Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Visiting my friend at his hospital bed today...I met a man who is still working [remember we folks have retired] and we seem to be able to communicate on the same wave length...So in between the small talk we have had with our friend the patient, we talk about things that comes to our mind at that point in time....He say he came from a fishing village in Sarawak...A place called Mukah, a small fishing village on the coast of the long coastal line of the state of Sarawak....I have been to this picturesque town and felt for it on my first visit, when I was serving the state in the year ninety eighty six till the middle of ninety eighty nine....Three and a half years of great time of my career, where I had the opportunity to served this state of Malaysia in the Borneo Island...A state that is separated by the China sea, and only connected by air and sea to the mainland Malaysia. Sarawak was once ruled by a white Raja and today is part of the Federation of Malaysia...It is a exotic state, with all the wonder of nature that are in it original state, the flora and fauna are in its best and the forestation is still preserved in it natural form, thousand of rivers crisscross the length of the country....It has the largest natural gas and coal reserved in this part of the world and the MNLG Plant at Bintulu is among the first of its kind.....Sarawak itself is a paradise, for you would find forest in all the shade of green and of course the wild life is abundant and protected in the forest reserved all over the states.... The Rejang River is the largest and the longest in this part of the world and traveling on this mighty river on those power boats, look like being in an open sea....For the first timer it is indeed a sight that bewilder the imaginations and a wonder to watch....The people that live all over the interior are friendly and always welcome visitors with an open arms.....Sarawak is something call the land of the Hornbill, for in the Sarawak forest are this beautiful and exotic bird found flying from tree to tree, a sight that not to be found in other parts of the country.... The Hornbill a bird, a symbol of the freedom of the people of this fascinating state, Sarawak. The next time you visit Malaysia do makes a point to visit this enchanting states of Malaysia, Sarawak and then proceed on to visit the land below the wind, the State of Sabah..Nearby is Labuan, the offshore financial centre in this part of the world....... Coming back to the subject of my new found friend that hailed from Mukah, since we know Sarawak well, we talk about the Sarawak that we love...One thing about this state is that there are many ethnic groups of people live in this part of the Borneo Island, In Sarawak alone there are the Iban, Bidayuh, the Orang Ulu, the Melanau and about thirty two other smaller ethnic group that live all over the vast country, mostly in the interior, the Orang Ulu are mostly fair, whereas the others that live nearer the coastal are a bit fair brown like the Malay, there are also a small percentage of Malay beside the large Chinese population, the Chinese as a group form thirty percent of the population and mostly live in the town and cities and dealt in commerce......One interesting factor of the Malanau that live along the Sarikie river is that they consist of Moslem, Christian and Animist Malanau and they live in harmony all throughout their history.....It is an interesting group of people the Sarawakian, despite the diversity in religion, ethnicity and language, the had live in harmony all throughout their history..., In nineteen sixty three, together with Sabah, Singapore and the Malay states in the then Malaya, form the Federation of Malaysia....So today Malaysia is home to a multiple of race ad ethnic group that are proud to call themselves Malaysian.....

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