SERIAN: A photo of a water buffalo statue in the city recently amused the people in social media for having a peculiar appearance.
Rumours said the statue was built before the year 2000, and since then, the effects of time have worn on it.
The paint was chipping, the metal was rusting, and the whole thing looked like it was ready to collapse.
But recently, the town’s authorities decided to give the statue a facelift. They repainted it, giving it a new look.
The paint job was done in a bright colour that made the water buffalo stand out. It was an unexpected change, and a member of the public quickly noticed it.
As if it looked like it was in shock, the water buffalo quickly became an internet sensation. People shared pictures of it and posted funny stories about it.
Being from Serian, I personally do not recall thinking the statue of the water buffalo is silly.
The town of Serian was delighted, and the statue has become a local landmark – although it was never a new landmark. The water buffalo of Serian is now a symbol of the town’s resilience and good humour.
It was a simple gesture, but it’s one that has had a huge impact. For the people of Serian, the statue is a reminder that no matter how hard life gets, there’s always something to smile about.
The photo of the statue even got its place on social media from the peninsular. Looking at the comments on Facebook pages, the photo surely made folk laugh.
One of the comments that caught my attention was this one man from Serian, saying that the statue has been there for many years.
But due to current repainting work the man with the account name of Julian Patrick said the water buffalo had suddenly become famous.
“Hope authority will not remove the statue after it being viral like this. It brings a lot of childhood memories to us. Anyone knows where the tiger statue is next to it?” he said.
Ah yes. I remember that there was a tiger statue next to it. I used to climb the tiger statue because it was easier to do so as the water buffalo is too big.
The tiger landmark was no longer in its place after the local authorities decided to build a community park in the area.
Meanwhile, an account goes by the name Kenneth Jampang also said that the buffalo statue has been around for a long time, since the 1990s.
“I used to walk past it when I was a child to go to the clinic. Please note that it is not a new landmark to Bandar Serian. Just for the landscape,” he said.
Well, Kenneth was not wrong. The fact is that Serian town is well known for its durians, which are often regarded as the best in Sarawak.
Due to this, the Serian District Council decided to build a massive monument of the “king of fruits” in the midst of the market square and at the Serian roundabout.
The durian monument at the roundabout was later relocated to Tarat, which is situated along the Pan Borneo highway, to greet visitors as they arrive in the Serian town.
Initially, it was reported that the monument was temporarily removed to make way for the construction of a flyover for the Pan Borneo highway project.
Now that the construction of the flyover has been completed, there was no sign that the durian monument would be placed back in its original location at the roundabout.
Back to our main subject – the silly-look water buffalo – many said that they don’t understand what is the significance of the animal to Serian.
I made a visit to a nearby shop that has been operating since I was a child. One of the owners of a hardware store said the statue has been there even since his father operated the shop 18 to 20 years ago.
The old man, who wants to stay anonymous, said he didn’t understand why many famous Facebook page calling the statue as a new landmark to Serian.
“Since my father ran this shop, the statue has been there. It looked worn out until it was recently repainted,” he said.
While I was taking a photo of the water buffalo, I stumbled across a family who were taking a photo with the statue.
Mohd Fikri was taking a photo of his son and niece on the statue.
He said he was just taking a family photo while waiting for his other family member to attend a clinic visit across from the water buffalo statue and had no idea that it had become an internet sensation.
“This statue has been here since I was little. Didn’t think it would go viral on social media,” he said.
At the time of this writing, the New Sarawak Tribune is still reaching out to the local council and district officer to comment on the landmark.
