Whirlwind tours of two dozen churches, chapels and parishes in the Diocese of Kuching

Inside Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, at the heart of Father Jeffry Renos Nawie’s mission district in the Diocese of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

During my extended visit to Kuching in October and November, I went to the Cathedral Eucharist in Saint Thomas’s Anglican Cathedral each Sunday, and visited many other churches, chapels and places of worship.

They include Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Saint Peter’s, a new church about to open in Padungan, the chapels in the Bishop’s House and the House of the Epiphany beside Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, and the former chapel of Saint Mary’s School in the Marian, a boutique hotel that was once the Anglican diocesan guesthouse and where we stayed for the first week.

In addition, with my long-standing commitment to interfaith dialogue, I also visited the Masjid India Bandar Kuching or ‘floating mosque’ on the Waterfront, the original Masjid Bandar Kuching or Masjid India (Indian Mosque) behind the shopfronts and stalls on Gambier Street and India Street, and the Kuching Mosque (Masjid Bandaraya Kuching) with its golden domes, known as the ‘Old Mosque’ or ‘Old State Mosque’; the Sikh temple or Gurdwara Sahib Kuching, with its golden domes; and five Chinese or Taoist temples: the Tua Pek Kong Temple, also known as Siew San Teng Temple, near the waterfront and the Chinese History Museum, the Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple and the Hin Ho Bio Temple, both on Carpenter Street, the Hong San Si Temple at the corner of Wayang Street and Ewe Hai Street, and the Hing Ann Thien Hoe Kong Tian Hou Gong, also known as the Ma Cho Temple in Padungan.

I also went in search of a supposed Jewish cemetery in Kuching, only to learn that Kuching never had a Jewish community, a synagogue or a Jewish cemetery.

Inside All Saints’ Church, built for people forced to leave their villages after the Bengoh Dam was built (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

During those weeks, the Revd Dr Jeffry Renos Nawie also took us on a number of whirlwind tours of the seven churches and chapels in his parishes and seven other churches and chapels in the Diocese of Kuching. His parish and mission area in the Diocese of Kuching covers vast rural areas south of Kuching.

Father Jeffry is a former principal of Saint Thomas’s, the Anglican diocesan boys’ school in Kuching, and has a doctorate in education. After he retired, he worked as the diocesan secretary in the diocesan office close to Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, and at weekends he served in Saint George’s Church, Punau, on the fringes of Padawan.

Today, Father Jeffry is the parish priest of Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, which was designated a mission district seven months ago (26 May 2024) by Bishop Danald Jute of Kuching.

He also brought us to visit nine neighbouring churches and chapels in neighbouring parishes, including Saint James’s Church, Quop, with its new 1980s church, alongside an earlier church built in 1863-1865, and Saint Patrick’s Chapel, a mission chapel in Semadang that dates back to the 1930s.

Father Jeffry is the parish priest of Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, near Padawan and Siburan, which was designated a mission earlier this year on the feast day of Saint Augustine of Canterbury (26 May 2024) by Bishop Danald Jute of Kuching.

During our visits to Father Jeffry’s parish, Charlotte and I presented a bell to one of those chapels, Saint Matthias in Sinar Baru, as a thank offering to mark our first wedding anniversary, and I have described Saint Matthias in an earlier posting (24 November 2024).

But during those whirlwind tours, through the Diocese of Kuching, we also visited the other six churches or chapels in Father Jeffry’s newly-designated mission district: Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, Saint Francis, Petag; Saint Alban, Sitang; Saint Monica, Bangau; Saint Edmund, Tabuan Rabak; and Saint Clement, Patung. The mission area has 3,570 parishioners, and previously came under Saint Paul’s Parish in Bunuk.

Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong … the present church, named after Saint Augustine of Canterbury, was consecrated on Saint Augustine’s Day, 26 May 2018 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, is named after Saint Augustine of Canterbury. It dates from 1931, and the present church was consecrated on Saint Augustine’s Day, 26 May 2018.

The Holy Communion is celebrated in the church every Sunday, with a robed choir and a congregation of up to 500 people. About 400 children attend the school attached to Saint Augustine’s, which also dates from 1931 and it has 68 teachers on the staff.

The church is near both an imposing prison and a large cement factory.

Bishop Danald Jute was back in Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong, last weekend (7 December 2024), when he lead a confirmation service.

Saint Francis Chapel, Petag, dates from 1963 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Francis Chapel, Petag, dates from 1963, and has a congregation of about 140, and the regular services include a mid-week Holy Communion on Wednesdays.

When we visited Saint Francis Chapel, the Seventh Day Adventist Church across the street was going through an extensive rebuilding work and restoration programme. A near neighbour is Saint Luke Evangelical Church.

Saint Alban’s Chapel, on a hilltop in Sitaang, is reached along a narrow pathway across a valley (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Alban’s Chapel, on a hilltop in Sitaang, is reached along a narrow pathway across a valley beside the village, which has a Bidayuh majority. The chapel has a Sunday congregation of 80-90 each week.

Saint Alban’s Chapel was consecrated by Bishop Made Kitab of Kuching on 10 May 1997.

