Pulau Kerto : Mosquito Net

10,10,2021 is my mother's 96th lunar Birthday. The Lunar calendar date is 5th day of the 9th Moon which she kept as her REAL birthday throughout her life. So all of us must remember our Lunar dates and especially her Lunar birthday. She would chuckle and said that the Gregorian calendar was so inaccurate. 

In Pulau Kerto, Great Grandmother and my mother would have slaughtered a chicken and made the usual birthday soup for every one to enjoy, but in particular, to help mum passed her birthday. That was the Foochow traditional way. It was also the only time she would enjoy a drumstick in her mee sua. That was once a year. Normally my mother would let others have all the pieces of meat with their noodles.

Kerto is an old Malay word from Sibu meaning mosquito larva. I have fond memories of Pulau Kerto where I was born.

During my childhood, before I started Primry school, my parents, my two siblings and I lived in the manager;s house of Hua Hong Ice Factory together with my great grandmother, who had bound feet. She walked slowly and was light footed but I could always hear her footsteps because we had wooden floors and I had a very strong sense of hearing.

It was a comforting sound, her gentle and slow foot steps.

One remarkable memory I have of living in the house over there, across the river, was how my mother would put the two of us girls on the bed, inside the mosquito net whenever guests came. We had to stay inside, and keep quiet while the elders talked and enjoyed their chit chat.

So we imagined the mosquito net as our "prison". We never thought of it as our safety net, in those days. But again, at night, I remember how my Ngie Mah or maternal grandmother, and my mother would come and kill some mosquitoes flying inside the net, before we went to sleep.

The mosquito net also kept us warm. Cold wind blowing on our bodies would make us sick.

We small kids must not hear what they were talking about.

The elders were always serious and I never heard them laughing.

Photo by Freda Chai, with thanks.

Great Grandmother would never encourage any one to bad mouth others, as that was part of her Methodist upbringing. My mother came from humble background and she would not dare laugh at any one. That was a trait she had all her life - never to laugh at others or to look down upon others.

Most of  the elders who came over to our island home, came by their little boat which they might have rowed themselves or by their husbands who came to mill rice and to speak to my father. Or they came with t he Ice Boat and if so, they would spend the night with us, and leave the earliest by the Ice Boat the next day.

For some, they would make the river crossing for my father's birthday, or for my great grandmother's birthday. They would bring with them a chicken which they have reared in their backyard.

Our Ice Boat delivered ice blocks to Sibu customers early in the morning and came back before lunch. The clerk would have done some business transactions by then.

Japanese Occupation : Chicken Coops on stilts and Foochow Wine

 After the Japanese arrived in Sibu in December 1941, many Foochow girls were married off so that they did not have to suffer the fate of becoming comfort women of the Japanese. Rumours abound and many parents quickly grabbed unmarried men to be their sons in law. Many girls were even married off at age 14. And so many were married off to older men who had not been able to afford to get married. 

Those who were forcibly taken as comfort women were publicly known as they were confined to a few places  like shop houses in Sibu. According to an uncle, most of them looked very miserable. He also told us that a few of them  committed suicide, or had to "disappear" from Sibu after the war. No body knew much about their  fate after a few years. Their families felt very sad about this kind of shame .

Many according to Oral History, who were married off suffered from mis-matches. A distant relative for example (may she rest in peace) was only 16 when she was married off to an older man who did not love her. Her parents in law made her a slave and she eventually gave birth to 6 children. Because she gave birth to so many children  very quickly, her mother in law called her a "mother pig" and even denied her basic food. She was almost starved to death during the war besides from suffering from abuses.

Later in life she told us that "she worked but she was not given food". During the Japanese Occupation she had to forage for food to feed her own children as her husband's family did not have land to grow padi. From time to time she was given some rice and sago for her children by kind neighbours when she went look for food and extra work. She quickly learned how to speak some Malay and Iban. She was quite resourceful after the war as she learned to cook and she started selling cooked noodles, kompia and biscuits at the Sibu wharf.

Her husband finally took off to the ulu, married again and was seldom heard off. This relative thus earned a bit of cash from hawking at the wharf but had to look after her in laws until they passed away. It was only then she gained her freedom and was able to head her own family. However because of the poor nutrition and her poor health, she suffered from TB and was sent to Kuching for treatment, where she eventually died. 

Other girls who did not want to get married, had to hide well. Stories were told about them hiding in the jungle when they heard the Japanese speed boats approaching their villages. They would usually hide in the chicken coops or pig sties until the soldiers left. Their greatest fear was to be caught and taken away as comfort women.

