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Category: History

New Brunei Word Origin ?

Toms Note: I try to read all the literature that could have a historical fact or two. In this essay by Dato Maha Rajah Lela, much of the story is fantasy. However, when he stated Brunei got its name from the word Punay I had to take a closer look.

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July 6, 2022 No Comments

Foochow of Sarawak

Part Two The New Foochow Settlement of Sarawak  Part Two Foochow settlement at Binatang Binatang is situated on the left bank of the lower reaches of the Rejang River between Sibu and Sarikei districts. Most of the people are natives of Chiang and Chuan of Fukien province. The Cantonese came

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June 29, 2022 No Comments

The Foochow of Sarawak

The New Foochow Settlement of Sarawak Note: Dollar amounts are Straits dollars where 3 Straits dollars =1 USD; 1 picul=60kg In 1900, Mr Wong Nai Song came to Singapore after an attempted coup in China. He harboured the idea of colonization but could find no place to settle. Mr Wong

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June 26, 2022 No Comments

Kanowit Punitive Expedition

The Expedition of 1934 The Kanowit Punitive Expedition  One fine morning in June 1934, we left Sibu by way of the Chamois. A few hours later, we stayed at Kanowit to make arrangements for our forces. We changed into a small launch, took the Kanowit River, and stopped at a location a

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June 19, 2022 No Comments

The Malays of Southwest Sarawak

Book Review: SMJ 1970The Malays of South-West Sarawak before Malaysia by Tom HarrissonReviewed by Gale Dixon (Department of Geography, University of Oregon)This big, heavy volume is packed with good information important to professional anthropologists, historians economists, geographers, and sociologists and of interest to a wide readership of informed people who

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June 14, 2022 No Comments

Kuching Chinese Temple Hell

A Walk into the Gates of Hell:(黄泉)(地府)(九泉) Walking toward The Chinese Temple Hong San Si of Jalan Petanak Kuching one should bear to the left. On this side of the temple is the entrance to the gates of hell. The doors are large and forbidding. As I eased one of

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June 12, 2022 No Comments

Sungei of Sabah

Tapadong -700 Years of Cave History in Sabah The Tapadong Caves are on the middle reaches of the Segama River north of Lahad Datu and have been frequented by man since the early times. From a small rock shelter under 6 inches of pure guano came Sabah’s first Bronze tool,

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May 27, 2022 No Comments

Letters from First Manager of Borneo Company

The Helms Letters Ludvig Verner Helms, a young Dane of 26, was hired to take up an appointment in Kuching as an agent of the London firm Messers. R&J Henderson had a concession for working the antimony mines. Four years later, he became the Borneo Company LTD manager on its

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May 22, 2022 No Comments

Brunei and Brooke

Brooke and Brunei On Brooke’s arrival in 1839, Brunei was a decayed empire stretching the whole northwest coast of Borneo. In some rivers, pirate communities had been established. Pangerans at the capital of Brunei played politics. In other rivers, such as the Saribas and the Skrang, Arab adventurers and Brunei

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May 18, 2022 No Comments

A Ladies Perspective of the 1859 Revolt

The Chinese Revolt by Rev. Brian Taylor SMJ 1969 The first woman, other than women with their husbands, ever sent abroad by the Society for the Propagation of the Bible was Sarah Coomes. Miss Coomes was left behind in the first evacuation of the town after the Bau Chinese had

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May 7, 2022 No Comments
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