ONCE UPON A RADIO

Picture above is taken from a tiny book about Sarawak entitled " Memperkenalkan Serawak",
written by R.M. Jasmi and  published by Sinaran Bros, North Borneo in 1958.
The picture shows the Sarawak Radio Building which produced and broadcasted radio programmes and also radio lessons for schools throughout Sarawak.  The broadcast reached Bintulu in fairly clear reception in 1963.

EMS ( Educational Mass Media Service )
Building in 1970's.  During colonial time
the building was called 'The Pavillion'.

 Just months before Sarawak became independent from the British colonial government and its forming the Federation of Malaysia on the 16th of September in 1963, I was a Primary Six student at St.Anthony's School, Bintulu. During those days the whole school curriculum was taught in English.  But the learning of English did not end in the classrooms. I participated in the school drama called 'The Black Basin', sang songs and debated in English.  It was really nostalgic for me to know that 16 years later I was to head the Educational Radio section of the Educational Mass Media Service arm of the Sarawak Education Department in the years 1978 -1979 in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. .  At the inset is the picture of my office while I was in charge of the school's broadcasting programmes.  I occupied a big room at the building and from it our radio producers created radio programmes in many languages like English, Malay, Chinese and Iban for schools in Sarawak. In 1963 however I was very keen to write to the School Broadcasting Officer to inquire about many general knowledge questions.  I wrote four letters and below is one letter I received from Alan Moore dated 1st July,1963.  In those days, primary school students really looked forward to listening the  radio lessons broadcasts to learn how to speak the language correctly and listened to the replies of their letters on air from Kuching.

Above is the broadcasting schedule of the school's broadcast in 1979, days of broadcast and time of broadcast included
Note the subject "Anna and Abu" - this was the broadcast for the learning of English for Primary 5 students, produced by Reg Salisbury, a Colombo Plan expert for the teaching of English through radio..

Picture shows Reg Salisbury taken by me while having lunch at a food stall in Miri.

During my short stint at the Educational Radio I was most fortunate to work with Reg Salisbury who was from the BBC and acted as a Colombo Plan expert in the teaching of English by way of radio lessons.  We went around Sarawak to promote the 'Anna and Abu' programme together with printed teaching aids to teachers as remote as Bario in the Kelabit Highlands and little known places like  Awat-Awat near Limbang.
While working together in Kuching I managed to get Reg Salisbury read my poems and recorded them in the studio of RTM (Radio and Television Malaysia) in Kuching.  Here is one of my poems read by Reg Salisbury called " Hasyimah"....of which I think the BBC voice is just superb.  Check out the reading here...>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DireBC97YI

Happy Malaysia Day Sarawak!!

Kuching walkaround

It takes a little bit more time to be accustomed back to blogger format as I have left it quite a while for facebook.
I have returned.
Now in Kuching, I have spent sometime walking around the city.
Kuching is a very moderate, sane town. It's traffic jams are reasonably well under controlled not merely due to slightly improved infrastructures but largely the attitude and temperaments of Sarawakians. Sarawakians are cool-headed and harmoniuos lot when compared to their Semenanjung counterparts. At the inset is a pedestrian footpath in the center of the city and speaks volumes of the efforts made to beautify the city.

There is so much of history and heritage in Kuching. The old stands gracefully with the new. Amidst a lush greenery the old Fort Margherita doesn't look alike abandoned compared with the new Sarawak state legislative building. The fort is becoming a tourist attraction.

In Petrajaya, I chanced upon this beautiful dome of the Jamek Mosque. The " Masjid Jamek" (Malay) is the state mosque and is situated in the political and administrative hub of Sarawak i.e. Petrajaya.

Images of Kuching Today

Young Malay girls at Kota Samarahan.

A group of young Malay girls posing for the lens. They are part of a large crowd gathered at the Dewan Suarah's open ground to take part in the State-level Prophet Muhammad's birthday celebration held at Kota Samarahan, near Kuching. Click here to see more about a Malay wedding couple.

The " Ketapang " tree ( in Malay) changing leaves.

This Sea Almond tree belongs to the Combretum family (Combretaceae). Typical of the Combretum family, it has branches with upturned twigs. Another peculiar habit of the Sea Almond is its seasonal deciduous behaviour when its leaves turned red and fall before the next generation of green leaves takes over the crown. To see more flowering trees of Kuching and Sarawak, please click here.

The Square Tower was initially built as a fort. In the 1920's it turned into a dance hall. Today it is a tourist attraction.

Kuching is the home of the Brooke's ( 1840's onwards) and later British colonial-style architecture in Sarawak. No other towns in Sarawak has the colonial buildings heritage kept in well-preserved conditions like Kuching. A dozen or more of these colonial legacies can be found within walking distances from the Kuching Waterfront and other major international hotels here. To see more of British colonial architecture in Kuching , click here.

Sarawak's Colonial Legacy

My office in 1978-1979 (Picuture taken yesterday, 10 May, 2010). Previously called " The Pavillion" by the British. Today this building is converted into the 'Sarawak Textile Museum'.

A visit to Kuching City, especially within one kilometer radius of the centrally located Kuching Waterfront will instantly bring back memories of Sarawak's colonial building legacy. I was fortunate to have worked in one of them in 1978-1979 ( picture above) when I was entrusted to be in-charge of the educational radio broadcasting section of the Sarawak Education Department's arm of Educational Mass Media Services. The building where I worked for two years was previously called the "Pavillion". In 1909, the British made the Pavillion as a Medical Headquarters and was converted to the State Education Headquarters in the 1970's. When the Education Headquarters moved into a new and bigger building, it was made to house only the Educational Mass Media section personnels. There I was enjoying a room the size of 20'x 20'. It was luxury to have worked in such a big office and the job was magnificient to me because it enabled me to travel to all the four corners of Sarawak to see and conduct training to teachers on the use of radio lessons which was broadcasted via the airwaves from Kuching to all the nooks and corners of Sarawak's jungles, coasts and deep interiors.

The Round Tower ( A.D. 1886)- functioned as town dispensary when first occupied and in the 1980's it housed a section of the Judicial Department. This building is nearby my EMS office where I used to work.

There is so much of history in Kuching that I've no reservations in declaring that it as one of the most historical cities in Malaysia ( top 5) besides Pulau Pinang ( or "Penang") where the British admiral Francis Light first set up a British settlement in 1786. As for Sarawak its British legacy started with the ex- British India soldier who turned adventurer by the name of James Brooke. In 1839, James Broke arrived in Kuching from Singapore and since then proceeded to establish the Brooke Dynasty ( lasting for about 100 years) before they passed it on to the British Crown colony in 1946, after the Japanese left from having occupied Sarawak for about five years (1941-1946). Of course, as history has it Sarawak together with Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia ( previously British Malaya) formed a new sovereign nation in 1963 called Malaysia and with that achieved independence from the British colonial regime. By all accounts Malaysia's independence was greatly engineered by the British and only half of the struggle is local.

As part of the Brookes and later British colonial legacy, I am amazed to see the permanency of these architectural marvels bearing in mind that at those days buildings were essentially constructed out of bricks alone. Reinforced bars for columns or floors were unheard of then. It is for this reason that these buildings' columns do look massive or bulky. Lately I decided to take and compile pictures of these colonial buildings and they can be seen by clicking the pop-up "pages" below this blog header above, under the page name " Colonial Kuching". Have a browse and enjoy colonial Kuching awhile. I mean you don't have to travel to Kuching to see them yet. Treat these photos as appetisers. Bye for now.