Indian Muslim Community
We can date the Indian community to at least 1820 when Patinggi Ali built a house in the area. It would seem logical that he would build a house in an already established Indian Moslem community. It is thought he came down from Bau. When the actual Indian community came, whether it was just a landing place for boats to sell wares or a more permanent shops, I am just not sure. (Tom)
The Indian Muslim community had a few trading houses and a prayer mosque located where the Indian Mosque is today. There is no clear indication on when they first set up trading huts on a more permanent nature.
The Indian traders were transient in nature with the people almost always returning to India to stay with their kin. Most were bachelors with a few exceptions of married men who stayed here with their families. Many returned to India upon reaching old age.
By 1840 there was a prayer hut which was replaced by surau. Mrs McDougall, in a letter in 1850, mention an Indian surau but this was building composed of kajang walls and an attap roof. In 1870 the mosque appeared as a landmark in on a Kuching map. Rajah Charles sold the land to the Indian community for $60 for the “inhabitants of Sarawak who profess the Mohemadan (sic) religion and not being Malays”.
The Mosque was under the leadership of Messrs Tamby Abdullah, Kathar Maideen Kala Basha and Said Mohammed. The mosque was reconstructed in 1876. Shop lots surrounding the mosque were purchased by the Indian community as a perpetual source of income for the mosque. Between 1900-1910 the Indian community led by Messers Shaik Madrasha , Sail Muhammed Kasim and Kana Kannisa constructed the present shop houses around the mosque. They were mostly Tamils from the state of Tamil Nedu in India.
There are many foods adopted by the Malay community from the Indian residents. These include rojak, sup kambing, roti channai, teh tarik and nasi minyak. It is interesting to note that these foods are served during the kenduri.
The South IndiansThe non muslim Indian migrations into Sarawak began in about 1860 when the tea and coffee plantations opened in Matang. Problems arose with sickness and the “introduction of bad characters” into the population. The Rajah then objected to the free immigration from India and imposed the immigration act.
The Rajah made it possible for Indian labourers from Singapore and a few from India to come to Sarawak. Rules and regulations were formulated to ensure they were well treated, ate proper food, were provided and given medical benefits. A return journey after their three year contract was assured. Medically unfit and labourers of bad character were sent back to either Singapore or India.
The plantations were owned by Rajah Charles and other senior officers of the Brooke administration. Records suggest there were bungalows present on these estates for when the Rajah and Rani visited. The plantations were modelled after the estates on the cool hilly regions of southern India, on the slopes of the Nilagiri and along the western Ghats.The plantations were owned by the British but worked by the south Indians. Coffee was also produced. The Rajah had hoped for a windfall of profit from these estates. The plantations were an economic failure.
The site of the plantations were on the slopes of Matang mountain or Gunong Serapi. They were from 600 to 1000 acres. At the time, it was considered a large area. At the center of one of the plantations was the Temple Sri Maha Marimann, built in 1905. The estates also housed the country house of Rajah Charles known as “Vallembrasa” which was a comfortable English style house built on a concrete slab. The barracks housed the labourers. The slab remains of the Rajahs house but there is no trace of the barracks or the Christian Church of Mary. (this was written in 1989)
The Sri Maha Marimann is one of the oldest temples in Sarawak. The deity inside was transferred, brought from India in 1890, from the now abandoned Sri Maha Marimann temple in Matang. It was moved to Kuching following the closure of the tea plantation in 1912.
(The Temple of Maha Marimann has since been restored when this was written in 1989) and one can hike to the temple. The barracks and the possible Christian Church is said to be also there. Suriani has hiked up to the temple. )
The immigrants who worked on the Brooke plantations were badly treated. The estate manager was lord and master. The conditions were harsh and severe. There salary was nominal, housing was cheap but food was sold to them at exorbitant prices. They were not able to leave the estate without written permission from the estate manager. Medical facilities were nil. The workers reacted by grumblings, protests and outright rebellions. Trouble makers were severely punished or deported.
The Rajah reacted (it is not known when) by transferring some of the workers to the Public Works Department. It was these workers who built Matang road, Penrissen road, the Sarawak Railway line and many other roads.
Records showed the tea plantations were abandoned in 1912 after being in farmed for 45 years, since 1867. Fertilizer for the plants was nonexistent. In India, where cows were sacred, there was plenty of dung for the tea plants, but not here in Sarawak.
The workers became troublesome. (justifiably so..Tom)The Rajah Charles was not keen on maintaining the plantations especially after the Miri oil fields began to provide him with ample funds. When the plantations closed, most of the workers went back to Singapore or India. Forty families remained and they are the core of the Indians who populate the area today.
SikhIt is thought the first Sikhs arrived in Kuching following the Hakka invasion of Kuching in 1857. They came first as police officers but later with the 2/15 Punjab Battalion. British officers who served in Punjab also campaigned the Rajah for their arrival.
Dewa Singh was commonly mentioned as the first Sikh to come to Sarawak. He was recruited from Lundhiana in the Punjab province. As Sikhs returned to India on leave, they were asked to recruit other Sikhs for service in Sarawak. A Sikh policeman was on duty from 1890-1930.Sikhs were also recruited for the Sarawak Rangers in 1872. Dewa Singh, Pooman Singh, Arjan Singh and Naranjan Singh recruited about 50 men. In addition, they worked with the Prison Departments, with the Borneo Company and the Shell Oil Field. Upon retirement, the Sikhs became watchmen especially at banks and other commercial institutions as well as money lenders.
The Sikhs first worship service were on the verandah of their barracks. The Rajah Charles was said to have inquired and gave them a piece of property in central Kuching. The Miri Sikh temple was also a gift from Rajah Charles. The temples are of a double story wooden structure.
FromThe Coming of Indian Muslim Merchants to Sarawak by Abdul Rahman Deen, The Sikh Community in Sarawak by Amrat Kaur and South Indians in Sarawak by T. Komarusamy in the Sarawak Museum Journal, December, 1989.
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