by Vincent H. K. Foo.
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This article first appeared in the inaugural issue of New Reality in 1998, a business magazine of Sarawak and is a brief history of the Sarawak Steamship Company.
The Sarawak Steamship Company Limited was established in July of 1875 following the formation of the Sarawak Chamber of Commerce in May 1873 to meet the shipping needs of Kuching Traders. The majority of the shareholders were Chinese Merchants, principally sago exporters. No records exist as to their identities. The Borneo Company, too, had shares and functioned as managers.
Over the years, Sarawak Steamship added to its fleet and services. Some of the ships plying the Kuching - Singapore run were Rajah Brooke, ( 1875 ), Rajah of Sarawak ( 1902 ), Vyner Brooke ( 1927 ) and the second Rajah Brooke built in 1948 to replace its predecessor which was lost between Singapore and Kuching in July 1896.
The first Rajah Brooke took just 43 hours to reach the entrance of the Sarawak River from Singapore. This was a great improvement from the voyage lasting from three to seven days or longer, in the 1840's. In the 1960's, the second Rajah Brooke routinely took about 72 hours for the round voyage from Kuching but with far greater comfort. As for the Sibu - Singapore route, it was increased to two ships in the mid 1930's. The original Rajah Brooke had limited passenger accommodation but the second one could carry 22 first class and 200 deck passengers.
Sarawak Steamship initially did not put much effort into the riverine and coastal services. It only occasionally chartered out its vessels to carry cargo north as far as Labuan.
Starting with Sarawak in 1906, the situation slowly improved. At one time it covered even Kuala Belait in Brunei and Labuan. In the 1960's, the company's ships made calls at most of the important coastal towns and river settlements of Sarawak. The voyage from Kuching to Miri on Ong Tiang Swee took about 15 hours.
Rajah of Sarawak
Right from its establishment Sarawak Steamship made profits. But there were also a number of setbacks. They included the loss of Rajah Brooke in 1896, the termination of its first Singapore - Sibu run in 1920 and being forced, due to trade recession in the 1920's, to borrow $300,000 from the government to pay for Vyner Brooke.
However by the late 1930's, virtually all the merchants of the state had signed a series of agreements with Sarawak Steamship. Among other things, traders were granted free first class or deck passages on the amount of freight paid. The agreements were crucial. It meant the company controlled almost all of Sarawak's export and import trade.
General imports and the exports of rubber, pepper, sago, illipenuts and other jungle produce were considerable. In 1939, imports totalled $20.2 million and exports, $34.4 million. By 1941, it had earned $3 million and had paid back a loan of $500,000 to Straits Steamship.
The company had also undergone a number of metamorphoses. Around 1880, its name was changed to The Sarawak and Singapore Steamship Company Limited.
In 1919, after Ong Tiang Swee and a group of Chinese entrepreneurs bought out the Borneo Company's interest, it became the Sarawak Steamship Company Limited. The directors were Ong Tiang Swee, Lau Miang Yong, Chew Kee Ong, Lim Tee Chien, Wee Cheng Hew and E. Parnell of the Sarawak government.
Straits Steamship, in July 1931, acquired Sarawak Steamship but it remained a separate subsidiary. It has been under new ownership since 1996.
During the Pacific War Sarawak Steamship lost all its ships except Angby. After the war, they were replaced and by the mid 1950's its fleet was even larger than before. Many bore the names of their predecessors, for example Margaret. There were ships with new names too such as Ong Tiang Swee, named after its first chairman. Due to a change in corporate policy in the 1970's, all the ships were disposed of over the years.
Ong Tiang Swee, who was born on August 3rd, 1864 was elected chairman of Sarawak Steamship in 1919. Even before his election he had impressive credentials.
At the age of 23 in 1887 he was a director of the company and president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. He was Kapitan China, chairman of the Hekkien community and president of the Chinese Court.
Pangkor
He was a leading figure in the social, cultural and educational activities of the state. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, he was conferred the honour of the Most Distinguished Order of the Star of Sarawak by Charles Vyner Brooke in 1926. In 1947, he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He passed away on October 19th, 1950. A road near his former farm, Batu Kinyang, at 2nd Mile, Rock Road, Kuching is named after him.
On the resignation of Ong Tiang Swee in 1947 as chairman, his son-in-law Wee Kheng Chiang, took over the post. Subsequently, Gan Kui Cho and Ong Hap Leong became chairman. The present incumbent is Tan Sri William Tan who has been a director of the company since 1947.
