Sarawak Latest News

Permaidani Tebingan Boyan-Gersik-Sourabay will be one of the most attractive places to Sarawak visitor after the launch on this March 2009 of this high rated food court which is still under construction and will be completed by this end of February 2009.

The premises which was located just opposite with the City of Kuching can be access by land through PJ road and also by 'Penambang'(Small Boat) that will cost you as low as RM0.50! And the premises will be open for sale all local food such as, Laksa Sarawak, Sea food, etc. By delevoping this project, it shall open up the new image for those nearby villager as the modern and opened area.

Visitor also have a chance to get a great view of Kuching City during the night time..very nice.. Let the picture story everything.. :)

Sarawakian may know Kapit by word only, and some of non local Kapit are less info about this place. Kapit is one of the smallest city that i know la.. Till now the main transport to get their is by express boat, that u can get it from Sarikei Port or Sibu Port.

Kapit Division is a mountainous region mostly (80%) covered by dense primary forests. Low lying plains are found in Sungai Tunoh, Sungai Melinau, Sungai Tiau, Sungai Mujong, Nanga Merit and Nanga Lajan areas.

Undulating low hills are also found in areas between Bakun Resettlement Scheme in Sungai Asap and Tabau.

From Sibu, you can start travelling to Kapit and Belaga. There is no road and air access to Kapit. The town is accessible only by fast riverboats (locally called express boats) plying between Sibu, Song and Kapit. The services start as early as 0545 (from Sibu) / 0640 (from Kapit) and end at 1430 (from Sibu) / 1515 (from Kapit) daily. The express boats berth at Sibu Express Boat Terminal beside Rejang Esplanade. The one-way fares for Sibu-Song trip are between RM17.00-RM20.00 and for Sibu-Kapit trip, the fares are between RM20.00-RM40.00.











Express Boat

Passenger Express Vessel Daily Operation Schedule Sibu/Song/Kapit

No. Vessel ETD (Sibu) ETA (Song) ETA (Kapit) Passenger Capacity Remarks 1. Asian Vision 0545 0745 0845 94 2. Success Vision 0615 0815 0915 90 3. Wah Wah No.3 0700 0900 1000 76 4. Sarawak Boleh 168 730 - 1015 131 Direct 5. Khai Kiong Express 0830 1030 1130 85 6. Kapit Boleh 268 0930 1130 1230 96 7. Bahagia 2002 1000 1200 1300 97 8. Husqvarna Kita 1045 1245 1345 60 9. Wawasan Kapit 1145 1345 1445 100 10. Sibu Boleh 168 1230 - 1515 96 Direct 11. Public Express 95 1300 1500 1600 114 12. Bahagia 2020 1345 1545 1645 104 13. Good Success 818 1430 1700 1815 96

Passenger Express Vessel Daily Operation Schedule Kapit/Song/Sibu

No. Vessel ETD (Kapit) ETA (Song) ETA (Sibu) Passenger Capacity Remarks 1. Wawasan Kapit 0640 0725 0925 100 2. Public Express 95 0715 0800 1000 114 3. Sibu Boleh 168 0730 - 1000 96 Direct 4. Good Success 818 0800 0845 1045 96 5. Bahagia 2020 0900 0945 1145 104 6. Asian Vision 0930 - 1200 94 Direct 7. Success Vision 1030 1115 1315 90 8. Wah Wah No.3 1130 1215 1415 76 9. Sarawak Boleh 168 1230 - 1500 131 Direct 10. Khai Kiong Express 1315 1400 1600 85 11. Bahagia 2002 1345 1430 1630 97 12. Kapit Boleh 268 1415 - 1645 96 Direct 13. Husqvarna Kita 1515 1600 1800 60

Passenger Express Vessel Daily Operation Schedule Kapit/Belaga

No. Vessel ETD ETA Passenger Capacity Remarks 1. Bakun Mas No.3 / Bakun Mas No.4 / Burung Mas 5 / Burung Mas 8 / Kawan Mas 0900 1430 64 Only one vessel departs daily

