By Jacqueline David
KUCHING: A talk on ‘Sarawak in Global History’organised by Unimas, and in collaborations with Institute of Borneo Studies and Pustaka Negeri Sarawak has attracted more than 40 participants from the public, pensioners and university students.
The speaker, Dr Syed Khairudin Aljunied, a lecturer from National University of Singapore (NUS) disclosed that Santubong was a super power in its heydays in the early 10th century due to its strong relationship with emerging powers of that time such as China.
“There are a lot of lessons in how Santubong build strong relationship with emerging powers centuries ago, furthermore ‘Negeri Santubong’ was a flourishing port city that was linked especially with China and also the rest of South East Asia. Evidence has it that some people said that it began as early as the 10th century.
“But I think reliable sources could be between 12th to the 14th century and that was when South East Asia was highly connected with China. Coupled with artifacts found in Santubong and the Hindu temple, we can make tentative conclusions that there was also a strong relationship with India,” he explained.
“These two powerful kingdoms in the past were already coming here, of course to trade but more importantly to build small settlement in the region and interact with the local community,” he said when met after the talk about Sarawak in Global History held at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak today (June 15).
In this talk, Dr Syed Khairudin illustrated on how Sarawak’s past was entwined with the regional and global history, establishing connections across people and spaces in the archipelago and beyond.
He added, it was crucial for Sarawak to link Santubong’s past glory to develop the state to become an economic power house.
“Hence, Sarawak must be attentive to the role of China and India in terms of trade alliances, diplomacy, ideas, innovations and technologies in the new economy.
“In constructing its PCDS 2030, Sarawak needs to pay close attention to its partner which is just about two hours away by flight.
“Singapore being one of them, the relationship between Sarawak and Singapore has always been very strong, whereby Singapore can benefit a lot from Sarawak, likewise the state can learn more from Singapore,” he concluded.
