Sarikei

History

The town Sarikei already existed prior to the rule of Brooke when it was part of the Bruneian Empire. The Sigalang community is known to be the first community to exist in the Sarikei area 300 years ago which was located between Sarikei and Nyelong rivers where both rivers drained into the Rajang river. They were known to be skillful farmers, hunters, and house builders. The Sigalang community was named of its headman who was fair and just and took great care of the community. Rajah James Brooke first visited Sarikei on 30 April 1845 in his steamer H.E.I.C.S. Phlegethon. In 1846, James Brooke wanted Abdul Rahman to control the piracy of the Iban people but Abdul Rahman failed to contain the Ibans. On 4 January 1856, Sarikei was burnt by Dayaks from Julau. In the same month, James Brooke set up a fort in Sarikei to suppress any piracy activities by the upriver Iban people. The fort was built for Brooke allies led by Abang Ali and Abang Asop. This has angered Syarif Masahor. Syarif responded by building a bigger military force. This led the Brookes to reinstate Syarif as the leader of Sarikei in September 1857 in exchange for Brooke's control of Mukah. On 19 June 1856, Sir Charles Brooke led an expedition to Julau in order to counter the native resistance in Julau. The number of shophouses grew from four to six shops in 1905. In 1923, the Chinese in Sarikei constructed the first part of Sarikei-Durin road. In 1932, all the wooden shophouses in Sarikei were rebuilt using concrete. Chinese schools started to increase from the same year. In 1941, Japanese troops occupied Sarawak. However, the Japanese did not take over the local government in Sibu. This created a power vacuum in the central region of Sarawak. This has caused chaos in Sarikei. The people in Sarikei had to…

Geography

Sarikei is located within the Rejang river basin beside the Rajang river, there is also Repok river (also known as Sarikei river) and Nyelong river

Most-observed species

• Asian Glossy Starling

  Aplonis panayensis (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  49
• intermediate egret

  Egretta intermedia (Wagler, 1829) · Aves
  30
• Yellow-vented Bulbul

  Pycnonotus goiavier (Scopoli, 1786) · Aves
  25
• Green Imperial-Pigeon

  Ducula aenea (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  23
• Black Hornbill

  Anthracoceros malayanus (Raffles, 1822) · Aves
  21
• Pink-necked Pigeon

  Treron vernans (Linnaeus, 1771) · Aves
  20
• Palm King

  Amathusia phidippus (Linnaeus, 1763) · Insecta
  20
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

  Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16