Passenger Express Vessel Daily Operation Schedule Belaga/Kapit

No. Vessel ETD ETA Passenger Capacity Remarks 1. Bakun Mas No.3 / Bakun Mas No.4 / Burung Mas 5 / Burung Mas 8 / Kawan Mas 0730 1230 64 Only one vessel departs dailyily

What's Attract Kapit

There are few most attractive place when u planning to go to Kapit,
The place are as follows.. you may click to the link below for more details

1. Belaga
2. Fort Sylvia
3. Handicrafts Shop
4. Iban Tattoo Studio
5. Kapit Museum
6. Longhouse Tour
7. Pelagus Resort
8. Rumah Lulut Homestay
9. Sebabai Park
10. Teresang Market
    

The best memory that i never forget is when i was in medical trip jobs. During that time i was helping my oldest brother to finished his studied about soil virus, we both staying every single longhouse in Kapit for a period of 2month!!!, taking all blood sample for his study. From that particular time, i get myself to learned and to get know everything they have. They bring me fishing, collect some Durian, and what really surprissed me that one of the family long house member at age of 11-years-old boy owned a porcupine with weigth of 3kg(very big!!!) as his Pet!! wow.. 1st time i saw it i was too afraid of it.. wonder if the porcupine shot me by its torn!!!



The cool thing about Kapit is, even this place were far from big city like Sibu or Kuching, they got their own website and that showed Kapit is not 'DI ANAKTIRIKAN' in Sarawak development. You may click to the link for more details about Kapit. All information were there, just a click away! ... >>> Go To Kapit Now!!! <<<

Have a nice trip guys!

P/s - Once u visit there u will know how cool it was.. even ur mind set ala... sama la di kampung aku.. hahaha.. no no.. this is diferent. Totally different.

Some of you in Kuching maybe know that Kuching community still need more shopping complexes, or hypermall such as Boulevard Mall, and The Spring, while the rise of shopping complexes in Kuching there were still a problem that most of Kuching commnunity most needed to get improvement, despite the rising of numbers.

Refer to my last random interviewed to those 'Window-shoppers' and 'Shoppers' within Kuching, they told me that Kuching still need more cheaper complexes, such as what in KL and Sabah have now. Here in Kuching u never get a high quality with the cheapest price such as Tesco, Giant, or even Mydin.

On the recent Grand opening of The Spring, Boulevard, Green Height Mall, One TJ, but still cannot fulfil Kuching needed! Last week Im going out with my sister, and her husband together with their 2 cute children, we both go to The Spring to get something to eat there.. hehe..Then i found 1 nice stall that sold balloon and I want to buy 1 balloon to both of my sister son, what shocked me is the price RM6.90 each lor.. Plus its only filled with normal air pump!.. WT..... huhu.. nevermind this is the first and the last!!

With RM6.90, i can buy One packed of it .. total of 15pcs balloon!...
But, despite of this high class shopping complexes rising, i think its good also for Kuching and Sarawak growth economy. Nowadays, there are 5 new airlines and new routes to Kuching! Brunei Airlines, Tiger Air, Silk Air, and direct flight from Penang, Jakarta, Macau & Brunei.. and the latest will coming on this next March09 is Jetstar Airline from Singapore. For your info also, till now total airline that service route to SINGAPORE is 5 (MAS, AirAsia, Tiger Airways, Silk Air and new comer is Jetstar). Can you imagine?? 5 diference airlines for only two destination Singapore-Kuching??

So, from that we may think that this could be the best way to make Sarawak more attractive. But i still hope someday there was a place for poor people like me will get their own chosen shopping complexes, with reasonable price.

2 years im working as a station officer in Kuching International Airport, a lot of members from MAB, MAs, and Airasia staff flying direct flight to Jakarta by AK since the direct flt was launched last year. Jakarta is most cheapers place for shopping. By this fact we know that Kuching is still need more than what their have now.. :)

Hey guys! I think everybody know where is this place. Located at the Kuching city centre at the Bukit Mata hill, just next to the newly shopping & hotel (Novotel Interhill Hotel) which will be launch by this mid-2009.

