Category: Trips and Road Shows

by Eric Lim

Introduction

The next town from Tampin to the east via Federal Route 1 is Gemencheh. The distance is 27.3 km, which is almost the same distance from Gemencheh to the following town of Gemas, which sits on the border between Negeri Sembilan and Johor. Both towns have a number of things in common; for starters, both towns start with the alphabets ‘G, E and M’, both are located in the district of Tampin, and the establishment of these settlements have something to do with a precious ‘gem’, in this case one of the most popular precious metals with investors, this is gold.

History and Places of Interest

Gemencheh

The area was initially called Sungai Siput but was later changed to Mencheh, the name of the wife of Penghulu Supai who was a Jakun (indigenous people). According to Newbold, gold mines were in existence in Gemencheh in the 1830’s, which was entirely a Malay industry. Sites were selected by a pawang (shaman / healer) and primitive methods were used to obtain the gold dust. Small nuggets were also found. The total output was twenty kati (equivalent to twelve kilograms) per annum. In 1890, the Undang (Lawgiver) of Johol, Datuk Saeto wanted to restart gold mining in Gemencheh and to keep it in the control of Johol but residents of Gemencheh disagreed. This dispute led to several clashes at Bukit Talang (Kampung Pulau [1] today) between Datuk Muda Pilih who led the group fromJohol and Raja Husain for Gemencheh. The latter retreated but later mounted another attack. The British who were in a strong position in the state at that time told Datuk Saeto to fire Datuk Muda Pilih for his crimes against the residents of Gemencheh but was met with refusal by the latter. Much later, Datuk Muda Pilih was killed. Gold mining in Gemencheh ended in 1893 and it disappeared from record. Newbold, whose full name was Thomas John Newbold, was an officer of the East India Company’s Madras Army who served in Malacca from 1832 to 1835. During his three-year’s stay, he had collected materials for his book and other papers for publication. His book has become a valuable document of the Straits Settlements.

(Left) Sungai Kelamah War Memorial / Photo source : Wikimedia Commons(Right) Remnants of the wooden bridge and the new bridge / Photo source : Malaya at War (part 1) – Museum Volunteers, JMM

Moving forward to the period of the Japanese Occupation, after losing the Battle of Slim River to the Japanese on 7 January 1942, British and Commonwealth forces abandoned Kuala Lumpur and withdrew southward beginning on the morning of 10 January. Japanese troops secured Kuala Lumpur with relatively little difficulty at 8.00 pm on 11 January. By the afternoon of 14 January, Japanese forces had advanced past Gemencheh town and were fast approaching the Gemencheh bridge outside the town and just 12 km north of Gemas. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the 2/30 Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force under Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Gallaghen, nicknamed Black jack, had arrived and occupied positions to the rear of the bridge along the main trunk road on 12 January. The B Company of 2/30 Battalion, which was chosen by lot to conduct the ambush, moved to the bridge area the following day. The ambush occurred at 4.20 pm. Once a large group of Japanese had reached the engagement site, the bridge was detonated and the Australian soldiers hurled grenades and started firing at the Japanese. According to records from battalion members who were present at the ambush, estimate that approximately 600 Japanese were killed. It was also recorded that the action at Gemencheh bridge was the first time that Australian and Japanese troops had met in battle. Today, a new bridge has been built. The remnants of the old wooden bridge can still be seen and not too far from here is the memorial site called Sungai Kelamah War Memorial[2] (war story to continue in the section on Gemas).

(Left) Datuk Mohd Taha (Right) Datuk Mokhtar HashimPhoto source : 3 Assassination Cases That Will Forever Remain in Malaysian History

The town continued to hog the headlines of local dailies. Two events took place that sent shockwaves to the nation. The first took place in the early hours of 14 April 1982 at Kampung Seri Asahan [4] where Datuk Mohamed Taha Talib who was then the Negeri Sembilan Legislative Assembly Speaker, was gunned down outside his home. It was eight days before the 1982 Malaysian Election (GE6). On 10 July, Datuk Mokhtar Hashim, the Member of Parliament for Tampin and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports and four others were arrested and charged with the murder of Datuk Taha. After seventy-six days in court, which was one of the longest criminal trials in Malaysian history at that time, Datuk Mokhtar was sentenced to death by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March 1983. It was later commuted to life imprisonment by the Pardons Board in 1984. After serving for seven years, he was released from prison following a royal pardon by the then Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Sultan Azlan Shah. A posting on Facebook on 18 November 2020 confirmed the passing of Datuk Mokhtar at Ampang Hospital at 3.10 am on the same day. He was 78.

The second event was also a scene of killing. It happened on 12 January 2010 at Kampung Batang Rokan [3] where a 34 year-old man killed his grandparents, father and younger sister. He then returned to Shah Alam with his father’s head where he buried it in a Muslim cemetery. He was caught the next day when he tried to attack an auxiliary police officer with a knife near the Masjid Jamek LRT station. In September 2010, he was acquitted of the crimes on the ground of insanity but ordered that he be held at the pleasure of the state ruler.

Gemas

The first settlers arrived in the area around 1890’s and named the place, first, in accordance to the actual topography of the surroundings, which was literally covered with swamps with lateral roots that grow upward, as Paya Akar and then changed it to Ayer Terap (latex from the Terap tree). The Terap tree is a native flora and can grow to a height of 45 metres with buttress roots. The bark of the Terap tree is used by the locals for lining baskets and bins, making house-walls and as strings while the latex from the tree, which is very sticky, is used for bird trapping. When the British came in the early 1900’s, they found gold while digging around the district and decided to call the place ‘Goldmas’, a combination of  the word Gold in English and Malay (emas), and it eventually evolved into ‘Gemas’.

(Left) Terap tree / Photo source : Terap – Artocarpus elasticus
(Right) Railway map – connection between Malacca, Tampin and Gemas / Photo source:  http://braderdm.blogspot.com/2009/01/fmsr-tampin-melaka-line.html

When the Federated Malay States Railway was formed in 1901, the tracks were still separated between Perak and Selangor. The North to South trunk line was finally connected in 1903 between Perai and Port Dickson. The Malacca Government Railway then proceeded to link Tampin to Malacca, which was opened on 1 December 1905 and the section connecting Tampin to Gemas was opened to traffic on 1 October 1906. Upon the completion of the latter, the Malacca Government Railway was absorbed into the Federated Malay States Railway. This was followed with the opening section between Gemas and Segamat on 1 March 1908 and the whole of the railway through Johor was commissioned on 1 July 1909. With the completion of the North-South section, the next phase was to connect the railway line to the East from Gemas, which started in 1910.