Two nearby landmarks include the Dragon Tree and the Petrified Pig, which are associated with the local legend of a woman called Siruman who allowed some wild pigs to drink at the bathing waters of the Sitaang people. But when she had allowed them to drink there, the pig, her four piglets and a boar were turned to stone, and the ‘Sacred Stones’ of the Sitaang people appeared.

Saint Monica’s Chapel in Bangau was consecrated in 1973 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The name of the village of Bangau means hornbill, the national bird of Sarawak. Saint Monica’s Chapel in Bangau, dates from 1973, and the present chapel was consecrated by Bishop Bolly Lapok of Kuching on 28 August 2011.

The chapel is named after Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, although Saint Augustine’s Church in Mambong is named after Saint Augustine of Canterbury.

Saint Monica’s has a Sunday congregation of about 60 each week.

Saint Edmund’s Chapel in the village of Tabuan Rabak dates from 1982 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Edmund’s Chapel in the village of Tabuan Rabak dates from 1982, and Canon Michael Woods, who was Warden of the House of Kuching, was once the priest at Saint Edmund’s.

Saint Edmund’s has an average Sunday congregation of 120-130, although this can be as large as 200 in major festivals and holy days.

Saint Clement’s Church, Patung, dates from 1957 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Clement’s Church in Patung was founded around 1957. At 10 am on Sundays it has a congregation of 200-300 Sunday. There are Sunday celebration of Holy Communion once a month, with Communion by extension on the other Sundays.

Saint Jerome’s is the neighbouring Roman Catholic parish church.

Saint George’s Church, Punau, is undergoing a major rebuilding programme (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

In addition, Father Jeffry brought us to visit nine other churches or chapels in neighbouring parishes and mission areas: Saint George’s Church, Punau; Saint Martin’s Chapel, Nyiru Grait; Saint Giles Chapel, Git; Saint John’s Church, Punau; Saint Gregory’s Chapel, Giam; All Saints’ Church in the Bengoh Dam Resettlement Scheme; Saint Patrick’s Chapel, Semadang; Saint James’s Church, Quop; and Saint Francis Church, Kota Samarahan, in suburban Kuching.

Father Jeffry served at Saint George’s Church, Punau, at weekends while he was the Diocesan Secretary. The church, on the fringes of Padawan, south of Kuching, is being rebuilt at present, and as this work nears completion the church is using a local community hall on Sunday mornings.

Saint Martin’s Chapel in Nyiru Grait was consecrated in 1996 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Nyiru Grait is a village with a Bidayuh majority, with small Chinese and Iban minorities. Saint Martin’s Chapel has a Sunday congregation of about 200. The chapel bell was made from an old truck wheel.

Saint Martin’s was consecrated by Bishop Made Katib of Kuching on 20 April 1996.

Saint Giles Chapel in Git marked its 60th anniversary this year (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Giles Chapel in Git marked its sixtieth anniversary this year. The chapel stands on a hilltop location above the village, and is reached by a steep climb of steps.

Saint Giles Chapel has an interesting belltower, with an old graveyard behind the chapel, and a school below the chapel.

Saint John’s Church, Punau, named after Saint John the Evangelist (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint John’s Church, Punau, is officially named after Saint John the Evangelist, although Father Jeffry told us that historically it was named after a Father John, who was an early missionary priest with the Anglican mission agency SPG (now USPG).

Saint Gregory’s Chapel, Giam, replaces an earlier chapel damaged by floods in 2003 and 2004 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Gregory’s Chapel, Giam, is a new Anglican church being built high on a crag overlooking a beautiful valley and close to the Giam and Petu waterfalls.

A new chapel was needed after floods damaged an earlier chapel in 2003 and again in 2004, and also became too small to accommodate a growing congregation. We met the chapel architect, and the building is expected to be completed early next year (2025).

The church is close to Saint Gregory’s school in the village.

All Saints’ Church in the Bengoh Dam Resettlement Scheme was consecrated on 18 December 2016 (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

All Saints’ Church in the Bengoh Dam Resettlement Scheme in Siburan, south of Kuching, was consecrated by Bishop Aeries Sumping Jingan, Assistant Bishop of Kuching, eight years ago, on 18 December 2016, and All Saints’ Church was designated a parish by Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok, Archbishop of South-East Asia and Bishop of Kuching, at a special service in March 2017.

The mission district attached to All Saints also includes four chapels that were previously under Saint Paul's Parish, Bunuk: Saint Patrick’s Chapel, Semadang; Saint Matthew’s Chapel, Karu; Saint Richard’s Chapel, Danu; and Saint Thomas’s Chapel, Bengoh.

Father Joshua Jo is the priest-in-charge of All Saints’ Church, which was built to serve people resettled to the area after the Bengoh Dam was built. Villagers in the four villages affected by the dam – Kampung Taba Sait, Kampung Pain Bojong, Kampung Rejoi, and Kampung Semban Teleg – initially agreed to be resettled in the area on the understanding they were given houses, land, and basic infrastructure.

However, they say they were kept in the dark about the resettlement schedule, and their move was complicated in 2013 when a logging company illegally moved onto the land the government had put aside for the villagers.

