Mount Santubong () is a mountain in the

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n state of

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

and highest point of the city of

Kuching Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak Ri ...

. It is located on the Damai Peninsular, about 30 km north of the city center.

Biological importance

In 1855 a British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace

who was staying at Santubong while collecting specimens in Sarawak, wrote a paper while called "Sarawak Law

which can be considered as a precursor to the biological theory of evolution.

Ascent

Mount Santubong lies within the Santubong National Park. Entry to the park is now via the temporary Sarawak Forestry Corporation park headquarter entrance. The issue of custodian of park entry has now been put to rest by the relevant authorities

History

Mount Santubong's name may have been derived from the Iban word for coffin, but various Chinese derivations have also been suggested (San approximating the word for mountain in many dialects), as well Bidayuh, in whose lands the names of many hills start with S. Investigators have made ascents of the steep mountain to find places of archaeological interest. Around its foot are signs of Hindu occupation which are hundreds of years old which have been investigated by the Sarawak Museu

It was also the home of the early Sarawak Malays until they were driven up to Kuching in about the 1850s owing to continual attacks from the powerful Saribas Dayaks. The mountain is made of sandstone, although it has been confused by many with limestone

tower karst Tower karst are tall rock structures made up of soluble rock such as limestone. Tower karst forms as near-vertical joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures i ...

, or a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

: smaller versions of both appear not far inland. For a long time it interested those in search of gold but without success. There used to be an old theory that all the gold in the First Division of Sarawak lies in a straight line between Bau and Santubong which has some support in that there is a certain amount of gold in the mountain since fishermen in the past used to depend for their livelihood during the landas season, when the sea was too rough for fishing, by panning gold in the small mountain streams from which they could expect to gain an average of twenty dollars a month.

In popular culture

*The legend of Mount Santubong is the subject of a song, ''Puteri Santubong'', which was composed and originally sang by Haji Madzhi Johari in 1974-1975. The song became popular after former Information Minister, the late Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat proposed that folk songs from all the states be compiled and broadcast almost every day through

Radio Televisyen Malaysia Radio Televisyen Malaysia (, Jawi: ; abbreviated as RTM, stylised as rtm), also known as the Department of Broadcasting, Malaysia (; Jawi: ) is the national public broadcaster of Malaysia, headquartered at Angkasapuri, Kuala Lumpur. Establi ...

radio and television channels.

References

External links