A view of Bintulu town in 1954

Downtown Bintulu in 2011

View of sleepy town and first boom

Demolishment of town squatters in 1987

The Bintulu town into the Third Boom

The urban extent of Bintulu town in early 60's when it was just a sleepy coastal town.
The government quarters are seen at the top left corner.  The grassed airport strip is partly seen at top right hand corner.
The jetties and wharves are seen at bottom part of the picture.
(Photo credit : Dunstan Teo)

Overall view of Bintulu town during the Third Boom (2003-2009)
Picture shows the tar-sealed airport runaway separating the southern and northern part (top of picture)  of Bintulu town.
Photo taken in 2003.

To have a glimpse of the life and conditions of Bintulu town in the 1960's please follow this link...>>>http://www.theborneopost.com/2014/09/16/reminiscing-the-old-bintulu/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theborneopost%2FeZwo+%28BorneoPost+Online+|+Borneo+%2C+Malaysia%2C+Sarawak+Daily+News+%C2%BB+Sarawak%29

First Bus Station in Bintulu

MARA buses stationed infront of the old fish market, in the late 60's -70's
Behind is the row of wooden shophouses along the Main Bazaar road
Note: Picture shows the station in the early 70's.

 In the pre-boom period, Bintulu was a sleepy town which got its first bus service in the late 60's.   The Majlis Amanah Rakyat Malaysia, in short MARA, owned these buses.  The buses provided much needed public transportation for Bintulu to link it to Miri, some 200 kilometers away north of Bintulu, which was the capital of the Fourth Division.  In the early 1970's,  Bintulu was a sub-district in the division  and all government affairs were headquartered at Miri for final decision making.  This arrangement made very slow progress to the far away town of Bintulu.  In the 60's Bintulu was in the backwaters of development.  The picture above shows the bus station site located just in front of the old fish market.  At the picture below is seen the previous bus station site turned into a public car parking space.  The wooden shophouses were demolished to give way to concrete shophouses.  When not many people were able to buy cars in the  60's and 70's, the bus service was a real boon for the general public of Bintulu.  After a series of four economic booms, Bintulu population grew larger and many were well-off to afford their own cars.  Thus with more cars additional parking spaces were constructed within  the Bintulu town.  The car parking area as shown below is charged using the coupon system.  As at 9th July'14, the current rate is 50 sen per one hour of parking time.  

Note the Tanjung trees ( Mimusops elengi) planted for  shade and beautification of the town.
Photo taken : 7 July'14

Bintulu town squatters area in early 80's

View of Bintulu town from the Kemena River bank towards the Chinese temple (Tua Pek Kong), 1987

 There was a big squatters settlement in the midst of Bintulu town in the early 80's.  In 1987 a major squatters demolishment was done to cleanup the town of illegal buildings and slums.  The above picture shows some of the wooden structures built by the squatters that were in the process of being demolished by the government authorities.  The public space taken by the slums were later turned into an esplanade, car parking lots and new market buildings.

View from  Bintulu Esplanade (tiled area) towards the Chinese temple area and Main Bazaar Road - 25 December,2013.

Many festivals, public gatherings, fun fairs, shows and Ramadan markets are now held at the esplanade area.  The wooden shophouses in the 80's are replaced by permanent concrete shophouses.  The Main Bazaar road now becomes a four-lane one way street.

Main Bazaar Road in 1975

Main Bazaar Road in 1975
Note the large green space between the two-way street.  Seen are the students of BGSS (Bintulu Government Secondary School) during the Prophet Mohammad's Birthday parade around the town.
The wooden shophouses are made of belian posts, beams and roofing of belian shingles.
Overhead electric posts are gradually replaced with underground cabling.

Main Bazaar Road today, 23 December, 2013.
The road is now turned into a 3-lane one-way street.
Permanent reinforced  concrete four storey buildings replaced old wooden shophouses and ample car parking spaces are provided on the roadsides.  Parking are now charged at hourly rate of 50 sen per hour.

Just years prior to the first boom, there were very few cars in town.  Students who studied at BGSS (Bintulu  Government Secondary School) would either take the bus or ride bicycles to school.  Many Malay and Melanau kampungs dotted the areas immediately around the town.  It was customary for the  Muslim students to celebrate the Prophet Mohammad's Birthday by parading around town (as seen in the top pix). Today the Main Bazaar Road is the main thoroughfare around town.

Bintulu town during the first boom (1979 -83)

 Bintulu was a sleepy fishing village and small town when  I grew up there in my teenage years. It was known mainly for its jungle products (rattan, damar etc.), sago, timber logs and sawn mangrove timber species (ramin), and the ever popular 'belacan' or shrimp paste.  The main town centre was located on the right bank of the Kemena river  as it reaches the South China Sea.  It enjoyed fresh sea breezes and wonderful views of the sunset. It has an airfield built in 1938 and was optimally used in the 60's right on till the 90's  before it was abandoned for a new airport in 2003.  The Malay and Melanau kampungs that surrounded the town area have tall coconut and betel nut trees over-topping the villages.  All these makes Bintulu a quaint, quiet and rustic place of the pre- boom years.

