After the Second World War (WWII) ended, Labuan became one of the locations where war crime trials took place. From December 1945 and January 1946, 16 war crime trials took place at Labuan. Some of the cases trialed at Labuan were the ill-treatment of prisoners of War (POW) at Batu Lintang Camp, the Sandakan Death […]
After World War II had ended in 1945, Sarawak was under the British Military Administration for seven months. Then in 1946, the Crown Colony of Sarawak was established as part of the British Crown Colony. The cession officially became effective on July 1, 1946. On the same day, the last White Rajah of Sarawak Vyner […]
What happens in the afterlife? There are so many various ideas to explain what takes place in life after death. One of the most common belief systems is that the dead go to a specific place or realm after death based on divine judgement based on their actions when they lived. Another common belief is […]
Joseph Middleton might be an unfamiliar name to Sarawakians today, but he was actually the first police officer of Sarawak. He was one of the two boys who departed England with James Brooke on the Royalist in 1838. Unfortunately, there is a little we know about Middleton during his first arrival to Sarawak. However, we […]
One of the most interesting figures that ever graced Sarawak’s service during the reign of the Brooke family was none other than Kenelm Hubert Digby. He joined as a district officer under Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke in 1934 and returned to England in 1939 at the end of his contract. Digby returned again to Sarawak […]
Did you know that the name January comes from the Roman god, Janus? He is always depicted with two heads with one head looking back on the year before and the other looking forward to the brand new year. Let us look back into Sarawak history and see what happened in the month of January: […]
Sarawakians might not be familiar with Captain Harry de Windt but his sister should be more familiar. His sister Margaret was the wife of second White Rajah Charles Brooke. Best known as a travel writer and explorer, de Windt at one point did work as the aide-de-camp for his brother in-law when he was only […]
Also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp, the Batu Lintang camp was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War (WWII). Unlike other Japanese internment camps, the Lintang Barracks held both Prisoners of War (POWs) and civilian internees. The camp was originally British Indian Army barracks. The Japanese took it over from […]
If the Tsardom of Russia had their The Winter Palace and the Chinese emperors had their Forbidden City, we Sarawakians have what we call The Astana. Once called Government House, it is now the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak. It was built in 1870 by the second White Rajah Charles Brooke as a […]
Many Sarawakians today might not be familiar with Brooketon but about a century ago, it was a mining settlement that was once under the Sarawak government. What made this settlement special was that it was located in Brunei, not in Sarawak. During the reign of second White Rajah of Sarawak Charles Brooke, Brooketon was considered […]
