KUALA KANGSAR: Moving houses is not usually taken in its literal form. Items are packed in boxes, furniture loaded onto lorries and unpacked at another house.
But what if we take the phrase literally and instead of packing stuff up, we just move the entire house to another location?
A tradition in Perak, which is still practised until today, saw a traditional Malay house succesfully lifted and relocated some 150 metres away in Kampung Labu Kubong, Lubok Merbau, here, today.
After close to four hours, the feat was completed with the participation of some 150 people who helped lift the 80-year-old house made of cengal and merbau wood.
The house measuring 8 x 6.7 metres and weighing approximately 6 metric tonnes belonged to someone who was a local resident.
Initially, the endeavour looked near impossible as 110 people failed to lift the wooden house.
For an hour, the house could then only be lifted and could not be moved by the residents of the village as well as students from Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (USAS) and Universiti Teknology Petronas (UTP) who joined the attempt.
After that, a villager sounded the Muslim call for prayer and the organiser requested help from 40 students from a Thailand Islamic religious school who were in the area.
With 150 people, they not only managed to lift but successfully moved the house.
Coordinator of the 'Mengusung Rumah Lama' (lifting old houses) programme Meor Samsudin Abu Hassan, 60, said they had asked for permission from the houseowner's heir to turn the one-bedroom wooden house into a Cultural Gallery at Dataran Badang in the village to serve as a tourist attraction.
"Although initially we felt it was impossible for the house to be carried and moved because we had to go through a paddy field and there were drains to overcome, but the unity and cooperation amongst the participation made the impossible, possible.
"We will decorate and put various equipment including displaying this district's traditional costumes that can't be found in other districts in the house to attract tourists," he said when met at the programme, here, today.
Also present were Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and Tourism Perak officer Noor Azira Mohd Rais.
Meor Samsudin informed that the last time such an activity was carried out was in the 70s.
Meanwhile, the granddaughter of the owner of the wooden house, Ruzimah Abdul Rahman, 45, said she had many memories there, especially since she was born there and had continued to live in the house with her mother and grandmother.
"I feel sad and touched because the house was moved to be turned into a cultural gallery. I hope the house will be restored properly so my children, grandchildren and I will still be able to see it in the future," Ruzimah who moved to Karai, near here in 2005, said.