Revisiting ‘Gunung Serapi’ at Kuching National Park
- BT
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
by Dr. Ramachandran Ponnan & Sandra Perumal
‘Gunung Serapi’ or Mount Serapi in the Taman ‘Kubah’ (dome of a mosque) National Park or Matang Forest, used interchangeably by the locals, is located about 21 km from Kuching City. Revisiting the park brings back memories of the freshness of the Borneo air, right from the airport when the RMAF’s F27 maiden flight landed 50 years ago.
As a civilian on a military aircraft, the flight was indeed an experience; but my journey as a Radio TV Malaysia (RTM) Film Cameraman was tasked to record the arrival of television to Sarawak in 1974. In this context, Gunung Serapi represents an important historic location of national connectivity.
“Still fresh in my memory, the troposcatter was the technology used then to retransmit limited news crossovers from our Kuching station for national news”, said Datuk Ahmad Shafie, Director of News and later the Director of RTM, recollecting its hollow, echo-like sounding broadcast.
The large troposcatter disc at Gunung Serapi, now replaced by modern telecoms towers and satellite connectivity, is significantly close to the people of Sarawak and my life journey when being transferred to Kuching on deputation.
Curious tourists will also find Mt. Serapi Water Fall an attraction in the midst of lush vegetation, though humid but cooled by mountain breeze.
To the Kuching folk, the mountain has an exciting hiking trail; it takes a 45-minute walk up through wooden steps. The steps up there would lead visitors to the dilapidated remnants of the white Rajah’s residence. The Brookes brought Indians directly from south India to work on their tea and coffee plantation on the Matang Hills. Indians or rather Hindus would never live where there was no place of worship. Thus, the existence of a century old wooden temple, the Matang Sri Maha Mariaman temple.
According to former Kapitan and Penghulu of the Indian Community, Komurusamy Tatony, the Indians abandoned the plantation and the temple along with the Brookes when pests attacked their plantation, followed by malaria. Most Indians settled in Kuching or dispersed to other parts of Sarawak.
The site was lost in memory for a long time until some adventurers stumbled upon it recently for the Sarawak Museum to restore some semblance of history to the Brooke’s bungalow. Concerned Hindus also took the initiative to rebuild the Matang Temple.
Philip Gawing, a former Cameraman with me and a nature enthusiast, Agilan from Penang, were pleasantly surprised to note several motor vehicles already parked at the foothill for the weekend hike, as we returned.
