Sibu Tales : To Belaga

1968 was t he first time I went to Belaga for a work camp with the Methodist Youth Fellowship. We built new toilets for a longhouse. Most of us were secondary school students led by our missionary teachers. It was quite an international group.

We shot the rapids in a long boat. Some of the students got out of the boat to walk on the river bank to make the boat lighter. There were leeches along the way and it was quite frightening for us all. We heard and saw the roaring  of the Pelagus rapids and we saw the boat fighting furiously against the fast waters. But the boat men were skilful.

Belaga  town was established at the confluence of the Belaga and the Balui Rivers, both tributaries of the Rajang River. The area on the map looks like it is the heart or centre of Sarawak.

In 1884,  Hugh Brooke Low, Resident of Sibu had completed the building of a Fort at Belaga with quite a large number of people (numbering around 900). This was after the murder of two Brooke Officers, Steele and Fox in Kanowit. The suspects were Sawing and Sekalai who had fled to Belaga.

By the year 1893 there were about 14 shop houses in the town, according to the Sarawak Gazette and about 15 more to be completed.

The Chinese have arrived to trade in this upper part of the Rajang River.

This 21 st century (2020) express boat going up the Pelagus Rapids to Belaga.

 This was a 1960 photo of a long boat going up the Pelagus Rapids before some of the rocks were blasted for safer travelling.

In the 1960's, teachers had to go up the rapids to get t o their schools bey0nd Kapit. Commercial boats were few. Most people travelled using their own long boats, some paddled, while some had outboard engines. Most of the boat men were very skillful and experienced.

The 1950's saw some Chinese motor launches going from Kapit to Belaga and beyond. Life became slightly easier for the inhabitants in the ULU. Chinese traders could trade more easily. And more jungle produce were brought from Ulu Rajang River down to Kapit and Sibu.

By the late 1960's express boats were constructed and they fastened the travelling time.

By 1970's and 1980's better express boats were designed and travelling became easier and more comfortable.

After 2022, roads can reach Belaga from Bintulu and Kapit. Belaga thus becomes an easier destination for travellers.