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 […]
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 […]
Borneo in the 21st century is heaven for all adventurers out there. Here you can find a piece of everything, be it a sandy beach or chilly mountain, exotic animals or unique culture; we have it all. Plus, the people of Borneo are known for their friendliness and generally being good hosts. It is a […]
Inspired by James Brooke’s success in founding the kingdom of Sarawak in 1841, another British adventurer James Erskine Murray wanted to establish his own fiefdom too. While Murray might share the same first name and nationality with Brooke, he did not share the same fate with first White Rajah of Sarawak. In his pursue to […]
James Brooke might be widely known as the first ‘White Rajah’ of Sarawak. However, did you know that he was not the first man to be known as the first ‘White Rajah’ in Borneo? About 30 years before Brooke established his dynasty in Sarawak, British merchant and adventurer Alexander Hare founded an independent fiefdom in […]
Some people call salak fruit ‘snake fruit’ because of its reddish brown scaly skin which reminds one of snakeskin. However, the salak tree belong to the palm tree family and is native to Malaysia and Indonesia. The fruit can be peeled by first pinching the pointed tip of the fruit, and then peeling the skin […]
If you are not familiar with the term ‘haruspex’, it is a term to describe one who is trained to practice a form of divination called ‘haruspicy’. In ancient Rome, haruspicy involved the inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep and poultry, to divine omens and communicate with the […]
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties and three additional protocols which establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. Basically, the treaties define the basic rights of wartime prisoners for both civilians and military personnel. In other words, just because you have conquered a country, it doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you […]
Captain Lionel Matthews might not be a familiar name for Sarawakians but during World War II (WWII) he was executed by a firing squad on Mar 2, 1944 in Kuching. After the war, he was posthumously awarded the George Cross. It is the highest award for heroism or courage in the face of the enemy […]
According to Dusun mythology, Kinharingan is a creator deity who came from a rock in the middle of the sea with his sister/wife Munsumundok. In one version of the legend, Kinharingan and Munsumundok walked across the water, perhaps like Jesus in the Bible, until they arrived to the house of the god Bisagit. Bisagit gave […]
