The Simunjan District is a district in the Samarahan Division 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 ...

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 ...

, located between Serian and Sri Aman. It borders Sebuyau and Samarahan and lies approximately east-south-east of the state capital

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 ...

. Most of its inhabitants are made up of Malay and

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language The Iban language () is spoken by the Iban, one of the Dayak ethnic groups who live in Brunei, the Indonesian provinc ...

people.

Etymology

There are a few deviations regarding the origin of Simunjan's name. The first being when a Chinese merchant went to dry tobaccos during cloudy weather. Based on this folklore, a Chinese merchant came to Simunjan on a boat known as Wangkang (

Djong (ship) The djong, jong, or jung is a type of sailing ship originating from Java that was widely used by Javanese, Sundanese sailors. The word was and is spelled ''jong'' in its languages of origin, the "djong" spelling was a colonial Dutch romanizatio ...

) to rest. While at Simunjan, he tried to dry his tobaccos in the sun, but the weather was cloudy. A local told them that his "''Jan''" ("tobacco" in Chinese) will be "''Semun''" (or "damp"); "''Semunlah jan'' kau kelak" ("Your tobacco will get damp.") Since this encounter, the place have been known as "Simunjan." Another oral tradition speaks of Simunjan coming from the word "''Semun''" and "''Hujan''" (or "rain".) In this version, the Simunjan people originated from an area known as "Ensengei" that migrated to Simunjan. Most of them worked as miners. While trying to start a match, the match was damp due to the frequent rainfall. Because this area was still unnamed, people combined "''Semun''" and "''Hujan''" to refer this place, hence "Simunjan." Based on another source, Simunjan got its name from "''Burung Munjan"'' ("Munjan Bird.") Burung Munjan was to believe a bird native to Simunjan that was abundant within Gunung Ngeli forest. Simunjan derived from the phrase "''Si Munjan''" (or "The Munjan") hence its name. However, there are limited resources that provide additional details about this version, except for a few mentions from locals. A statue of Burung Munjan was erected around 1990 at Padang Sentral (Central Park) before being moved to Majlis Daerah Simunjan. It is believed that Burung Munjan went extinct due to rampant human activities in Simunjan.

Notable people

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

– spent much of 1855 collecting natural history specimens while guest of the coal mine manager, as recounted in ''The Malay Archipelago: land of the orang-utan...'' * Sapok Biki – Malaysian boxer who won a gold medal during the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

is a Simunjan native.

Climate

Simunjan has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

References

External links

* {{Sarawak