© Lonely Planet 404 Sarawak While Sabah sees itself as ‘nature’, Sarawak plays up its cultural counterpoint. With a thriv- ing indigenous population featuring dozens of dialects and tribes, Sarawak’s local people are the keepers of Borneo – the ancient storytellers and guardians of lost traditions. Many communities still cling to the longhouse lifestyle, a coveted way of communal life steeped in hundreds of years of myth, legend and lore. But make no mistake, Sarawak offers oh-so much more than blowpipes, rice wine and sacred dances. The state has its fair share of natural wonders as well. The yawning Niah Caves reveal the island’s 40,000 years of human history through haunting burials and cryptic cavern drawings. Caves are super-sized at Gunung Mulu National Park – home to more bats than there are people in the entirety of Sarawak. Don’t miss the trek up to the Pinnacles, a curious formation of limestone spikes shooting straight up into the balmy jungle air. Then it’s on to the Kelabit Highlands, an earthen kingdom tucked high in the clouds along the dark green borders of Kalimantan. Wild macaques and prowling proboscis monkeys patrol the southern shores as they swing past trekking tourists in Bako National Park. Ultimately, Sarawak is a land of dreaming – a place where fantasies are fulfilled. If you’re SARAWAK SARAWAK imagining a world of steaming jungles, secreted villages, curious beasts and muddy treks into the unknown, then you’ve come to the right place. Sarawak promises to deliver on all of those magical Bornean stereotypes, and it’ll keep you coming back for more. HIGHLIGHTS Sipping wild teas and crunching savoury pineapple at a wobbly, wooden abode hidden deep within the Kelabit Highlands ( p458 ) Wandering around catty Kuching ( p409 ) purrusing cluttered markets and colourful Chinese shophouses Exploring yawning caverns and trekking to the spiky Pinnacles in Gunung Mulu National Park ( p452 ) Gunung Mulu National Park Sharing smiles, stories and sips of cloudy rice wine while staying at a longhouse ( p430 ) Kelabit Snapping photographs of languid lagoons, Highlands ebbing tides and curious proboscis monkeys Bako at Bako National Park ( p423 ) National Park Kuching TELEPHONE CODE: 082, 083, POPULATION: 2.5 MILLION AREA : 124,449 SQ KM 084, 085, 086 lonelyplanet.com SARAWAK •• History 405 History resigned in protest at being excluded from the Archaeological evidence suggests early hu- political process, and the conflict climaxed in mans lived in Sarawak as long as 40,000 years late 1949 when the governor of Sarawak was ago, 30,000 years earlier than on the Malay pe- murdered by a Malay student. By 1951, how- ninsula. The Chinese started arriving around ever, the movement had lost its momentum the 7th century, along with other Eastern and Brooke urged supporters to give it up. traders, and from the 11th century Sarawak Along with Sabah (then North Borneo) came under the control of various Indonesian and Brunei, Sarawak remained under British factions. Many of today’s indigenous tribes control when Malaya gained its independence migrated from Kalimantan, including the in 1957. In 1962 the British proposed includ- Iban, who came here around the end of the ing the Borneo territories into the Federation 15th century and now make up around 33% of Malaya. At the last minute Brunei pulled of the state’s population. out, as the sultan (and, one suspects, Shell Oil) From the 15th until the early 19th century didn’t want to see the revenue from its vast oil Sarawak was under the loose control of the reserves channelled to the peninsula. At the sultanate of Brunei. It was only with the ar- same time, Malaya also had to convince the rival of Sir James Brooke, the first of three UN that Philippine claims to North Borneo so-called white raja, that it became a separate were unfounded, as was Indonesia’s argument political region. that the formation of Malaysia was a British Brooke, invalided from the British East neocolonialist plot. The agreement was finally India Company after being wounded in hammered out in July 1963, and in September Burma, eschewed an easy retirement and set of the same year the Federation of Malaysia off on a voyage of discovery, aided by a sizable was born. inheritance and a well-armed ship. He arrived This was also when the Indonesian in Sarawak in 1839, just in time to find the Konfrontasi (Confrontation) erupted, initi- SARAWAK local viceroy under siege, providing the per- ated by then Indonesian president Achmed fect opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Soekarno, who hoped to destabilise the ruling class. Brooke duly suppressed the rebel- fledgling state. Paramilitary raids and army lion, and by way of reward the sultan of Brunei attacks across Kalimantan’s border with