Kuching

Kuching
North City Hall Emblem South City Hall Emblem
Nickname:  Cat City
Location in Malaysia
Country State	Malaysia Sarawak
Establishment	Uncertain Granted city status in 1988
Government
• Mayors	North: Abang Mohd Atei Abang Medaan South: Chong Ted Tsiung
Area
• Total	1,863 km2 (719 sq mi)
Population  (2006)
• Total	495,996
• Density	322/km2 (834/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (MST)
• Summer (DST)	Not observed
Website	North: http://www.dbku.gov.my/ South: http://www.mbks.gov.my/ Padawan: http://www.mpp.gov.my/
Flower: Allamanda

Kuching is the capital of the East Malaysian State of Sarawak. Kuching is the most populous city in the state of Sarawak and the fourth largest city in Malaysia. Kuching was elevated to city status on 1 August 1988.

Administration

The city of Kuching is located in the district of Kuching. The district covers an area of 1,863 square kilometres, and is one of three districts within Kuching Division. The district of Kuching is administered by three local governments. The administration of Kuching city is divided into two local governments and governed by two mayors. The northern section of Kuching is run by Dewan Bandaraya Kuching Utara (Kuching North City Hall) covering an area of 369.48 square kilometres. The southern section is administrated by Majlis Bandaraya Kuching Selatan (Kuching South City Council) covering a smaller but a more densely populated area of 61.53 square kilometres. There are those who believe that the divisions in power for the Northern (primarily Malay and Bumi residents) and Southern (primarily Chinese residents) districts came about due to ethnic reasons in the 1980s. There are also those who believe the administration is divided due to geographical reasons, as the Northern and Southern districts are linked by only two bridges spanning the Sarawak River. The third local government is Majlis Perbandaran Padawan or Padawan Municipal Council (formerly known as Kuching Rural District Council) which mainly administers the rural areas within Kuching district. It covers a large portion of Kuching district with an area of 1,431.82 square kilometres.

List of city area in Kuching

Kuching North City Hall area

File:KCH cat.JPG

Kuching North City Hall Family Cat Statues

• Bako
• Kuching City West
• Petra Jaya
• Santubong
• Satok

Kuching South City Council area

Kuching South City Council Cat Statue

• Kuching City East
• Padungan
• Pending
• Stampin

History

Sir James Brooke

Sarawak was a part of the Sultanate of Brunei 200 years ago but as a reward for its help in putting down a rebellion, it was ceded to a British adventurer called James Brooke who ruled it as his personal kingdom. Kuching was made his capital and headquarters. The Brooke family ruled Sarawak until the Japanese occupation in December 1941. Kuching surrendered to the Japanese forces on 24 December 1941, and Sarawak was part of the Japanese Imperial Empire for three years and eight months, until the official Japanese surrender on 11 September 1945 on board HMAS Kapunda at Kuching. From March 1942 the Japanese operated a POW and civilian internee camp at Batu Lintang, three miles outside Kuching. After the end of World War II the third and last Rajah, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke ceded Sarawak to the British Crown in 1946. Sarawak and the British Commonwealth fought an "Undeclared War" with Indonesia to keep Sarawak from being absorbed into Sukarno's Indonesia. The British gave Sarawak independence in 1963 and together with North Borneo, Sabah and Singapore, helped form Malaysia. Singapore became independent soon after.

Origin of name

The origins of its name have never been clear. "Kuching" does translate into "cat" in Malay , "kuching" is an old Malay spelling, whereas the new official Malay spelling today would be "kucing" but both of them are pronounced the same, in specific reference to the domesticated cat but it may actually be a variation of the Indian name for "port" - "Cochin". Kuching was first settled by Indian traders who set up base at Santubong. Artifacts of Hindu origin can today be seen at the State Museum.

The city has never been remembered for having a significantly larger population of cats when compared to others. In fact, the many cat statues, the Kuching Cat Museum and other association with cats have been part of a modern effort of tourism; many travel brochures refer to Kuching as "Cat City" or the "City of Cats". Otherwise, they hold no real meaning for the residents and are not considered by locals as romantic.

There are other theories which attribute the name to a fruit called "mata kucing" or "cat's eye"; it would seem that trees bearing this fruit used to grow in abundance by the river banks - where the city proper lies today. There is a hill in the heart of the old city called Bukit Mata Kuching which could have been as responsible.

Geography

Kuching is situated at the banks of the Sarawak River on the North-Western part of the island of Borneo. The longitude and latitude of Kuching is 01°33' N, 110°25' E.

