Places of Worship & Devotion

Extracts from The New Straits Times... KUCHING: It may not have the grandeur of Batu Caves Temple complex in Selangor, but Mount Matang Sri Mahamariamman Temple complex can lay claim to be the first Hindu temple built in Sarawak. Located at the foothills of Mount Matang, the temple complex is also fascinating as it is made entirely of wood. Although it is only about 45km from here, one needs to spend about 45 minutes hiking up the hill. The temple was originally built by Indian workers who were brought here to work on the coffee plantation run by the state government back in 1867, and later with Rajah Charles Brooke, who took over and switched to tea in 1897. "The Indian workers brought a bronze deity when they arrived here but it was transferred to a temple in Batu Lintang when the tea estate was closed in 1912 due to poor harvest. "The temple was abandoned for 55 years until it was rediscovered by a local villager who was hunting nearby,"said penghul...

The Kuching Tua Pek Kong Temple was once seated on the best Feng Shui location in Kuching; as according to the Feng Shui principle, a hill at the back, a small and smooth flowing river in front (the lost Sg Kuching), and the best front view of the highest peak in the area, Gunung Serapi. The temple was built more than two centuries ago, long before James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak, arrived in Kuching. Like most Chinese temples, the temple prosperity affected and associated highly to the businesses, emotion and activities of the local Chinese community in the early days where majority were followers of Taoist related faith. It was also one of the few buildings that survived the 1884 the Great Fire of Kuching, where most Chinese believed was due to good Feng Shui. It was said that after the 1857 Chinese Insurrection in Bau, a gold mine township nearby, the Brooke Administration was worried about the Tua Pek Kong dominance and its influence to the local Kuching...