Sibu () is a city located in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It serves as the capital of Sibu District within Sibu Division and is situated on the island of Borneo. Covering an area of , the city is positioned at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan Rivers, approximately 60 kilometres from the South China Sea and north-east of the state capital, Kuching.
Etymology Before 1873, Sibu was known as "Maling", a name derived from a bend in the Rajang River referred to as "Tanjung Maling". This bend was located opposite the present-day town of Sibu and near the confluence of the Igan and Rajang rivers.
On 1 June 1873, under the administration of the Brooke family, the third division of Sarawak was established, later known as the Sibu Division. The name "Sibu" itself was derived from the native Pulasan fruit, which was abundant in the region. In the Iban language, this fruit is known as "Buah Sibau".
History
Bruneian Empire In the 15th century, a historical event occurred in the region of southern Sarawak, which led to the displacement of immigrant Iban communities towards what is now known as the Sibu region.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Rajang basin witnessed a series of tribal conflicts involving the Iban people and the indigenous populations residing in the same geographical area. These conflicts often resulted in skirmishes and confrontations. At times the Iban groups would establish informal alliances with the Malay communities in the vicinity. These alliances were occasionally utilised for joint actions, such as launching attacks on the Kayan tribes inhabiting the region and conducting raids on passing Chinese and Indonesian vessels that traversed through this particular area.
Kingdom of Sarawak (Brooke administration)
In 1841, James Brooke acquired the territory of Sarawak, now known as Kuching, from the Bruneian Empire. In 1853, the Sibu region was also incorporated into Sarawak.
The earliest inhabitants of Sibu were the Melanau people, followed by the influx of Iban and Malay communities in the 1850s. Rajah Brooke, in 1862, oversaw the construction of Sibu Fort (commonly referred to as Fort Brooke), strategically situated at present-day Channel Road in Sibu. This fort played a pivotal role as an administrative center for the Brooke government in Sibu. However, it was demolished in 1936.
It was customary for the White Rajah to erect such forts to assert territorial claims and provide protection. The existence of Sibu Fort is substantiated by historical accounts which described its location and history:
On 13 May 1870, the fort faced an attack by 3,000 Kanowit Dayaks, led by a Dayak chief named Lintong (Mua-ri). They attempted to breach the fort's doors with axes but were eventually repelled by the Brooke administration.
As per records from the Sarawak Gazette on 24 January 1871, Sibu boasted 60 wooden shops. In 1873, the town of Sibu was incorporated into the newly created third division of Sarawak.
The first Chinese settlers arrived in Sibu during the 1860s, with a group of Hokkien people constructing two rows of 40 shophouses around Sibu Fort. These early Chinese settlers were a minority, primarily consisting of Kekhs and Min Nan individuals engaged in commerce. A small number of Chiang Chuan and Amoy people also settled in Sibu for commercial purposes.
By 1893, Munan anak Minggat and his followers arrived in Sibu, establishing a longhouse on Pulau Kerto, an island at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan rivers near Sibu. Munan was a loyal ally to the Brooke government and played a crucial role in suppressing Iban rebellions in the Upper Katibas and Lupar rivers during the 1860s and 1880s. In 1903, Munan became the first Iban to operate a rubber plantation in Kuching and subsequently invested the profits in shop-houses and lands in Sibu.
However, on 10 February 1889, a devastating fire razed the town of Sibu, leading to a setback in its development. The first hospital in Sibu was established by the Brooke government in 1912, a wooden single-storey building featuring an outpatient department and male and female wards.
On 8 March 1928, Sibu faced another significant fire; however, the Tua Pek Kong Temple miraculously survived, earning it local reverence.
Fuzhounese settlement
Wong Nai Siong, a Christian scholar originally from Minqing County, Fujian, China, became acquainted with Sarawak and the White Rajahs through his son-in-law, Dr. Lim Boon Keng. Disillusioned by the Qing dynasty's heavy-handed response during the Boxer Rebellion, which specifically targeted Chinese Christians for violence, Wong embarked on a quest to find a new settlement overseas, with a focus on Southeast Asia. Prior to arriving in Sarawak, Wong explored other regions in Malaya and Indonesia for potential settlement, albeit without success.
Wong obtained approval from Charles Brooke to search for a new settlement in the Rajang basin. In April 1900, after a 13-day journey up the Rajang River, he decided to establish Sibu as the new settlement for his Fuzhounese clansmen, as the area near the Rajang delta was well-suited for agriculture. An agreement was formalised on 9 July 1900 between Wong Nai Siong and the Brooke government in Kuching, allowing Chinese settlers to inhabit the area.
On 21 January 1901, the first group of 72 settlers arrived in Sibu and settled in the Sungai Merah area, hailing from Fuzhou, Fujian, located about 6 km from the town of Sibu. The second batch of 535 settlers arrived on 16 March 1901, marking what is now known as "New Fuzhou Resettlement Day". In June 1901, a final group of 511 settlers joined them, bringing the total number of Fuzhounese settlers to 1,118.