Saint Francis Church, Kota Samarahan, is one of the biggest churches in suburban Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Francis Church, Kota Samarahan, is one of the biggest suburban churches in Kuching. The church was completed in May 2019, and was consecrated on 29 September 2019.

The church holds three principal Sunday services: in English at 7 am, in Iban at 9 am, and in Bahasa Malysia at 2 pm. The Iban and Bahasa Malysia services are live-streamed on YouTube. The priest-in-charge is Father Wilston Trin.

The church can hold a congregation of up to 1,000 and was also built as a venue hosting youth camps and other gatherings too and in the hope of hosting ecumenical services including national day services and combined Christmas services.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church across the street from Saint Francis Chapel, Petag (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

An unexpected introduction to Kuching Rugby Club and the grounds donated in 1929

Kuching Rugby Football Club was founded 65 years ago in 1959 and is the oldest rugby club in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

When I took the lift up five storeys to the top of Everrise supermarket building on Padungan Street in Kuching recently to see the roof-top Ma Cho temple, I was rewarded with panoramic views of Jalan Padungan and out to the Waterfront and the Sarawak River.

It was an unexpected surprise too to see below me the Song Kheng Hai Rugby Field, home to Kuching Rugby Football Club (KRFC) and the Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU). It is a hidden green space in the heart of the city centre, nestled among both high-rise buildings and old, traditional Chinese shophouses.

The grounds are almost hidden from view from pedestrians, behind the shophouses lining Pagungan Street, but Rugby has been played there since 1959.

The rooftop temple on Padungan Street was once part of the family home of a philanthropic businessman Song Kheng Hai. When his house was sold and demolished to make way for the Everrise building, the temple was rebuilt on the roof.

Song Kheng Hai gave his name to the local primary school and donated the rugby field in 1929 to promote sports, cultural activities, and education and with the wish that it would remain free from commercial development.

Song had arrived from Fujian in China in 1888 as a destitute, frail and sickly child. He was given for adoption to a distant relative in Kuching. As an adult, his fortunes changed and he and his adoptive family became one of the richest families in Kuching. He became a close friend of the third Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, and he donated the 10-acre parcel of land in Padungan as a gift of love to the people of Kuching.

Rugby was introduced to the British colony of Malaya in the late 19th century, and has had a steady presence since the early 20th century, when the Malay Cup between Singapore and Malaya was established, making it one of the oldest rugby competitions in the world.

The first inter-club match was played in 1902 between Singapore Cricket Club and Royal Selangor Club. Royal Selangor Club has also hosted one of the oldest rugby sevens tournaments in Asia, the Jonah Jones Rugby Sevens Tournament.

Malaysia Rugby, formerly Malaysia Rugby Union, was founded as the Malaya Rugby Union in 1921 and in 1988 joined the International Rugby Football Board, later the International Rugby Board and now World Rugby, in 1988.

Malaysia Rugby organises the annual Malaysia Sevens tournament and Malaysia is an active participant in the Commonwealth Sevens. The 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur was the first Commonwealth Games to feature the sport.

There are 41,050 registered Rugby players in Malaysia, and the country is ranked 47th. In all, 16 unions, associations and councils are affiliated to the Malaysian Rugby Union, more than 300 clubs, and 600 schools play the game.

A view across the Song Kheng Hai Rugby Field in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Kuching Rugby Football Club (KRFC) was founded by the Sarawak constabulary commissioner Datuk Peter Turnbull, in 1959 and is the oldest rugby club in Sarawak. The Sarawak Rugby Union was formed five years later on 9 October 1964, and celebrated its 60th anniversary last month.

From a playground hosting a variety of games, the Song Kheng Hai Rugby Field gradually developed into the first rugby pitch in Sarawak albeit a muddy pitch for many years. Two expatriates, Frank Burke Gaffney, who died in 2007, and Ian Nash, led the way and soon a clubhouse was built next to the recreational ground.

Both became presidents of the club, and Frank Burke Gaffney, who was manager of the Borneo Company, is remembered by the journalist James Ritchie as a 6ft 4in tall red-haired Irishman with a booming voice.

Kuching Rugby Football Club promotes Rugby throughout Sarawak. It takes part in the local Guinness League and hosts local, regional and international tournaments. The third edition of the Song Kheng Hai Sevens last month featured several teams, including Falcon Rugby Club, Mukah Rugby, Tambadau Rugby, and Asajaya Rugby.

Rugby is still not professional in Malaysia, unlike, say, badminton or tennis. But is entering a new dimension in central Sarawak and throughout the state. It found new popularity in Sibu in the 1990s thanks to the efforts of the Ting brothers – Jeffery, Michael and Anthony – who led the Sibu Division Rugby Union (SDRU) and revitalised the sport made popular in the 1970s by the Sacred Heart School principal Brother Albinus.

SRDU began in 1984 and Michael Ting became chief coach for Sarawak at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in 1992, when Sarawak unexpectedly won the rugby gold medal.