Two of my aunts hid in the chicken coops behind the house next to the rice mill. My father had tried his best to build sturdy chicken coops  which were enough for the two girls to hide for a few hours. Chickens were purposefully reared to cover up the front of the coops. And more attap was used make the roof sturdier.  When the tide came up the special chicken coops were strong and safe for the two sisters to hide. Chicken coops had to be on stilts in Pulau Kerto because the land was very swampy.

Photo from Google

The Japanese soldiers would come to the family Hua Hung rice mill to have their rice milled and it would usually take about 2 hours, without any notice.  So the workers and other relatives would make sure that the soldiers were well entertained and not be allowed to walk around the complex. 

My great grandfather would offer some rice wine to the soldiers. My great grandmother made delicious rice wine .This made them very happy indeed. Fujian rice wine was fairly similar to the Japanese sake.

In later days, my father would tell my mother how rice wine had helped save the lives of his sisters.

God was good for the two girls were able to further their education after the war.

Christmas Day 1941 in Sibu

My father's grand parents were in Hua Hong Ice Factory that Christmas day in 1941. They had come back from Christmas service at Masland Church, Sibu. A river crossing by boat was carefully carried out as great grandmother had boundfeet. And they had to take the river motor launch. A speedboat could not suffice.

My aunts (namely from 6th to 10th had been so happy at church with grandmother and great grandmother).

They remembered Goo Poh (Chang Yuk Ging) who was in Chinese with her family in their prayers. Grand Uncle Kiu had taken the family to China to seek medical treatment.

That was the setting for the beginning of the Japanese Occupation.

Reconstructing stories from written and oral records, my 7th aunt and I have put together this about Christmas Day in 1941 in Sibu.

The girls were at home in Hua Hong and Grandma Wong were busy making steamed kuih. Grandma Wong was at the stone grind, preparing ground rice for the kuih. Although Great Grandfather was not feeling too well, he was looking forward to people coming to Hua Hong to mill their rice, the major source of income for the family. Fishermen would also drop by to buy ice blocks.

Chinese New Year would be the next big festival to look forward to.

However, on 25th December, in the afternoon, at about 4 (recorded by Rev Ling Kai Cheng), five Japanese planes flew from the West Bank (must be from Kuching) and dropped 5 bombs in the town.

The Masland Church was damaged and so was the Yuk Ing Girls' School. It was lucky that all the girls were at home for the holidays. Some who were still in the boarding school were petrified. A few of the older ones continue to stay in the school.

There was a lot of panic in the town. My Great Grandfather King Kee told every one to keep calm and not leave the quarters. Already the chief mechanic had be shot dead. Fear reigned. They were prepared for the Japanese soldiers to come to check the factory. And Great Grandfather had discussed with Grandfather Kung Ping that it would be safe to move all the young boys and girls to Binatang, which was further away from Sibu. Besideds, GRandfather still had the use of three motor launches.



Photo : The Japanese Kompetei in Sibu. This was probably taken in front of the Borneo Company Warehouse. (?) Google.

Although my aunts and uncles felt safe because they were across the river and our nearest relatives in Sg. Bidut were also safe, Great Grandfather had some plans up his sleeves.

It seemed that the Japanese bomber planes were only targetting the towns of Sarawak.

The people realized finally that the WAR was happening!!

Hus Hung Factory : Japanese checked all the records and record player

It was early during the Japanese Occupation when the Japanese soldiers started to search homes for evidence of anti Japanese elements.

After the chief mechanic was killed by the machine gun of the Japanese boats, the staff and the family members of the employees were terrified by any approaching motor boats, especially from across the river.

One day suddenly many soldiers came to the factory and started looking for evidence. They were rough and soon they found my father's record player and many classical music records. They also found lots of English books.

Since they belonged to my father, he was immediately arrested.

My great grandfather and grandfather were distraught. My father was beaten up  several times and not allowed to eat. But he would not confess that he was a British spy.

It was quite a popular fashion for three generations of grandfather, father and son to take a studio photo together. This was before my father went to China to further his education.

My grandfather went around asking for help and he found Mr. Lu was was able to write Japanese. Mr. Lu wrote a very good petition letter on my grandfather's behalf, and he too vouched for my father's good behaviour.

My father was worried that the Japanese might find out that he had studied in Beijing. Luckily there was no graduation photo of my father in any of the rooms in the house or office.

After a traumatic ten day period the Japanese reluctantly relased my father.

My great grandfather and my grandfather were immediately at the Kempetai office to receive my father who was then quite weak from the 10 day remand. The three of them embraced each other and cried, thanking God for the mercies shown. My aunts all said that it was a grand day for the family in Hua Hong Factory.