The date 5 September 1931 witnessed the completion of the East Line (aka East Coast Line) connecting Gemas and Bahau (in Negeri Sembilan) through to Mentakab and Kuala Lipis (in Pahang) and finally to Gua Musang, Tumpat and Sungai Golok (in Kelantan). Today, Gemas is an important railway hub in the country. It is located at the intersection of Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) East and West Coast main lines, which is now collectively known as KTM Intercity rail service. As of now, KTM Intercity is the only train service that transports passengers from Tumpat to Johor Bharu Sentral. Meanwhile, the ETS (Electric Train Service) inter-city electric rail service is currently operating from Gemas to Padang Besar up North in Perlis. Previously, Gemas was the southern terminus of the KTM Komuter Southern sector shuttle train but since 20 June 2016, the shuttle service terminates at Pulau Sebang/Tampin station. The original Gemas station [1], which was opened sometime in 1922, is still standing, located just beside the completely new station complex that was built in 2012.

The ambush at Gemencheh bridge on 14 January 1942 and the fierce fighting in the ensuing day has become known as the Battle of Gemas. The rather lop-sided engagement at the bridge lasted for twenty minutes after which Captain Desmond Jack Duffy, Officer Commanding B Company, told his men to withdraw according to plan to the rendezvous area. Duffy wrote a report when he was held captive as a prisoner of war at Changi gaol and described the aftermath of the ambush: ‘…. the whole of the roadway was completely covered with fallen enemy and their bikes – the road was literally a complete stretch of dead and wounded enemy as there was not a move out of the whole stretch and I doubt if it would have been possible to have walked over this bit of road unless the walker walked on bodies’.

The Japanese advance came to a sudden halt. They immediately set out to repair the bridge using timber from a nearby sawmill and by dawn the next day, Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tanks were rolling across the new bridge and heading up the Tampin-Gemas trunk road [2] to the vicinity of 61 mile peg, where the main 2/30 Battalion was waiting for their arrival. A roadblock made up of concrete cylinders was set up and further strengthened with the addition of four anti-tank artillery regiments. In the battle, five tanks were destroyed but Japanese forces continued the attack with reinforcements on the ground as well as taking full command of the air. Japanese aircrafts were bombing Gemas, battalion headquarters and company areas. This resulted in the withdrawal of the battalion in mid-afternoon to the Gemas River. For the Japanese troops, they have now arrived at the southernmost state of Johor, inching ever closer to their ultimate destination, Fortress Singapore.

(Left) Road block made up of concrete cylinders at Gemas
(Right) Map showing the Battalion area at Gemas
Photo source : Gemencheh Bridge

According to the article ‘Sejarah Gemas-Ruangan Lorekan Remaja’, written by students from Sekolah Menengah Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Gemas which won the first prize in a national level secondary school history writing competition, revealed that there are two memorial sites in Gemas. One of the sites is located near the KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) sports club. Immediately after occupying the town, Japanese troops had constructed a monument to commemorate their colleagues who were killed at the ambush. Families of the fallen soldiers will come for the memorial service every five years. The other site is located about 100 metres from a Hindu temple and this is to commemorate Indian railway workers who were killed by Japanese soldiers.

(Left) Indian railway workers and (Right) Japanese soldiers memorial sites in GemasPhoto source : Sejarah Gemas (ruangan lorekan remaja) · Malaycivilization

When Captain Duffy, later promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, retreated with his men, they stayed the first night in the jungle. The following night, they found their way to the Gemas golf links where they found half a tin of condensed milk, a few bottles of soda and tonic water. They spent the night in the golf links and the next morning, headed through the rubber plantation and eventually made it to the battalion headquarters. Today, the golf links is known as Gemas Golf Resort [3], an 18-hole par 72 golf course. The three-storey clubhouse houses a three-star hotel with 43 guestrooms, meeting rooms, a restaurant and a swimming pool.

A new township called Gemas Baru [4] is located about one kilometre from the Johor-Negeri Sembilan border and it comes under the Segamat district. Though the towns are in two different states, both towns share the same postal code 73400.

Getting There

From Kuala Lumpur city centre, use the North South Highway (E2 South) and exit at Exit 227 Simpang Ampat. After the toll plaza, turn left to join Lebuh AMJ (Alor Gajah – Central Melaka – Jasin Highway) a.k.a Federal Route 19 to Simpang Ampat. Once the Simpang Ampat Police Station is in sight on the left, turn left to join M10 – Jalan Kemus / Sempang Ampat. Upon reaching Pulau Sebang intersection, turn left to join Federal Route 61 / Jalan Alor Gajah – Tampin a.k.a Jalan Dato Mohd Zin (former Melaka Chief Minister Mohd Zin Abdul Ghani). Upon reaching the intersection in Tampin town, turn to join Federal Route 1 / Jalan Tampin – Gemas to Gemencheh and Gemas.

References

The Negri Sembilan Economy of the 1890’s (page 50)

THREE 19th CENTURY MILITARY AUTHORS OF THE FAR EAST (page 147 – 149)

Sejarah Gemencheh. · Malaycivilization

Malaya at War (part 1) – Museum Volunteers, JMM

JUDGMENT DAY FOR MOKHTAR

Former minister Mokhtar Hashim dies

Gruesome killings that rocked a nation

Sejarah Gemas (ruangan lorekan remaja) · Malaycivilization.

Terap – Artocarpus elasticus

Gemas Tourism: Best of Gemas, Malaysia – Tripadvisor

Gemencheh Bridge

In this Series

Please click HERE for a list of articles in the ‘A Very Rough Guide’ series.

by Marie-Andree Abt

For the fourth time, the French MV`s of Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur met for a cultural gathering. This time, we were four from Kuala Lumpur and 18 altogether. We had the opportunity to visit Borobodur, Prambanan and a part of old Yogyakarta with all the information we could have dreamed about, thanks to the hard work of the Jakarta French team.

After half a dozen loops above the airport due to a malfunction of the control tower, we landed and were welcomed by the president of the IHS (initiator of these cultural meetings) and Laurence, both former Kuala Lumpur MVs. We were met by a few other Jakarta guides and went directly to visit Candi Mendut and sank into the Buddhist culture. Candi Mendut is one of the three buildings erected aligned with Borobodur in the 9^th century. It was restored beginning of the twentieth century using the anastylose method, a technique developed by the “French School of Oriental Art” (yeah!!).

Then we proceeded to the Manohara Hotel, very conveniently situated, right at the foot of Borobodur. From there, our guides brought us to a wonder for tea time, the Aman Jiwo hotel. Modelled on a stupa, the lobby is facing Borobodur valley with the rooms spread in half concentric circles of smaller stupas, just like Borobodur itself. We had the opportunity to visit the rooms but for the asking price, we decided to come back only for the tea with our respective husbands! After a long delay and also a few rounds in the sky of Yogyakarta, the Singapore guides arrived and could enjoy the breath taking site seeing.

