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Founding
Founding of Bintulu
town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia
- 1862
- Southeast Asia
Founding
town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 miles) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 miles) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of Miri. With a population of 114,058 as of 2010, Bintulu is the capital of the Bintulu District, Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia.
The name of Bintulu was derived from the local native language "Mentu Ulau" (picking heads). Bintulu was a small fishing village within the Bruneian Empire prior to annexation by Rajah James Brooke in 1861. Brooke later built a fort there in 1862. In 1867, the first General Council meeting (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) was convened in Bintulu. It is the earliest state legislature system in Malaysia. The construction of the earliest airstrip in Bintulu began in 1934 but was halted in 1938 due to financial difficulties. During World War II, the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied forces. The British later rebuilt the airstrip, and it became fully operational in 1955. The old airport was replaced by a new airport in 2002. Bintulu remained a fishing village until 1969 when oil and gas reserves were discovered off the coast. Since then, Bintulu has become the centre of energy-intensive industries such as a Malaysia LNG plant, a Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis plant, and a Bintulu combined cycle power plant. The economy has also expanded into oil palm and forest plantations, palm oil processing, wood-waste processing, and cement manufacturing. The port of Bintulu is the busiest in Sarawak. The town is also a gateway to the Samalaju Industrial Park.
Among the tourist attractions in Bintulu are Similajau National Park, Tumbina Park, Tanjung Batu beach, Jepak village, Kuan Yin Tong temple, Assyakirin mosque, Council Negri monument, Tamu Bintulu, and Pasar Utama markets. The Borneo International Kite Festival is held annually in the town.
During the 16th century, Bintulu was named "River de Burulu" by Portuguese cartographers. There are several legends surrounding the name Bintulu. During the Brooke dynasty, the indigenous practised headhunting to maintain their social status in the community. They threw the heads into the Kemena River, after which the heads had to be collected from the river. The practice of collecting the heads was known as "Metuk Ulow" (picking heads) in the local native language. Another story relates that two Iban warriors named Berengik and Jaleb built houses along the river. They and their followers frequently carried out preservation of severed heads near a small river stream branching off from Sebezaw River because the river bank was flat and wide. Therefore, the small river stream was named "Metuk Ulow" river. Outsiders who came to Bintulu subsequently pronounced the name as "Mentulau", and later the name evolved into "Bentulu" and, finally, "Bintulu".
James Brooke was appointed the White Rajah of Sarawak (now known as Kuching) by the Bruneian Empire in 1841. In 1861, the Sultanate of Brunei ceded the Bintulu region to Brooke. Bintulu was a small settlement at that time. A wooden fort named Fort Keppel was built in the village, named after Sir Henry Keppel, who was a close friend of the Rajah James and Charles Brooke. Sir Henry Keppel was responsible for crushing the Dayak piracy in the Saribas between 1840 and 1850. Meanwhile, Charles Brooke was a nephew of James Brooke and would later become the latter's successor as the second Rajah of Sarawak. Odoardo Beccari, an Italian botanist, visited Bintulu in 1867. On 4 August, he started his journey on a gunboat named "Heartsease", which was to send $6,000 to Brunei for concessions being made to James Brooke in the Mukah and Bintulu regions. He went to Labuan before coming back to Bintulu. He dropped off at Kemena River on 13 August 1867. His observations of the village were recorded as follows:
The fort of Bintulu which was built entirely of wood, was in somewhat ruinous condition. It stood nearly on the sea-shore, and just behind it, at a distance of few paces, the primeval forests commenced...Some chinamen had settled at the vicinity of the fort and had built a small bazaar; but the village is chiefly formed by the houses of the Melanau beyond the Chinese kampong (village). These Melanaus used to live further up the river, but since the construction of the fort, and the installation of an officer of the Rajah near the mouth of the river, they came to settle near the sea – a thing they would never have dared to do in former days for fear of the attacks of the Lanun pirates and Dayak pirates.
The houses of the Melanau people were built in rows on both sides of the Kemena River, mostly furnished by Nipah and Sago palms. Each house had its own shed projection into the entrance of the river, which was used for the processing of Sago palms. On 8 September 1867, the first Sarawak General Council meeting (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) took place here. It was made up of 21 elected local community members (five British officers and 16 Malay and Melanau local chiefs). The council was formed by Raja Muda Charles Brooke under orders from Rajah James Brooke. The council is the oldest state legislative assembly in Malaysia.
During World War II, Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke ordered the construction of airstrips in Kuching, Oya, Mukah, Bintulu, and Miri. Construction of the Bintulu airstrip was started in 1934 under the direction of C. W. Bailey, a Works and Building Inspector for the British Royal Air Force (RAF). All the airstrips were completed except for the Bintulu airstrip, where construction was discontinued in October 1938 due to financial reasons. Japanese forces landed in Miri on 16 December 1941. Sarawak fell into Japanese hands when they conquered Kuching on 24 December 1941. When the Japanese invaded Sarawak, Charles Vyner Brooke already left for Sydney (Australia) before the attack while his officers were captured by the Japanese and interned at the Batu Lintang camp. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese used the airstrip for military purposes. However, the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied forces. The British began reconstruction of the airstrip after the war; during the project many unexploded bombs were unearthed.
On 5 September 1942, Japanese Field Marshal Prince Maida (前田利为) boarded a plane from Kuching to Labuan to officiate an airport that bears his name. However, he never arrived. One month later, the plane was found to have crashed off the coast of Tanjung Batu, Bintulu. The cause of the plane crash was not known. The Japanese later set up a wooden pole memorial made up of Belian wood in Bintulu. The wooden pole was later taken back to Japan by the family of Prince Maida.
