Concern over heritage building
Published on: Wednesday, January 04, 2023
By: David Thien
Chartered Bank building (circled) beside the former Lands and Surveys building ruins where the ceremony to mark North Borneo’s handover to the Crown by the Chartered Company took place in 1946. Sabah as it was later known was the last territory to be added to the British Empire.
Kota Kinabalu: The Standard Chartered Bank here moved its operation to Shell Plaza, effective last month.Its historical building built in the few years after WWII and in operation since the 1950s was sold off to a property developer firm many years ago.
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Many members of the public hope that the historical building will be preserved and not demolished and rebuilt as a multi storey tower block like the Hap Seng Group did for their office to be today’s Hyatt Centric to take advantage of the state capital’s need for hotel rooms.
“I can see that it is more well-constructed to outlast the former State Library building which was demolished for being unsafe for public safety,” said C.Y. Voo, a retired banker.
He said according to historical records, the Jesselton CBD during the then post-WWII era corresponded roughly to the area stretching from the present-day burnt down Welfare Department building formerly lands office and first hq of Chartered Company in 1910 next to the vacated Chartered Bank and the Tong Hing row of shops to the demolished State Library.
The back and side of the Chartered Bank building in Jesselton in 1950 as seen from Beach Street before the area street’s reclamation, today’s Jalan Pantai blocks of shops.
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Going back to the history of Malaysia’s oldest bank, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd (StanChart) which celebrated its 148th anniversary, it all started with the setting up its first branch in Penang in 1875.
Known then as the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China with its first Malaya branch on Beach Street, Penang. It is the oldest branch of any bank in Malaya.
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On Borneo, the first branch was opened in Kuching in 1924 and in Jesselton in 1950, followed by other branches in Sandakan in 1956, and subsequently in Kudat, Lahad Datu and Labuan. Jesselton was named after Sir Charles Jessel, the vice-chairman of the North Borneo Company, who came from an illustrious Jewish family who founded the Merchant Bank in London. The bank helped to bankroll some of the Chartered Company’s earlier operations.
The town was renamed Kota Kinabalu in September 1967 and attained city status in 2000.
After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the merger of Standard Bank and Chartered Bank was completed in 1969. The Chartered Bank in Malaysia changed its name to Standard Chartered Bank in line with its global name change in 1985. Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd began operations as a locally incorporated bank with a local board in 1994.
Before Merdeka, G.R. Hedley, Resident West Coast said in the local newspapers he believed that average standard of living in North Borneo could be compared very favourably with any other country in South-east Asia.
Following is what Hedley said, as reported:
“Some of you will remember this town in 1946 and just afterwards. (Post-WWII)
“At that time, in company with all other towns in North Borneo, there were only rough plank and attap roofed shops and there were only some 200 of these.
“Now as you can see, quite a fair proportion of Jesselton has been rebuilt with wide streets and a very attractive standard of buildings, which should be a source of pride in any town in the world.
“Furthermore, instead of the 240 one storey old shops which we had in 1951, we now have 190 several storied new business-houses completed, and a further 130 or so started or about to be started before the end of this year.
“Those are pretty satisfactory figures on their own, but when you couple them with something similar in virtually every town and township in the country then they are truly remarkable.
“Trade figures reflect the same trend – the volume of North Borneo’s trade of 1947 was $37 million, in 1957 it was $242.5 million and by 1961 it leapt forwards to $435.3 million with a favourable balance of $5.3 million.
“I know I have talked glibly of the increasing progress and prosperity of this country — it is increasing so rapidly and I believe the average standard of living can be compared very favourably with any other country in South East Asia. But this prosperity has been brought about not only by the efforts of the Banks and of Government but also by businessmen and agriculturists of the country.
“On this Coast we have essentially an agricultural economy. In 1956 there were roughly 115,000 acres of agricultural land alienated in this Residency. Last year, only five years later, our farmers have more than doubled the figure and we now have 251,000 acres of agricultural land. We have some 1,000 families in various small resettlement schemes being helped at the moment and we are developing over 5,000 acres of new wet padi land all in this Residency.
“With further recourse to aerial survey methods we hope to be able to survey many more thousands of acres of agricultural land this year, much of which is already developed. I believe I am correct in saying incidentally, that our Survey Department has been virtually pioneering in this new method of detailed land survey and highly successful it is proving to be too.
“Roads, schools, and clinics all follow this development. So although they are not as widely published as are some of the larger schemes such as in Tawau, Keningau or Labuk, yet we are carrying out rural development through the cooperation of many departments in this Residency, on quite a fair sized scale, and this all adds to the prosperity, indirectly, of Jesselton.
“When we started off after the War, we only had the old State Bank. Before long, however, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Chartered Bank, both showing great and also justified faith in the future of this country, opened branches first of all in Jesselton and then in many other towns.”
Many members of the public here hope that the old Chartered Bank building will be acquired to be the city’s museum building that will attract many local and foreign visitors at its prime location to view the city’s growth since 1900.
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