Back to the hotel, we met the last of the Jakarta guides (no tea in wonderland for them, sadly!). Then the serious work began: a cultural “apero” was waiting for us at the library. Most of “foreign” guides had bought a bottle of wine at the duty free and after the welcome word and batik gift from our president, we shared the firsts of them while listening to Colette presenting the highlight of the trip: Borobodur. We learned it was built in the 9^th century by kings of the Sailendra dynasty. It is a mountain temple made of 4 square terraces and 3 round ones, each one smaller than the preceding one and topped  by the main empty stupa. Each square terrace comprises two walls facing each other and displaying a strip depicting the life of Buddha, the legend of his previous lives and the everyday life of common people of the time. The first terrace walls being higher than the other three, accommodate two strips per wall. The pilgrims had (and again since the 90’s only and after a long oblivion) worshiped, by doing as many tours of the galleries as there are strips; altogether, they have to walk 5km before reaching the circular terraces where 72 stupas containing a Buddha are their reward. On the last terrace a large empty stupa shows the vacuity of life. Here the pilgrim can make a wish and tour the stupa with an uneven number of paces and in silence to get it granted.

Then it was dinner again for us in the nice Plataran hotel. The Mongolian barbecue was delicious!

After a short night for most of the MVs, they woke up at 4:15 am to go and discover Borobodur at sunrise. Too early for me! But it was said to be very nice in the mist. After a well-earned breakfast (for them…), we all went to the foot of Borobodur for further talks on central Java history and Buddhism. That is when we discovered the difference between enlightenment and awakening, vacuity and emptiness. I cannot say I understood everything but, well, I was enlightened! At long last, we began the climb of the sacred mountain and received more information about the nicest and most famous bas-relief. There we discovered the famous 4 boats which are not from Majapahit, as they were carved too early to be from that kingdom’s time, but plain Javanese boats.

We did only one tour of each gallery. When we arrived at the main stupa, all of us tried the wish trick (even though the silent part was difficult for us!). Let`s see if our wishes will be fulfilled!

We climbed down the temple and up again a hill facing Borobodur for a last presentation of the restoration of Borobodur before a well-earned nasi or mee goreng back at the hotel.

Then it was the much expected visit of the …. unexpected: the “gereja ayam”. After yet another straining climb, a kind of pillbox in the shape of a hen was awaiting us. Our guides told us it was a prayer room built by a man who had a vision; God told him to build a prayer room in the shape of a dove in the middle of the jungle and here it was, very unexpected indeed! Even though, it was not completed due to lack of funds and looking more like a hen (ayam) rather than a dove.

Back to the bus, we went to the last of the three buildings built aligned with, and at the same time of, Borobodur, Candi Prawon. It is a shrine (probably the shrine of a King), not a temple. Then it was back to Yogyakarta, where a 2 hours rest was most welcome. Then, we learned about the story of Yogyakarta, one of the only two provinces with a sultan only since 1755, the other one being Solo. We also had our first encounter with Hinduism, in a presentation of Prambanan. Prambanan was built at the same time as Borobodur. It is a cluster of temples. The main one is dedicated to Shiva (Agastya, Ganesh and Durga), between one to Brahma and one to Vishnu; each god’s temple is fronted by atemple dedicated to his own vehicle, respectively Nandi, Hamsa and Garuda.

In front of these 6 temples were 254 or 249 (we cannot remember!) small temples which are now just piles of stones anyway and whose function has yet to be determined.

During the diner at a French restaurant that followed, we emptied a few more bottles and were happy to have a good night sleep after!

Wednesday morning we met our local French speaking guide for a visit of old Yogyakarta. He showed us a wet market and we took nice pictures of the group at the Sultan’s Bath. None of us were sent a flower to go and swim at his private swimming pool!

From there we went and visited the underground mosque. I was there when Wahida called about the university visits on the 9^th December and 12^th January, relayed by Sylvia to KL MVs; by the way, we still need help for the visit on the 12^th January at 4:00 p.m. !!

We finished the morning in a “wayang kulit” workshop where we learned the symbols belonging to the Javanese philosophy in the carvings of the puppets. The ones I remember:

• They have a long nose because they look for knowledge in the West.
• They have big feet and short legs to stand firmly on Earth.

The lower part of their bodies is round like the Earth with carvings representing Fire, Water and Air.

The tree of life is full of symbols as well. The base is a Yoni, then there are several animals: the bull (strength), the tiger (cleverness), the snake and some monkeys.

After tasting some of the preferred courses of the sultans, we reached Prambanan. During the visit, Colette described each divinity but, unfortunately for the 4 of us, it was soon  time to go and catch our plane back home and we could not attend the end of the lecture. The Jakarta guides left one hour after us and the Singapore MVs had a plane only the next morning at 6:00 am! But at least, they could finish the bottles Wednesday night. I do not know in which state they were in the morning!

As you can see it was a very busy, interesting, enriching trip, well washed down (not only with wine, but rain as well!); I want to thank the Jakarta team for all their hard preparatory work.

You are interested in this kind of trip? I`ll tell you two secrets, Jamil asked me the contact of the “Singapore Friends of Museums” to organise a similar treat with them. And Karen is considering a field trip to Borobodur.

by Julia Stanbrook

Bright and early on Saturday 18th June, forty of us set off for a mini adventure in and around Ipoh. The temperature in the morning was perfect for scaling limestone hills and standing outside; not too hot and not too cold and defiantly not raining! It looked like it could be a perfect day.

We began with a tour of Gua Tambun, looking at how Prehistoric man lived. Very quickly, we found evidence of one of their meals, clearly there were no bins around at the time. Many small shells were just thrown onto the floor with the ends snapped off so they could suck the juicy morsel out from within. We explored caves on the lower levels of the limestone hill – the only evidence of ancient man was his food remains. But then they had lived here nearly 9,000 years ago – what did we expect to find?

We tracked Neolithic man’s movements and worked our way up the limestone hill. It seems that for some reason, and they don’t know precisely why yet, man moved up the hill and started living higher. We climbed the 130+ steps up to see the evidence left from 4,000 years ago. Of course, we knew this would be cave art, we’d read Elizabeth’s emails!

I, for one, eagerly looked around, hmm… some modern graffiti, some bird nests, some overhanging rocks. Where’s the rock art?! It was only when we were split into teams and given a little treasure hunt, looking for the rock art, that we found our first piece of art – after that the wall came alive; shapes, swirls, arrows, dancing people (anthropomorphs), animals (zoomophs). Over 600 to be seen. Sadly, most of the teams only managed to identify about 10-15 of the 50 or so art pieces we’d been asked to find, although in our defence, some of the paintings had faded and it’s not as easy as we made it look, standing there with one’s head tilted right back!

These paintings were made in the most gorgeous reds and purples, from crushed up hematite mixed with resin, spit, urine or animal fat as a binder. These, we were told by our archaeologist and his student who is studying the paintings, are the only Neolithic red paintings to survive in modern Peninsula Malaysia.

They were first discovered and studied in 1959, when 80 forms of rock art were identified along with 49 stone tools; but in 1984 more rock art pieces were discovered along with some Neolithic pottery sherds. In 2009, using more sophisticated technology, over 600 rock art pieces were discovered on hitherto unknown panels.

