Kanowit

Kanowit is a town and the capital of a district of the same name. It is located within the Sibu Division, Sarawak, east Malaysia and comprises 2,253.5 square kilometers in area. As of 2002, Kanowit's population is 28,600. It is built on the mouth of Kanowit River at the bank of Rajang River, approximately 174 kilometers from the coast of South China Sea. It will take 45 minutes to get there by land transport and about an hour boat ride from Sibu. The main ethnic groups are Iban, Chinese, Malay, Bidayuh, and Melanau.

The town takes its name from the Kanowit, a minor ethnic group (ISO 639-3: kxn) related to the Iban. The language is now extinct, having been absorbed into Iban.

Fort Emma

"Fort Emma" is a fort built in 1859 by Rajah James Brooke, out of timber and bamboo. It was named after Emma Brooke, sister of Rajah Charles Brooke. The fort remains impressive, despite years of neglect. It is currently closed to the public.

Fort Emma was also the site of the last serious challenge to Brooke rule in Sarawak. In 1859, a number of Malay chiefs, led by Sharif Masahor of Mukah and supported by the Sultan of Brunei planned a series of attacks to kill all the Europeans in Sarawak and Dutch Borneo. In June 1859, Brooke government officials Charles Fox and Henry Steele were murdered at Kanowit as the first step of this plan. The "Tuan Muda" Charles Brooke led a force of Iban from Saribas to revenge the attack and to recover the heads of the unfortunate victims. As a result, Mukah was annexed to Sarawak, Sharif Masahor fled to Johore and the "Malay Plot" was the last time the Malays and the Iban joined forces against the White Rajah.

Infrastructure

The town center consists of three streets of 1930s vintage Chinese shophouses, almost half of which seem to contain coffeeshops, near the waterfront. During periods of celebration, the local karaoke can often be heard from far away with the pounding basslines of trashy 80's hits in English, Malay and Chinese. The best sight seeing can be had by walking along the riverside from town or up the Telecom Hill.

Kanowit has a decent infrastructure, enough to satisfy the small population's needs. It has two primary schools (Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan St. Francis Xavier-the earliest primary school in Sarawak, founded in 1883 and Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Yee Ting, a Chinese-run government school), and two secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kanowit and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dipertua Haji Abdul Rahman Yaakub).

External links

* [http://www.kanowitdc.sarawak.gov.my/ Kanowit local government]