Chinese sawmill owners at Sibu and Bintulu were instructed by the Japanese to produce timber for repairs at oil fields and ship building. During the Japanese occupation, sawmills at Bintulu produced a total of 4,000 tons of sawn timber.
In the 1950s, major economic activities in Bintulu were the timber extraction industry, fishing, and Sago processing. In the 1960s, Bintulu was still a small fishing village, with a population of 5,000. No roads were constructed in Bintulu until 1969 when the first untarred road was built to connect Bintulu to Miri. The first bus that serviced the Miri–Bintulu route was owned by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA). The MARA bus line was an initiative by the Malaysian federal government to provide public transportation for the people. The Iban villagers paid the bus driver with "vegetables, chickens, bamboo shoots, and other items". Before 1960, Bintulu was connected to Kuching by sea through a ship named "Swee Joo". After 1960, the ship "Chin Chin" was added to the route. It took around 36 to 48 hours to reach Bintulu from Kuching, depending on the sea conditions. Due to lack of food supplies from Kuching, the villagers had to make do with limited food, and several villagers resorted to hunting in the jungles to supplement the food supply.
In 1960 there were only three primary schools in Bintulu. These schools provided classes until Primary 3 level. There were no secondary schools. Villagers could pursue their secondary school studies at either Miri or Kuching by using small boats as there were no roads connecting Bintulu to either Miri or Kuching. Bintulu Government Secondary School was opened in 1964. In 1967 Bintulu celebrated the first 100 years of the Council Negri meeting (Sarawak State Legislative Assembly). A stone monument was built in front of a government rice storeroom to commemorate the event. Bintulu was a sub-district of Miri Division in the 1970s. The sub-district was upgraded into a district in 1987.
Large reserves of natural gas were discovered off the coast of Bintulu in 1969. Following this, a feasibility study was done in 1975, and Tanjung Kidurong was found to be a suitable site for a deep-water port. On 14 June 1978, Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG Satu) was established by Petronas, a Malaysian national oil and gas company for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) processing at Bintulu. On 8 July 1978, the Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) was established by the Sarawak state government for infrastructure development and to promote industrial investment in the area. On 15 August 1981, the Bintulu Port Authority was established at Tanjung Kidurong, starting operation on 1 January 1983. Since the establishment of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) in 2008, Bintulu become the gateway to Samalajau Industrial Park, which is located 62 kilometres (39 mi) away from Bintulu. The industrial park is a centre of heavy, energy-intensive industry. Among the companies that started their operations in the industrial park are Tokuyama Malaysia Sdn Bhd (now replaced by OCI Malaysia Sdn Bhd), Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd, and OM Materials Sdn Bhd.
Rural–urban migration is significant in Bintulu because of greater job availability in the town. Since 2007, new residents have started several squatter areas in Bintulu due to inability to find affordable housing, around Kidurong Industrial estate and Sungai Sebatang. To address the issue, several low-cost housing projects were initiated by BDA and Sarawak state government to relocate the squatters. The state government planned to achieve zero squatters status by the year 2020. Bintulu also saw the rise in the number of residential and commercial properties such as double-storeyed terraced houses, terraced shopoffices, Kidurong Commercial Centre, and Time Square Shopping Mall. Residential properties has shown a 20% price increase from 2011 to 2013.
Bintulu is represented by Bintulu (P. 217), Hulu Rajang (P. 216) and the Selangau (P. 214) parliamentary seats in the Parliament of Malaysia. The town is also represented by a few state assembly seats namely – Jepak, Kakus, Belaga, Kidurong (later it was split into two separate seats namely Tanjong Batu and Samalaju since 2016), Murum and Kemena – in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly.
Since 1978 the town of Bintulu has been administered by the Bintulu Development Authority (BDA), with offices located along Jalan Tanjung Kidurong. The town is located within the boundary of Bintulu District, with a population of 183,402 and a total area of 7,220.40 square kilometres (2,787.81 sq mi). Bintulu Division was formerly a Bintulu District under the jurisdiction of Miri Division. The former Bintulu District was upgraded to Bintulu Division on 1 January 1987. At the same time, Bintulu sub-district was upgraded to the present-day Bintulu District. Both the Bintulu Resident and District offices are located inside Wisma Residen, Pisang Keling Street, Bintulu.
Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Miri. Bintulu is located near the mouth of the Kemena River, in the coastal region of central Sarawak. Geology of the coastal area was formed during the Pleistocene period; silt, clay, and gravel can be found here. Geological formation from the Oligocene period is found in the inland area, which contains limestone, siltstone, and sandstone. The soil is generally soft.
There are two monsoon seasons in the Bintulu: the northeast monsoon (November to March) and the southwest monsoon (May to September). The calm period between these two monsoons is known as the transitional period. In the coastal region, maximum rainfall occurs in the month of January, while minimal rainfall occurs from the period June to August. Rainfall is more evenly distributed in the inland areas. The annual rainfall of the Bintulu region is about 3,750 mm (148 in) annually. The mean daily hours of sunshine at Bintulu is about 5.0 to 5.5 hours. Bintulu receives on average 14 to 15 mJ/m2 of radiation throughout the year. Bintulu's relative humidity is 85%.
The growth of Bintulu's population is shown below:
The issue of gangsters in Bintulu was first raised in 2007 by the member of parliament (MP) for Bintulu. The gangsters may have run businesses related to illegal logging, controlling the prices of diesel, eggs, fertiliser and gas cylinders. Bintulu police have been cracking down on gangster activities in the town. Unscrupulous businessmen who seek cheap labour have caused a rise in the number of illegal immigrants in Bintulu. The number may have reached 50,000 in 2009. Bintulu immigration department has performed several operations to deport illegal immigrants back to their home country.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Bintulu”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.