To end our visit at the rock art, we all had the opportunity to create some rock art of our own using hematite and a modern form of binder (which was a relief, I didn’t fancy using spit or urine!!) and a small disk of plaster that had also been prepared earlier. Most of us tried to re-create the cave art we could see, but one or two more adventurous painters painted rather beautiful landscapes! Pre-historic man would have been very impressed; I know I was!

After this we gathered up our cars and travelled in convoy to Ipoh. Having parked and got our instructions, we were free to roam the area known as Concubine Alley and have a tasty lunch. The specialty was bean sprouts cooked in soy sauce! Yummy.

At 2 pm prompt, we started our tour of the Han Chin Pet Soo museum. Han Chin Pet Soo, translated, means: Entertainment & Leisure Villa. It was a club for the very rich Hakka Chinese tin miners – it was invite only and no wives allowed (we found out why later…..!) The club was set up on 5th May 1893 and the building was donated by Towkay Leong Fee, a very rich tin mine owner.

Leong Fee came from China to Penang as a poor teenager. He heard that there may be tin in Ipoh, so he and 15 of his friends came to Ipoh where very soon he made enough money to buy his own tin mine; and the rest, as they say, is history. By 1893, he had 4 wives and 2 concubines. This was pretty normal for the time and this is also why these rich men decided they needed a place to get away from all those women (I guess it gave all the women a break from them too – a win, win).

In 1929 the small building that Leong Fee had originally donated was knocked down and the building we see today was constructed. Upstairs was the leisure and pleasure area. It was described to us as the Four Evils – Gambling, Opium, Prostitutes & Secret Societies.

There was a large gambling area for the men to play Mahjong or Russian Poker, along with many other card games. The prostitutes would wait on them, or entertain them with music and song and of course other prostitute activities, shall we say….. The majority of the prostitutes came over from Japan, but sadly when times got hard for the miners it got hard for these ladies too and many of the prostitutes found themselves begging on the streets to try and make ends meet.

We had an explanation of the opium habit. I had always wondered why hard porcelain pillows were used by opium users, they never look that comfortable. It was so they could put their possessions into the hollow of the pillow and then rest their heads back and enjoy their opium state and not have to worry about their personal items being stolen. I’m not sure what would stop a sober thief from lifting the stoned opium users head up, stealing their worldly goods and placing the unaware head back on the now empty porcelain pillow, but there you go, one probably doesn’t think logically when stoned!

The secret societies were seen as one of the evils as they really left people with no choice. You were told to join; you were told to fight until your death, if necessary; you were told what to do, when to do it and when to stop! And none of this was negotiable. Possibly OK if you were high up in the society, but if you were a lowly participant it can’t have been that good for you.

The average Chinese mine worker earned $1 a day. But as they could only work on days when it was not raining, this meant they didn’t have a steady income. That said, $1 was a lot of money then, a meal would cost about 1 cent, so these men would have probably felt pretty flush.

You would think to carry the tin around, from mine and around the market place to be sold, they would use tin buckets, but no! Tin buckets were too heavy, even when empty, so rubber buckets were used instead, handy that by this time rubber plantations had really taken off.

Out of interest the last dredger to be built in Malaysia was in 1985. It’s still working today, but has been moved to Indonesia.

We finished our day with a trip around the Hor Yan Hor Herbal museum where we learned about the medicinal uses of all sorts of plants. We finished with a cooling brew which was perfect for the hot afternoon.

On our drive back home, my husband and I pondered on all we had seen. For such a new nation, there is very old history to be proud of and I would like to thank both Elizabeth & Yeow for bringing it to life for us and organising such a full, interesting and fun packed day. I can’t wait for the next tour!

by Natalia Gutierrez

The agenda for the day 3 (Thursday 21.04.2016) in Kuala Terengganu included a visit to the Islamic Civilization Park and a photo stop at the Crystal Mosque as part of the highlights of the day. But at the end of the day, more landmarks were added to our agenda, and we were definitely delighted about all we had seen and learnt during the third day’s excursion in Kuala Terengganu.

It was almost 9:00 am when we started boarding the JMM bus. We thought we were heading directly to the Islamic Civilizations Park, but we made instead a detour and our first stop was: Shopping! And the question followed: Again?… Yet, this was a different type of shopping.

We headed to the old market ‘Kampong Tiong’ located within the boundaries of the Kampong Cina.

Regarded as a heritage landmark in Kuala Terengganu, Kampong Cina, as it is named by the locals, or Chinatown as it is most commonly known, has maintained its features and traits since the late 19th century. The attractiveness of the centuries-old buildings along Jalan Bandar, granted the area a place on the Watch list of the World Monument Fund. Under the name of Kampong Cina River Frontage, the World Monument Fund helped to support the conservation of Malaysia’s historic waterfront district with the aim of “revitalizing Kampong Cina and upgrading the capabilities of the traditional structures, so growth could be accomplished while a unique way of life is preserved” (Wmf.org, 2015).

The arrival of the first Chinese migrants to Kuala Terengganu and the founding of the city’s Chinatown cannot be specifically dated “but some records indicate that Chinese settlers arrived here as early as the 16th century” (Hogan Jr, 2015). As we learned from the inscription on the wall in front of the Low Tiey´s well, the migration of Chinese came from the province of Fujian and started during the late Ming dynasty and early Ching dynasty (Yaw in Chinese Assembly Hall of Terengganu, 2004). Among the wanderers, there was a particular Chinese clan, who had travelled south from China about 300 years ago and settled in the area now known as Kuala Terengganu. The clan’s name was Lim, they were farmers and to cultivate the land, they dug up a well for the supply of water for the farm and for their domestic needs. The interesting story behind this well, which makes it a cultural and historical attraction in Kampong Cina, is that in 1875 the town of Kuala Terengganu experienced drought causing most of the wells to dry up except for the well of the Lim clan. They were kind enough to share theirs well’s water with the rest of the town’s folks. Mr Lim Keng Hoon was the family’s patriarch and was holding the post of Low Tiey at that time. The term Low Tiey can be understood as Chinese community leader (Myfareast.org, 2016). The Low Tiey’s well was named after Mr Lim in recognition of his family’s generosity during that period of time. The well was divided in two sections, male and female, to ease the bathing etiquette of the conservative society of the time.

The Pasar Besar Payang was the next spot we visited. Housed in a two-storey building, the market has a wide range of products, from fishes, vegetables and fruits to regional handicrafts, such as batik and songket textiles, which were reasonably cheap and offered us early retail therapy for the day. As locals frequently do their shopping at the Pasar, this gives outsiders, the opportunity to experience local culture as well.

