PETALING JAYA: The Sarawak government will build a new Astana Negeri, the official residence of the state’s governor.
State tourism, creative industry and performing arts minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the current Astana, overlooking the Sarawak River, was 153 years old and slightly run-down.
The existing Astana was built by the second Sarawak Rajah, Charles Brooke, in 1870 as a gift to his wife, Margaret Alice Lili de Windt.
“We want to turn the old building into another museum, where we can showcase a lot of artefacts related to the past governors,” The Borneo Post quoted him as saying.
Karim said the construction of the new Astana would be under the purview of the Sarawak premier’s office, adding that planning for the new building was at an advanced stage and that a site had been identified.
“The new Astana will have a very nice structure and a building that will make us very proud.”
He expects the state government to be criticised over the new Astana as the opposition in the state had already criticised the construction of a RM30 million flagpole in Petra Jaya that is slated to be the tallest in Malaysia. - FMT
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