We called it seafood heaven. Lol.. You can get everything fresh and yummy seafood here at a great price compared to any other seafood restaurant in Kuching. The last time I've been there was in the last december08, we were spend total of RM900!! with 20type of different recipes/seafood, and 26glasses of water..:) If u see the amount of course its sound really expensive, but when its come to ur eyes, u will know that this price is much UMPHH...
hard to describe..:) kira OK la... Lolol..


For ur info, this place never been empty! always full, i still remember on last July07 when i was bring my niece coming from KUL, just to bring them to try the taste of seafood, but we cannot make it lor.. no space for us! huhu... So, mind urself if u planned to go there with a large numbers of member better booking first, or else u gonna think of other places. :)


There are various choice for u when u reached there. Its all depends on ur choice, plus u can request special recipe for the cooker to cooked ur choosen seafood!

So, whenever u will come here to Kuching, dont forget to taste the great recipe of Seafood.. :)

For those who live in Kuching, or within the region of Sarawak Maybe know about the raining season that we faced now. In Kuching, it's been 2 days (sin 29jan09) non stop heavy rain resulting several area in Kuching such as Batu Kawa and Matang also involving several area within Sarawak river bank.

Picture from : tzuchi.org

The rain clouds are right over Kuching. Although the clouds are moving all the time, the centre is still in Kuching. We hope by this late afternoon (Jan 29) the rain clouds would go off, as far as i concern State Disaster Relief Committee (Sarawak) have warned several residents about the second wave of rain especially Bau, through radio broadcast this morning.

Yesterday, Ive just got info regarding flash flood occurred in several areas here, Bau and Siniawan were the worst affected.

Donation for Flood Victim

The intermittent rain expected in the next couple of days over various parts of Sarawak as strong north easterly winds were still prevailing over coastal areas of the state.

I just got a report from metrological which i get it from my operation office at Kuching Airport, the rainfall yesterday in Kuching is a bit heavier. At 11am(Jan 29), total rainfall is 159 millimetres, hopefully it would not reach up to 200 millimetres, refer to the last total rainfall on Jan 10 was 225 millimetres and Jan 11, 205 millimetres that resulting a massive flood in Kuching city.

The first major flood occurred several days starting Jan 11, heavy rain yesterday was unexpected and the rain clouds were changing very fast, making it hard to predict accurately. As the tide level fortunately is not so high and still have time to drain out the water before the tide.

King tides on Jan 29 were forecast to reach 10.4m, Jan 30, 10.3m and Jan 31, 10.2m. I think Kuching would be saved from floods if the rain stops by this evening (Jan 29). However, we could not confirm this due the weather can changed in any time, no one on earth can predict the accurate weather report!!

State Disaster Relief Committee (Sarawak) chairman also told that SMS report will be send through all mobile operators within the flood area.

Out from Kuching, in Sibu also hit quite badly by flood waters, especially in Selangau. As far as i know now total of nine evacuation centres have been set up throughout the state - one in Miri, three in Bintulu and five in Sibu. The total number of evacuees was 795 people from an estimated 140 families.

Several roads also had been cut off by floods - road to three villages in Suai, Miri; Kg Hilir and Jalan Pekan Lama in Tatau, Bintulu while road to Kpg Pandan in Sebauh and Tubau, Bintulu was not accessible to small vehicles.

Please keep yourself more safer especially people who stay near to landslide-prone areas to be on the alert. Refer to the last landslide incident which was claimed 5 lives this year was becoming more dangerous than FLOODS!!!

So, pa & Ma, grand Pa and Ma, who in Sarawak, please be careful, we cannot predict the accurate report. We only normal people, Its all happened on God Will.. Just Pray and keep away from any danger!]

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang (‘Land of the Hornbills’), it is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia; the second largest, Sabah, lies to the northeast.