According to Professor K.G.Tregonning, in his book Home Port Singapore, the service provided by The Sarawak Steamship Company was essential, politically as well as economically motivated. It was the sea which joined Sarawak and Singapore. The links coastwise to Kuching were political those with Singapore were economic.
" The logic of Sommerville's move in the 1920's, H.E. Sommerville of Straits Steamship first mooted the idea of acquiring Sarawak Steamship is substantiated by the broad flow of these economic facts, that received political support with the formation of Malaysia after the Pacific War."
These lines of communication were mostly provided by the vessels of Sarawak Steamship for nearly eighty years when it was the main shipping line.
The company's first head office at Khoo Hun Yeang Street , Kuching, was purchased in 1919 for $11,000. It was sold around 1970 and the company moved to 14, Carpenter Street until 1995. Today Sarawak Steamship operates its business at its own premises, No 52, Main Bazaar, Kuching.
Its business interests have been diversified. These include travel and tours, creative advertising, air cargo and a gallery. Incidentally, Sarawak Steamship has the distinction of having started, in 1919, the first travel business in Sarawak. Available from the company's gallery are paintings by famous Sarawak artists, old Sarawak stamps, coins, banknotes, books and souvenirs.
Sources: Home Port Singapore by K.G. Tregonning Ong Tiang Swee of Sarawak by Ong Boon Lim
After the above article had been completed it was felt that the subject matter deserved further work and research and if enough material could be gathered together that the possibility of a book was a distinct reality. After many months of painstaking research conducted not only by the authors but by the people who are acknowledged in the book a Limited Edition of 600 volumes was published by The Sarawak Steamship Company Berhad in 2001. The book charts in great detail how the company was formed and by whom, it also goes on to explain why it was felt necessary that Sarawak should have a shipping line of its own. The authors take you up the rivers of Sarawak, you also visit the many ports served by the company vessels not only on the island itself but across to Singapore as well.
Rejang
Many of the goods that were carried came as a surprise to me, for instance did you know that Ramin was a hard wood that came from the interior swamp lands, that Gutta Percha is a rubber like material although not as extensible and comes from the Sapotaceae Tree, or that the packet of chewing gum you buy contains Gutta Jelutong and is in fact simply the sap of a tree with added sweeteners and flavouring. Gutta comes from the Malay word Getah which in turn when translated to English becomes sap. All over the region warehouse are referred to as Godowns, very little change from the original Malay word Gudang and I should add here that I had to ask the author what a Foochow was along with the other definitions which I have already covered. It seems a Foochow is a Chinese person who comes from Foochow and speaks that particular dialect, other examples are Cantonese which you might be more familiar with or Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien which you might not. The book is not only a must for Maritime Historians but for Ship enthusiasts also and can be ordered direct from one of the authors themselves.
The book costs £19-50 for one or £33-00 for two and includes postage, payment by cheque.
Contact: Mr. Vincent H.K. Foo
The Hacienda
228 Pearl Park
3rd Mile, Rock Road
93250, Kuching
Sarawak
Malaysia
No man is an island, but Borneo is. Until recently not only getting to Sarawak, but getting around inside the country had to be done by water, the sea or the rivers.
As Sarawak became more firmly established and productive, an enterprising group of both Chinese and European businessmen realised that it would take more than one ship to carry Sarawak's burgeoning trade and satisfy her desire for closer connections with the world. And so in 1875, with Rajah Charles' blessing, these men founded the Sarawak Steamship Company.
This is the story of that company and its ships, its paddle-wheelers and five launches, its powered barges and liners, from the modest 210-ton Royalist at the beginning up to the handsome and luxurious Rajah Brooke built in 1948. Foo and Chai trace steamship transport as it grew from one irregular link with Singapore to acquire more vessels and serve the whole of Sarawak, its major seaports and many of its rivers. Quick and efficient communication within the country and with the world beyond boosted Sarawak's prosperity and promoted her development, and along with maritime history we can see here how Sarawak Steamship Company, its men and vessels, helped build infrastructure and encourage trade, and thus played a vital part in helping to make Sarawak the modern and thriving state it is today
Above taken from the back cover.
188 pages and illustrated.
Vincent is looking for Officers and men from all disciplines which sailed with either Sarawak or Straits Steamships for inclusion in a new book on the personnel of both company's.
He can be contacted either by conventional mail as above or by e-mail at Vincent H.K. Foo
Vincent has been searching unsuccessfully for a photograph of Vyner Brooke for four years, can anybody help?