Only three teams – Kuching Division Rugby Club, SDRU and Miri Division Rugby Union – were active in Sarawak in the early 1990s. Bintulu Division Rugby Club joined the ranks in the early 2000s. Today, the clubs include Kuching Warrior Old Boys, Kuching Wolfpack, Miri Flying Nomads, Mukah Swiflets, Baram Rhinos and Miri Piranhas. Well-known women’s teams include the Lettho Rhinos and ATM ladies.

At a school level, SMK Sacred Heart is the pioneer while others like SMK Sedaya from Kanowit and several schools from Kuching are carving their names in the sport. SMK There are clubs too at third-level institutions such as UNIMAS, UiTM, Politeknik Kuching, Kolej Vokasional Sibu and Mukah Polytechnic.

The men’s and women’s Under-21 squads each won silver medals at the Perlis Royal Seven in 2019. ‘The two silver medals were unexpected. It was not only a welcoming news but was testimony that Sarawak is on its way to become a rugby powerhouse in the country,’ Michael Ting said at the time.

The food court at the Song Kheng Hai Rugby Field in Kuching, donated in 1929 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Rugby has come to unite people from diverse backgrounds in Sarawak. But it still has a long way to go in the interior parts of Sarawak and in reaching rural areas.

Song Kheng Hai’s grandson, Richard Song Swee Jin, is President of the Sarawak Rugby Union (SRU). He says the rugby field is part of the heritage of Kuching and a reminder of the rich cultural diversity found in Kuching. But he recognises its potential, with many hotels and a wide array of restaurants nearby, making it an ideal landmark for generations to come.

The SRU is committed to ensuring the field remains a green open space in Padungan and that the land does not fall into private hands. But it also has plans to develop the field to host international and regional rugby tournaments and as a venue for a premier international rugby sevens event, tapping into the potential offered by sports tourism and enhancing efforts to establish Sarawak as a sports powerhouse in Malaysia.

The club has a seating capacity for about 1,000 spectators and a friendly clubhouse. Its competitions include the Frank Gaffney Challenge Trophy. Song Kheng Hai Ground Food and Recreation Centre has shops and a food hall, with stalls catering for snacks, breakfast, lighter meals and lunch.

• Kuching Rugby Football Club is an open access club and welcomes anyone who wishes to play rugby or to just support the club. Training is at 5 pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, rain or shine.

Kuching Rugby Football Club is an open and welcoming club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Visiting half a dozen or more museums in less than six weeks in Kuching, even though not all of them were open

The Borneo Cultures Museum is a striking, five-storey building in the centre of Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

During our five-week stay in Kuching, I visited more than half-a-dozen museums in the city, although it was disappointing to find that some of them seemed to be closed each time I arrived.

The Borneo Cultures Museum is a striking, five-storey building in Kuching city centre, on the opposite side of Padang Merdeka facing Plaza Merdeka shopping centre. Its distinctive architectural design, with its golden arched roof and rattan-effect lattice of rhombus widows, is said to reflect Sarawak’s traditional crafts and cultural heritage. It is a striking, giant structure that has ambitions to be recognised as a world-class museum and a globally-engaged centre for history and heritage.

This new museum was four years in the making and it has become a landmark in the centre of Kuching. The building was designed by the Sarawak architect John Lau Kah Sieng, who began his practice in 1977. His portfolio spans Africa, Hong Kong, China, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

The top floor of the Borneo Cultures Museum offers unexpected breath-taking views across Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The museum was built at a cost of RM308 million and has a combined floor area of about 31,000 sq m, making it the second largest museum in South-East Asia.

The museum exhibits are spread across five levels and each gallery in the museum offers a different experience, while the top floor offers unexpected breath-taking views across the city.

The theme in the children’s gallery on the second floor is ‘Love our Rivers’. ‘In Harmony with Nature’ is the theme on the third floor, the ‘Time Changes’ gallery is on the fourth floor, and the ‘Objects of Desire’ gallery is on the fifth floor. The building also has an auditorium and event spaces.

The Sarawak Museum looks like a 19th century faux Normandy townhouse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

A pedestrian bridge links the Borneo Cultures Museum with Borneo’s oldest museum, the Sarawak Museum across the street on Jalan Tun Abang Haji. However, each time we went to visit, the Sarawak Museum seemed to be closed.

The Sarawak Museum was established by Charles Brooke, the Second Rajah, in 1860 through the influence of the great naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace, who worked on developing the theory of evolution alongside Charles Darwin. Brooke and Russell set up a temporary museum at the Market Place, along Gambier Street, that opened in 1886. A proper museum was built and opened in 1891, and renovated in 1911.

In its architectural design, the Sarawak Museum looks like a 19th century faux Normandy townhouse. The museum was once regarded as one of the country’s finest museums and housed an extensive collection of artworks and handicrafts that showcased the cultural tapestry of Sarawak.

The museum grew slowly, maintaining the indigenous pride, identity and tradition of the people of Sarawak, and survived the Japanese invasion and World War II. The former curator, Tom Harrisson (1911-1976) is known for his discovery of a 39,000-year-old skull at Niah in 1976, resulting in a reappraisal of the origins of early humans in south-east Asia. Harrisson frequently visited Indigenous peoples to collect the artefacts in the museum, although the bulk of his collection was later moved to the Borneo Cultures Museum.