Wong Nai Siong was appointed as the "Kang Choo" (港主, "port master") for the Fuzhounese settlement in Sibu. The settlers cultivated crops such as sweet potatoes, fruits, sugar cane, vegetables, and coarse grains in upland areas and rice in wetlands. Most of these settlers chose to remain in Sibu, considering it their new home. Collaborating with American pastor Reverend James Matthew Hoover, Wong and his associates were actively involved in the establishment of schools and churches in Sibu, including the Methodist church in 1902 and Ying Hua Methodist School at Sungai Merah in 1903.
Between 1903 and 1935, Reverend James Hoover played a pivotal role in constructing 41 churches and 40 schools in Sibu. In the interim, 676 Cantonese individuals arrived in Sibu between 1902 and 1917. However, in 1904, Wong opposed the proposed sale of opium and the construction of a casino in the Sibu area, initiatives put forth by the Brooke government. Subsequently, he faced expulsion by the Sarawak government due to an inability to repay debts. Wong and his family departed from Sibu in July 1904.
Following Wong's departure, Reverend James Hoover assumed responsibility for managing the Sibu settlement and introduced the first rubber seedlings to Sibu in 1904. He erected a Methodist church in 1905, later renamed Masland Methodist Church in 1925. Hoover remained in the Rajang basin for an additional 31 years until his demise from malaria in 1935, while the construction of Lau King Howe Hospital was completed in 1936 to cater to the growing population of Sibu. The hospital served the people of Sibu for 58 years until 1994 when a new hospital was built in Sibu.
By 1919, the influence of the Chinese Civil War extended to Sarawak, with the Kuomintang establishing its initial branches in Sibu and Kuching. The then-reigning Rajah, Charles Brooke, opposed such political involvement by the local Chinese population and expelled several local Kuomintang leaders. However, his successor, Charles Vyner Brooke, displayed a more receptive stance toward the activities of the local Chinese, who also engaged in fundraising to support the Kuomintang's resistance against Japanese invasion on the Chinese mainland.
Following the conclusion of World War II, local Kuomintang leaders advocated for Sarawak's transfer to British control as a Crown Colony. This move encountered opposition from local communist leaders, leading to frequent clashes between the two factions. The Kuomintang branches in Sarawak were ultimately disbanded in 1949 when the party lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party and retreated to Taiwan. Nevertheless, tensions and conflicts between the two groups persisted until 1955, with the colonial British government banning the Kuomintang's newspaper in May 1951, and the communist newspaper ceasing publication in 1955 due to financial difficulties.
Japanese occupation
During World War II, Japanese forces initiated their invasion of the region by landing in Miri on 16 December 1941. Subsequently, they conquered Kuching on 24 December. On 25 December, Sibu experienced an air raid by nine Japanese warplanes that had flown from Kuching. Concerned about the impending invasion of Sibu, Andrew MacPherson, the Resident of the Third Division, made the decision to evacuate with his officers to the upstream area of the Rajang River. Their plan was to traverse through Batang Ai and navigate through the dense forests to reach Dutch Borneo. Unfortunately, they were apprehended and killed by Japanese forces at Ulu Moyan in Sarawak.
On the evening of 26 December 1941, chaos erupted in Sibu as local residents began looting an unguarded government rice storeroom. This unrest extended beyond mere looting, with villagers residing along the Rajang River also partaking in thefts of daily necessities. The situation rapidly spiraled out of control, resulting in significant damage to the British Sime Darby company, Borneo Company Limited, and Chinese businessmen who became victims of these riots. In an attempt to restore order, Chinese businessmen in the region banded together to form a security alliance.
To address the growing disorder, an advance team from Japan arrived in Sibu on 29 January 1942, after being summoned from Kuching. However, this team eventually fled Sibu and returned to Kuching. Consequently, a power vacuum persisted in the third division until 23 June 1942, when the Japanese headquarters in Kuching appointed Senda Nijiro as the new Resident of the Third Division of Sarawak. Upon assuming office, Senda Nijiro declared that the Imperial Japanese Army would assume complete control over people's lives and property in the region. On 8 August 1942, Sibu was officially renamed "Sibu-shu".
The Japanese authorities began to impose heavy taxes on the Chinese population and initiated a Sook Ching operation to identify suspected anti-Japanese individuals. Some Chinese individuals, under extreme torture, provided false lists of names of supposed anti-Japanese groups. Tragically, these lists led to the wrongful execution of innocent individuals at the Bukit Lima execution ground, while others were incarcerated in a prison in Kapit.
British Crown Colony
Following the end of the Japanese occupation of Sarawak in 1945, Charles Vyner Brooke, the last Rajah of Sarawak, made the decision to cede the state to become part of the British crown colony of Sarawak. This proposal faced significant opposition from the local population, leading to the emergence of the anti-cession movement in Sarawak.
One prominent figure in the anti-cession movement was Rosli Dhobi, a Sarawak nationalist hailing from Sibu and a member of the Malay Youth Movement (Gerakan Pemuda Melayu). The primary objective of this movement was to secure Sarawak's independence from British colonial rule.
At the young age of 17, Rosli carried out the assassination of Sir Duncan George Stewart, the second governor of colonial Sarawak, on 3 December 1949. This act was a reflection of his strong commitment to the anti-cession cause.