They were so relieved that Big Brother was spared. A year later, in 1943 my great grandfather passed away. He never saw the end of the Japanese Occupation.

Hua Hung Ice Factory : Processing of Rubber Scraps

Rubber tappers before Malaysia tapped and collected latex from cups attached to rubber trees and dutifully processed them later in the morning. It was very hard work.

Besides collecting latext, they also collected the dried up residue on the tree. After the latex had been collected from the cup in the morning, any more latex oozing out of the tree will form a layer of dried latex.

This layer would be collected the next day when the rubber tapper came. This is called Neng Si, and it would be wound up like a ball, and placed in a rattan basket tied to the waist of the rubber tapper. You can imagine how much Neng Si a rubber tapper could collect if he had 100 trees to tap.

from Google

After peeling off the Neng Si, the rubber tapper would cut gently again into the tree bark, and the white milk of the rubber tree would ooze out.

rubber ball made from raw dried up latex scraps from tree. This is the closest photo I can find to explain what Neng Si is.

Some trees yield more latex, others less, depedning on the breed and age of the tree.

In Ah Nang Chong, the rubber trees planted by my maternal grandfather were not of the best because they were planted in 1926-1930. He singularly planted rubber trees on 100 acres of swampy land. Thus the rubber trees grew up crooked, some were uprooted even, but the roots formed a formidable obstacle to my aunts and cousins who tapped rubber in those days. These raised rubber roots were hard to walk on and very often, the feet of the rubber tappers were damaged. Some even developed widely spaced toes due to the frequent gripping of the slippery rubber roots, Nevertheless rubber tappers, who worked barefooted, had very strong feet.

Getting bitten by snakes was a frequent occupational hazard. Some bites were fatal.

My maternal grandfather also employed initially many tappers who had just arrived from China. They were called Sing Ka or New Arrivals (guests). These tappers stayed in the Coolie Houses (*4)  my grandfather built for several years before they moved on to other places for better lives once they had saved enough to be independent. Those were good days when rubber prices were very good.

In those days, these employees and my grandfather shared the profits. Besides my maternal grandfather being a very generous uncle gave 10 acres of his land to his nephew to start off his life. In those days the Pioneers from Fujian were very generous to their closest relatives who came  out later.

Foochow generosity like this has helped many to prosper in Nanyang.

But the neng si was another matter.

The neng si was collected and sold to Hua Hung which flattened and put the dried up rubber strips together to form a flattened sheet. These rough flattened rubber sheets were then baled up and exported to Singapore.

Raw rubber scraps had a terrible smell whenever they were loaded on to motor launches. Very stinky indeed and very dirty looking.

We really did not know why my grandfather decided not to continue this business. May be he felt that it was not a worthwhile business.

Later I found out that Hock Chiong, as a middle man, exported just simple balls of neng si, or unprocessed neng si.

The raw neng si continues to be an important export of Indonesia today.

Hua Hung Ice Factory : Surverying of Land

When we were living in Pulau Kerto at the Hua Hong Ice Factory we used to meet Lands and Survey Department Boat going around to do surveying work.

Very often the Iban boatman would come up to the factory to buy ice blocks. We would not know if he wanted to bring the ice to their camp to cool their beers or to help keep their animal meat fresh. There were no cooler boxes then.

Most of the surveyors would have their own guns, so when these L and S boat passed by, we thought they looked like soldiers doing their rounds, except that the surveyors did not wear any uniform.

(This photo is from the late Mr.Lim Thian Beng whom I befriended last year. He showed me many photos of his land and survey work in the 50's in Miri areas. This is a very significant photo becuse it shows the surveyors having guns in their hands)

According to  the Superintendent of L and S Dept, the surveyors at that time were given licences to hold guns and own guns , not only for protection but for food supplies.

Many of the surveyors after remaining in their camps for a week or more,would come home with several biscuit tins of dried wild boar meat or salai babi.

Whenever they caught some wild game, they would be very diligent to salt and/or deep fry the meat. Sometimes they would drop by the Ice Factory again and perhaps sell some of the meat to the employees who would really enjoy the fresh sun dried meat.

My father and his relatives, the Wong brothers all had guns (hung chiing) and they often went out in the evenings to have a spot of fun shooting birds. As we lived on an small part of an island with some employees only my father would really enjoy the time  swapping stories with the surveyors who came by.

Gone are the days when people who came by boat right to your door step carrying guns, having a few dead animals and/or tins of dried meats in their boats.