bintong state assemblyman Rusli Mat Hussin.

This traditional form of moving a house literally is still widely practised in Perlis.

After the 15-minute ‘job’ yesterday, self-employed Ramli, 44, and the others enjoyed a meal, also prepared under the ‘gotong-royong’ (self-help) concept by the people.

Ramli said he had bought the house from a villager for RM600 and it would be occupied by one of his children. — Bernama