We should make a major financial commitment to improving our roads and bridges.
Bernie Sanders, American politician
I stood on the ledge of the iconic Satok suspension bridge, looking down at the placid waters of the Sarawak River.
If the question in my mind was to leap or not to leap, I put the thought aside because I had chosen to be part of about 100 people – members of the Sarawak Malaysia Cup soccer squad and fervent supporters celebrating Sarawak’s famous quarterfinal win at the Sarawak Stadium in 1988 – who took the leap.
In the words of former striker Pengiran Bala, it was a “moment of madness” because for the first time in the history of Sarawak football, the state had qualified for the semifinals when they beat fancied Johor in this prestigious championship.
He told the Star in an interview: “I remember we lost the first-leg in Larkin 2-0, the headline was ‘The party is over’. But we proved them wrong and surprised everyone by thrashing Johor 4-0 in Kuching. We led 3-0 by half-time.”
In a thanksgiving of sorts, flamboyant Sarawak coach Awang Mahyan decided to bring out the best in his boys dubbed ‘Bujang Senang’ after a famous man-eating crocodile, with a 50-foot leap from Sarawak’s first bridge.
No one was hurt, drowned or eaten alive because hovering below the bridge were marine police boats and private vessels waiting to pick up the jumpers to take them to dry land to be feted at a restaurant.
The famous ‘leap of faith’ was probably one of the last great feats from the suspension bridge whose history goes back to the days of the White Rajahs and penyamun (literally thief) headhunters.
In ancient times it was the custom of the Iban to plant a human head at the base of any new longhouse in a mangkong tiang ceremony to ensure it was blessed by the spirits.
Another custom was the genselan or blood-smearing ceremony to propitiate the deities. W. J. Chater in ‘Sarawak Long Ago’ explained:
“Until the time when slavery was abolished in Sarawak in 1886, a Dayak custom known as genselan existed whereby when a new longhouse or bridge was built, the spirits had first to be appeased with the blood of a slave who was usually thrown into a hole alive and the main post rammed in on top.
“This usually led to the young men forming themselves into bands of turning penyamun. They would wander into the forests far away from their own people and watch out for strangers from other tribes hunting in the jungle.
“They would then kill them but, being unable to carry their bodies, would simply cut off the heads which were easy to conceal since they also feared the wrath of the Rajah. These they would throw into the hole of the main post.”
It was the second Rajah Charles Brooke who first suggested in 1902 that the suspension bridge be built over the 400-yard wide river to enable the government to lay water pipes from the Matang Waterworks to Kuching.
However, there were protests from the local community following the rumour that the bridge must have heads for its foundations and so the project was put aside in favour of underwater pipelines.
It was only after Charles died that his son Vyner’s started building the 700-ft long suspension bridge starting from Satok Road crossing the Sarawak River to the opposite northern bank’s Jalan Astana in present Petra Jaya.
In 1923, Vyner gave PWD engineer A. S. Low the go ahead and work began.
Even then there was still great concern with the rumour that bearded Sikh policemen had been sent out to patrol the streets after dark, to catch children to place under the foundations of the bridge.
In 1924, during the construction period, a labourer fell and was drowned; that brought some relief to the Kuching folk following another story that the spirits had been appeased.
So when the $52,000 bridge was finally completed in 1926, the people of Kuching were extremely proud of their great modern structure.
In 1992, after the great ‘Bujang Senang’ leap, the bridge began to sway and became too dangerous for use and was closed to the public.
By then the adjoining Tun Abdul Rahman Bridge built in 1975 – the first modern bridge in Kuching – had been built and the suspension bridge had become a relic.
The suspension bridge was officially closed in 2004 when it collapsed.
In 2017, the Sarawak government allocated RM8 million to reconstruct the bridge but plans to re-open it on Sarawak’s 56th year of Independence on Sept 16 was put on hold after some structural problems.
It has been repaired and hopefully by 2020 the Satok suspension bridge will finally rise from the ashes!
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
