Calling to preserve the old nurses' quarters building located at Jalan Crookshank in Kuching

We support the call for the old nurses' quarters located at Jalan Crookshank in Kuching to be preserved if possible rather than demolished for the proposed flood mitigation project there.

Local folks had voiced their concern on this matter because the quarters is a historical building with sentimental value to those who previously lived or worked there. But the building was slated to be replaced by a water retention pond to aid flood mitigation in the area, particularly for the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) located opposite it.

I have mentioned to our media friends during a recent press conference that it quite unfortunate for such thing to happen because the historical building is going to be demolished. If the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) had proposed a mitigation pond to solve the flooding problem, why was that site chosen?" 

Thus, I have urged the DID to pause the demolition and seek an alternative solution. If it is possible to save the building…then we should do so. If demolishing it is the only way to resolve flooding at SGH, then go ahead with it and I will back it. But if there are options to resolve this problem, go for the alternative because we want to preserve old buildings. 

Sadly it also noted that the department did not consult his ministry about the building's potential heritage value but instead contacted the Museum Department. I was made to understand that it was the previous museum director who had stated the building does not have heritage value…I was shocked when I saw the memo.

Kudos to the Sarawak Heritage Society (SHS) for having called for Sarawak’s government's intervention to save the nurses' quarters as a heritage building. The society had also launched a public petition to save the quarters from demolition, which has received nearly 1,000 signatures recently.

On August 4, our Right Honourable Sarawak Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg said the state government would consider SHS' request to preserve the building. We will look into this matter because I do not know the heritage value of the nurses' quarters, whether it is like the General Post Office or Central Police Station which have been declared as heritage sites.

Apart from serving as a living testimony of medical development in Sarawak, the facility is also a historical monument on the pioneering nursing profession locally and perhaps in our country.