Sibu: An Area called River Head

A church at the Head of a River. Kerng Tau, Giu Chuo Tong, The Saviour Church



Kerng Tau was quite a special place for me. Its name was special and the geographical area was unusual. It was a place where my grandfather would mention quite often as we visited him.

This church was established in 1935 together with a school. This old photo was taken in 1937, the year my father came back from Beijing. In the olden days, my grandfather and my relatives called this area Kern Tao, meaning the beginning of the river. I am so glad that there is a lady sitting in the front in this photo.

The committee members in those days were : Hii Hock Kang, Ting Chew Hin, Hii Ming Teng, Wong Siong Kee,Ling Ching Tiang, Sia Tung Kiong, Lau Tieu Peng, Yii Tiong Jang etc. The committee worked hard to seek donations and together the community built the church and the Nang Sang Primary School (which today is a large school).

In the 1930's most of the Foochows were rubber tappers, many of them were new arrivals. the land here was much better than the swampy Rajang valley but nevertheless, floods occured very frequently too.

It was normal for every one to walk all the way from Sungei Merah to Kern Tao village, and to visit and worship together in this church. Their faith was strong and they worshipped fervently.

My grandfather's best friend, Rev Ho Siew Liong in the 60's  was in charge of this church for a while. When I visited my grandparents in those days, I would worship in Sing Ang Tong and enjoyed Rev Ho's sermons in Foochow. In the afternoons I would watch youths play basketball in the church yard. Mrs. Ho was a Foochow speaking lady with a very strong Heng Hua accent. And there would be some youth from Kerng Tau playing basketball too.

This wooden church was demolished and a new church was dedicated in 1964.

Thirty years later, in 1998 a very grand church was  built because of urban sprawl in Sibu. The expansion in housing due to expansion in population created a huge boom in the construction industry.

The Methodeist churches in Sibu redeveloped by leaps and bounds.

Now this area is known as Ulu Sg Merah with lots of shop houses, offices, new homes, new schools etc. There is a huge government school called SMK Ulu Sg Merah here.

Kerng Tau or Ulu Sg. Merah is a very thriving suburban centre today with good roads,shopping malls and other utilities. there are lots of millionaires here who have benefitted from the investments of their Foochow grandparents who came with Wong Nai Siong, and later years.




A church can be a keeper of historical records and an icon with lots of stories to tell.