The museum is also an important academic research centre and since 1910 has published the Sarawak Museum Journal annually.

The Natural History Museum in Kuching, first built in 1908 as the ‘Second Ladies Club’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Natural History Museum was built in 1908 and was known as the ‘Second Ladies Club’. It was once used as an administrative office and later showcased a collection of natural history.

This building is adorned with Rajah Brooke’s birdwing butterfly, so named by Alfred Russel Wallace. The exhibits have included a collection of Borneo mammals, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, fishes and shellfish, including species that may be extinct or almost extinct.

The Natural History Museum is now being used to store zoological and archaeological specimens, including the finds excavated in Niah. Although it is not open to the public, researchers and students can apply for access to the collections.

The Islamic Heritage Museum, close to the Borneo Cultures Museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Islamic Heritage Museum, close to the Borneo Cultures Museum, was originally established in 1930 as Madrasah Melayu Sarawak and the building was first used for training teachers in advanced Malay education.

It has seven galleries and the displays include Islamic history in Sarawak, Islamic architecture, science and technology, economy, education and literature, costumes, music and personal belongings, weaponry, decorative arts and domestic tools, and a Quran collection.

I believe it also has a pleasant, central courtyard garden. But, once again, however, it seemed to be closed each time I went to visit it.

Skilled weavers at work in the Tun Jugah Foundation Gallery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Tun Jugah Foundation Gallery on the fourth floor of the Tun Jugah Tower was established in 2000 to preserve and promote traditional Iban textile weaving, to enhance understanding of Iban textiles and weaving traditions and to showcase the rich material culture of the Iban people.

The museum is managed by the private Tun Jugah Foundation, set up to honour a long-serving Iban politician who died back in 1981. There is an impressive collection of Iban textiles, spanning both antique and contemporary pieces, along with Iban silverware and jewellery.

The museum has five main galleries, and while we were there skilled weavers were at work, offering an opportunity to learn about their crafts and skills.

The Chinese History Museum … built in 1910 as a courthouse for the Chinese community (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Chinese History Museum at the east end of the Main Bazaar is on the waterfront and close to the Tua Pek Kong, the largest Chinese temple in Kuching. The museum is housed in a building dating from 1910, first built as a courthouse for the Chinese community, and later used as the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

The opened in 1993 and tells how 19th century Chinese migrants opened up western Sarawak to agriculture and mining.

The exhibits include musical instruments, jade, ceramics, photographs – including the Mok watchmaking shop on Carpenter Street – and two half-size carvings of a Chinese emperor and empress.

The Sword of State from the Brooke era in the museum in Fort Margherita (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

I have already written about my visits to both the Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita and the Ranee Museum.

The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita, sitting above the banks of the Sarawak River, is also a museum, housed in a modest castle or fort built by the Brooke rajahs in 1879. The castle is named after Charles Brooke’s wife, Ranee Margaret de Windt, and the museum tells the story of the Brooke dynasty in Sarawak.

The Ranee Museum is a separate museum in the Old Courthouse curated by the Brooke Trust and focuses on Margaret’s life and legend and her lasting impact on Kuching and Sarawak. The exhibition tells her story through paintings, music, literature and crafts, and includes her personal collections.

The Pavilion Building once housed the Textile Museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Until recently, the Pavilion Building, beside the Round Tower and opposite the General Post Office on Jalan Tuan Jaji, once housed the Textile Museum, but this too seems to be closed these days.

The eye-catching building, with its shuttered windows, was designedby the Singapore architectural practice of Swan and Maclaren in the style of a New Orleans Creole townhouse, and was the first building in Sarawak to use reinforced concrete. It was completed in 1909, and housed the Medical Headquarters and Hospital for Europeans until the mid-1920s. It was then used by various government departments and was the Japanese propaganda centre during the occupation in World War II.

It was extensively restored in 2005, and opened as the Textile Museum, with a remarkable collection of traditional Borneo textiles.

The Old Printing Works is now occupied by the Sarawak Museum Department (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Old Printing Works also has museum associations. The former Government Printing Office was built in 1908 at the junction of Khoo Hu Yeang Street and Barrack Road, on the former site of the first Ladies’ Club.

When the Printing Office moved out in 1951, the building was extensively renovated to house the newly-formed Kuching Municipal Council, later Kuching City South Council. When the council moved to new premises in Jalan Padungan, the building was the Kuching Resident’s Office until 2014. It is now occupied by the Sarawak Museum Department.

A Ming Dynasty vase in the Borneo Cultures Museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Kuching-based writer tells the story of the last Jews of Penang and their synagogue

‘The Last Jews of Penang’ by Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory tells the story of a lost community (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

After an evening in the Tai Tai Restaurant on Jalan Tabuan in Kuching, while I was researching the history of the building, I came across some rumours that there was once a Jewish cemetery. However, they proved to be no more than rumours, and I could find no historical evidence for any Jewish presence in Kuching or in Sarawak.

The city of Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of neighbouring was once named Jesselton in honour of Sir Charles James Jessel (1860-1928), a British barrister, magistrate and businessman, who was vice-chairman of the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) in 1903-1909.

