The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
— Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist
On August 13, Sarawak lost an educationist and part time photographer Joseph Anthony Kuek Tze Hiang. He was 92.
Joseph was not only one of the pioneering teachers of the Batu Lintang Teacher’s Training College, but also a talented photographer.
I first met “Cikgu” Joseph a decade ago and have recently been visiting him to learn more about his life-long passion with photography.
We had been working together on a book about the Melanau and his memoir.
After his wife passed away, he continued to catalogue his goldmine of several hundred exclusive photographs and thousands of negatives.
When he turned 89 in 2018, the first part of his life-long dream became reality when, thanks to Bau assemblyman Datuk Henry Jinep, the first two books were published; one on the ‘The Bidayuh: The Community at a Time of Change’ and ‘A Pictorial Journey (1948-2017)’.
He said: “My older brother was in the photographic business and presented me with a $20 Baby Brownie camera when I was 14.”
After the War, Joseph completed his Senior Cambridge at St Joseph’s school Kuching before purchasing his first bicycle which became his mode of transport.
In the early days, the gravel road from Kuching to Bau was winding and it took at least four hours to get there.
Joseph said he took his first “classic” picture of the old Bau Bazaar located at the foot of the Bukit Young Gold mine just after the war ended.
Another hobby of his was travelling by motor launch along the Sarawak River from Kuching and stopping along the way to capture the way of life.
He added: “One of my favourite places was the village of Buso which was a busy trading. It was here that I was able to capture the activity of traders ferrying all types of modern goods and amenities up-river from Kuching to exchange for sago leaf roofing, uncured rubber sheets, crepe rubber, pepper live poultry, pigs, pepper and jungle produce.
Today, Buso has a row of wooden Chinese shophouses and a small Malay community.
Among Joseph’s exclusive classic pictures is the abandoned Tegora Suspension bridge which was built by the Borneo Company in 1867 to transport antimony, cinnabar and mercury for export through Buso and Bau.
In 1955, Joseph led a group of student teachers on an educational tour of Tai Ton Gold Mine in Bau and a decade later in 1967 took exclusive pictures of open cast mining at Bukit Young Gold Mine with labourers loading the ore for transportation to the processing plants.
Among his students who made the trip were the first natives to attend Batu Lintang College, including former Belaga assemblyman Datuk Tajang Laing, who is now in his mid-90s and Cikgu Henry Jala, father of politician Datuk Idris Jala.
Joseph’s Bau photo collection includes a long-forgotten “Gawai Nyapak” ceremony at Kampung Tembawang Sauh in 1956 and old Kampung Gumbang village in 1954.
He has a 1968 photograph of a “baruk” head house with head trophies Bidayuh of Kampung Opar — home of the one and only Malaysian Bidayuh “hero” Paul Nyopis.
In 1978, he captured the scenes of the Great Bau Fire which destroyed all but one wooden block of the town.
He has exclusive photos of the rebuilding of the town in 1980.
His pictures of the “Dayung Boris” female shamans chanting while sitting on a swing with their ritual costumes is a classic.
Joseph was also instrumental in helping form the Sarawak Photographic Society initiated by renowned K F Wong of Anna Studio, who was its first president. Joseph was its secretary.
Joseph added with pride: “I was a protégé of KF. We were always together. In the old days, we had negatives kept in a biscuit tin with silica gel to preserve the material.
As a civil servant, Joseph was an active unionist in the early 1960s. He was a vice president of the Sarawak Government Officers Union (Sagou) and was an advocate of “Borneonisation” before the formation of Malaysia.
“Between 6,000 and 7,000 colonial civil servants supported our move to become an Independent Sarawak before the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.”
“I got into trouble with the Colonial people and was nearly put in cold storage when I was transferred to Sibu for two years as a lecturer at the Sarawak Teachers College.”
When the new education department director Kam Bu Toh from the peninsula took over from his colonial predecessor, Joseph was posted back to Kuching and then to the Bau education office.
He was also put in charge of Serian and Simunjan education department office for four years and then became senior administrative education officer in charge of primary schools and primary school development in Sarawak until he retired in 1984.
I was one of the few outsiders honoured to be invited to Joseph’s 90th birthday celebration at Sarawak Club.
Once again, thank you Uncle Joseph — till we meet again!
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