Right after we finished the shopping spree at the pasar, we moved forward in our tour schedule and continued our journey to the Islamic Civilizations Park. The park is promoted as an edutainment park with the mission to “provide alternative family recreational and educational activities based on the Islamic principles” (Tti.com.my, 2016). The Monument Park is a tourist attraction that showcases 22 replicas of Islamic architectural structures which are mostly places of worship for the Muslim community. The edutainment park also includes the Taman Tamandun Islam Water Wheel, which re-creates the theory of early Muslim engineering stored in the books of the Arab Muslim scholar and engineer Al-Jazari (Famous Inventors, 2016).

The Islamic buildings featured at the park are considered “glories of Islamic civilization from all over the world” (TTI.Org, 2016).  The visitors to this impressive Theme Park can get a glimpse of the iconic buildings of Islamic history through the meticulous replicas of 22 remarkable mosques, tombs and citadels from around the world. A documentary screening, available at some of the attractions, can be watched before proceeding with the visit of the whole structure. The documentaries and exhibition galleries add extra knowledge on the history behind each of the Islamic architectural masterpieces.

Among the replicas, the Dome of the Rock is one of a very impressive character. The shrine is located within the Al Masjid Al Aqsa area or Noble Sanctuary of Al Aqsa in in the Old City of Jerusalem. Under its Arabic names, the building is well-known as Masjid As-Sakhrah and Qubbat As-Sakhrah (Visitmasjidalaqsa.com, 2016).  It is situated in the middle of the plateau of Al Masjid Al Aqsa and was built in 692 C.E. by Al Malik ibn Marwaan. The Dome of the Rock building preserves the Sacred Rock commemorating “the Prophet’s Muhammad’s Ascension to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel” (Newworldencyclopedia.org, 2016).

Another imposing construction in the vicinity of the park is the Crystal Mosque. Its construction started in 2006 and it was inaugurated in 2008. The outside structure is made of glass and steel, which gives its crystal-like appearance and therefore its name. The architectural style is basically contemporary but traces of Moorish and Gothic architecture were incorporated as well.  According to the Islamic Tourism Centre (2016) the Crystal Mosque is the country’s first ‘intelligent’ mosque with a built-in IT infrastructure and wifi connection, providing visitors with internet access.

The excursion to the Taman Tamadun Islam concluded with a quick look at the souvenir arcade. Luckily, the shop also provided us with most needed snacks and drinks.  By the time we have finished the tour, we were hungry and quite overworked after touring the park at a ‘melting’ temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. We then ambled towards the photo stop at the Crystal Mosque to take de rigueur group photo before driving to the hawker center where we had our long awaited lunch.

The last place of interest in our agenda was the Bukit Puteri or Princess Hill. We took the stairs and climbed up to the top of the hill. Elevated towards the Terengganu river and the South China Sea, the Princess Hill “has been a witness of the historical development of Kuala Terengganu” (Official Portal of Malaysia National Archives, 2016).  The breeze and the view of the Istana Maziah were most enjoyable.  The hill was used as a fortress during times of civil wars. Historical artifacts can be found at the top of the hill, among those: the Bell, made in 1908 to replace the original bell called ‘Negara’ which was made in 1853 during the reign of Sultan Umar. The Bell was used to alert the people about danger. The Throne of Sultan Umar can also be found at the fort. Last but not least, a lighthouse, which guided the fishermen and seaman to get to the port of Kuala Terengganu in past times, is placed at the hilltop.

The day 3 of our MV trip to Kuala Terengganu ended with new experiences and brains fuller with knowledge.

 

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References

Famous Inventors. (2016). Al-Jazari. [Online] Available at: http://www.famousinventors.org/al-jazari [Accessed 4 May 2016].

Myfareast.org. (n.d.). Terengganu. [Online] Available at: http://www.myfareast.org/Malaysia/terengganu.html [Accessed 4 May 2016].

Hogan Jr, D. (2015). Time-travel to Kuala Terengganu’s Chinatown. Free Malaysia Today. [Online] Available at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2015/10/28/time-travel-to-kuala-terengganus-chinatown/ [Accessed 4 May 2016].

Islamic Tourism Centre. (2016). Masjid Kristal (Crystal Mosque). [Online] Available at: http://www.itc.gov.my/mosque/masjid-kristal-crystal-mosque/ [Accessed 10 May 2016].

Newworldencyclopedia.org. (2016). Dome of the Rock. [Online] Available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Dome_of_the_Rock [Accessed 5 May 2016].

Official Portal of Malaysia National Archives. (2016). Bukit Puteri. [Online] Available at: http://www.arkib.gov.my/en/web/guest/bukit-puteri [Accessed 10 May 2016].

Tti.com.my. (2016). Mission & Vision | Taman Tamadun Islam. [Online] Available at: http://www.tti.com.my/about/company/missionvision [Accessed 10 May 2016].

Visitmasjidalaqsa.com. (2016). Islamic History of Al Masjid Al Aqsa. [Online] Available at: http://www.visitmasjidalaqsa.com/islamic-history-of-al-masjid-al-aqsa/ [Accessed 10 May 2016].

Wmf.org. (2016). Kampung Cina River Frontage. World Monuments Fund. [Online] Available at: https://www.wmf.org/project/kampung-cina-river-frontage [Accessed 4 May 2016].

Jane Chan shares her views on the river cruise that marked the start of the Museum Volunteers’ visit to Kuala Terengganu (19 Apr 2016)

It was hot and sunny when we started the cruise in two fishermen taxis from near Duyong Island (Pulau Duyong). We separated ourselves into two groups, each occupying a taxi boat with a distance of 50m between us so that we will have a calmer sail.  As we travelled inland towards the Terengganu State Museum and Islamic Civilization Miniature Centre, we could feel the soft breeze kissing our cheeks giving a cooling effect.

Our local guide was in the same taxi as Elizabeth, Cze Yan, Julie, Mariea, Wai Mun, Yeow, myself, together with few others that left the jetty ahead of the President, Jega, and the rest.  Without noticing that we were actually by the open museum marine exposition site, we who sat at the engine corner just concentrated ahead of us towards the Islamic Civilization Centre and Crystal Floating Mosque. It was only on the following day that we realized that we were at the riverbank adjacent to the museum. We also learned that the reason the Crystal Mosque was constructed as such  was because the architect wanted to reflect the people of Terengganu living on tilted houses along the river bank.

The view of the riverbank is magnificent under the bright sun beam; despite the intense heat with two dry months, the river is not muddy. The money spent to reclaim and beautify the once fishermens’ shoreline is worth more than my words.

The Museum Volunteers organised a study trip to Kuala Terengganu between 19 – 22 Apr 2016. Chen Poh Leng has the story for Day 2 (20 Apr).

Day 2 of our visit started with a hearty buffet breakfast at the hotel that included delicious local fare such as nasi dagang (rice) with gulai ikan tongkol (fish in gravy), pulut kelapa (coconut covered glutinous rice balls) with salted fish and cucur ikan bilis (fried dough with anchovies). With much stored energy, we headed off to the Terengganu State Museum, the highlight of our trip.

