Miri, Sarawak.
The
Oil Town.
Miri, Sarawak.
The
Oil Town.
Miri is one of the nine divisions of Sarawak. Situated in the north-east of Sarawak with an coverage area of 27000 square kilometres. Miri have a coastline of about 150 KM and dense tropical rainforests with an enormous quantity of tropical vegetation and wild life. Baram river contributes much form of transportation and water supply. Miri have a uniform climate throughout the year of around 23 degrees celcius to 35 degrees celcius. Rainfall are at maximum in the month of November to February and the rest of the months are dry season.
Miri have a population of about 230,000 with chinese (35%), Malays (22%) , foreigner (3%) and ethnic groups (40%). Ethnic groups are such as Iban, Kelabit, Kayan, Melanau, Penan and Bidayuh. The ethnic groups are often referred to as the natives of Sarawak. Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and English are widely spoken here but some minority still preferring to talk in their local dialects.
Miri was once a small fishing village until August 10, 1910 when oil was discovered. The first oil well was spotted on the Canada Hill.
With the oil boom, an international workforce arrived thus creating a colourful blend of cultures.
Roads, schools, residential, building and recreational facilities are growing like mushrooms. Soon, bicycles and motorcycles were a common sight in the town area.
Miri was progressing well until World War 2 brought Miri to a stand still. Oil productions were stopped as the
japanese arrived. Many installation for oil production were destroyed during the war
and the japanese still trying to resume the oil production thus making the situation worse.
After the war, rebuilding of Miri began almost immediately with the determination of Miri people.
Miri is badly destroyed during the war and road to recovery is a long one far from perfect but at least foundations are laid.
Now it is only the old rig, named The Grand Old Lady (picture on left), that remains. The concentration of
oil exploration is on the offshore drilling, thus many oil platforms stands in the South China
Sea around Miri. The Lutong oil refinery stands tall and proud as a key contributor to one of
Sarawak's major exports.
Miri have a few interesting national parks such as Lambir Hills, Niah and Mulu.
Lambir hill national park is about 30 minutes drive from the city centre.
It has a spectacular waterfall with wide varieties of flora and fauna that contain one of the
world's richest forest species. With chains of steep sandstone bounded by rugged cliffs and scenic
waterfall (picture on left) and natural swimming pool and lots lots more.
Niah national park has been the centre of archaelogical find with a human skull dating to be
40,000 years old. Most of the excavated findings are now housed at the Sarawak Museum in
Kuching (capital of Sarawak). Niah is an hours drive from Miri town, and provides an easy 45 min walk through lowland forest, vibrant with birds, butterflies, insects and flora. With birds nest farming and caves that have the paintings
from the Iron-Age and also houses millions of bats. Tons of guano are deposited daily and
thus a source of income for the locals. Bird nest, a delicacies among the chinese are more
valuable than the guano are also produced from here. Anyway, the government
have restricted the bird nest picking licence to a few individuals as uncontrolled picking
will wipe out the "Layang-Layang" bird species.
Gunung Mulu at 2,376 metres above sea level is the second highest point in the
Miri Division is located at Gunung Mulu national park. The park the most rugged and
challenging local attractions for those adventurous people out there. Sarawak's
largest and most famous National Park. It has the world's largest cave passage (Deer Cave)
with the river stretching some 87 kilometers under the limestone, pinnacles (picture on left)
the largest single natural
chamber (Sarawak Chamber) which is over 1 mile around its outside perimeter, and it is also
the largest cave in South East Asia being able to hold 40 Boeing 747s. Other caves in the
national park are the clear water cave, deer cave, lang cave and wind cave (picture below).
It also has the most diverse range of forest types and a most amazing varieties of plants and
animal life. It takes about 45 minutes to fly by Fokker plane from Miri to get there. Malaysia Airlines, Saeaga Airlines
and Brunei Airlines serves this route.
Today, Miri is concentrating its efforts to being a major tourist attraction. In 2005, Miri will be announced as a resort city. Interest in its natural attractions has also been generated with the gazetting of national parks and promotion of cultural heritage such as longhouse, traditional crafts and values. Miri gets its resources from oil and natural gas. They contributes a lot the the nations economy. Other resources includes timber, rubber, oil-palm, pepper, coconut and others agricultural livestocks. The fast developments in Miri and the division is paving the path to achieving a resort city status of a manageable size with identity along with the provision of good living and working environment.
