The capital of Sarawak is Kuching which has a population of around 600,000 people - mostly Malays and Chinese. The name Kuching literally means 'cat' (kucing) in the Malay language, although there are two other lines of thought. Kuching comes from an Indian word which means port; or Kuching comes from Chinese Cantonese word for "old place".
Back in 1841 Borneo was ceded to the British by the then owner and ruler - the Sultanate of Brunei. The new ruler was named James Brooke, who was known as an adventurer of the time. I suspect thats a bit of an understatement. James Brooke helped the Sultanate to over-throw a rebellion, thus gained the lands for himself as a gift. The Brooke family ruled there for almost all of the forth coming 112 years.
Not long after Japan became involved in the Second World War however, they took possession of Borneo in 1941 and it remained under their control until September of 1945. The territory was officially handed back to the British by the Japanese on September 11th, with all papers being signed in Kuching.
The final British ruler of the territory was Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, who took over as Raja on his fathers death in 1917. He "escaped" to Sydney, Australia just before the Japanese invasion and remained there until 1945.
Sarawak became an independent state in 1963, and along with Sabah - its neighbor, and Singapore it joined to form Malaysia. Singapore was then expelled from the Malaysia and became its own Republic, which it still is now. The union between Singapore and the other Malaysian states was rocky from the beginning. Distrust and ideological differences between leaders of the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia resulted in frequent disagreement in politics, economic, financial and social policies.
The conflict spread to the populace, resulting in major racial riots in 1964 in Singapore. In 1965, Malaysia Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman decided upon the secession of Singapore from the Federation, leading to the Independence of Singapore on 9 August 1965.
Highly successful with regards to financial control and extremely low crime rates, its hard to believe that before European rule which began back in the 1600's, Singapore was a simple Malay fishing village.
About the Author
Learn more about the south east island of Malasia and stay in one of the Kuching Hotels. Check out one of the very best hotels at Damai.