The climate in Kuching is tropical, moderately hot and receives substantial rainfall. The average annual rainfall is approximately 4,000 mm or 160 inches. Kuching is the wettest city in Malaysia. The wettest times are during the North-East Monsoon months of November to February. The temperature of Kuching ranges from 20 °C to 38 °C but the average temperature is around 23 °C in the early hours of the morning and rises to around 33 °C in the mid afternoon. This temperature stays almost constant throughout the year if it is not affected by the heavy rain and strong winds during the early hours of the morning which would rarely bring the temperature down to 20 °C. The temperature would also rise to 38 °C under rare cases due to the haze caused by open burning from Indonesia during the dry season but it is a good thing that haze rarely occurs in Kuching.

Kuching receives an annual average of five hours of sunshine per day. In January, during the height of the monsoon season, the average sunshine per day is approximately 3.7 hours. The heavy rains during this period sometimes results in flooding.

Demographics

Kuching is the 4th largest urban area in Malaysia, after Kuala Lumpur-Klang Valley, Ipoh and Johor Bahru. It was also voted as the healthiest and cleanest city in Malaysia, as well as in the World, which recognised and awarded by both United Nations (UN) and World Health Organisation (WHO) , and by the Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) in Suzhou, China

The population of 579,900 (2006 census; Kuching City South - 143,500; Kuching City North - 133,600; Padawan- 3rd Mile/ 7th Mile/ 10th Mile - 302,800) in the city is made up of a mixture of Chinese (220,400), Malays (207,000), Ibans (58,100) and some Indians and other ethnic groups. The Dayaks can be further categorized into Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus and many others. The Chinese are made up of Fujianese (Hokkien) in the city areas and Hakka in the suburbs mainly. Other Chinese consist of Foochow (Fuzhou), Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, Henghua and others. Interracial marriage among all the ethnics in Kuching are also very popular.

The main religions of the peoples of Kuching are Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. Malays practice Islam and all Malays are Muslim by definition. Chinese practice either Buddhism, Taoism or Christianity. Most aborigines are Christian except the Melanaus who are mainly Muslim.

The majority of people in Kuching are capable of communicating in Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language) as well as English. English is widely spoken in Kuching despite it is not the first language for many people. The dialect of the Malay language spoken in Kuching is known as Bahasa Melayu Sarawak (Sarawakian Malay Language), which has lexical differences with the dialect spoken in Peninsular Malaysia.

On top of Malay and English, Kuchingite can usually speak his or her own ethnic dialect/language. An Iban can speak Iban, a Bidayuh speak Bidayuh and the Chinese usually several Chinese dialects, the most common are being Hokkien and Mandarin in Kuching but so far, Mandarin has been widely spoken language than Hokkien since it is well known by all other Chinese. For the Bidayuhs, the dialect of Bidayuh spoken in one kampung/village may vary greatly with another kampung/village. It is also common to find people who can speak more than just Malay, English and their native tongue, not only due to the wide practice of mixed marriages but because of the close rapport amongst the people of Kuching.

A small minority however, speak English as their first language.

Filming Location

Kuching offers some of the world's greatest natural flora and fauna. With this, several international film makers have made their ways to Kuching and chosen Kuching as their filming location.

One of the more famous Hollywood movies, The Sleeping Dictionary financed by Fine Line Features has shot up the film here in 2000. Up to date "The Sleeping Dictionary" is probably the most well-known Hollywood production which was filmed in Kuching, Sarawak.

Other famous Hollywood movies shot in (and around) Kuching included:

1) Farewell to the King (Orion Pictures) John Milius (Director) Nick Nolte, Nigel Havers, Frank Mcrae, Marilyn Tokuda; actors. Year: 1987

2) Welcome Home (Columbia Pictures) Franklin Scaffner (Dir) Kris Kristopherson, actor. Year: 1989

3) The Intended (IPC Films) Kristian Levring (Dir) Janet MacTeer, JJ Feild, Brenda Fricker, Olympia Dukakis, actors. Year: 2002 (* Special note: this film starred 2 Oscar winners and a Golden Globe winner.)

