Sibu Heritage Centre - Some Personal View

Sibu Heritage Centre was officially opened this morning by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, the most glamorous local politician, who is also the 2nd Finance Minister and Minister of Environmental & Public Health for the state of Sarawak.

For Sibu people, this is not a newly added structure on town. It's actually one of the landmark building which was once the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) office and public library before the former moved to Wisma Sanyan and the latter to Jalan Keranji.

The building since then being abandoned for many years before the first plan of reconstructing the building had been shown to the public during Sibu Development Expo (SIDEX) 2005, just before 2006 state General Election.

I am not sure how many Siburian remember this, but at that time I was attracted with the suggestion. It said that the old SMC building will be converted to a theater and opera house and the model of the reconstruction  showing the impressive building architecture! (But I was wondering what the hell a theater and opera house can do in a small town like Sibu?)

After waiting for years, this building has not be seen! When the next state election is coming soon, the reconstructing works only began and this is what we have now, the Sibu Heritage Centre. The previous planning totally buried in nowhere and you can see the final product is totally different from the planning.

Well, as an amateur blogger I don't think I am in the position to criticize the decision of those in power. But as a Sibu citizen who love this town, I am a little disappointed and feel of been cheated. Perhaps I put too high hope on the model shown on SIDEX 2005. I thought Sibu would have another landmark that we can proud of.

Anyway, I should always be thankful. Perhaps a heritage centre for Sibu is not a bad idea after all. The place is not fully operate yet. Only its 2nd floor has been opened to the public as Sibu Cultural Heritage Museum. This mini museum was originally placed at Dewan Suarah Sibu but been shifted to this venue.

There are quite a few artistic, unique and modern design structures which made the building and the landscape looks attractive. The main entrance which is made of the combination of woods and glasses with modern artistic design make it eyes-catchy especially in the middle of busy town center.

As it is located in the middle of busy town center, the thing I am worry is the traffic and parking space around the compound. Although just behind this heritage centre there is a multi-storey car park, but as far as Sibu "culture" is concern, parking on the car park is something very "luxury" to do. Parking along the roadside and on the pedestrian street seems to be more practical for a lot of them.

The mini museum on the 2nd floor showing the history about the different ethnics and also their stories in Sibu. But one thing I am pretty disappointed and upset is that it is prohibited to take photo inside the mini museum! There is no notice to be seen, but once I took out my camera, an officer stopped me from doing that. However I still manage to "steal" 2 photos just for my blog readers!

The unfriendliness of the officer is something that really pissed me off. When he saw me about to take photo, he said "Cannot take photo inside here". I replied, "I wanna introduce the place also cannot?". The way he responded to me is really rude and terrible, "They will come here themselves and not you".

Come on! This is a tourism spot! Is this the way you treat visitors? Why can't you advice in a more polite way and please put the sign at the entrance at least to remind the visitors on this matter! The attitude of the officers in charge should change in order to make this a better place for the visitors no matter where they come from!

One thing I really not understand is why they hang the item below (Chinese traditional sedan chair) high above just near the entrance to the mini museum. Isn't this part of the Chinese cultural item? So, why hang outside but not just display inside the exhibition hall? I thought this is a cultural museum and not a "ghost museum"? Any explanation on this?