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Showing posts from November, 2007

Catholic Memorial & Pilgrimage Centre, Singai

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“ Over a hundred years ago, a small Catholic Chapel was built among the Bidayuh on the slope of Mt. Singai, Bau, Sarawak in 1885. Today this majestic ancestral home of the Bidayuh of Singai is no longer inhabited following the migration of the people to the surrounding lowlands. The site of the first chapel at Mt. Singai however has been turned into a Memorial and Pilgrimage Centre with the building, completion and blessing of the Centre in November 1999. The Centre has attracted a lot of Catholics and other Christian Pilgrims and has become very popular with the local Catholics and other Christian denominations and those from other places, so much so that the existing living quarters, especially the washrooms and toilet facilities could no longer cope with the increase in the number of visitors there.” Above extracts was from a memo (dated 30 July 2007) posted at the CMPC at Mt. Singai, Bau, Sarawak. Mt. Singai, situated between Bau & Batu Kawa, about 550m hi

Tua Pek Kong, Miri

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The history of Tua Pek Kong Temple, Miri is almost a century. It is one of the well known tourist attraction in Northern Sarawak besides being a place of worship & devotion for local devotees. It was said that the temple was constructed due partly to an epidemic in 1913 in Miri town. In 1913, the Chinese population of Miri is about just two thousands, mostly settled down around the current wet market areas, with just 4 rows of wooden shoplots. Miri in 1920s (Wikipedia) The Miri oil boom, coupled with population explosion, and unmatched infrastructure such as proper drainage & sewage system had partly caused an outbreak of mysterious disease to the locals, especially Chinese who were residing in the inner-town. As in the old days, many believed that it was caused by harmful spirits or the like. A Buddhist monk was then invited from Kuching, and the Tua Pek Kong Temple was thus recommended; the rest was history. Many locals, especially the Chinese, believed that t