Baghdadi, Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews were integral to the development of Sabah or North Borneo and were pioneers, planters, merchants, political refugees and prisoners of war. Rosalie (Lala) Corpuz has been researching the hidden and diverse history of North Borneo and has told their story.

But I could find no other documented account of a continuous Jewish presence or Jewish community in Kuching or in wider Sarawak. In pursuit of that Jewish story, I had coffee one afternoon last week in the Commons in the Old Court House in Kuching with Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory, the author of The Last Jews of Penang (Petaling Jaya: Matahari Books, 2021).

His book is now out of print, but with its illustrations by Arif Rafhan it recalls Jewish life in George Town, and we talked that afternoon about the history and the legacy of the Jews in Malaysia, stretching back to the 1700s.

Arif Rafhan's image of the former synagogue in Penang in ‘The Last Jews of Penang’ by Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory

There has been little research on the history of the Jews of Penang, and Zayn Gregory relied on local newspaper and magazine articles and one study written in 2002 by an Australia-based researcher, Raimy Ché-Ross. Penang was the home to a Jewish community until the late 1970s, but over the decades these families have left Malaysia.

The first and largest Jewish settlement in what is now Malaysia was found in the bazaars of Malacca, and the Jews of Malacca included Sephardic Jews from Portugal and some Jews from around the Red Sea and Malabar in India.

Due to Portuguese persecutions that continued after the Inquisition, many Jews in Malacca assimilated into the Malacca Portuguese Eurasian community. That creole community is often referred to as Kristang and their Portuguese dialect as Papia Kristang. It is said a number of Kristang-Eurasian families maintain some aspects of Jewish culture, knowingly or unknowingly.

As the British-controlled port in Penang expanded in the early 19th century, it attracted Jewish trading families such as the Sassoons and Meyers from India and Jews Ottoman-ruled Baghdad arrived there fleeing persecutions by Dawud Pasha when he was governor from 1817 to 1831.

Figures from the 1890s show 150-170 Jews living in Penang, although Ezekiel Aaron Manasseh, who migrated from Baghdad in 1895, claimed to have been the only practising Jew in Malaya for 30 years.

Arif Rafhan's depiction of Joseph Hayeem Jacobs, the last shohet in Penang in ‘The Last Jews of Penang’ by Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory

After World War I, more Baghdadi Jews moved to Malaya, and at its height the Jewish population of Penang was about 200. As well as the descendants of Baghdadi Jews and of Malabar Jews who roots in India for over 800 years, there were Mizrahi Jews and families whose ancestors came from Armenia and small numbers of Ashkenazi Jews from England, Poland and Romania.

Penang’s only synagogue opened in a former shophouse at 28 Nagore Road in 1929. It had 12 Torah scrolls, its own hazan or cantor to lead services, and the community had its own shohet or ritual butcher.

Joseph Hayeem Jacobs, who was the hazan, the shohet and the mohel who performed ritual circumcisions, came to Baghdad in 1929 with his father Abraham and grandfather Hayoo.

During the Japanese invasion of Malaya, many of the Jewish community was evacuated from Penang to Singapore. Those who remained in Penang were interned by the Japanese during World War II or forced to wear identifying red and white striped tags on their sleeves. After the war, a majority emigrated to Singapore, Australia, Israel and the US, and by 1963 only 20 Penang Jewish families remained in Malaysia.

One of the most prominent Jews from Penang families was the former Chief Minister of Singapore, David Marshall (1908-1995), who played a pivotal role in the negotiations leading to the independence of Malaya. He was the inaugural Chief Minister of Singapore from 1955 to 1956 and was a Malaysian citizen briefly when Singapore was part of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965.

The synagogue in Penang, closed in 1976 when the community could no longer find a minyan, a quorum of ten or more adult Jews needed for public worship. Zayn Gregory recalls how the former synagogue first became a photography shop, then a pharmacy, a florist’s, and then a print shop. Today it is a coffee shop.

The Jewish community in Penang died out when Mordecai (Mordy) David Mordecai, the former manger of the Eastern and Oriental Hotel, died on 15 July 2011.

Mordecai (Mordy) David Mordecai, who died in 2011, depicted by Arif Rafhan in Penang in ‘The Last Jews of Penang’ by Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory

The Jewish Cemetery in Penang dates from 1805 and is believed to be the oldest Jewish cemetery in Malaysia. It is a plot of land measuring 38,087 sq ft (3,538.4 sq m) on Jalan Zainal Abidin, formerly Yahudi Road, a small link road between Burmah Road and Macalister Road in George Town. The oldest tombstone, dated 9 July 1835, is of Shoshan Levi, an English Jewish benefactor who donated the site after she recovered from an illness.

There are about 107 graves in the cemetery, most in the shape of a triangular vaulted-lid casket. Jewish people from Penang buried in the cemetery include members of the Manasseh, Mordecai, Jacob, Ephraim and Moses families.