4) The Sacred Planet (Walt Disney Films) Jon Long (Dir.) Documentary Year: 2002

5) The Sleeping Dictionary (Fine Line Features) Guy Jenkins (Dir) Jessica Alba, Bob Hoskins, Brenda Blethyn, Hugh Dancy, actors. Year: 2000

The common link in the locations of these international productions is a Malaysian company named "Southeast Asia Film Locations Services" headed by a local Malaysian Chinese based in Kuching, Edgar Ong; whose partner, Chandran Rutnam (whose bases are in Sri Lanka, Berlin & Los Angeles) have jointly been instrumental in attracting these major studios and film producers to use Sarawak in Borneoas the backdrop.

Rutnam is an Oscar winner for his film "Indochine" (starring Catherine Duneuve)which won the Foreign Film Oscar in 1991. In 2007,another co-production "Water" (Dir: Deepa Mehta) was nominated for a Foreign Film Oscar.

Besides Hollywood, Kuching is also a target film location for Hong Kong while Japan used to shoot a Japanese Series briefly in Kuching. Currently, Indian's Bollywood are also making their ways to Kuching to shoot up an adventure Bollywood movie. This has indirectly attracted more Indian tourists to visit Sarawak because of the film.

Future & On going developments

• Boulevard Shopping Complex - A new regional mall located along Jalan Datuk Tawi Sli in the 4th Mile area, the major tenant are Boulevard Department Store & Hypermarket, with some 720,000 sq ft of net lettable area, which will be the largest one-stop lifestyle mall in the state. It expected to be completed by 10 October 2007, phase I of the mall will be open on December 2007, while phase II of the mall will be ready in November 2008.
• Dewan Undangan Negeri - A new Sarawak State legislative assembly complex.
• Federal Administrative Center - A new Federal Administrative Center will be establish in Matang area, costing RM2 billion to build, it expected to be completed by 2025.
• Grand Centro - The biggest shopping complex cum hotel apartment project in King's Centre, Kuching, with some 1,200,000 square feet of gross building area.
• Green Heights Mall - Kuching's first suburban neighbourhood small mall, with an international cold storage market, with some 4,000 m² of leasable space, will be open on early 2008.
• Imperial Hotel Apartment - The building is consists together with Boulevard Shopping Complex, the hotel apartment will offering up to 700 units of rooms. It expected to be completed by June 2009, will be open on December 2009.
• Isthmus Hypermarket Mall - The mall is part of the Kuching City Extension plan, will house a hypermarket & retail shoplots all under one roof, and when completed it expected to be the largest shopping mall in the region.
• Kuching Tower - A 315 rooms 5-star hotel cum office complex, standing 39-storey or 150 metres tall, will be Borneo tallest building.
• Matang Highway - This RM314.6 million project covers the construction of a 2-lane, dual-carriageway road, a gateway bridge over the Selang Rambungan River and a minor bridge over the Matang Sebubut River. Construction of this highway commenced in July 2002 and is targeted for completion in May 2007. Upon completion, the road will enable direct Kuching-Lundu access, thereby relieving congestion on the existing Matang Road.
• Mudajaya New Township - The project comprises a new satellite township to be built on 265 acres of land. The township will be a self-contained township comprising apartments, condominiums, shophouses, shopping complexes, offices, private hospital, public and private schools and college, wet and dry markets, recreational park, town squares, sports and swimming facilities, bus terminal, police station, entertainment centres and hawker centres. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2015 and is expected to generate a total Gross Development Value of more than RM1 billion.
• Novotel Interhill Kuching - An international 388 rooms 4-star hotel cum 3-storey up-market shopping centre, with about 140,000 sq ft of retail space, it's a 23-storey building.
• One TJ - Sarawak first ICT shopping mall will be develop in the Heights Drive commercial centre, with some 67,500 sq ft of leasable area, it expected to be completed by mid-2008.
• Plaza Merdeka - A brand new CBD shopping mall with 350,000 sq ft of nett leasable area (built up - 550,000 sq ft) plus a 290 room Boutique hotel complex (built up - 175,000 sq ft) located in the historic heart of Kuching, it expected to be ready in mid-2010.
• Samariang Mall - A new 3-storey shopping mall located in Bandar Baru Samariang new township.
• Sarawak Convention and Exhibition Centre
• Sarawak International Medical Centre
• The Spring - The largest lifestyle shopping mall in the state, situated in Kenyalang, will be open on early 2008, covering some 420,000 sq ft of net lettable area (built up - 1.2mln sq ft), the anchor tenant is Parkson Grand Department Store.
• University Malaysia Sarawak - UNIMAS will have its new campus in Samarahan Division or near the old campus of UNIMAS, it spread out to 2,000 acres of area, the project costing RM1.5 billion, it expected to be completed by 2015.

