A White Apek Single would do...

 Peter Wong a retired teacher and education office now residing in Kuching sent this photo to me.

What he has on was called Ah Pek Shirt (actually a singlet) which was considered a clothing which coud be worn in the public any time in those days.

Such a singlet was even good enough to visit the Resident in the government office. It was worn by wharf labourers, trishaw drivers and boat men throughout Sarawak. No one would have felt under dressed in those days,

It was also worn by basketballers and wolley ballers. 

Great memories,

Sibu Tales : Boat Ferry

 The rivers of Sibu, which are the Igan and the Rajang, are still served by small boat ferries like the one in the photo. (By Pro Steve)

I would like to share two tales assoicated with boat ferries. I will share the happy tale first.

My cousin James was a very hardworking son and one Sunday he went back to Nang Chong to help his parents cut the grass in the back yard. Unfortunately he had a heart attack. Every one tried to help him get to the jetty and hail a motor launch to send him to the hospital. There was no long boat in sight and as it was quite laste in the afternoon any boat going to Sibu (20 minutes away) would be very rare. However a friend was able to resuscitate him and as he recovered from his fainting fit, a small ferry came up the river and the family flagged it down and sent him to the Lau King Howe hospital. A short stay and some medication revived him and he was saved. Many years later he got a stent.

In 1967 my third uncle visited our relatives in Sg. Bidut, akong the river Igan. After a short visit, the family waited for the ferry to corss the Igan to go back to Sibu. But in the heat of the morning my third uncle collapse and passed away. It was a cardiac arrest.

The whole family was over wrought even though the ferry was there at the right moment my uncle could not be saved.

Thus jetties and river ferries would always bring a sadness over me whenever I see them, either in photos or in real life.

Sibu Tales : Masland Methodist Church

 To me the most famous road in Sibu is the Island road and the most iconic church is the old Masland Church.

The Island Road in the photo reaches the Lau King Howe Hospital at the end. Today, it still turns into Bridge Road which then joins up with Queensway , which is now the Tun Haji Openg Road, the longest road in Sibu. This road runs into the old Sibu Airport and the Sibu University of Technology or UCTS.

This photo was taken in the 50's when I was in the  Methodist Primary School. It shows a  bus which is an old Bedford. The best known bus company in the olden days was Sungei Merah Bus Company. But the first man who owned a bus was Uncle Wong Cheng Ding, the son of the legendary Mrs. Wong Ping Chuan, whom we all affectionately called Ping Chuan Moo Moo. I was too young to know the name of his bus company. He left behind a big property known as Motor Workshop next to the San Sun Rice Mill. His children also remember that.

The Church in the photo is the original Masland Church, named after Mrs. Masland who donated a large sum of money to Rev James Hoover who built this church. This is not the first Church built by the Methodist. The first church ever built by the Methodist Foochows is Sing Ang Tong. Named NEW PEACE church because the Foochow pioneers were seeking shelter from war, poverty, bad government, famine and banditry in the 1900, which was the end period of the Qing Dynasty.

On the right of the Masland Church is the original Methodist Book Room, which has now been completely rebuilt.

Island Road in those days was tree lined. Bamboo Hedges were planted to delineate properties. Besides,canna lilies also dotted  the  roadside making Island Road very pretty  to look at.  Many people said canna lilies were brought in to Sibu by the American missionaries.

Lots of people in those days rode bicycles, so much so that at one time Sibu was called the Bicycle Town of Sarawak.

This is a great photo for remembrance. And an Iconic photo. Photographer is still unknown.

Sibu Tales : Tiong King kee from Wun Chieh, Minqing

My great grandfather was a barefoot Chinese sin seh who was not thoroughly trained in China. He learned to read pulses in the village of Wun Chieh in the high mountains of Minqing which was drained by the Plum Creek or Mui Keh.

when young he was very keen to be a scholar but their village was too far away from any big city or even schools. So he and his cousins had a home tutor for a few years and he excelled in Chinese calligraphy. All of them were able to memorize the classics but they were not taught the sciences. Some basic arithmetic was taught to them and they learned to use the abacus.

When my grandfather and his brother left Minqing with Wong Nai Siong, great grandfather waited for his two sons to prosper in Nanyang and to send for him.

Indeed the two sons prospered and in no time he was in Sibu. He was a supervisor for construction work for the Methodist church and other work in the bazaar because he could read and write. And he was good in calculations.

When he left for Sibu my first great grandmother had passed away. He stayed a widower for a few years in sibu and he later went back to China to look for a wife. He was probably only in his late  40's when he remarried. My grand aunt was the only child of his new marriage. It was a second marriage for his new wife too as she came from a scholarly family, whose gambler of a husband sold her to my great grandfather.

the photo shows my grand aunt and my great grandparents.

Great Grandma loved Grand aunt so much that she would not allow her to do any laundry. Being a bound feet lady she would put a basin of clothes on a chair and she would kneel on the floor to do the washing. She would then totter to the verandah to dry the clothes. Great Grandpa would watch her lovingly.

*Stories told to me by my 7th Aunt.