Old Photos

I posted this postcard at the beginning of the month asking where anyone knew where this was. I guessed Jalan Sultan. Nobody was able to confirm that. Someone told me it is not even Brunei.

Yesterday, one Minister said that this is Jalan Sultan in the 1930s. And it is confirmed by our national historian that this indeed was Jalan Sultan. These very Westernised looking buildings were unfortunately bombed to smitherens by the Allied Forces when they wanted to take over Brunei from the Japanese in the second world war. The Allied Forces also bombed our main mosque. I find it disturbing that the Allied Forces had to carpet bombed the entire city. This was indeed a pity as those buildings and the entire Jalan Sultan looked quite refreshing in those days. This photograph came out of a book entitled 'The Postal History of British Borneo'. It's quite a useful book if you are interested in the history of the postal services.

Another interesting photograph from that book is this one on Kuala Belait. Taken around the 1930s, this photograph showed the older side of Kuala Belait.

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