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Sarawak belongs to the island of Borneo and is one of two Malaysian states on the island. Also known as Bumi Kenyalang (”Land of the Hornbills”), Sarawak is situated on the north-west of Borneo. Sarawak is actually the largest state in Malaysia while the second largest is Sabah – the neighboring state.

The name Kuching comes from the word “cat” which is a Malay word – the Malay spelling these days for cat being kucing. However, there is another explanation for the city name still bandied about and that is the Indian name for port which is “cochin”. After all, it is said that Kuching was first inhabited by Indian traders and not by the Chinese as you may expect.

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.

On December 24 1941, Kuching was surrendered to the Japanese forces and Kuching and Sarawak remained part of the Japanese Imperial Empire until 11th of September 1945, when the Japanese surrendered it. Just 3 miles outside Kuching at Batu Lintang, the Japanese operated a POW civilian internee camp where many of the previous British residents were kept in harsh conditions.

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.

As a side note, before European rule and domination the Republic of Singapore back in the 1600’s by Dutch and then the Portuguese, the highly affluent Singapore was a simple Malay fishing village, which is such a contrast to todays powerhouse.

Learn more about the south east island of Malaysia and stay in one of the Kuching Hotels. Check out one of the very best hotels at Damai.

categories: damai beach resort, damai beach, damai, kuching hotels, kuching, sarawak, borneo, malaysia, travel, traveling, holidays

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