The graves of the Cohens are in a separate corner of the cemetery, and they include the grave of Eliaho Hayeem Victor Cohen, a lieutenant in the British Indian Army killed in an accident on 10 October 1941. It is the only grave in the cemetery maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The most recent grave is that of Modi Mordecai, the last Jewish permanent resident of Penang, who died in 2011 shortly before his 90th birthday. His parents, David and Mozelle Mordecai, came from Baghdad to Penang in 1895.

Arif Rafhan's image of the Jewish cemetery in Penang in ‘The Last Jews of Penang’ by Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory

Officially, the cemetery is still open for burial and is managed by a board of trustees established in 1885. It was once a green lung, but much it has been cemented over. Yahudi Road (or Jewish Road) in Penang, where the majority of the Penang Jewish population once lived, has since been renamed Jalan Zainal Abidin after a local politician, erasing another part of the Jewish legacy in Malaysia.

Many of the descendants of the Jewish families of Penang now live in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the US, especially in New York. The only significant presence remaining is the Jewish cemetery and the old synagogue, now a coffee shop.

Zayn Gregory’s book The Last Jews of Penang, with illustrations by Arif Rafhan, was published by Matahari Books in 2021. He is a US-born data analyst, a lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Malaysia Sarawak and a television host, and he writes and translates Malay poems.

When we met in Kuching last week, he told me how most of the people in Malaysia today who have some Jewish origins or ancestry somewhere in their family trees are descended from people converted to Islam to marry into the Malay community.

He is American-born with a Polish Catholic father and a Jewish mother. He converted to Islam to Islam at age 17, and later moved from Detroit, Michigan in 2002, with his Malaysian-born wife to Kuching, where they are the parents of seven children.

Zayn Gregory’s book tells the history of the once-vibrant Jewish community in old George Town, and refers to some of its famous figures like David Marshall and . Modi Mordecai. He speaks of his book as a requiem of sorts for a community that used to be.

The book tells a story that contributed to the rich multicultural life and religious diversity that was part of Malaya until the early 1960s. Although the book is now out of print, Zayn Gregory hopes it continues to help to build bridges.

After our conversation in Kuching last week, I realised a new edition would be major contribution to religious pluralism, tolerance and diversity in Malaysia today.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום

With Zayn Al-Abideen Gregory, author of ‘The Last Jews of Penang’, in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

‘Here Be Dragons’ … except dragons are seen as benign creatures in Chinese culture and temples in Kuching

Colourful dragons on the holding wall below the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

The Latin phrase Hic Sunt Dracones, often rendered as ‘Here Be Dragons’, has come to symbolise how mediaeval mapmakers indicated dangerous or unexplored territories, using illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures to mark out uncharted areas where potential dangers were thought to exist.

The phrase illustrates how our ideas about dragons have been culturally conditioned. In most European languages, the word for a dragon is derived from the same Greek word used for a serpent: δράκων (drákōn, genitive δράκοντος, drákontos). The Greek and Latin terms referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological.

The Greek word δράκων is probably derived from the Greek verb δέρκομαι (dérkomai), meaning ‘I see’, the aorist form of which is ἔδρακον (édrakon). This may refer to something with a ‘deadly glance’, or unusually bright or sharp eyes, or because a snake’s eyes appear to be always open.

In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 12 tells about the woman, the dragon, and the child, followed by the war between the Archangel Michael and the dragon, then the appearance of the monster from the sea. This is the only reference in the New Testament to a dragon, yet in all our imagery, in all our poetry, Saint Michael is seen as crushing or slaying Satan, often Satan as a dragon.

In European folklore and mythology, dragons symbolise danger and evil. We are warned in the Greek classics against sowing dragon’s teeth. In legends, dragons breath fire, guard the entrance to caves, symbolising the entrance to the world, and threaten the lives of the pure and saintly, typified in the story of Saint George who slays the dragon to rescue the maiden.

I have sometimes described my sarcoidosis as creeping up from behind and snapping at me viciously like a fiery dragon, as if it had been hiding behind me for months waiting and plotting its spiteful vengeance.

Philip Larkin (1922-1985) may have been inspired by memories of the statue of Saint Michael crushing the dragon under his feet on north wall of Saint Michael’s Church in Lichfield his poem ‘To Failure.’

In that poem, Larkin realises that failure does not come ‘dramatically, with dragons / that rear up with my life between their paws.’ Failure comes with more subtlety in wasted opportunities and lost chances. Throughout life, most of us encounter our own dragons, and we know how they are going to ensnare us if we do not face them and slay them.

To mark 2024 as the Year of the Dragon, the ‘Eco-Dragon’ was erected at the east end of Padungan in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Yet, in the last few weeks while we were staying in Kuching, I came to understand once again that in Chinese culture dragons symbolise gift and blessing, and may also represent the majesty of the imperial household.

In the Chinese calendar, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, and to mark the year, the ‘Eco-Dragon’ was erected at the Chinatown Gate at the east end of Padungan in Kuching. The dragon has a body diameter of 60 and a length of 18.88 metres, a reference to Kuching being given city status on 1 August 1988 (1/8/88), but is also designed to raise awareness about the environment and conservation.

The ‘Eco-Dragon’ took a month to build, involving over 400 people and more than 1,500 hours of work.

