A photo of the current Astana Negeri. — Photo via the Official Website of the TYT Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak
KUCHING (July 15): The 153-year-old Astana overlooking the Sarawak River should be made into a Sarawak Heritage Centre, Tun Jugah Foundation senior advisor Dr Peter Mulok Kedit suggested.
In a statement yesterday, he said to convert the building into a museum would be the death knell for one of Sarawak’s illustrious built heritages, and the purpose it was meant for.
“The Astana and its surrounding site symbolise past power and the authority of Sarawak governance and heritage,” he pointed out.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah had earlier this month said the Astana was a bit run-down and the state government wanted to turn it into another museum, showcasing artefacts related to past governors.
Peter said such an idea was somewhat similar to the American concept of honouring their past presidents, in what is called the Presidential Library System.
It was described as a nationwide network of 15 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the United States.
“These are repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of every president of the United States. In addition to the library services, museum exhibitions concerning the presidency are displayed,” he said.
He also noted that the Astana was also once a library where the Rajah had collected a vast number of books covering a wide range of topics – which were all destroyed during a fire, which prompted response from members of the Rajah’s old school in England and sent out a large number of books to replace them.
“I recalled in the 1970s, when the Astana was undergoing renovation, Sarawak Museum Archivist and Librarian, Loh Chee Yin, and his staff collected and transferred those books in the Tower to the Museum Reference Library.
“In considering all these aspects, may I suggest the new role of the Astana is the Sarawak Heritage Centre?” he proposed.
Peter also said the Brooke’s residences feature many stories in the pages of Sarawak’s history, adding that since the times of the first Rajah, there were stories of how Sarawak was governed, happenings of famous visitors as guests of the Rajahs, and meetings between the rulers and their subjects.
He added that various narratives and books detailing visits to the Astana had been done, which shows the connection of Sarawak with the outside world, especially those of 19th century Europe.
One of the famous guests whom the Rajah hosted was Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-founder of Evolution theory with Charles Darwin, who stayed in Sarawak during the 1850s, collecting biological specimens for museums in Europe.
Another important visitor was the Italian botanist, Odoardo Beccari, who was in Sarawak from 1865-1868, collecting plant specimens – one of which is the rare giant corpse flower-Amorphophallus titanum, that can still be found in Gunung Gading in Lundu.
Beccari wrote on his exploration in his book ‘Wandering in the great forests of Borneo, Travels and reaches of a naturist in Sarawak’.
“An interesting character that came visiting in 1876 was Marianne North, a Victorian botanical artist who arrived in Sarawak from Singapore with a letter of introduction to the Rajah and Ranee from the Governor of Singapore and his wife.
“In one of her field trips, she was given a species of a very large pitcher plant, which she painted. When the director of Kew Garden, Sir Joseph Hooker, confirmed that it was a species previously unknown to science, he called the plant Nepenthes Northiana. This was one of seven species of plants named in her honour.
“Ranee Margaret wrote detailed accounts of Marianne’s visit to the Astana in her autobiography, (quoted as saying): ‘Many people know the great work of her life, and must have seen the gallery of her pictures which she gave to Kew Garden. Many of these pictures were painted in Sarawak’,” he added.
Aside from that, Peter said the state’s history also documents meetings at the Astana between the Rajahs and local personalities – as well as the happenings of British governors residing in the Astana.
“There were also legal events of ‘Swearing-in Ceremony’ for the appointments of Chief Ministers and their Cabinet members.
“All these contribute to the rich history of Sarawak. But, with changing time, the purpose and function of the Astana, invariably change,” he added.