Bau | |
---|---|
Town and district capital | |
![]() Bau Market | |
Coordinates: 1°25′0″N110°0′9″E / 1.41667°N 110.00250°E | |
Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
Division | Kuching |
District | Bau |
Area | |
• Total | 884.4 km2 (341.5 sq mi) |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 62,200 |
• Density | 70/km2 (180/sq mi) |
Bau is a gold mining town, [1] capital of Bau district in the Kuching Division of Sarawak, Malaysia. [2]
On 1 May 1837, the Skrang Ibans invaded the Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh settlement on top of Bratak Peak, killing over 2,000 Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh men and taking 1,000 women captive. Panglima Kulow, head of Jagoi-Bratak Bidayuh community, and a handful of his followers survived the massacre. In 1841 James Brooke, who was then the newly installed White Rajah of Sarawak, was able to rescue some of the women taken captive. Each year on 1 May, descendants of the survivors of the 1837 massacre hold Jagoi-Bratak Day on top of Bratak Peak in Bau in memory of their ancestors. A memorial stone was erected on 1 May 1988, to mark the day. [3]
The Chinese first began gold mining in Bau in the 1800s, centred at Pangkalan Tebang. [4] In 1850, more Chinese came from Pemangkat in Dutch Borneo to escape from inter Chinese Kongsi rivalry there. The friction of the jurisdiction and taxation of Chinese Kongsi with the Brooke government and the $150 fine for smuggling opium imposed by the Brookes led to the Bau uprising on 19 February 1857. About 600 gold miners, led by Liu Shan Bang, took over Kuching town, the administrative centre of the Brooke government. [5] [6] Amongst those who were killed during the uprising were police inspector P. Middleton and his family, R. Wellington, an employee of Borneo Company Limited (BCL), 19-year-old Harry Nicholettes, the Lundu Resident, and a Malay Corporal. [5] The Sarawak Treasury was ransacked, including $6,359 belonging The Borneo Company. The gold miners called a meeting that involved Bishop, Ludvig Verner Helms (manager of BCL), Ruppell (a private merchant trading with BCL), and the Datu Bandar. Agreements were signed so that "Mr Helms and Mr Ruppell were to rule the foreign portion of the town [Kuching], and the Datu Bandar the Malays, under the [gold miners’] Kongsi as supreme rulers.” and “the Chinese should go up the river the same day … the Malays should not attack them … no steamers or boats should be sent up the river in pursuit.” On 23 February, BCL steamship named Sir James Brooke returned from Singapore. James Brooke, Helms, and others boarded the steamship. Flanked by a flotilla of small boats, the steamship sailed upriver in pursuit of the retreating Chinese gold miners. James Brooke retook the town of Kuching on the same day. [5] Building upon the victory, Tuan Muda Charles Brooke led several hundreds of Dayaks from Skrang and Saribas in pursuit of the 2,000 Chinese gold miners that retreated to Sambas, Dutch Borneo. On the order of James Brooke, Helms went to Dutch Borneo to seek cooperation to exterminate the remaining Chinese gold miners. The Dutch authorities agreed and by 15 March 1857, peace was restored and Helms returned to Sarawak on a Dutch warship. [5]
After the uprising was quashed by the Brookes, the mining operations were gradually taken over by The Borneo Company with the last Chinese syndicate being bought out in 1884. [4] In 1898, The Borneo Company introduced the cyanide process for extracting the gold, [4] which led to increased environmental pollution. The mines were closed in 1921 because most of the minerals, easily reachable by existing techniques, had been removed. [7] But during the Great Depression Chinese miners continued to artisanally mine the deposits. [8] The mines were reopened in the late 1970s when world gold prices soared, but were closed down again in 1996 when the Asian financial crisis started. [9] The last mining occurred at the Tai Parit open-pit mine. [10]
In 2002, Preston Resources began exploratory development of the mining leases formerly held by Malaysia's Oriental Peninsula Gold (now Peninsula Gold Ltd.). [1] In 2006, Zedex Minerals purchased a controlling interest in the exploratory leases. [11] Zedex was primarily concerned with determining the extent and richness of the remaining Jugan gold deposits, but it also assayed the old tailings at the Bukit Young Gold Mine site for potential reprocessing. [12] In 2009 Zedex was merged into Olympus Pacific Minerals. [13] As of 2014, the mining rights were held by North Borneo Gold, a joint venture of Besra Gold (aka Olympus Pacific Minerals), Golden Celesta and Gladioli Enterprises, a Malaysian mining group. [14] As of May 2017 [update] , the mines have not reopened.
The gold deposits in Bau Township occur in the Jugan Hills in marine sedimentary rocks of late Jurassic to early Cretaceous age, primarily limestone. [12] [15] The gold comes from hydrothermal sources activated by local volcanism. [15] The gold is found in four distinct configurations: disseminated throughout the mineralized sediments; as silica replacement; in breccias having magno-calcite quartz veining; and occasionally as porphyritic skarns. [14] [16]
The limestone cliffs in the area support a wide range of endemic flora, including the rare pitcher plant Nepenthes northiana . [17]
Route No. | Operating Route | Operator | Remark |
---|---|---|---|
2 | Kuching-Bau | Bau Transport Co | |
B2 | Kuching-Bau | CPL | |
K26 | Kuching-Bau-Lundu-Sematan | CPL | |
In 2022, Roxy Tasik Biru Resort was opened to the public. It is equipped with a floating bridge, fountain, chalets, a café, and a boat ride service. [18] Fairy Cave and Wind Cave are located in the Bau District. [19]
Kuching, officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River at the southwest tip of Sarawak on the island of Borneo and covers an area of 431 km2 (166 sq mi) with a population about 165,642 in the Kuching North administrative region and 159,490 in the Kuching South administrative region—a total of 325,132 people.
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The White Rajahs were a hereditary monarchy of the Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak as a sovereign state, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo in maritime Southeast Asia, from 1841 to 1946. Of British origin, the first ruler was James Brooke. As a reward for helping the Sultanate of Brunei fight piracy and insurgency among the indigenous peoples, he was granted the province of Kuching, which was known as Sarawak Asal in 1841 and received independent kingdom status.
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Betong is a town in Betong Division in Sarawak, Malaysia, lying in the Saribas area. It was formerly under the Sri Aman district. Betong is located between three main rivers, Batang Lupar, Batang Saribas and Batang Kelaka, and covers an area of 4,180 km2.
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Chong Chieng Jen, is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who has served as Chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) since February 2024, State Leader of the Opposition of Sarawak from June 2013 to November 2020 and again since March 2024, Member of Parliament (MP) for Stampin since May 2018 and Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Padungan since December 2021. He served as the Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and former Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, MP for Bandar Kuching from March 2004 to May 2018 and MLA for Kota Sentosa from May 2006 to December 2021. He is a member, National Vice Chairman, State Chairman of Sarawak, Branch Chairman of Kuching and State Youth Advisor of Sarawak as well as Bandar Kuching of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the PH and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Alternatif (BA) coalitions.
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