We were all awed by the main museum building’s beautiful architecture and the very first thing we did was to take a group photo with this beauty. The architect, Raja Dato’ Kamarul Baharin Shah, incorporated Terengganu’s old palace design into this creation. The museum complex spans over a land area of 27 hectares and consists of a main museum, a fisheries museum, a maritime museum, four traditional houses with herbs and botanic gardens. The grounds of the museum is so beautiful we were told that wedding photography is a common occurrence there. There are a total of 9 galleries covering textiles, royal, Islamic, craft, petroleum, natural history, seafaring and trade and finally, fisheries and marine park.

We were privileged to be warmly welcomed and guided by the director of the museum, Tuan Haji Mohd Yusof bin Abdullah. He told us that the concept of the architecture was based on the local dwelling concept where houses could easily be extended and connected with corridors as families grew. The houses could just as easily be dismantled. He shared with us that the main purpose of building the state museum had to do with the inscribed stone Batu Bersurat first discovered in 1887 in Terengganu. This is the most famous artefact of the state. It has the Malay language inscribed using Jawi script on dolomite stone. He highlighted that one of the main reasons of the ease of the spreading of Islam in the Malay Archipelago was the writing of the Malay language in Jawi script. According to him, the Malay language had additional 5 Jawi ‘symbols’ or characters compared with the Arabic language.

As we moved into the craft gallery, we learned:

• the use of natural dye in the making of batik material
• Malay traditional cloth weaving, although with a weaving machine, was labour intensive
• the use of brass ware in everyday life was common while that of silver ware was less common

In the maritime museum, we climbed into an actual cargo boat on display and were introduced to some sea faring facts within the south east Asian region. We were also introduced to various types and characteristics of different types of perahu (boats), the most famous being perahu payang. We were told that the boat building skill was special in that no plans were drawn. It was all ‘within the head’ passed down from one generation to another.

As we moved along the grounds we could see many different fertile flora around us. We were introduced to various fruits trees and herbal plants by Tuan Haji Mohd Yusof who shared the benefits of consuming them. He had special interest in this subject and thought preserving these plants would complement the museum complex’s grounds while being environment friendly. Fruit trees we saw included the belimbing, the tropical fig as well as tropical olive trees.

The museum excursion took up the whole morning and by the time we finished, it was time to refill our tummies. The authentic Peranakan lunch we had at On The Way Kopitiam, located in Chinatown, was most enjoyable. Everyone was delighted with the delicious local Peranakan fare. Dishes included, laksa, laksam, rojak as well as lekor (fish cake) served in 2 versions; steamed and fried. The satisfying meal was finished off with a bowl of ice kacang desert which helped cool down our bodies.

Following lunch, we were led to Pulau Duyung by the museum staff to witness the building of a wooden perahu (boat) the traditional way. The type of wood used was the cengal which is a type of hardwood. The wood type is also used to build Malay houses. The cengal, just like teak wood, is able to withstand harsh weather and does not attract insects. The visit ended with warm appreciation and goodbye wishes extended to the hospitable museum staff from the MV group.

Our next stop was that of Masjid Tengku Tengah Zaharah, the floating mosque. It was built by the late Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah, father of the current sultan of Terengganu in 1993 and opened in 1995. Named after the mother of the current Sultan, it was yet another beautiful mosque and a photo snapping spot for us.

Next on our itinerary was the Nor Arfa Craft Complex where we witnessed 2 demonstrations relating to the cloth industry – the printing of batik as well as the weaving of the songket cloth. After this, our retail therapy commenced. Most of us ended the visit with items to bring home. The combined purchases entitled us to some complimentary items which were then given to the lucky ones resulting from a lucky draw following this visit.

The last visit for the day was to a home family business. This is the home of a young family that is in the batik business. We were welcomed into more retail therapy. This time a warmer welcome as we were served local snacks and drinks. I was impressed with the young children helping out their parents in conducting business.

The day ended with yet another but final meal for the day. Our dinner was at the Golden Dragon Restaurant, also in Chinatown, before heading back to the hotel for much a needed shower and a good rest. While it was tiring, the day was indeed enjoyable. We were enriched knowledge wise, experience wise, vitamin D wise (due to the intense sun) but NOT wallet wise, thanks to retail therapy. At day end, we were a happy bunch for sure – a day well spent and money well spent.

by Yong Khee Chong (KC)

Having experienced field activities the day before, we were all excited and looking forward to visiting the Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum. Along the route, the presence of Gunung (Mount) Jerai and the padi-fields were mesmerizing and helped set the mode for more excitement ahead. It is the first archaeological museum in Malaysia and it was opened on January 23rd 1980 by His Royal Highness Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, the Sultan of Kedah. It was built to exhibit proto-history artefacts found in Bujang Valley which was considered  a leading entreport in its time.

Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the museum staff and the sunny weather. After group photos, we started with an outdoor walk, admiring those ancient stone artefacts and the reconstructed candi from the glorious Bujang Valley era. Among the stone artefacts on display are the Singha Mukha (carved stone with face of a lion that served as the guardian of temple), various types of pillar and statue bases, granite blocks, stone mortars, and even giant sugarcane juicers from 19th CE.

There are 4 temple ruins or candi within the museum compound and we followed the walking trail that led to them.

Candi Pendiat (Site 16) was discovered in 1940 by Quaritch Wales at Kampung Pendiat and it was relocated to the museum compound in 1974.

Candi Bukit Batu Pahat (Site 8) is the most well-known candi in Bujang Valley. It was excavated by Quaritch Wales from 1936 to 1937 and was reconstructed in 1960 at its original place.

Candi Pengkalan Bujang (Site 21), also discovered by Quaritch Wales in 1936 as a pair with Site 22 at Kampung Pengkalan Bujang, was relocated here in 1976.

Candi Bendang Dalam (Site 50), excavated sometime in 1960s at Kampung Bendang Dalam, was relocated to the museum in 1976.

En. Azman, who is the museum curator, guided us through the walk and patiently explained the various candi, their components and functions. He had to repeatedly point out the position of mandapa (lower platform), vimana (higher platform which housed with lingga and yoni), and somasutra (the flow of holy water) – we were like a bunch of school kids all over again.

The Gallery

We were then ushered to the main building and given a tour of the objects on display. A model of a map of Bujang Valley is placed at the entrance to give visitors an idea of the geographical landform.

Remnants of various religious artefacts as well as inscription stones are displayed at the gallery. Hindu figurines, Buddha statues and inscription stones highlight the influence of Hindu-Buddhism in the early era. Various other treasures such as ceramics, porcelain, beads and coins indicate that Bujang Valley was indeed a thriving entreport.

As we departed, the museum not only reminded us of the architectural and archaeological marvels found in Bujang Valley but the surrounding lush tropical rainforest and the magnificent Gunung Jerai backdrop left us with a lasting impression and a peaceful mindset.

Soon after leaving the museum, we were treated to some nice surprises before our journey back to Kuala Lumpur: a quick stop at the Kelulut Honey Farm in Merbok followed by a lunch stop at Tanjung Dawai for seafood.

