Krokop Cemeteries

Aerial view of the cemetery in the foreground, Baong River on the very lower left, Kampong Sungai Baong on the lower right, Miri River and Peninsula in the background.

The Krokop Cemeteries consist of a Malay/Muslim cemetery and the Chinese cemetery next to one another right along the banks of Miri River.

The Malay/Muslim cemetery is located on the southern side, at the Baong rivermouth bridge. The Chinese cemeteries are on the northern side, and both go along Miri River, and Malva Road, ending at Krokop 1 roundabout. Road expansion was limited in the area and during the last major road expansion left little margin for some tombs, which ended up right against the road. There were very large trees in the area providing a lot of shade - but they were cut down sometime in the mid 2000s, as their roots were upending and breaking some tombs and also creeping into the roads, posing a hazard for road users or pedestrians alike.

Miri River could be seen in the background.

During funeral processions, or festivals such as the Tomb Festival, or 'Ching Ming' Festival (which among other things - usually involves visiting and cleaning of ancestral graves and honoring the the dearly departed) traffic in this area would slow to a crawl as there is no place for visitors to park cars other than the roadsides.

These cemeteries date back to as far back as the early 20th century, used for burial of Krokop and nearby residents when Miri had far more land-based oil wells. One such oil well was known for its close proximity to the cemeteries that they had plenty of superstitious stories to go around it. This article is from the web site miriresortcity dot com - this sentence is here to prevent blatant plagarism. That well was known as Well no.23 and as a result, for quite a long time until even the late 1970s the number "23" was considered taboo to use. The oil well was eventually removed, the land which it was on then became an Esso petrol station for a few decades, which was eventually shut down in the late 1990s and now a privately owned building sits on it).

Other than Well no.23, because the road that runs through is surrounded by the cemeteries and is the shortest way to some Krokop areas, people tend to use it to save time, and naturally there are many who found themselves spooked by some events happening to them, resulting in plenty of supernatural stories of all sorts involving that road, although they could never be verified. For more stories like these please also see: THE Haunted House of Krokop, which is unrelated to these riverside cemeteries.

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