August 9, 2018

Sungei Merah : Police Station



This Sg.Merah Police Station served the people well for more than 60 years since the Japanese Occupation. It was built on top a hill, quite near to the Tiong Hin Secondary School. Although Sungei Merah is actually on an alluvial plains, there are several hill locks in the plains.

The Brooke Government must have found the hill a strategic point to build a police station. Many people said it was built before the war.


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The Police station was visited by many local people who had different problems and the police must have recorded a lot of tragic cases as well as some amusing ones.

Sometimes the police would lock up the local thugs for a night or two. Headmen have told stories how they would go to the station to get some innocent people out of the lock up.

According to some women police officers, many people believed that the cells of the police station were a little haunted.

During the Communist insurgency in the 60's and 70's some people even found shelter in the station on top of the hill. It has always been a very strategically located.

One day there was a big fight between gangsters in Sg. Merah. The losing gang ran all the way from the shop houses and up the hill to the police station. Without saying much to the police, the quickly locked the gates themselves. In that way they saved their own lives. This story was told to many trainees who were doing teaching practice in Tiong Hin School during that time. It was quite a worrying place actually in those days because Sg. Merah did not really have a good repution.

During the Tomb Festival or Ching Ming, the police became very active because the population of Sg. Merah would more than triple. Every Chinese who had relatives buried in Sg. Merah would make their way to the cemeteries. In fact Sg. Merah was known as a place where the dead are buried.

So it was only normal for the Police Station to have more manpower during those few days.

A few murder cases were handled by the Police Station.

The local people have found it quite convenient to have a police station in Sungei Merah, where they can lodge police reports more conveniently.

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