Kuching and Sarawak – A Sparkling History And Hidden Gems

The south eastern island of Malaysia is made up of Sarawak and Sabah, which are part of Borneo – the third largest island in the world. Borneo is split between three countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. The capital city of Sarawak is Kuching, which is the largest city on Borneo with a population of almost 600,000 people, mostly Malays and Chinese.

The city is thought to be named after the Malay word for cat although it would be spelled “Kucing” now and Kuching is the old spelling. However, some people believe the city’s name comes from the word “cochin” which as an Indian word meaning “port”. Or indeed, it may come from the Cantonese word for “old place”.

As a reward to the British, in 1841 Sarawak was ceded to James Brooke, a British adventurer, by the Sultanate of Brunei for coming to his aid and putting down a rebellion. James Brooke made Kuching his headquarters and capital. The family Brooke ruled Sarawak until the occupation of the Japanese a hundred years later, in 1941.

On December 24 1941, Kuching was surrendered to the Japanese forces and Kuching and Sarawak remained part of the Japanese Imperial Empire until 11th of September 1945, when the Japanese surrendered it. Just 3 miles outside Kuching at Batu Lintang, the Japanese operated a POW civilian internee camp where many of the previous British residents were kept in harsh conditions.

The final British ruler of the territory was Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, who took over as Raja on his fathers death in 1917. He “escaped” to Sydney, Australia just before the Japanese invasion and remained there until 1945.

Sarawak became an independent state in 1963, and along with Sabah – its neighbor, and Singapore it joined to form Malaysia. Singapore was then expelled from the Malaysia and became its own Republic, which it still is now. The union between Singapore and the other Malaysian states was rocky from the beginning. Distrust and ideological differences between leaders of the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia resulted in frequent disagreement in politics, economic, financial and social policies. The conflict spread to the populace, resulting in major racial riots in 1964 in Singapore. In 1965, Malaysia Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman decided upon the secession of Singapore from the Federation, leading to the Independence of Singapore on 9 August 1965.

Highly successful with regards to financial control and extremely low crime rates, its hard to believe that before European rule which began back in the 1600’s, Singapore was a simple Malay fishing village.

Learn more about the south east island of Malaysia and stay in one of the Kuching Hotels. Check out one of the very best hotels at Damai.