The Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) was pioneered by Hudson Southwell together with two fellow missionaries Frank Davidson and Carey Tolley of Australia. They boarded an old cargo steamer from Melbourne in early October 1928 bound for Singapore. Travelling with them was Alexander Henderson, a pioneer of the Southeast Asian timber trade who had offered to help establish a base on the island of Borneo. Henderson left the team the following year. On 12 November 1928, Southwell and Henderson landed in
Kuching, Borneo. The
Rajah,
Charles Vyner Brooke, gave permission to establish a mission in
Sarawak and recommended starting in the
Limbang area to the north-east. Davidson and Tolley were to join them later. Sarawak, together with
Sabah and the Federation of Malayan States came together and formed Malaysia in 1963. With the increasing use of the Malaysian national language, Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) soon became
Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB). Today, SIB churches may be found in Sarawak, Sabah and
Peninsular Malaysia. ==Bibliography==