The Sungai Lembing Museum....

That last time we went to Sungai Lembing it was late and we could not go and see the new Museum there. This time I [my spouse did not come along] decided to go early and head straight to the museum before sightseeing of the other parts of the old town of Sungai Lembing. In its hay days during the colonial era Sungai Lembing was a dynamic small mining town. Here was the largest load tin mine in the world own by a British Company, the PCCL [Pahang Consolidated Company Limited]. The whole area of Sungai Lembing was sort of an autonomous region in the Kuantan District. It was managed by the company head, its General manager or as the Malay at that time call it the Tuan Besar. That is what colonization is all about. In the case of Malaya, the British came and took over the country and exploited it natural resources. They did it legally by signing an agreement with the local authority at that time. The mining of tin in Sungai Lembing was one huge enterprise that provides jobs for the local and made the company lots and lots of money. 

This time I had a chat with the young people who managed the museum who know nothing of the history of this place except what they read in the history book. It different with me or my generation. I live during the colonial era. My eldest sister whose husband work as a driver live and raised her family in Sungai Lembing. From time to time we would visit her and at time slept at her house near the river [Sungai]. At that time, the place was a different world since it has its own supermarket that sell all the imported European goods which at that time could not be obtained in the other towns in Malaya. In those days to get to Sungai Lembing town one had to take a boat from Kuantan town up to Pasir Kemudi and from there take the train to Sungai Lembing. During one of our Scout outing our Scout teacher took us on our first ever train ride and that was to Sungai Lembing. To us kids it was an experience that we enjoyed and remember until this day. Sungai Lembing was a commercial township especially managed to extract Tin ore and other minerals for export back to the UK. It does make the company PCCL rich indeed. 

After the country gain independence in 1957 and then the lease of the place expired, Sungai Lembing was handed over back to the state government of Pahang to manage thus it became a sub district of the District of Kuantan, the state capital of Pahang Since Sungai Lembing is a very important aspect of the Pahang history as well the history of colonization it is only appropriate that a museum of a part of our history is set up. For that the Sungai Lembing Museum is a very important institute to have. I am glad that the local authority made a wise decision in making such museum a reality. I have visited the museum and had a glimpse of the display and happy that it does brought back memories of my past. For the general population go and visit it and understand what colonization is all about especially of how the West exploited our resources for their own benefit. Well go and see and enjoy that visit and in the process, be educated as well. 

Have a nice day.