text: Following Wong's departure, Reverend James Hoover assumed responsibility for managing the Sibu settlement and introduced the first rubber seedlings to Sibu in 1904. He erected a Methodist church in 1905, later renamed Masland Methodist Church in 1925. Hoover remained in the Rajang basin for an additional 31 years until his demise from malaria in 1935, while the construction of Lau King Howe Hospital was completed in 1936 to cater to the growing population of Sibu. The hospital served the people of Sibu for 58 years until 1994 when a new hospital was built in Sibu.
  By 1919, the influence of the Chinese Civil War extended to Sarawak, with the Kuomintang establishing its initial branches in Sibu and Kuching. The then-reigning Rajah, Charles Brooke, opposed such political involvement by the local Chinese population and expelled several local Kuomintang leaders. However, his successor, Charles Vyner Brooke, displayed a more receptive stance toward the activities of the local Chinese, who also engaged in fundraising to support the Kuomintang's resistance against Japanese invasion on the Chinese mainland.
  Following the conclusion of World War II, local Kuomintang leaders advocated for Sarawak's transfer to British control as a Crown Colony. This move encountered opposition from local communist leaders, leading to frequent clashes between the two factions. The Kuomintang branches in Sarawak were ultimately disbanded in 1949 when the party lost the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party and retreated to Taiwan. Nevertheless, tensions and conflicts between the two groups persisted until 1955, with the colonial British government banning the Kuomintang's newspaper in May 1951, and the communist newspaper ceasing publication in 1955 due to financial difficulties.