Chieng (third left), with some SUPP members during the petition campaign to ‘hear the voice of Sibu’ on re-naming Hospital Road to Law King Howe Road.
SIBU: The 10-day petition campaign launched by five branches of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) to appeal to Sibu Municipal Council to re-consider re-naming Law King Howe Road from Hospital Road, has received overwhelming community support.
The five branches are the newly formed Bukit Assek branch, Dudong, Bawang Assan, Pelawan and Nangka.
Bukit Assek branch chairman Chieng Buong Toon said yesterday they aimed to collect 10,000 signatures when they kicked off the campaign on Nov 27.
On Saturday, he said they had received 13,000-plus signatures, and these did not include yesterday’s collection – the last day of the campaign.
“We shall process the petition and soon submit it to SMC. We are carrying the voice of Sibu people – their wish in seeing Hospital Road at the site of the former Law King Howe Hospital be renamed Law King Howe Road.”
Chieng, who played an active role in the campaign, said: “Our objective is to pay tribute to Law who donated all his properties to build the first modern hospital for Sibu. We want our young generations to emulate his spirit of love.”
He said Law’s kind act had saved countless lives since 1936 when the modern hospital started operation.
He said the hospital benefited the whole community of all races for six decades before Law King Howe Hospital closed in 1994, to give way to the new Sibu Hospital at Oya Road.
“In our 10-day campaign, most people we approached agreed on the road renaming. They all said Law King Howe Hospital had saved the lives of someone in their families.”
Chieng added: “I should say over 99 percent of the people we approached conveyed their wish in renaming of the road. These are people from all racial communities. The wish of the people has been manifested in this campaign.”
He said these were people whom they met in public places, adding they had not gone door-to-door.
“We carried out the campaign for about three hours a day. Just see the overwhelming response.”
Chieng, who stressed the petition was not a political matter, said it was a community project that translated the wishes of the people.
He said the re-naming of the road had dragged on for four years in the council.
Chieng said he was a councillor when the naming of the road cropped up in the monthly council meeting.
He said following a discussion, the council then voted to let the chairman and his deputy look into the matter.
“Four years have passed; nothing concrete has been done.”
He refuted allegations that the five branches of SUPP Sibu had acted like an opposition party in launching the campaign.
“We are not going against Sarawak BN front. We, in a collective effort, are reminding Sibu Municipal Council of the voice of Sibu people. We must not veer from the Barisan Nasional’s people-first policy.”
Chieng said the voice of the people was a powerful tool.
Former Law King Howe Hospital had served the people of Sibu for six decades.
In 1912, though there was already a hospital belonging to the Brooke Government built of wood and attap; the medical service was poor.
Law King Howe, the son of a Methodist pastor, arrived in Sibu in 1916 and built his business on the rubber trade.
In 1930, on seeing the poor medical services and how the people suffered and died because of this, Law donated all his properties worth $41,000.
Law returned to China after that donation. Before he left, he wrote a will worth $41,000 for Sibu people and the government to build the hospital.
The government of Rajah Brooke named the hospital under him when it commenced in 1936.
Law died shortly after his return to China.
Although he never returned again, he is remembered as a man of kindness by all racial communities, for leaving behind a legacy of love for the young to emulate.