The Sarawak Hotel

The Sarawak Hotel has been owned by the Wong family from the very beginning. Being the first fine hotel, with air conditioning it created a lot of interest. And I am sure there are lots of fantastic stories involved. It was indeed a very pleasant hotel and was run in a nice colonial way without a lot of the modern amenities of today.

However, I am writing about it because I have never stopped loving the idea of a rooftop dance floor, which made the hotel very unique in Sarawak and perhaps in Malaysia!!

When the hotel first opened, I was just a dreamy eyed young girl with lots of imagination. And of course my friends and I dreamed dreams of Prince Charming coming to sweep us off our feet, and the dance floor on the roof top was the perfect setting for such romantic dreams.

Mr. Wong's sisters went to school with me, and I am still in touch with one of them, after more than 40 years!!

Several significant facts must be clarified here.

First of all, Mr. Wong's father has the best step mother Sibu has ever known.

Secondly, Mr. Wong's family also planted the first orchid garden in Sibu.

Thirdly, Mr. Wong's family home in Sibu was situated in Sg. Merah where the Foochows first landed in1901.

Mr. Wong has maintained a strong love for Sibu and his hotel business. A pillar of the business world, Mr. Wong has always maintained a certain dignity. And I believe that the Foochows should accord him a lot of respect for his courage and loyalty to the Sibu community.

Here are the juicy bits about the roof top dance floor from the gossips I gathered from older relatives who hanged out on Saturdays with their business friends. In the 50's and 60's there were still some remnants of the colonial government officers, some British naval and army officers, and of course the usual bank managers. Some would bring their wives to dance on a Saturday night and there were many ladies of the night who were available for picking up in the various coffee shops.

The British ladies would be wearing their white high heeled shoes and carrying their white hand bags. The local ladies would have their gold or silver strappy sandals and extremely tight waisted clothes. Some would be wearing their wide biased cut skirts, with stiff underskits. When they danced they would shriek and shout, twist and shake their bums to the gay and lively tunes coming from the local band playing at the eastern end of the roof top. I was told that one of the Malay saxophonists was really but unfortunately he was not discovered by any talent scout and never made it to cut an EMI record.

But the British ladies would demurely dance away to cha cha numbers. They would do a few foxtrots and waltzes.

While writing this up, I can still hear the very politically incorrect song in my head, "Rose, Rose, I love you...." about a sailor leaving behind his Malayan girl friend because east is east and west is west.....

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For old times' sake here's the address for friends and relatives who might like to stay in this old nostalgic place: Or go and see the first lift in Sibu.

Sarawak Hotel
34, Jalan Lintang /Cross Road, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Tel: 60-84-333455