We, as Museum Volunteers, are certainly a privileged lot with all the warm welcomes and hospitality received throughout the journey. As the bus headed south to Kuala Lumpur, we felt blessed that we now have more stories to share with the rest of our museum friends and visitors.

Until the next journey then…

by Deanna How

A visit to Sungai Batu excavation site is the menu for day 2 of our field trip to Lenggong and Bujang.  Oil Palm plantations whizzes past and excitement was already in the air as excavation sites started coming into view.  Sg Batu came into prominence in 2009 when excavation works unearthed evidence of the existence of a civilisation predating the Langkasuka Kingdom of the 2^nd century in Kedah. Covering a four square kilometer, carbon dating done on the site suggest that civilisation could have existed as early as 50 BC.

Upon arrival we were met by Associate Professor Mokhtar Saidin, Director of USM Global Archaeology Centre (PPAG).  According to Prof. Mokhtar, “We have proof of civilisations existing as early as 50 BC, but we do not rule out an earlier time period.  Therefore, the Sungai Batu site, based on the estimated timeline, appears to be the oldest civilisation in South East Asia”.

97 sites were identified and within these sites were discovered remnants of a ritual site which had a circular base with a square structure built on top of it. Strong evidence of early Hindu-Buddhist influences were evident with entrances aligned towards the East West direction facing Mount Jerai, the highest peak in Kedah at 1217m above sea level.

Iron smelting remnants were also found in abundance at these sites, pointing to strong evidence of trading and economic activities that were conducted here during those days. Not too far were discovered remnants of structures resembling its adminstrative functions with differing sizes of rooms, in total 12 buildings.  To further strengthen the theory of an iron smelting industry that could have existed back then, iron smelting furnaces were also discovered, much to archaeologists amazement, fully intact.

According to Prof. Mokhtar, the river could be very much closer that what it is today as some of the remaining brick structures resemble jetties, thereby confirming the theory that Sg Batu may have once been a prosperous iron smelting entrepot. Today a swamp and a tiny stream are the only indications of its past.

Why this civilisation disappeared could be attributed to a tsunami which hit around the 9^th century, according to Professor Mokhtar. Underwater excavations were also conducted and ship wrecks were discovered.

As we walked through the sites, small iron remnants could be seen strewn all over the ground, along the path.  What looked like normal stones to untrained eyes like ours, is actually iron.

The most exciting activity for the day must be the hands-on experience of being an archaeologist.  Prof. Mokhtar introduced us to his team of students who are presently studying for their masters and PHDs at USM. At the site, we were introduced to archaeological terms like, site, trenches and quadrants. Once a site has been identified by archaeologists for excavation, it is  carved into trenches of 1 metre by 1 metre.  From this trench, it is further divided into 4 quadrants of 50 cm by 50 cm. Archaeologists would then meticulously work on one quadrant at a time, patiently and painstakingly recording their findings with every 10 cm downwards.  Students were given a specific site as their responsibility for their research on their papers.

So when Professor Mokhtar told us that we were given this hands-on opportunity to get down on our knees, boy! were we excited!  We could also pick our own trench! As no shoes were allowed in the trench, many of us sportingly kicked off our shoes, ready to “start work” as an “archaeologist” for a moment! Armed with the tools for the day, mallet, brush, scrapper, and a dust pan, we clumsily imitated the movements of archaeologists, brushing off dust, sand and what-have-you into the dustpan provided.  It was certainly no fun, if passion is not the underlying emotion of the task, I discovered.  Having gone through this back breaking experience, though short, gives us an appreciation of the work of archaeologists in uncovering our history. Kudos to them!

After lunch, we had the opportunity to try our hands at brick making, which was taken up by only a handful of us.  Very much like making bread, clay is the main ingredient utitilised. It is then mixed with sand and paddy husk and kneaded into a dough and placed into the brick mould to be allowed to dry for at least 2 days. It is then baked in open fire of 600 degrees till reddish brown. Voila! there is your completed brick, your own masterpiece which you can display in your home.  A point to note is, it will take at least 2 weeks for this process to complete.  For that, you will have to make a return trip to Sungai Batu to collect it if you really want to. That’s something for the individual to ponder.

In appreciation of Professor Mokhtar and his team for their warm hospitality, Karen, our MV President presented tokens to them.

Continuing our archaeological trail, we visited Site 23. Artefacts discovered in the site includes Arabic lamp glass fragments. Carbon dating indicates that this site was there even before the arrival of Islam in this region.

Before we headed back to the hotel, we made a last stop along the way to one of the oldest mosque here in Kedah, located in the village of Pengakalan Kakap in the Kuala Muda District.  Known as the Masjid Lama Pengkalan Kakap, it was built around the 1800s. Located slightly below street level, it underwent successful conservation works by the Department of Museums and Antiquity in 1994.  Unfortunately this mosque is not in use anymore as there was a newer mosque constructed just next to it.

As we made our journey back to the hotel, flashing back on the day’s activities , it has indeed been an eye opening and informative day all rolled into one word—EDUCATIONAL!

Written by Lim Eee Lin, Wong Fui Min and Ursula Davertzhofen

Edited by Lim Ee Lin; Photos by Karen Loh

Journeying to Sungai Lembing, Pahang

by Lim Ee Lin

As with any of the museum volunteers trips out of KL, the day started early with over 30 volunteers and JMM staff members gathering at 6.30 a.m. for the estimated 4 hour journey to Sg Lembing. Despite a later than planned start; our bus arrived at Sg Lembing in good time, 10.30 a.m. MVs Zakaria and Jacky kindly took the lead roles as our guides on the coach, managing the group logistics with CK as well as entertaining us with anecdotes. Karen also kindly brought some educational DVDs for us to watch on the journey but of course, we mostly used the time to catch some extra forty winks!

At the Muzium Sg Lembing, the group was warmly welcomed by Puan Rebiah Mohd Yusof and her team. She gave the team an extensive introduction to the Muzium and history of mining in the town followed by a video screening. The video allowed visitors to hear direct accounts from the former miners and visualise the working conditions that they had to bear (read more in the account by Fui Min).

Immediately after this, MVs had an opportunity to quickly walk around the displays before we were ushered to board the bus in order to visit the Living Museum of Sungai Lembing run by the Kuantan Local Council before lunch. However, before leaving the museum, it was of course imperative we take a group photo to record the occasion. With everyone wanting a picture on their personal cameras and smartphones – it became the usual drawn out process of “wait…hold the pose… don’t forget that camera/phone…” before we could get on the bus!

At the Living Museum, MVs were charged a discounted rate for the visit with a further discount for senior citizens – this was one time people had no qualms owning up to their age! The group spent about an hour here exploring the tunnels – as described by Ursula – and generally testing out all the interactive displays. As members trickled out into the sunlight and gathered to wait for all the MVs to regroup, it was selfie time at the outdoor displays. Many agreed that this museum was most well displayed and offered an interesting experience for visitors.