The administrative capital is Kuching - The name Kuching literally means ‘cat’ (kucing).But the origin Kuching is named by Indian, who called it - Coo-ching - Means for Port. Major cities and towns also include Sibu, Miri and Bintulu . As of last census (Dec 31, 2006), the state population was 2,357,500. For more details about the population see Demographics of Malaysia, though it is interesting to note that Sarawak is, like Sabah to the north, a multicultural state, with no ethnic majority. The majority of Sarawak's people are non-Muslim; there are over 30 ethnic (non-Malay) indigenous/natives groups in Sarawak.

History of Sarawak

The eastern seaboard of Borneo had been charted (though never settled) by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The area of today's Sarawak was known to Portuguese cartographers as Cerava. Sarawak had been a loosely governed territory under the control of the Brunei Sultanate in the early 19th century, although in the early 17th century Sarawak had her own the first and the last Sultan, Sultan Tengah. During the reign of Pangeran Indera Mahkota in 19th century, Sarawak was in chaos. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827-1852), the Sultan of Brunei, ordered Pangeran Muda Hashim in 1839 to restore order and it was during this time that James Brooke arrived in Sarawak. Pangeran Muda Hashim initially requested assistance but James Brooke refused. In 1841, James Brooke paid another visit to Sarawak and this time he agreed to assist. Pangeran Muda Hashim signed a treaty in 1841 surrendering Sarawak and Sinian to James Brooke. Thereafter, on 24 September 1841, Pangeran Muda Hashim bestowed the title Governor to James Brooke. He effectively became the Rajah of Sarawak and founded the White Rajah Dynasty of Sarawak, later extending his administration through an agreement with the Sultan of Brunei.

Brooke was appointed Rajah by the Sultan of Brunei on August 18, 1842; originally this territory was just the western end of later Sarawak, around Kuching. He ruled Sarawak until his death in 1868. His nephew Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke became Rajah after his death; he was succeeded on his death in 1917 by his son, Charles Vyner Brooke, with a provision that Charles should rule in consultation with his brother Bertram Brooke. The territory was greatly expanded under the White Rajahs, mostly at the expense of areas nominally under the control of Brunei. In practice Brunei had only controlled strategic river and coastal forts in much of the lost territory, and so most of the gain was at the expense of Muslim warlords and of the de facto independence of local tribes.

The Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for a hundred years and became famous as the "White Rajahs", accorded a status within the British Empire similar to that of the rulers of Indian princely states. In contrast to many other areas of the empire, however, the Brooke family was intent on a policy of paternalism to protect the indigenous population against exploitation. They governed with the aid of the Muslim Malay and enlisted the Ibans and other "Dayak" as a contingent militia. They also encouraged the immigration of Chinese merchants but forbade the Chinese to settle outside of towns in order to minimize the impact on the Dayak way of life. They also established the Sarawak Museum, the first museum in Borneo.

In the early part of 1941 preparations were afoot to introduce a new constitution, designed to limit the power of the Rajah and give the people of Sarawak a greater say in government. While the intention was clearly admirable, the draft constitution contained defects and improprieties, not least by reason of a secret agreement drawn up between Charles Vyner Brooke and his top government officials, by which he was to be financially compensated for this gesture out of treasury funds.

Japan invaded Sarawak and occupied the island of Borneo in 1941, occupying Miri on December 16 and Kuching on December 24, and held it for the duration of World War II until the area was secured by Australian forces in 1945. The Rajah formally ceded sovereignty to the British Crown on July 1, 1946, under pressure from his wife among others. In addition the British Government offered a healthy pension to sweeten the negotiations. His nephew Anthony continued to claim sovereignty as Rajah of Sarawak.

After the end of the Second World War, Anthony Brooke then opposed the cession of the Rajah's territory to the British Crown, and was associated with anti-secessionist groups in Sarawak. Anthony was banished from the country. He was allowed to return only seventeen years later, when Sarawak became part of the Federation of Malaysia. Sarawak became a British colony (formerly an independent state under British protection) in July 1946, but Brooke's campaign continued. The Malays in particular resisted the cession to Britain, dramatically assassinating the first British governor.

Sarawak was officially granted independence on July 22, 1963, and was admitted into the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, to the initial opposition from parts of the population. Sarawak was also a flashpoint during the Indonesian Confrontation between 1962 and 1966.