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The Premier acknowledged that he had received a letter from SHS seeking his assistance in halting the destruction of the nurses’ quarters. – Photo by Galileo Petingi
KUCHING (Aug 4): The Sarawak government will look into the request from Sarawak Heritage Society (SHS) for the old nurses’ quarters at Jalan Crookshank here to be preserved for heritage purposes, said Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
The Premier acknowledged that he had received a letter from SHS seeking his assistance in halting the destruction of the nurses’ quarters.
“We will look into it but in terms of the heritage value of the nurses’ quarters, I do not know.
“If it is like a post office or a police station, these have been declared as a heritage site including Chung Hua Middle School No.4 (in which the existing building will be turned into a heritage area).
“It has to have historical value but this building is just to train nurses,” he told reporters when met after officiating the First Governor of Sarawak: Tun Openg biography at Hikmah Exchange Event Centre here today.
SHS president Datin Rosemarie Wong-Jabu at the society’s annual general meeting on Saturday called for the Sarawak government’s intervention in ceasing the plan to demolish the historical nurses’ quarters at the junction of Jalan Crookshank and Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg here to be repurposed as a water retention pond to aid in flood mitigation for the area and its vicinity, particularly the Sarawak General Hospital which is located just opposite the site.
She said the nurses’ quarters is an integral element of Sarawak’s heritage and that it was unnecessary to demolish the building as the front element of the building can well be preserved as it is still structurally sound.
She also said that the building can be upgraded for elegance and possible commercial use such as accommodation for visiting tennis competitors as the site is within walking distance to the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association tennis courts, hospital patients and visitors, and/or a small museum to recognise the contribution to Sarawak’s society by its nursing community.
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