As usual with Malaysian trips, meals are always one of the highlights and the simple buffet lunch organised by the JMM was a veritable feast for our senses! After this meal, MVs had the option to return to the Museum to check out the displays we had to rush through earlier in order to go to the Living Museum before lunch or walk down to the town centre. Walking down the main street, it was clear that Sungai Lembing was awakening as a tourist destination with number of homestays advertised and renovation works in progress.

Before the group bid adieu to this town, the group swarmed a local biscuit shop and practically cleared the shelves of the local delicacies – fried egg twists and coconut biscuits. Despite the rain, it was an uneventful drive back to the National Museum. Thank you again to the Focus Team for another successful programme!

The Sungei Lembing Museum

by Wong Fui Min

The museum of Sungei Lembing, Pahang, is located up on a hill facing the Kenau River. This museum was once the tin mine’s General Manager’s living quarters. It was built in a mix of colonial and local architecture styles and suitable for living in our climate. Since 2001, it has been renovated and converted into a museum to showcase artefacts, mainly tools for Underground mining, for the public to view. Sungei Lembing is home to the only and largest Underground Tin Mine in Malaysia.

MVs got the opportunity to watch a video on the history of tin mining in the museum where we learnt a lot about the development of mining and heard personal accounts from the retired workers. This history of mining in the area started circa 1886, when the Sultan of Pahang granted a concession to the British company called Pahang Consolidated Company Limited (PCCL).

PCCL was run and managed by the British, who brought their expertise of underground mining from Cornwall, located at the Southern part of England. Many of their miners were locals and immigrants from China during the early days. The underground mining job was very dangerous. This was compensated through the higher wages paid to the miners.

There are many artifacts displayed at the Museum, which tells the history of the mine and the managing culture of the Colonial British. For example, the game of Cricket, which is the British number one sport, was shown in the photographs hanging on the walls. In addition, there were displays on the geology of soils found in the mine including the impact of the volcanic eruption on Jawa island in the 20th century.

The Model of the Underground Tin Mine Tunnel shown and explained by Puan Rebiah, the curator, was very interesting. She informed MVs that there were more than 300 km of tunnels inside the mining cave. It had 23 levels and the deepest level is around 700meters deep. She also explained and clearly detailed the importance of safety procedures for the workers. This procedure had to be strictly followed in moving the miners down and out of the mining cave.

The other artifacts displayed are mainly showing the living standard of the General Manager, where colonial cutleries were shown, like silver spoon and butter knife, winding wall clock, bed side alarm clock for waking up early in the morning. Old manual typewriters with QWERTY keyboard can be seen as well as the telex machines for sending urgent messages back to England. These items displayed were of interest as an eye opener for younger visitors who may not have the chance to use such equipment with today’s modern technology.

Many of the former managers upon hearing of the conversion of the bungalow into a Museum, had come back to pay a visit to their former living quarters and had many stories to share with the museum staff. During the Japanese invasion of Malaya, this building was used as a Japanese Headquarters. One of the former managers revealed that one of the galleries was used as a lock-up room and prison.

This mine stopped operation in the year 1987 as PCCL was of the view that the operation was no longer economical with the high cost of operations and the low world market price for tin. From almost 100 years of operation, the Sungei Lembing underground mine had yielded more than 100,000 tonnes of tin ore!

We, as VM members, were very fortunate to have this opportunity with the JMM organizing such an educational field trip for our visit to Sungei Lembing.

The Visit to “The Great Tin Mines of Sungai Lembing”

by Ursula Davertzhofen

This mine, located about 48 km from Kuantan, Pahang, is also known as the “El-Dorado” of the East. Our tour to the underground mine started with a short ride on an original train from the active days of the mine; we immediately felt like miners on their way to work.

After this nice start we had to continue our way by foot. Every step brought us deeper and deeper into the rocks. The visitor tunnel was high enough to walk, but still it was very narrow, very dark. Of course there were lights every 20m and at the side there were panels which explained the history of the mines.

After walking a while, we suddenly arrived at the “1 Million Cave”, a huge man-made cave. Here we could see different kinds of rocks, and a nice video display explained the history and the name of the cave. There was a time when illegal miners could make RM2,000 – RM3,000 per night! Altogether the amount was estimated of RM 1 Million.

In the labyrinth of the tunnels were also some interactive parts, e.g. visitors could try out some of the activities that would be carried out by the miners themselves. For instance, we could check our strength while trying to pull a block of tin – by the way tin is very heavy. I never understood physics in school but here I realized how the mechanical advantage of block and tackle really matters in the daily life of a worker.

At the end of the tunnel, steep stairs were waiting for us to go the “kiew”; how the miners called the lift. In the hall where the workers used to depart to their work was a lift-simulator with space for 6-8 workers. The miners had to go down up to 700 feet and had to work at temperatures around 42°C. In the older times there were no mobile phones. The miners had to rely on the man in charge of the lift and the only way of communication was a code of ringing a bell. Each ringing was a code which determines the distance to be moved and also the direction going up or down.

The visit of the underground mine was a great experience and there were a lot of interesting things to see and to try.

By Karen Loh

As first time visitors to Kuching, we (5 museum volunteers) decided to visit the Cat Museum during our visit in August, 2014. Built to promote tourism since ‘Kuching’ literally means ‘cat’ in Malay, the museum is the first of its kind in the world dedicated to cats. The brainchild of the former Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Hj. Abdul Taib Mahmud and his wife, this museum was opened in 1992 at the Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara (Kuching North City Hall) building on top of Bukit Siol (Siol Hill). Divided into four galleries, this great cat collection has 4,000 artifacts on anything and everything that has to do with cats; from clay and wrought iron figurines, posters, artists’ collection and artwork, cat cemetery, cat’s eyes, music labels, cats during the medieval period, sculptures, cat engraved coconut shells and graters, a cat cave, preserved cats, soft toys and many other curios.

 

Nevertheless, Kuching was not named because it is a city of cats. One version for its name is that Kuching came from the Indian name ‘Cochin’, a term commonly referred to as ‘port’ by Indian traders. These Indian traders were one of the first to settle at the base of Santubong in Sarawak in the early days. Another famous version is the one of James Brooke, who was sailing down Sungai Kuching (Kuching River) from Bukit Mata Kuching (Cat’s eye Hill; cat’s eye or longan is a fruit and the hill was named after the abundance of longan trees which grew on the hill) when he saw a village. He asked a local for the name of the village and was answered ‘kuching’ because the person mistakenly thought that Brooke was asking about a passing cat. Founded in 1827 by Pengiran Indera Mahkota, Kuching is actually named after Sungai Kuching (Kuching River) and was the third capital of Sarawak under the Sultanate of Brunei. The city later flourished and grew as an administrative capital under the Brooke Government.

We had a ‘meowing’ good time.