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Maradong and Julau District Council History

Introduction

Maradong and Julau District Council (Binatang District Council) was established in 1^st January 1956 under the provisions of the Local Authority order ,1955 in line with the appointment of 15 Community Leaders traditionally by the Governor of the Colony at that time. They have formed member/ membership of the Council under the Chairman appointed based on the position of District Officer.

The first group of 15 Councillors were elected by secret vote which was essentially an attempt at the poll by adult home taxpayers in the local area. This election is to replace members of the Council who have been appointed and the Chairman who served before that in force on 1^st January 1960. Later, 14 people contesting for political parties and an independent person were elected in the General Election, which led to the election of Sarawak independence through its participation in the Federation of Malaysia in 1963.

This election has been carried out by secret vote and voting has been done by adults in general. New members elected through this election have taken over the place of the previous Council Members effective 1^st July 1963.

Initially, the Binatang District Council rented the ground floor of a private shop house as the General Office for its management and has continuously used the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce meeting room for the holding of the General Meeting and the Council's Permanent Committee. However, with the establishment of the Council Office in the early 1960s, all the management and activities were fully implemented here.

The proceeds of the Council at that time rely solely on tax collection on property (taxes imposed on the value of all properties situated within the Binatang Town except the Malay Village), customs tax (i.e., the head tax is charged $ 1.00 on each person adult Malay or Melanau; and $ 1.00 door tax imposed on each room for the Iban longhouse) and SES equivalent taxation (i.e $ 1.00 tax applied on non-bumiputra adult male). The Council relies heavily on and expect a grant from the government.

However, the customary tax and SES equation (equality less) tax has been discontinued when the tax is imposed on any premises in the area on 1st January 1957. 

The Sarawak State Government has also returned to the State revenue council including tax collected by the Council on behalf of the government from rubber trader licenses as well as Firearms and ammunition.

In fact, the tax according to the customs custom collected by the Council is also a similar result returned to the Council.

From the beginning, the Council has taken over the last functions of the Municipal Board of Binatang (Municipal Binatang Board) for all routine services such as general purpose, scavenging, street lighting, road maintenance, firefighting, control of dangerous trade, place entertainment, dining outlets, coffee shops, carbonated beverages, petrol storage, hawkers, non-motorized vehicles, dogs, premises buildings and market allocations, public toilets and animal slaughterhouses.

The Council also took over from the District Officers several functions of services such as licensing for village shops, isolated shops, weights verification. The Council has also taken over the management of primary school Iban from the Lower Rejang Dayak Local Authority.

At the same time, the Council began providing maternal and child health services. The Council also takes over the responsibilities of managing primary schools and assisting the Government Aided Primary Schools. Then, the responsibilities of the management of primary schools and assisting the Government Aided Primary Schools have been submitted to the Education Department on 1^st January 1973. However, the responsibility for maternal and child health services has been submitted to the Department of Health and Medical Services on 1^st January 1979. The Council Fire Department was handed over to the Malaysian Fire Service Department on 15^th May 1981.

Binatang Municipal Board and Lower Rejang Dayak Local Authority are two (2) Local Authority agencies for the Binatang District Council at that time. The Binatang Municipal Board was established in 1934 under the Municipal Ordinance for Binatang Town [now Bintangor] with its representatives nominated in an informal manner and chaired by the District Officer. The function of the Board was discontinued during the reign of the Japanese Army in the State of Sarawak and then restored as early as the war ended at that time. While Local Rejang Dayak Authority was established in 1950 under the Local Authorities (Constitution) Order of Binatang District [now Meradong District] and Sarikei District.