The BDC Padang of Bintulu

Aerial photo of Bintulu town, pre-first boom period (1950's - 1978)
The Bintulu District Council Padang or Padang BDC in Malay is the rectangular open space (partly seen) at the bottom most center part of the picture above.  It is surrounded by two Police barracks (seen at the left of the picture) and some government quarters around the padang edge.  A simple pebbled road connects it to the town as seen at the right of the picture.

In the very early days of Bintulu town especially the period before the first boom which started in 1979, there was only one public football field serving the town population of about 5000 people.  This field can be seen in the top picture.  It was maintained by the Bintulu District Council and as such was fondly named as BDC football field of "Padang BDC" in Malay. " Padang" means field or large open space.  It was here that as a young secondary school student I used to play competitive football.

MOOD (seen kneeling at the centre) as captain of the Bintulu Government Seconday School (BGSS) football team C in striped black and red jersey.........photo taken in 1965.

Footballers playing at the BDC Padang in early 1970's ; Note: the Police Barrack is partly seen in the background.

When the first boom catapulted the tiny and sleepy town into a developing and dynamic region, there arose many other public football fields built by the new development authority entrusted to spearhead the town into an industrial showpiece.  I am glad to have played on this humble field in the early 1960's.