Sitiawan Settlement Museum

This Sitiawan Settlement Museum in Kampung Koh, Sitiawan, Perak, reminded me of Gopeng Heritage House. Whilst the Heritage House in Gopeng, Perak is home to artifacts that reflected life of the community in Gopeng back in the tin mining era, this Sitiawan Settlement Museum is home to history from a specific Chinese clan, the Fuzhou.

This building which is now the Sitiawan Settlement Museum was built in 1935 as a home for the pastors; the Pioneer Methodist Church is just next door. However, it was converted into a museum on 7th September, 2003. It is fully-funded and managed by the Methodist Church.

During the time of the influx of immigrants to South East Asia, many Fuzhou people (also known locally as Hock Chew), who came to Malaya, settled down in Yong Peng, Sitiawan and Ayer Tawar in Peninsular Malaysia and also Sibu, Miri, Sarikei, Bintulu in East Malaysia. In fact, Sibu is now known as the “New Fuzhou” because of the huge population of Fuzhou residents.

Although the items on display at the Sitiawan Settlement Museum are not that ‘aged’, it still makes quite an educational visit, particularly if you are interested in the Fuzhou clan and dialect, because it records the history of the clan’s settlement in Malaysia. The museum, which has more than a thousand items on display, receives more than three thousand visitors annually.