Sarikei

History and background

The origin name of Sarikei was hard to be identified. Once upon a time, Sarikei was the centre for buying and selling chickens and hence it was called "Sa-rie-kei" ("Sa-rie" in most Chinese dialects means "centre" and "kei" means "Town"). Later the spelling was changed to Sarikei.

The early history of Sarikei can be traced as far back as the early 19th century. There are many historical events to show its existence. For example, Rajah James Brooke first visited Sarikei on 30 April 1845. There were also resistance from the local people towards the Brooke’s administration, including the burning of Sarikei on 4 January 1856 and the Julau Expedition on 19 June 1856, which was led by Sir Charles Brooke to counter the native resistance in Julau.

The establishment of Sarikei as a new Division was mainly based on security consideration. Datu Wilson Baya Dandot, The Deputy State Secretary (Planning and Development) in his article entitled: Sarawak’s Unique Administrative Identity: Establishment of Divisional, District and Sub-District Machinery For Enhancing Development Administration said that the establishment of Sarikei as the Sixth Division then was due to the security threats posed by the communist insurgency which was at its height at that time. It was felt that with the establishment of a new Sarikei Division the government would be able to concentrate and focus more in its efforts to contain and counter the security problem in the area.

Also known as the "food basket" for the Land of the Hornbills, Sarikei started as a small village comprising the "Segalang" community and a few rows of Chinese shophouses. From a dead town, the once isolated and remote Sarikei has progressed and the people now enjoy infrastructural facilities and economic opportunities.

Population

The total population for Sarikei District is 56,228 as of year 2010. The population is ethnically mixed, with mostly Iban, Melanau, Malay, Bidayuh and Chinese predominating.

Economy

Sarikei has been known as The Fruit Basket of Sarawak. The economy of the town is primarily agricultural, and Sarikei is famed for its pineapples and its pepper. Besides that, the center of town also has many old Chinese shophouses from the 1930s.

Attractions and Recreation Spots

Landmarks

Supermarkets

The major supermarkets in Sarikei are Ngiu Kee, Swee Hoon, Nam Leong, Everwin, Everrise and Friendly. However, in December 2013, Ngiu Kee shut down its operation and took over by BB Department Store & Supermarket. Later, BB Department store shut down their operation. Meanwhile, in April 2014, Everrise was end its operation and will take over by Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia.

Retail outlets

In early days, Sarikei only have Bata, KFC and SugarBun as outlet stores.

Sarikei is a fast developing town nowadays. There are some local and international retail outlets open their branch in Sarikei in recent year like The Body Shop, Blackball - Original Taiwenese Tea & Dessert, ShareTea, Boluomi Tea, Singapore Chicken Rice (SCR), Watsons Personal Care Stores, Guardian, and so on.

Sarikei New Township

This new township is under construction. The developer of Sarikei New Township is Tropical Rhythm Sdn Bhd. Sarikei New Township also targeted to non-Sarikeian investors with its introduction to Sarikei and its economy. The area will spread over 3.53 hectares. The 104 three-storey shops will have space ranging from 113-308 square meters per floor. The development coverage also include JKR and part of Jalan Siaw Ah Khoon from Jalan Bersatu up to Jalan Seng Lee (near to SMK St Anthony).

An open air food court sprawling over 667 square meters will be at the Jalan Bersatu area (Picture 1, left). A nine-storey high hotel will aim for the sky at the JKR area (Picture 1, right). It will feature 2 function and banquet halls and 133 rooms. A retail mall is rumoured to be in the podium of the block.

Sarikei Market

There are four major markets in Sarikei whereby people can buy local products and perishable goods, namely Sarikei Hawker Centre, Sarikei Rejang River Market, Sarikei Centre Market and Nyelong Weekend Market (tamu). The Sarikei Hawker Centre was opened on 14 April 1981 located at Bank Road bus terminal. At first floor of hawker centre, there have food court which separate by halal and non-halal section. There also have another food court near by hawker centre, namely Sarikei Hawker Food Centre.

Accommodation

Mostly hotel in Sarkei are budget hotel. Below are the list of hotel in Sarikei:

Education

Sarikei has over 40 primary schools and 5 secondary schools including:

Primary Schools
The national primary schools (SK) include:

The Chinese primary schools (SJKC) include:

Secondary Schools

Sarikei has also a Chinese Independent High School called Ming Lik Secondary School (民立中学) some distance out of town.