Bintulu town of the 50's -60's
Picture credit : Ho Ah Choon,Sarawak in Pictures - 1940's - 70's, Sarawak Press Bhd, Kuching.

Bintulu town centre - shows much development around the town area during the first boom years (1979 -1983)
Note the newly constructed commercial buildings mushrooming .
The hospital is seen at the bottom right of the picture.  In the 1980's the airport served well the growing needs of travel to and out of Bintulu expected of a booming town.
Picture credit : Peter Chay, Malaysia - Wonders and Contrasts, Foto Technik Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, 1986.

The sleepy image of Bintulu town gradually gave way to a bustling town with the discovery of natural gas and the development of the Bintulu deep water port at Kidurong, some 20 km away north from the town.  The town was slowly being provided with better urban facilities and amenities through the re-development of many of the readily available state land around town. For example the location of the BDA-Shahida commercial area (shown at the middle of the picture above) was previously the government offices and quarters area and only public football field site.  It is worthwhile to note too that due to the pressing needs of urban space, many kampungs located closer to the town were removed to make way for shophouses e.g Kampung Dagang later became Kampung Dagang Commercial Centre (shown as newly constructed commercial shophouses at top of the picture, fronting the river)

Keppel Road and Food market in the 1960's

Keppel Road with turfing in the centre, in the 1960's.  The food market is the building at left.
The road is still largely sandy dirt road with some stoning done.
All shophouses are wooden type with concrete ground floor and roofing made of Belian wood shingles.
Note the river bank across the town....there are no buildings built across river.

 

 

 

 Over the years the food market that was located in the center of the town was fondly referred to as the 'Old Market'.  In the 1960's the old market was a meeting place for almost everybody in town to buy wet food like fish, meat and vegetables,  and to eat and drink provided by many Chinese and Malay stalls inside the building.  The Keppel Road that lined it on the inland side was a sandy dirt road and only towards the early 70's were the roads around the shophouses began to be stoned.  There were a handful of cars about town in the 1960's and bicycles were a highly regarded possession.  I could remember well how I had to fork out 20 cents to learn how to ride a bicycle within one hour of rental time, bearing in mind that in the sixties 20 cents was a lot of money.

Keppel Road taken on 27 September, 2013.
The former space of the 'old market' is turned into a mini- town park.
The Keppel Road is made into a one way four-lane single carriageway and tar-sealed.
All shophouses are re-built as concrete structures.
Note the view across river...What was previously an empty riverbank is now occupied with many buildings  belonging to the Customs and Marine Department.

Today the Keppel Road and the old market area is totally transformed.  The old market area has been developed into a mini-town park with maximum tree planting for much needed urban greenery and meeting place.  It is remarkable to see the physical changes happening to this part of the Bintulu town over a period of slightly more than three decades as shown by the two before and after pictures above.

From a sleepy town and fishing village to a boom town

Bintulu in 1955

Wooden shophouses facing the Main Bazaar Road in 1955 ( B&W photo)

(Photo credit : Ho Ah Choon, Sarawak in Pictures - 1940's - 1970's , Sarawak Press Bhd, Kuching)

The Bintulu town centre in 1955 was located close to the river bank. The shophouses were of wooden structure and were wholly owned by the Chinese. The shop owners have individual jetties and small wharves to enable boats and motor launches park close to the town. Typical of the shophouses in the 50's, the posts and joists of the buildings were constructed with 'belian' wood ( Sarawak's hardest timber species). The roofing material were also of 'belian' shingles. The walls were built using sawn planks of lighter tropical hardwood species and only the ground floor was made of concrete. The estimated town population in 1955 was about 2,000 people.

A modern look to Bintulu town image

Date taken : 19 Nov'2010 ( Digital - Sony Cyber-shot)

Today, all the wooden shophouses are gone. They are replaced with permanent reinforced concrete four- storey buildings having concrete floors and walls of bricks. The roofing materials are generally of ceramic tiles or metal roofing sheets. The river bank is pushed further outwards due to reclamation works and the regained spaces allocated for urban amenities like car parks, esplanade and other waterfront development projects. The entire Bintulu population today is estimated at 200,000 people of various ethnic groups with the majority comprising of the Ibans.

Bintulu town - early 1970's

Date taken : circa early 1970's ( B&W photo)

The picture above shows Keppel Road when bicycles were king of the road. In the early 1970's cars were very rarely seen around town. The Keppel Road then was a two - way street with ample green space in between. The row of concrete buildings at the far right background was one of the few permanent- type buildings seen in the 1970's. Two institutions important at that time that were housed in the block were the Standard Chartered bank and the Capitol Hotel. The Capitol Hotel occupies the corner lot of the block and still exists today but re-named as Capitol Inn. Note the wooden shophouses on both sides of the road built primarily of 'belian' posts and roofing of 'belian' shingles. The first floor of the shophouses were normally made into residences by the shop owners. The ground floor of the shophouses however were of concrete flooring. The electrical posts in the center of the road were also of 'belian' timber - the hardest wood in Sarawak.

Date taken : 2 Dec'10 ( Digital - Sony Cyber-shot)

Today, Keppel Road is a one-way 3-lane road with ample parking spaces infront of the shophouses but charges are imposed by the local authority at the rate of 20 'sen' ( cents) per first 30 minutes and gradually increases thereafter. The two-storey wooden shophouses when re-built were increased to four storeys high. The tallest building at the far right was built over a previously empty open space and now houses the 'Kintown Inn'.

Bintulu town -1975

Date taken : 1975 ( Colour Photo)

View of Bintulu town shophouses along Main Bazaar road

In 1975 the shophouses that lined the Main Bazaar Road were of wooden structures with concrete floors. Almost all of the shopowners stay on the first floor. The posts of the buildings were of 'belian' timber just like the electrical posts across the street. The roofing material was of 'belian' shingles. Cars were few and bicycles were king of the road. Most villagers from the Malay kampungs closeby normally walk to town. The wooden belian bridge on the right of the picture connects the village road called ' Jalan Masjid' to the Main Bazaar road. The wooden building partly seen to the left was the 'Native Rest House' to accomodate rural natives who need to stay in town for the night while visiting the hospitals, government offices, schools, court cases, shopping for provisions, trading jungle produce products etc.,. In 1975 the Main Bazaar road was a two-way street with open space in between. In the above picture I'm with my nephew striking a pose next to my newly bought Yamaha motorcycle in front of our house.

Date taken : 29 November'10

Today the Main Bazzar Road and the Jalan Masjid are a one-way tar-sealed four-lane roads . Much have changed but the orientation and sub-division of the shophouses have not.

Mile O - early 1980's

Date taken : 13 May'1984 ( Colour photograph)

View of Bintulu town from MO ( Mile O ) i.e. start of the JKR maintained road radiating out of Bintulu town to Kidurong Highway, Higway to Sibu and Highway to Miri. Note the landscaping using low cover plants, the three big buildings on the right belong to government agencies. Of importance to the small town of Bintulu then was the Customs office -cum godown and stockyard area (red roof) . Closest to the foreground on the right is the Forestry Office.

Date taken : 25 November'2010

Of significance in the above picture are the Melanau sunhat-styled roofing structure of the public market buildings built by the BDA ( Bintulu Development Authority). In the Melanau language the sunhat is called " Saong" or " Terendak" in Malay. The one closest to the foreground( in light green colour roofing) is the 'Tamu ' or jungle produce market. The two other buildings in the far background in blue coloured roofing are the 'Pasar Utama' which houses the vegetable and fish and poultry market as well as drinking and eating stalls on their first floors.

Jalan Keppel - mid 70's

Jalan Keppel ( Keppel Road) seen on the left.

Date taken : circa 1976

Date taken : 20Nov'10

What was once a tiny two-way street has today become a one- way three-lane town road. The two-storey building on the right was once BDC adminstrative office turned into the BDA Library when Bintulu District Council(BDC) was merged with the BDA ( Bintulu Development Authority) upon the introduction of BDA to administer and develop Bintulu starting the early 1980's. The low building after the ex-BDA library is the Sarawak state information centre which still exists even at this point of blogging. The tall structure after the information centre is the 'Kintown Inn'- a modern touch to the townscape. The open space to the right of the top picture was a community open space that catered for a basketball court and public amenities like swing, see-saw and a resting shed. Today at the same space is allocated a green area with its focal point a public fountain- the first ever for Bintulu and running. Typical of Bintulu shophouses in the 1960's and 1970's they were principally of wooden structures. Today concrete shophouses have replaced the old wooden ones. Note the trend to replace overhead electricity cables with undeground cabling and better tiled street pavements for a modern image town.

Note our fashion during those times. Men wear bell-bottoms, sport long hair and dress smartly as teachers. On the extreme left is yours truly . Others from left to right are Zahiruddin Khan, Angela Chung, Zarina Sauni, Josmani, Wong Kee and Chong Tong Liap. We were all teachers from the Bintulu Government Secondary School (BGSS).

Bintulu town riverside squatters operation - 1987

Date taken : 1987

The picture above shows a massive squatters clearing operation undertaken in 1987 . The main road to the right is called the Main Bazaar Road and at that point of time acted as a two-way street. There were many old wooden shophouses along the Main Bazaar road then. The river to the left is the Kemena River going towards the sea in the horizon which is seen at the top of the picture.

Date taken : 19 Nov'10

A row of concrete shophouses has replaced the old wooden ones. The two-way street has given way to a one-way street. The vacant space left after the demolition of squatters resettlement has made way for a fully tiled esplanade ( Bintulu Esplanade) and a main market structure with roof resembling the local Melanau sun hat called 'Terendak'. This main market is now called 'Pasar Utama' which houses a vegetable and fish market at the ground floor and eating and drinking stalls at the first floor.

Date taken : 1987

Earth filling and levelling works done after the squatters settlement was cleared.

Date taken : 19Nov'10

The Chinese temple or Tua Pek Kong as seen today after receiving extensive renovations.
The new concrete shophouses around the temple has provided a facelift to the town making it look more modern.