Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest city in Sarawak, with a population of 356,900 as of 2020. The Miri City Fan was masterplanned by Teo A. Khing Design Consultants (TAK).
Miri is the main tourist gateway to the world-famous UNESCO World Heritage Site, Gunung Mulu National Park; Loagan Bunut National Park; Lambir Hills National Park; and Niah National Park and Miri-Sibuti Coral Reef National Park. The Gunung Mulu National Park with its Sarawak Chamber, which is the largest known cave chamber in the world by area, remains one of the favourite ecotourism destinations in Miri. or simply "Mirek", or "Miriek". This ethnic group are the earliest settlers in the region of Miri Division.
Prehistory
The first foragers visited the West Mouth of Niah Cavelocated southwest of Miri city50,000 years ago when Borneo was connected to the mainland of Southeast Asia. The landscape of Niah Cave was drier and more open than it is now. Prehistoric Niah Cave was surrounded by a mosaic of closed forests with bush, parkland, swamps, and rivers. The foragers were able to survive in the rainforests through hunting, fishing, mollusc collection, and plant gathering. The earliest evidence of human population in the area dates back to 40,000 BC in Niah Cave at Paleolithic period. This is evidenced by the discovery of a Homo sapiens skull nicknamed "Deep Skull" in a deep trench uncovered by Tom Harrisson in 1958, which is the oldest modern human skull in Southeast Asia. The skull probably belongs to a 16- to 17-year-old adolescent girl. as well as with the Mesolithic and Neolithic burial sites inside the Niah Caves.
History
Brooke administration
left|thumbnail|200px|[[Charles Hose advocated Miri oil exploration to Royal Dutch Shell.]]
right|thumbnail|200px|Miri Well No. 1 in 1910
right|thumbnail|200px|Miri street view in 1925
Charles Brooke succeeded James Brooke as the new Rajah of Sarawak in 1868. By 1883, Sultan of Brunei (Sultan Abdul Momin) ceded the Baram region (including Miri) to Charles Brooke. The fourth division of Sarawak was immediately created with the installation of Claude Champion de Crespigny as the first Resident of the Division. It was a small settlement surrounded by mangrove and Nipah palm jungles consisted of 20 scattered houses, a few wooden shops operated by Chinese traders and a lone Arab trader. A fort was built in Claudetown (present day Marudi, to the east of Miri) in 1883. Claudetown became the administrative centre of the division. Mr Claude's administration was helped by two junior officers, 30 rangers, and a few native police. Charles Hose succeeded Mr de Crespigny as the new Resident in 1891 and the fort in Marudi was renamed as "Fort Hose". To restore peace among various ethnic tribes fighting in the Baram region, Charles Hose decided to organise a peace conference at his fort in April 1899. This peace conference also led to the birth of first Baram Regatta, a long boat race competition among the natives which continued to be held until today.
The local population in Miri has indeed started to extract oil from hand-dug wells for centuries. Song Huiyao Jigao, a documentation of the Song dynasty of China, mentions the imports of Borneo camphor and petroleum in the 11th century. In 1882, Mr de Crespigny reported to the Brooke government on 18 hand-dug oil wells in the Miri area. He also recommended that area near Miri River should be thoroughly explored. However, his recommendations were ignored. But when Charles Hose took over the Resident office in 1891, he was interested in Mr de Crespigny's idea and began to collaborate with him. Mr de Crespigny began to map oil seeps around the Miri area, however a consultant geologist from England discouraged the oil exploration in Miri due to poor logistical conditions. After his retirement from administrative positions in Sarawak, Charles Hose went back to England. He later went to London to discuss the idea of oil exploration in Miri with the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company (later became a part of Royal Dutch Shell Company in 1907). Benjamin, a branch manager from the petroleum company, was interested in this idea. Finally in 1909, Rajah Charles Brooke came to London to sign the first Sarawak Oil Mining Lease. Royal Dutch Shell dispatched a senior geologist named Josef Theodor Erb together with Charles Hose back to Miri. Erb started to map Miri oil fields from August 1909 to July 1910. He also identified a location known as "Miri Hill" (now known as "Canada Hill", above sea level) is suitable to act as an anticline for oil drilling.
thumb|200px|right|The Residency Building in Miri was originally used as an administration building for the British before being turned into Japanese headquarters during [[Japanese occupation of British Borneo|their occupation in Miri.]]
Finally, on 10 August 1910, the first oil drilling operation was started. A rig (nicknamed the "Grand Old Lady") made up of wooden derricks and cable tool drilling was used in the operation by Royal Dutch Shell. On 22 December 1910, oil was struck after of drilling at the well. Royal Dutch Shell also founded a subsidiary company named Sarawak Oil Field Ltd, which now operated as Sarawak Shell Berhad. Since then, another 624 land wells have been drilled around Miri until 1972 which are collectively known as the "Miri field". The Miri field is the only onshore field in Sarawak, because oil production has shifted offshore since the late 1950s. The first oil well on Canada Hill (Miri Well No. 1) produced a total of for the next 60 years until its closure on 31 October 1972. The first oil refinery and submarine pipeline was built in Miri in 1914. The oil refinery has since been relocated to Lutong, to the north of Miri, in 1916.