Others Learning Institution

The community college is located at Jalan Central, Sarikei. To date, Kolej Komuniti Sarikei offered a 20-month Culinary Certificate (in November 2014) and 16-month Computer Systems and Support Certificate (in March 2015). In addition, the community college also offered two-day courses (held on weekends), included preparation of frozen foods, western cuisine, cupcakes, make-up, hair styling, flower arrangement and ferro cement.

Healthcare

Medical needs are served by several hospitals and clinics. The main hospital is Hospital Sarikei, officially opened in 2006, costing RM250.4M. There is also a polyclinic near the old hospital opposite the fire station, which was old building of Hospital Besar before the new hospital ready in 2006. Private Clinics are also available within the town area like Dr. Awang, Dr. Eric Wong Siong Kong, Dr. Jawi Masing, Dr. Sim, Dr. Law and Dr. Wong Hua She. Besides that, government also set up 1Malaysia Clinic in Jakar Bazaar (12 kilometres from central of Sarikei town) to serve about 5,000 people from Merudu, Sungai Paoh, Sebangkoi, Bayong and the surrounding areas.

Transportation

Sarikei also a major transportation hub for traffic on both the Pan Borneo Highway and the Rajang river. Anybody travelling by road or express boat from Kuching to Sibu must pass through Sarikei.

Sarikei Express Wharf Terminal

There have two terminals provided water transport (boat express) in Sarikei. Terminal 1 is next to the clock tower and the pineapple statue. Meanwhile, Terminal 2 serves the bigger boats to Kuching.

Bus terminals

Sarikei has two bus stations. The short distance bus terminal is located near the Sarikei Express Wharf Terminal while the long distance bus terminal located 1 km from town centre (started operate around year 2002). The short distance bus terminal is for the short distance travel within Sarikei town, and to Sibu and Bintangor. For long distance bus terminal, Sarikei Bus Terminal serves as the main hub for express buses to various destinations in Sarawak including Kuching, Sri Aman, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri through the Pan Borneo Highway.

Taxis

Taxis are available near the wharf terminals, the bus terminal as well as in the central taxi station at the first intersection of Jalan Repok.

Library

Sarikei Public Library, situated at Jalan Kapur, has a floor area of approximately 2,000 square meters at a cost of around RM3.5 million and was opened to the public on 1 August 2003. It is one of the landmarks of the town given its unique architecture which sets it apart from the other government buildings in the town.

Housing

The major housing areas in the town are the Hua Tai, Sunny Spring, Kiong Soon Road, Jongkong Road, Getah Road, Rejang Road, Nyelong Park and the Meranti road housing estates. The majority of the houses in the estates are terrace houses with some semi-detached houses. There are also some bungalows and detached units.

Religious Places

The main religions in the town are Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.

For Islam, the primary place of worship for the Muslims is the town mosque adjacent to the Hua Tai residential area, namely Masjid Al-Muttaqin. The mosque is categorised as Gred 1 mosque located at Jalan Masjid Baru. Masjid Al-Muttaqin formerly known as Masjid Tun Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Yaakub. The design of Masjid Al-Muttaqin's building fully with high Muslim artwork to symbolise the spirit of unity and tolerance among Muslims in this region, especially Muslims in Sarikei.

Besides that, the town has a fairly large population of Christians. The majority of the Christians belong to the Methodist denomination which has about four churches in the town area and surrounding residential areas. The Roman Catholic parish of St Anthony's in Sarikei has its church along Repok Road. The mission also runs two schools, St. Anthony's Secondary School and St. Anne's Primary School as well as a kindergarten, St. Clement's. Other Christian churches include the Anglican Church centre in the Nyelong Park Housing Estate as well as the SIB (Borneo Evangelical Church). In 1999, a new church was built at Jalan Kwong Ming named the Sarawak Full Gospel Church (Sarikei Branch).

Sarikei Buddhist Orthodox Association is one of the religious place whereby Buddhist can having their prayers or joint the religion activities. The association located at Nyelong By Pass Sarikei.

On the others hand, Sarikei also have many small temples for folk religion like Na Tuk Kong Temple and so on.

Cuisine

The more famous local cuisine include:

(note: the names are rendered in the Fuzhou dialect, which is often radically different from Standard Chinese)

Notable Figures from Sarikei

TV Programmes

Sarikei has been featured in several local and international TV pragrammes.

Documentaries

Dramas