IMPORTANT MOUNTAIN: A painting of Kuching as seen from the Rajah’s bungalow at Serambu in the 1800s.
IMPORTANT MOUNTAIN: Serambu from the river in more recent times.
THERE we go again – another mountain under threat and another set of angry stakeholders (not synonymous with company shareholders), protesting peacefully against the destruction of flora and fauna in Sarawak.
Last week, it was Mount Sadong in Serian, now it’s Mount Serambu in Bau. Next – Teng Bekap in Padawan?
For now, Darud Sadong is safe from logging. The timber licence has been cancelled, so claimed the unofficial sources anyway. At the time of writing, we have not heard anything official or seen concrete evidence of the cancellation of the permit. And I’d still like to know who got that permit in the first place!
One minister has assured the Bukars from the 26 villages that they can sleep soundly now. The problem has been solved.
What about the Jagoi-speaking Bidayuh from 17 villages around Serambu, and the Chinese and the Malays in Siniawan?
When will the permit to quarry that mountain be withdrawn, if indeed a licence has been issued? Issued, so it is alleged, without an environmental impact study on the ground.
There goes the cart before the horse!
The other day, someone calling himself a Dato emailed me, “If the licence to log Darud Sadong can be revoked, the licence to extract stone from Serambu can also be revoked – to be fair bah.”
There is some logic there, Dato. Well, you have better clout than I have in influencing your colleagues in the government to have the licence withdrawn. Exert it, Dato. Thanks.
A good tourism product
Serambu has been earmarked for development by the tourism authorities. How’s the reconstruction of the Rajah’s bungalow coming along, if I may ask? A resort on the spot where Rajah James Brooke erected his cottage called ‘Peninjow’ may draw hordes of tourists, foreign and local, to the mountain during the weekends.
The path up there, to be called ‘Wallace Trail’, would certainly attract Alfred Russell Wallace’s fans of whom there are many, here and overseas. Some of them in their 70s may not be able to reach the Rajah’s lodge site, but would be happy to walk up as far their gouty feet can carry them, with the help of a stick or the support of grandchildren.
The Siniawan Bazaar will benefit from a tourism project in the area. I was there last week and noticed a couple of well-stocked shops. Obviously, business is picking up in the sleepy settlement in anticipation of the coming of many tourists to the mountain. A creative tour operator would take his clients from the Kuching Waterfront to Siniawan by boat — a slow journey but there is plenty of greenery to see on the way. A river cruise in a rainless morning would be exhilarating. A short stop at Lidah Tanah would be interesting on account of its history as being the second capital of Sarawak and a Malay settlement of great significance during the Brunei rule.
Another starting point for a boat tour of the area is at Tondong bazaar; from there down the river to Siniawan after a hearty breakfast at the popular Red Dragon cafe at Sebuluh.
Tourists come here for fresh air, beaches, exotic food, culture and adventure, and beautiful nature, not for watching rocks being blasted out of a mountain, and thick clouds of dust.
It is good to see that the residents in the vicinity of Serambu are united in their stand against the extraction of stone from the mountain. They deserve our support in their appeal to the authorities to get the quarry licence revoked. Theirs is an appeal to common sense, really.
Historical landmark
Apart from the beaches, the fresh air, the shopping and cultural shows, tourists go to places with a historical background. At Serambu, they can find a bit of it.
Famous British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-founder of evolutionary theory with Charles Darwin, was staying at the Rajah’s cottage — a rude wooden lodge where “the English Rajah was accustomed to go for relaxation and cool fresh air”.
Of the 125,660 species of natural history collected by Wallace throughout the East over a period of eight years, some 1,386 species of moths came from Serambu during December 1855 to January 1856, with the help from Charles Allen and Ali.
When he ascended the mountain for the first time, Wallace saw “a succession of ladders on the face of the precipices, bamboo bridges over gullies and chasms, and slippery paths over rocks and tree trunks and huge boulders as big as houses. A cool spring under an overhanging rock just below the cottage furnished us with refreshing baths and delicious drinking water, and the Dayaks brought us daily heaped-up baskets of Mangusteens and Lansats, two of the most delicious of the subacid tropical fruits.”
If you are doubtful about the number of moths captured, read Wallace’s own book ‘The Malay Archipelago’ first published in 1869 by MacMillan & Co, United Kingdom.
Him again!
Last Sunday — to help the Bukars’ cause — I summarised certain passages from Spenser St John’s book, ‘Life In The Forests Of The Far East’ (1862).
Today, we bump into him again … at Serambu.
Four years before Wallace left for Singapore in 1856, St John had taken a tourist by the name of Madame Pfeiffer to visit the Serambu Dayaks. Strong men paddled the vessel with the lady comfortably ensconced in a cabin specially erected for her — upstream towards the “Chinese village of Siniawan”.
At that ‘village’, the local children were greatly amused by the European lady. They followed her everywhere as she went chasing an elusive butterfly and insects.
In the old days, visitors to Serambu area had to stop at Siniawan before they proceeded inland to the villages. In 1851, according to St John and Wallace, there were only three villages. At one of these settlements Madame Pfeiffer was staying with Orang Kaya Mita.
Apparently, ‘Peninjow’ was a favourite club of the Rajah’s servants. St John wrote, “I have spent many months at this cottage, and rarely an evening passed without my witnessing the sunset from this favourite rock …The peak of Santubong is the centre of the picture, and the undulating ground between and the winding of the river may be seen in all its varied detail. The calm sea — from this distance it seems always calm – bounds the horizon….There was no bathing place like Penijau, no water so cool, no air so bracing. At night looking south the prospect appeared quite lively with fires and flashing lights; these came from the villages of Chinese gold- workers occupying the valleys below.”
This was the picture of Serambu of some 160 years ago as seen by Spenser St John and Wallace. You strong guys, go up there now, call us on your mobile or send us pictures on Facebook describing the scenery for us down below.
From the perspective of the descendants of OK Mita, and the Siniawan Chinese and Malays, the mountain is an icon and a heritage site. They have a great stake in the preservation of that mountain, not just for tourism purposes but for the future generations.
Fate of Serambu?
The future of Serambu is in the hands of the authorities. Let’s start taking as many photographs of the beautiful mountain as possible from all sides and different angles before it is flattened, as was the fate of Bukit Stapok and Gunung Paku. Who took photos of these two mountains?
I took a couple of snaps of Serambu last April from the river slightly above Siniawan bazaar. It’s a beautiful mountain, and I salute those who work towards keeping it that way. Their cause is worthy of support.
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