Resident Office moved from Marudi to Miri in 1912. Miri grew as fast as the rate of oil production by the Shell company. In 1920, roads were built in Miri. Bicycles and motorcycles were also bought into the town. Miri became the administrative centre of the entire Baram region in 1929.
Japanese occupation
left|thumbnail|200px|The Brooke government destroyed Lutong oil refinery and storage facilities before the arrival of the Japanese.
right|thumbnail|200px|Damaged oil refinery installations at Lutong in 1945 due to [[Allies of World War II|Allied bombings]]
right|thumbnail|200px|Impact from Allied bombardment on the town
The Brooke government had been actively lobbying for the British government to accept Sarawak as one of its protectorates in an event of a war. By 1888, the British finally agreed to grant the protection to Sarawak. The British dispatched several troops to Sarawak to strengthen its defences in the 1930s. By 1938, under the leadership of Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke, airstrips were constructed in Miri, Kuching, Oya, and Mukah in preparation for an imminent war. However, by 1941, British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force had withdrawn from Sarawak and returned to Singapore. Therefore, the British government advocated a "scorched earth policy" for the Brooke government in the event of a Japanese attack. A Denial Scheme was formulated to destroy oil installations in Miri and Lutong. This was because the coastline measuring from Lutong to Miri was impossible to defend from Japanese landings due to shortage of manpower. By May 1941, 1 Infantry Company from 2/15 Punjab Regiment, 6-inch Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery Battery, and 1 Platoon of Royal Engineers were stationed at Miri to oversee the destruction of the Miri oil fields. In August 1941, an operation was carried out to reduce Miri oil output by 70%.
Soon after the news of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes were seen making reconnaissance flights over Miri. Another flying boat X-33 also damaged a Japanese transport ship.
During the occupation, Miri and Lutong became a periodic subject of Allied air raids and bombings. Food, clothes, and medicine were scarce. Workers of the Japanese oil supply service were used to reconstruct and maintain Lutong Bridge and Lutong airstrip from Allied bombing damage. Petronas also formed a company named Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd which was directly involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas in the country. Petronas also initiated the Baram Delta Gas Gathering (Bardegg) project which involves the collection and compression of gas from five fields, namely Betty, Bekor, Baram, Baronia, and West Lutong, located offshore from Miri. This is to ensure the minimisation of gas loss during oil production. Petronas and Shell are also involved in educational outreach activities such as awarding scholarships to deserving students. Both companies are also involved in Malaysian first rig-to-reef project, in an effort to preserve bio-marine life in the sea offshore Miri. In this project, an abandoned offshore platform was made to become part of the Siwa reef.
Miri Municipal Council has adopted the seahorse as the town's official symbol. It was proposed by the former Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and introduced as part of the "I love Miri campaign" in 1994. The seahorse is chosen because of its distinctive figure with gentle and graceful motion. These characteristics describe multiple ethnic and cultural identities of Miri which live in peace and harmony with good values of life. It also denotes the location of Miri town near to the sea and coral reefs and the city status as a resort paradise.
Miri was elevated to city status on 20 May 2005 and became Malaysia's tenth city. Miri is also the first town in Malaysia which is not a state capital to be granted city status. Miri City Day is celebrated each year on 20 May since it was declared by the past Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. A time capsule containing news article of the day and a souvenir book was buried at Petroleum Science Museum at Canada Hill, Miri. The time capsule will be opened 100 years later on 20 May 2105. An effort has also been made to develop Miri as liveable resort city.
Governance
thumb|right|The Miri City Council building.
Miri City currently elects one member of parliament from the Miri parliamentary seat (P.219) into the Parliament of Malaysia. The city also elects 3 state assemblymen into the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, namely Piasau, Pujut, and Senadin.
Local authority and city definition
Miri was formerly administered by the Miri Municipal Council for 24 years. It was upgraded to Miri City Council (MCC) on 20 May 2005, with Adam Yii Siew Sang as its current mayor, with a total population of 290,274 and total area of . Miri Resident Office and Miri District Office are located at Kingsway Road, Miri City.
Geography
thumb|left|Miri City as seen from satellite image
thumb|[[Weather radar station on Canada Hill in Miri]]
Miri is situated on the alluvial plain of the Miri River on the western shore of northern Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Because of the prevailing southerly off-shore current, beach drift has built up the Peninsula Road as a barrier beach between the Miri River and the shore causing a "Yazoo effect" where the river runs parallel to the coast before breaking through into the South China Sea. The city is predominately located on the inland (east) side of the Miri River with only a few scattered residential neighbourhoods, a Golf Club and a small airstrip on the Peninsula Road.
Climate
Miri has a tropical rainforest climate. There are two monsoon seasons: the southwest monsoon, which is the dry season from April to September, and the northeast monsoon, which is the wet season from October to March. The annual rainfall is around . The air temperature is between to the whole year round. But on rare occasions, the temperature can go down to to especially in the months of November, December and January. The lowest temperature ever recorded was in December 2010 when the mercury dropped down to .
Demography
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File:San Ching Temple.jpg|San Ching Tian Temple
File:Masjid Nur Hijrah - panoramio.jpg|Nur Hijrah Mosque
</gallery>
People from Miri are called "Mirians".
The growth of Miri population is shown below: