The Borneo Company office and store in 1960's

The Borneo Company office and store, circa 1960's, fronting Keppel Road.
Photo credit : Ho Ah Choon, "Sarawak in Pictures 1940's - 1970's "

 On its wall is a big billboard advertising a brand of cigarette popular during the 60's called 'Lucky Strike'.

The former building site of the Borneo Company, Keppel Road, taken on 12 Oct'14.

A unique company that existed during the Brooke's family administration and control of Sarawak was the Borneo Company Limited.  It was referred to briefly as 'Borneo Company'.  It was founded in London in 1856 and established its operation in Kuching in the same year.  The Company carried out business throughout Sarawak during the Brooke days (1841 - 1941) and during the British colonial period (1946-1963).  The Borneo Company Limited was granted sole public company operating rights in Sarawak in 1856 and had strategic interests in minerals, timber, agriculture, shipping and financing government commercial schemes. In the 1960's, the Company's operation in Bintulu was carried out at a wooden shophouse along the Keppel Road (see top picture) The Borneo Company faced changing fortunes when in 1963 it was re-named as SEBOR Holdings (Sarawak) Sendirian Berhad and partly owned by SEDC Sarawak. However, in 1967 Borneo Company merged with Inchcape Group of UK and run as subsidiary of the group.  In 2007, the Company was taken over by Hong Kong-based company, Integrated Distribution Services (IDS) Group Limited.

Pedestrian foothpath in Bintulu town-1980's

Keppel Road in 1980's
Note the wooden shophouses at the right of the picture and the two-way traffic flow.

Keppel Road taken on 26 Dec'13
The pedestrain footpath stays but re-tiled.
New shophouses are made of reinforced concrete floors, column and beams and wall of brickworks.

Keppel Road in 1980

Keppel Road in 1980
Credits: Pic from 'The Sarawak Tribune', dated 31 May,1980.

 In 1980 the town roads were gradually tar-sealed but the electric posts still remain at the center of the road.  The roads were mainly two-way street.  In 2013 all roads in town were mostly one way streets which seemed to solve the problem of traffic jams and improved further with traffic light junctions.

Keppel Road , 1 October, 2013.

In 1980 it was estimated that there were about 700 vehicles in Bintulu as compared with 40 in 1970.  In 1960 there was probably only 3 cars in town.  1980 was just the beginnng years of the first boom that brought much physical changes to the town especially the roads and the buildings.  Today, Bintulu is in its 4th economic boom.  The continuous boom that the town experienced since 1979 has made it the prime target of internal migration from other towns and villages in Sarawak for the promise of better paying jobs and business opportunities.

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.

Keppel Road in 1979

Keppel Road in 1979

Keppel Road in 2013
Date taken : 23 September 2013

In the early late 60's and throughout the 1970's,  Keppel Road was very well-known for the site of the only bank in town called 'Standard Chartered'.  It was also popular as the site of the old food market.  In the top picture, the low-rise building at left (only roof shown) is the old food market.  Today the site is turned into a small town park.  The old wooden shophouses have been demolished and replaced by three-storey concrete shophouses. In 1979 the centre of the road was turned into car parking area and traffic was two-way.  Today the road is a four-lane single carriageway with parking lots located on the left side as we enter the town proper.  1979 is significant for Bintulu because it marked the start of the first economic boom.

Bintulu old food market - 1970's to early 1980's

The food market is at the right of the picture (late 1970's - early 1980's)

 There was a food market at the center of Bintulu town in the 1970's.  It served well the small population with coffee shops, eating stalls, vegetables and meat all under one roof.  Both halal and non-halal food were available (see pic above).  The visible signs of modernisation set in the form of concrete shophouses which ultimately replaced all wooden shophouses around the town. Roads had to be widened to allow for more vehicular traffic.  The Keppel road became a fully paved or tar-sealed two-way street.  Today there is absolutely not a single remnant of these old type wooden shophouses in Bintulu town.

Keppel road today with the site of old market turned into a landscaped area.
Date taken : 30 August'13

The old food market was gone in the 1980's to give way for more car parking spaces.  However, the site was permanently turned into a landscaped area in the late 1980's.  Today the Keppel Road fronting the site has been turned into a one-way street.