The Dragon Boat Festival was a major cultural event on the River Sarawak a few weeks ago, and dragons appear as symbols of protection in all five temples within walking distance of China Street.

Colourful dragons encircling the Tua Pek Kong Temple, the oldest Taoist temple in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Tua Pek Kong Temple, also known as Siew San Teng Temple, is near the waterfront in Kuching and opposite the Chinese History Museum. It is the oldest Taoist temple in Kuching and is part of the Kuching Heritage Trail.

The temple is named after its principal deity, Tua Pek Kong. Although the name translates to ‘Big Grand Uncle’ in Hokkien, the temple is used by Chinese people of all dialectic groups.

A temple has stood on the site since 1770, undergoing major reconstruction in 1856, 1965 and 2002. The site was carefully chosen, in accordance with feng shui principles, and it is believed the temple will bring peace, harmony and eternal prosperity to Kuching’s Chinese community.

The Hiang Tian Siang Ti Temple on Carpenter Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Hiang Thian Siang Ti Temple is on Carpenter Street, across the street from the Mok family watch shop. It is dedicated to a Chinese deity of the same name, the Deity of the North. It was built by the Teochew immigrants in 1889 to replace a smaller and simpler temple on the same site that had been razed by the Great Fire of Kuching in 1884. That temple, in turn, had been built in 1863 to replace an earlier temple on what is now the Main Bazaar.

The temple, which underwent a major renovation in 1968, has a small turtle pool and has a stage for opera performances to entertain the deities.

A procession is held by the temple devotees on its feast day, on the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Decorative dragons at the Hin Ho Bio, the rooftop temple on Carpenter Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Hin Ho Bio temple, also on Carpenter Street, is a rooftop temple that we could see from our kitchen window. The temple is at the top of the Hainan Association building and is dedicated to Tian Hou, the Queen of Heaven, also known as Mazu.

The Hin Ho Bio has been on Carpenter Street from at least 1878, and it was renovated after the Great Fire in 1884. In the early years, new Hainanese migrants lived in the temple while looking for permanent places and jobs. The temple was also used as a martial art hall and a social gathering place for the Hainanese, and operated as a school too.

The temple had a major uplift in 1987 and the renovations were completed in 1991. The Kuching Kheng Chew Association later changed its name to Kuching Hainan Association.

The Hong San Si temple at the corner of Wayang Street and Ewe Hai Street is one of the most ornately decorated temples in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Hong San Si Temple at the corner of Wayang Street and Ewe Hai Street, is one of the most ornately decorated temples in Kuching, with beautiful ceramic artwork, ceramic carp and other creatures adorning its rooftop – along with dragons.

It is said to date from 1848 and is dedicated to the Hokkien child deity Kong Teck Choon Ong. Local lore says the child appeared on the rooftops of Ewe Hai Street, a continuation of Carpenter Street, during the Great Fire in 1884, warning the people and summoning the rain to put out the fire.

The temple’s annual procession, to commemorate the deity’s birthday, falls on the twenty-second day of the second lunar month.

During our visit to Kuching, this temple was also the scene of major festivities to mark the visit of deities from Fujian, with lion dances, street theatre, Chinese opera and dragon dances.

Dragons guard the rooftop temple on Padungan Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

There is also a temple on the roof of the Everrise supermarket on Padungan Street. It is officially called the Hing Ann Thien Hoe Kong Tian Hou Gong and can be seen from the street below, although it is not always open. The temple is also known as the Ma Cho Temple, and like the Hin Ho Bio, the rooftop temple on Carpenter Street, it is dedicated to Tian Hou, the Queen of Heaven, also known as Mazu.

The rooftop temple on Padungan Street is associated with the Heng Hua people, and originally stood on the site of the supermarket. At the time, it was part of the family residence of a businessman Song Kheng Hai.

He sold the building to the Hing Ann Association, and it continued to house the temple, a school and other activities. When the house was demolished, the temple was accommodated in a temporary structure until the Everrise building was completed, and the temple was then moved onto the roof.

To reach the rooftop temple, I took a lift in small entrance behind the supermarket to the fifth floor. From there I had views of Jalan Padungan, of the grounds of Kuching Rugby Club, and out to the Waterfront and the Sarawak River.

Sea dragons at the Hiang Tian Siang Ti Temple on Carpenter Street (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

To Failure, by Philip Larkin

You do not come dramatically, with dragons
That rear up with my life between their paws
And dash me butchered down beside the wagons,
The horses panicking; nor as a clause
Clearly set out to warn what can be lost,
What out-of-pocket charges must be borne
Expenses met; nor as a draughty ghost
That’s seen, some mornings, running down a lawn.

It is these sunless afternoons, I find,
Install you at my elbow like a bore.
The chestnut trees are caked with silence. I’m
Aware the days pass quicker than before,
Smell staler too. And once they fall behind
They look like ruin. (You have been here some time.)

‘You do not come dramatically, with dragons / That rear up with my life between their paws’ (Philip Larkin) … a friendly dragon visits the Hong San Si temple on Wayang Street (Patrick Comerford, 2024)