Education

Kuching is home to the international campus of Swinburne University of Technology, a branch of a major university from Melbourne, Australia. The campus, known as Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, now currently in expansion, is not the only university in Kuching city. Branch campus of UNITAR and UNIMAS's Medical College are located in Kuching. (Technically, the campuses of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and UiTM are in the Samarahan Division). The Polytechnic of Kuching is located at the further end of Matang Road in the Serapi Mountain which provides further education at the diploma and certificate levels.

File:Swinburne sw.jpg

Swinburne Sarawak Campus

Private education in the city comes in the form of various private colleges as well as training institutes. Notable examples include King Business Institute, IBMS, Inti College, SeGI College, Taylor College, Chermai College, PTPTL College as well as Stamford College to name a few.

For primary and secondary education, like other towns in Malaysia, Kuching has it equal shares of the 'sekolah kebangsaan'(National type schools), Chinese schools, mission schools, several international school and minus the Indian School. The mission schools were founded by foreign Christian missionaries during the Colonial occupation. Most Chinese schools were built and continuously sponsored by the rich Chinese businessmen. The older sekolah kebangsaan were formerly Malay schools which were converted by the Ministry of Education into day school. All schools are now under the charge of the Ministry of Education. The two International Schools are Lodge and Tunku Putra. These were built to cater to the children of expatriates and parents who wish to have an English-based education for their children.

Transportation

Roads within the town are of a reasonable standard, though traffic congestion often leads to long tailbacks during rush hour, and especially on Saturday mornings. Due to that Kuching is located near the equator, expect potholes to develop on the roads during the monsoon season (usually around the end of the year, coinciding with winter in the northern hemisphere). Roads leading outside of Kuching to the interior are of a slightly more dubious quality but are being upgraded from time to time, although the main resort roads (e.g. leading to Damai) are also reasonable.

Transport by taxi is reasonable but it is usually difficult to flag down one on the street since there are only popular amongst tourists. One can get a taxi from the taxi stand near the corner of the Electra House/end of India Street, in front of hotels or by contacting them through the telephone. Intrepid back-packers can try the public transport by antiquated, smoky, non-airconditioned buses or the 'van sapu' (mini-van converted into mini-buses) which offer cheaper mean of getting to places. Air transport is served by nearby Kuching International Airport, currently the subject of several expansion projects. Those trying to get a birdeye view of the City, has the option to hire a helicopter or small planes from the Hornbill Skyway.

Kuching is served by several major bus companies. Among others, Chin Liang Long Motor Vehicle Co. (traditionally blue) serving Kuching South, Matang Transport Company (yellow and orange) serving Matang-Kubah and Petra Jaya Transport Company (Black, yellow and red strips) serving Kuching North. The Sarawak Transport Company (traditionally green) and Bau Transport Company (Orange) have routes from Kuching to other smaller towns. A large portion of the buses in service are antiquated and not air conditioned. The fares are low. Although, the routes are poorly documented, the stops have no names and the buses not well known for being punctual - it is not difficult to get to places because Kuching is a friendly City and most of the people are able to communicate in simple English for directions. For tourists and tourists only, the State Ministry of Tourism has provided bus shuttles to transport tourists around Kuching.

Road signs adhere to the Road Sign Standards issued by the Ministry of Transportation. Kuching is also famous for its many large traffic circles or roundabouts. The roundabouts are efficient at handling medium scale traffic. However, as traffic continues to rise in Kuching several roundabouts have given way to traffic lights and over and underpasses.

Kuching, like most towns in Sarawak, is connected to each other by water transportation. Between the banks of Sarawak River, near the City Centers, many 'tambang' (small boats) can be seen commuting the people. For those staying along the river banks, it is a faster mean of getting to the other side where the commercial centres are located. The Wharf for express boats to further away places is now located near the Sim Keng Hong Port or known to the elderly local as Tanah Putih Port.

List of highways in Kuching city

• Kuching-Serian Highway
• Kuching Bypass
• Matang Highway

Tourist attractions

The old Sarawak Museum was built by Rajah Charles Brooke in 1891 and modelled on a town hall in Normandy

Within the town, there are several museums such as the well-known Sarawak Museum, Chinese Museum, Cat Museum, etc, which are definitely not to be missed when visiting Kuching. Interesting landmarks and sites are the Astana (the Rajah's former palace), Fort Margherita, Tua Pek Kong temple and Main Bazaar. The Kuching waterfront, which is really a riverside esplanade, is situated right next to the main hotels and commercial heartland of the city, and offers a pleasant walk in the evening. When you are tired of strolling, the old shops on the opposite side of the waterfront will gladly sell you all manner of 'antiques' and tradecraft.

