page_title: Raj of Sarawak
section_title: Electricity and communication
hierarchical_section_title: Raj of Sarawak / Society / Electricity and communication
caption_attribution_description: English: Kuching Electrical Power Station 1922. Shown in the picture are the Belliss and Morcom engines. Location: Kuching, Borneo Date: 1922 Our Catalogue Reference: Part of CO 1069/549. This image is part of the Colonial Office photographic collection held at The National Archives. Feel free to share it within the spirit of the Commons. Please use the comments section below the pictures to share any information you have about the people, places or events shown. We have attempted to provide place information for the images automatically but our software may not have found the correct location. For high quality reproductions of any item from our collection please contact our image library
context_page_description: The Raj of Sarawak, also State of Sarawak, was an independent state, and later a British protectorate, located in the northwestern part of the island of Borneo. It was established as an independent state from a series of land concessions acquired by an Englishman, James Brooke, from the Sultanate of Brunei. Sarawak received recognition as an independent state from the United States in 1850, and from the United Kingdom in 1864.
  Following recognition, Brooke expanded the Raj's territory at the expense of Brunei. Several major rebellions occurred against his rule, causing him to be plagued by debt incurred in countering the rebellions, and the sluggish economic situation at the time. His nephew, Charles Brooke, succeeded James and normalised the situation by improving the economy, reducing government debts and establishing public infrastructure. In 1888, the Raj acquired protectorate status from the British Government.
  To gear up economic growth, the second Rajah encouraged the migration of Chinese workers from China and Singapore to work in the agricultural fields.
context_section_description: In 1894, while plans for electric street lightning were being drawn up in Penang and Kuala Lumpur on the Malay peninsula, Rajah Charles Brooke refused to adopt this new technology because of his dislike of "new-fangled things". The sparse population of Sarawak also presented a logistical challenge to install power stations and connecting cables. However, wired telephones were installed around Kuching in 1898 for keeping up to date communications with the outstations. Otherwise, messages from the northernmost areas of the state such as Limbang and Baram could take up to a month to reach Kuching. Besides, telephones were cheap to install and required little power. By 1908, the Mukah-Oya region was connected to telephone lines, followed by Miri in 1913, and Sibu in 1914. The first wireless telegraphy station was erected in Kuching in 1917, followed by Sibu and Miri immediately thereafter. It was not until 1914 that the first electrical power stations were installed in Miri by Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and Bau by the Borneo Company Limited. The oil production boom in Miri and gold mining in Bau gave rise to the need of more efficient lightning and motor systems. Cinematography also began the same year in Miri. In 1920, J.R Barnes, the manager of the Sarawak Government Wireless Telegraphs and Telephones Department, proposed an electrical lightning scheme for Kuching using a coal-fired system. In January 1923, a power station covering an area of 6,700 square feet (620 m²) was completed at Khoo Hun Yeang Street, Kuching, and started operation in June 1923, supplying Kuching with direct current (DC) system. Today the road where the power station was once located is now known as the "Power Street". Sibu's first power station was installed in 1927, followed by Mukah in 1929. From 1922 to 1932, the electrical supply in Kuching was managed by the Electrical Department, under the jurisdiction of Public Works Department. This department was then privatised as the Sarawak Electricity Supply Company (SESCo). From the 1930s, a telegraph line connected the country with Singapore. Wireless telegraph stations were located in all major towns in Sarawak. Postal service was also available throughout the administration.
caption: Belliss and Morcom engines in the coal-fired Kuching power station, 1922
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