November 5, 2015

Sibu Tales : First Cars

The first car in Sibu was probably the car which was driven by the District Officer, or the Resident.

No one now had ever seen it. It must have been 1920's when the first car arrived.

But the stories were amusing and of course awesome.



There were also no photographs of cars of those days in Sibu.

For example, how did my father learn to drive in the 1940's. Who did he learn from? Did he learn to drive in Kuching?

Here is an amusing story: When the first car was driveng by the D.O. people were scared that they would be knocked down and die and instant death.

So many people then, walking along the road woud jump into the bushes whenever they heard the car coming towards them or from behind.

An uncle remarked "We were young then. It did not matter if the bushes were thorny. We wanted to save our lives!! When the car passed, we would heave a sigh of relief and mind you, our hearts were really beating fast. We were scared to death!!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heard that in the 1950's Sibu, the car they used have to be started by turning something infront of the car. Ya, there are really no photos of car in the old days. But heard there is the mosquito bus.

Anonymous said...

Your writings a real good laugh. I think it is true, bcos ppl were really afraid to be bumped by the so called drivers .... who might have never learnt but driving was just their own learning then!

TQ for sharing!

Anonymous said...

years back, lanang road bus company has a bus with the plate S1. It must be from the first car or bus of sibu. likely a bus belonging to Lanang Road

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