Some other interesting areas near the centre of town include Padungan Street, which is the main Chinatown area of the city. Shops here appear virtually unchanged from 20 years ago, and offer fascinating insights into life as it was then. Meanwhile, Carpenter Street and India Street still maintain their olde world charm, though the relentless process of globalisation is slowly encroaching. The old Courthouse building forms the link between Carpenter Street and India Street, and is well worth a quick stroll as you re-live the faded colonial splendour (now restored and modernised). The many well-manicured parks dotted around the city are also great to visit.

Cuisine

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Kuching Kolo Mee

Kuching has a number of notable local dishes served at hawker stalls:

• Kuching 'kolo mee' or 'koh-loh mein' (egg noodles, flash-boiled and then served with (classically) garlic, shallots and sliced barbecue pork also known as "char siew")this is a widely popular dish with the local population.
• Sarawak Laksa (a spicy coconut prawn paste-based soup served with rice vermicelli, eggs, prawns, chicken, deep fried tofu and occasionally clams)
• Tomato Sauce Mee (crispy noodles served with tomato sauce, vegetables, and meat) or Tomato Sauce Kuay Teow (flat rice noodles) are the most well-known hawker dishes served.
• Bubor Cha-cha, a concentrated mixed syrup of sago, agar-agar and sweet potatoes.
• Kueh-Chap, some sort like a mixed cuisine of Kueh-Teow (Flat rice noodles) and organs of pig.

Custom ordered dishes (usually called the "special") are available on request. Most hawker stalls serve a variety of these three dishes, but locals often debate vigorously as to where to find the best variety. Visitors should be aware that portions are half of what is usually commonly found at Chinatowns in the West.

Kuching has some very good local restaurants, often run by the Chinese residents serving prime local shellfish. Prices are usually very resonable. While global chain outlets (McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf) are ubiquitous in the prime commercial complexes, a local fast food chain "Sugarbun" also serves a variety of Malaysian food in a more Western (plastic trays, brightly-lit menus, uniformed staff) style.

Arts, Entertainment and Culture

Kuching is also noted for creative local bands which successfully crossed over from the independent scene to the mainstream such as Old Automatic Garbage, The Times and Nice Stupid Playground. There are many more local independent bands that are active in the circuit and Kuching is also known as the 'indie rock capital' of East Malaysia. Local entertainment personality/musician/TV host Jason Lo is also a Kuching native.

On top of that, critically-acclaimed film director Tsai Ming-Liang was also born in Kuching. Writer/director James Wan, co-producer of the horror film series, Saw, was also born in Kuching.

The "Ong" Family name is well-represented in Kuching as local boys made good in the international arena of painting, fashion and film making. The pioneering Ongs have a combined total of 5 roads named after them in the city: namely, 1) (Ong) Ewe Hai Street 2) Ong Tiang Swee Road 3) Ong Kwan Hin Road 4) Ong Hup Leong Road 5) Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui Road

Ramsay Ong was a pioneer and at the vanguard of the "Batik painting" movement in the early 1970s and is world renown with his paintings in art museums all over the world. Today he has his own art gallery called "Artrageously Ramsay Ong" at Main Bazaar Kuching.

Edric Ong, an architect by profession is the world's foremost expert in Iban textile fabric designs. He also designed the famed Sarawak Cultural Village amongst others. He designs fashion and art pieces which have won many UNESCO awards for design and has his own "Edric Ong Gallery" at 12 Ong Kwan Hin Rd.

Edgar Ong is instrumental in bringing many film projects to Sarawak (and Sabah) both as film locations scout, film production manager and producer. He has successfully promoted Sarawak as a unique film location since 1987. The world famous "Rainforest World Music Festival" held here every July since 1988 was the brainchild of Edric & Edgar Ong, together with Canadians Randy Raine-Reusch and Robert Basuik who jointly initiated and founded the Fest in late 1987. Through the auspices of Society Atelier Sarawak it was eventually handed over to the Sarawak Tourism Board to organise and run.

External links

• Kuching North City Hall
• Council of the City of Kuching South
• Static Maps of Kuching
• Kuching City and Regional Map
• Pictures of Kuching
• Kuching Tourism
• Kuching Gossip
• Kuching National Parks
• Template:Wikitravel