The Kuching Civic Centre at Jalan Taman Budaya needs a new paint job. – Photo by Alex Wong
THE Dewan Suarah Negeri Kuching (Kuching Civic Centre) was declared open on Aug 1, 1988, by then-chief minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. Its primary purpose then was to serve as a place for recreational activities, a venue for events and a mass hall for arts exhibitions, stage performances and other cultural activities for the people of Kuching.
During its early years, at different periods, it had housed restaurants, bistros and karaoke joints, and also a reference library, a gymnasium and was a popular venue for events, festivals and stage performances. Among locals and tourists, its elevated height of 243 feet (74 metres) on an already high ground (surrounding elevation of 100 feet above sea level) ensured a good panoramic bird’s eye view of most of Kuching City as far as the eyes could see.
However for more than a decade, it has fallen on bad maintenance and the almost unserviceable twin lifts, as well as unsuccessful food and beverage (F&B) businesses that were operating at the roof-top facility – all contributing to it now being called a ‘white elephant’ with no immediate prospect of any ‘rescue mission’ in sight.
Even its external façade is in dire need of a total clean-up and repainting, and the facilities have all almost broken down into disrepair.
However it could – with some planning, a big budget and probably with private enterprise being involved – be turned into one of Kuching’s great tourist attractions.
It needs a total revamp, starting with the lifts, then the F&B facility that is the star attraction and of course, the viewing balconies. The exhibition hall too needs a complete makeover. It would still be possible as the structure appears to be solid and intact.
Our tourism authority must by now realise that the civic centre sits right in the middle of several other prime tourist attractions, all within the radius or walking distance of less than half a mile (less than a kilometre).
To its north is the nation’s oldest family social private club, the Sarawak Club (founded in 1876); by comparison, the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur was established only eight years later, in 1884.
Facing the south of Sarawak Club is the open-air Amphitheatre – a much underutilised facility amidst splendid greenery and pleasant surroundings. A short walk uphill on its north-east is the just-reopened Unity Park (formerly Reservoir Park), which should be fully functional by 2023.
If one cared to walk further towards the Sarawak Museum grounds, one would come across the old Chinese Pavilion, which was used as a small food court by a local family for many years; alas, it has been closed for some time now.
This structure faces the bandstand which, on Sunday afternoons in days of yore, had seen the Sarawak Constabulary Band play their horns, trumpets and other musical instruments.
Archive photo shows the old Chinese Pavilion on the grounds of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching.
This could be a rather quaint, but great little tourist attraction to revive. As it is, visitors nowadays simply troop off to the spanking new Borneo Cultures Museum, forgetting that there is so much more to see over the surrounding grounds.
Back to Kuching Civic Centre: if one were to walk downhill towards the old football field (frequented in the 1960s/70s by staff of the nearby Fire Brigade most evenings after work) and take a left uphill towards Park Lane (formerly Pig Lane), one would come face to face with the last Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke’s so-called ‘Summer House’ – his country retreat from the Astana Negri across river.
It just had a minor do-over with a resurfaced road leading up to it. Hopefully, the original ‘Tusau Padan’ designed and hand-drawn ethnic ‘Tree of Life’ mural is still intact on the walls of its living room.
Right across the road from this little wooden structure lies the Air Raid Bomb Shelter built during the Japanese War (1941-1945) for the Rajah and his citizens to hide in safety during the Japanese airplane raids over Kuching. Again, if the foxholes in Vietnam could be such a great tourist draw, there should be nothing to stop these air-raid shelters from being an added tourist stopover during the daily bus/coach tours of the city.
A further walk of about 100 metres uphill towards the city centre takes one to one of the oldest buildings in town – the Hokkien Free School, which now is part of the Chung Hua No 1 school complex. Established in 1912 by the Hokkien community in Kuching led by Ong Ewe Hai, its architecture reflected the colonial-influenced style of the day – it could also be related to China’s history as 1912 was the year of the Chinese Revolution, a time of deep change of perspectives for all overseas Chinese communities.
The Kuching Hokkien Free School building at Park Lane is still intact.
As a note of interest, the exterior and interior of this building were used for two scenes in the 1987 Hollywood movie with Nick Nolte, directed by John Milius, called ‘Farewell to the King’.
It had stood in for General MacArthur’s headquarters in ‘Corregidor in the Philippines’ during the Second World War.
Recently, there was some news that the newly-restored Satok Suspension Bridge was ready to be reopened to the public after a certain safety issue incident a couple of years back. This bridge is of great sentimental value to many of us, especially those ‘Baby Boomers’ who during their childhood, had either walked or cycled over the structure; some who had resided in the nearby ‘kampongs’ (villages) still consider it a lasting iconic symbol of their youth.
Kuching’s newly-restored heritage landmark, the Satok Suspension Bridge.
In recent times, I have seen many posts accompanied by photographs taken of it from many angles shared on social media, especially on Facebook, as well as the comments and queries as to its readiness and safety worthiness for the public to visit or to cross over. These photos make for very beautiful scenic and picturesque views of Kuching.
I heard from a most reliable source that it would appear that the bridge itself had not been ‘load-tested’ yet; when the replacement anchors were built, there was no such testing as well.
It would seem extremely hazardous if it were to open to the public and during a regatta, the bridge could well be heavily laden with people on it watching the festivities – how safe would it be for these folks?
The bridge, once having passed the most stringent safety tests, should also prove to be a prime tourist attraction – now we do need to spruce up, brighten up and increase the varieties of entertainment and food stalls available to receive the influx of visitors at the public food court just at the city-end’s river edge of the bridge where one can sit down for drinks, snacks and photo-ops.
Personally, with regard to Kuching Civic Centre, I really hope and wish to see that the very much underutilised facilities could be put to better use with just a bit of thoughtful planning, a lot of renovation budget and with a highly passionate new team of energetic, hardworking people – they might be able to revive its fortunes at least to its ‘former glory’, although truth be told, it was never the success that it was originally purposed for.
Someone should really take up this challenge!
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