installed him as raja of Sarawak in 1842. Sarawak and Sabah continued until 1966. At When James Brooke died in 1868 he was the conflict’s height 50,000 British, Australian succeeded by his nephew, Charles Brooke. and New Zealand troops were deployed Through a policy of divide and rule, and the in the border area, where some horrific ruthless punishment of those who challenged confrontations occurred. his authority, Brooke junior extended his con- Internally, Sarawak also faced conflict trol and the borders of his kingdom during during the early 1960s. The state’s large his long reign, which lasted until his death population of impoverished Chinese peasant in 1917. farmers and labourers were courted by the The third and last white raja was Charles North Kalimantan Communist Party, which Vyner Brooke, the second son of Charles supported guerrilla activity. After the collapse Brooke, whose rule was rudely interrupted by of the Indonesian Communist Party in 1965, the arrival of the Japanese in WWII. After the however, Indonesians and Malaysians com- Japanese surrender in August 1945, Sarawak bined forces to drive the rebels out of their was placed under Australian military ad- bases in Sarawak. ministration until Brooke, who had fled to Today Sarawak is the most multicultural Sydney, decided to cede his ‘kingdom’ to the state in Malaysia, with no outright ethnic British in 1946. On 1 July Sarawak officially majority. Economically it has avoided the became a British Crown colony, thus putting pitfalls of unemployment and federal dis- Britain in the curious position of acquiring a cord that plague its neighbour, Sabah, but new colonial possession at a time when it was the state budget deficit has grown steadily shedding others. over the last five years and revenue still de- Cession was followed by a brief but bloody pends heavily on the much criticised timber anticessionist movement supported chiefly by industry. Accusations of corruption and cro- Anthony Brooke, Vyner Brooke’s nephew and nyism are virtually a daily occurrence, and heir apparent. About 300 government officers most people would be surprised to find out if SARAWAK 406 0 100 km SARAWAK 0 60 miles Bandar Seri Merapok SARAWAK Begawan Lawas T B S Limbang e a u m t Kuala Lurah n a S b n SABAH Kuala g u g u a Belait n Bangar r o i Seria g n Kuala Baram a g i T BRUNEI ru L s im a Miri Miri b n Gunung Buda an Airport National Park g Long Marudi Semado Lambir Hills Gunung Mulu National Park (2377m) Gunung ὈLong TerawanὈὈὈ Ba Kelalan Mulu Batu Beluru Long Niah National Long Teru Park Seridan Gunung S O U T H Niah Long Lama Murud National Park S (2423m) Niah u C H I N A Bukit Tiban n Junction Long Miri g National Park a Bario S E A Loagan Bunut i National Park Kelabit Highlands Similajau Ba Long Lellang Su ra Ramudu National Park ng m ai Pulong Tau Dulit Ti National Park Bintulu nj Long Range ar Range Airport emena Akah Tama Abu ὈK ὈὈ Lio Matoh Bintulu Bukit Long Batang Tubau Seludong ga Banga la (1371m) e B Bukit g tan Semalong Mukah Batang a B (1281m) Matu Dalat Lumut Bat Bakun Dam a Sangan Tatau Range Belaga ng Daro Ig S Bukit ng un Robertson an eja gai Ba R Linau (1710m) Tanjung Datu Sibu tang Batang Sibu Mukah National Park Airport Pulau Pulau Nibong ujong Talang-Talang i M Batang Satang Sarikei Kanowit nga Besar Batang Su Besar Santubong Rajang Rejang Hose RangeLong Mangroves Julau Jawi Balui Talang–Satang Song Kapit Bat Bako National Park an Telok National Park g B Melano National aleh s Park iba Interwau Sematan Kat Kubah gai National un g ὈὈKuching WetlandsὈὈὈS ngion Batang e Lundu Park National Park i M eh nga Bal lonelyplanet.com Kuching Maludam Su Gunung Gading National Park rang Sk Batang Lemanak National Park Bau Kuching Betong International Batang Ai Airport Batang Lupar National Park Batang KALIMANTAN Serian Sri Aman Batang Ai Sadong Batang Ai I N D O N E S I A Tebedu Engkilili Reservoir Sungai To Pontianak Lubuk Antu (275km) ὈὈὈὈ lonelyplanet.com SARAWAK •• Climate 407 a major company didn’t have some link to a 34°C. It’s cooler up in the hills, especially in the government office. Kelabit Highlands. The heaviest rainfall occurs Despite the strongest showing for oppo- with the northeast monsoon from November sition parties since 1987, state elections in to February, though it rains throughout the mid-2006 once again confirmed the ruling year. There’s an average annual rainfall of government amid widespread rumours of about 350mm to 450mm. dubious tactics. Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud (now in his eighth term) has de- Visas & Permits scribed his unchanged cabinet as ‘transitional’, As a semiautonomous state, Sarawak has its but exactly what transitions are involved re- own immigration controls designed to protect mains to be seen.