Kingdom of Sarawak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Kingdom of Sarawak was a state in Borneo established in 1841 by
James Brooke receiving independent kingdom status from the
Sultanate of Brunei
as a reward for helping fight piracy and insurgency. Its statehood and
identity as a sovereign country was first recognised by the United
States in 1850 and then the United Kingdom in 1863. In 1888
Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, the successor of James Brooke, accepted a British protectorate, which it remained until 1946, when the third ruler
Charles Vyner Brooke ceded his rights to the United Kingdom.
Sarawak gained its independence from the British on 22 July 1963 and formed the
Federation of Malaysia together with
Singapore,
North Borneo and the
Federation of Malaya on 16 September 1963.
History
A sketch of Pangeran Raja Muda Hashim.
Sarawak was part of the
Sultanate of Brunei in
Borneo. During the reign of Pangeran Indera Mahkota, Sarawak was in chaos from piracy and insurgency. Sultan
Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827–1852) the Sultan of Brunei, ordered
Pengiran Muda Hashim
in 1839 to restore order and it was during this time that James Brooke
visited Sarawak. Pangeran Muda Hashim initially requested assistance but
James Brooke refused. Brooke was by then an independent adventurer with
his own ship having left military employment in India after recovering
from serious battle injuries. In 1841, James Brooke paid another visit
to Sarawak and this time he agreed to assist Pangeran Muda Hashim. The
success in defeating the pirates and insurgents led to the signing of a
treaty in 1841 ceding as a reward Sarawak and Serian to James Brooke.
Thereafter, on 24 September 1841, Pangeran Muda Hashim bestowed the
title Rajah on James Brooke. He effectively became the Rajah of Sarawak
and founded the White Rajah Dynasty of Sarawak, later extending his
administration through an agreement with the Sultan of Brunei. The
uniqueness of this arrangement in becoming a Rajah without any intent of
colonising or imperialism mesmerised the British public's imagination
and gave further impetus to exploration and rise to "man who would be
king" adventurers in exotic locales.
James Brooke, who was to become the first
White Rajah, received a sizeable tract of land from the
Sultan. As time went on Sarawak's size would increase tremendously as more territory was leased or annexed from the Sultanate of
Brunei.
The evolution of Malaysia
Japanese invasion
During
World War II, Sarawak, as a British
protectorate, was brought into the war against
Nazi Germany, though as in
World War I
it had little direct involvement with the conflict aside from providing
war materials. Resources for the defence of Sarawak, which was known to
be a strategically important goal in the event of an expected Japanese
attack, were not available because they were all needed for the defence
of the home country. When the
Pacific War
began in December 1941, Sarawak was brought into the war against Japan
on the side of the Allies as part of the British Empire. Sarawak
depended upon British protection as she had very limited armed forces,
although the
Sarawak Rangers were mobilised. In the late 1930s, an air field was constructed near Kuching which could be used as a base for the
Royal Air Force
in the event of war with Japan, but this proved to be of little use due
to the lack of British aircraft available in the Far East. A detachment
of
Indian Army infantry (2/15th Punjabi regiment) and some anti-aircraft guns were futilely dispatched to Sarawak
[1] to support the Sarawak Rangers, as
Sarawak was quickly overrun
due to the lack of adequate protection. Rajah Vyner was visiting
Australia at the time of the invasion and was unable to return to
Sarawak until its liberation in 1945, despite his attempts to return and
launch commando raids to fight the Japanese in the jungle. Sarawak's
small merchant marine was used by the British in the Far Eastern
campaign, with the sinking of the
SS Vyner Brooke resulting in the infamous
Banka Island massacre.
A government in exile was formed, although it proved ineffectual due to
the lack of contact with Sarawak. Sarawak, along with the rest of
Borneo, was liberated by the
Australian Army in 1945.
Cession to the Crown Colony of Sarawak
After
World War II, Vyner Brooke ceded Sarawak to the
Colonial Office for a sizeable pension for him and his three daughters. Charles' nephew,
Anthony Brooke, who as designated heir bore the title of
Rajah Muda, initially opposed cession to the Crown along with a majority of the native members of the
Council Negri, or parliament.
Duncan Stewart,
the second British governor of Sarawak, was assassinated in the
resulting unrest. As of now there is no serious movement for the
restoration of the monarchy.
Demographics
Sarawak is notably different from
peninsular Malaysia and even
Sabah in that its ethnic groups are more varied due to the large proportion of tribal peoples such as
Dayaks. Chinese migration was encouraged at various times by the Brookes.
Government
The three
White Rajahs of Sarawak were:
When James Brooke first arrived in Sarawak it was governed as a
vassal state of the Sultanate of Brunei. When he assumed control of the
original area around
Kuching
in the 1840s much of the system of government was based on the
ineffective Bruneian model. James set about reforming the government and
eventually creating a civil service known as the
Sarawak Service
which recruited European, mainly British officers to run district
outstations. He invited the Anglican Mission to set up church and
schools, the diocese of Borneo with its own Archbishop. Particularly,
the mission through
Father McDougall set up the St. Thomas Anglican School, ( See:
SMK St. Thomas)
in 1848, still the oldest established European school in Southeast
Asia. Thus, the residents became exposed to and trained in many British
and European methods and culture. However, James retained many of the
customs and symbols of neighbouring Malay monarchies and combined them
with his own style of absolute rule. James Brooke was very particular in
ensuring the local customs and beliefs of local indigenous races like
the Dayaks, Ibans, etc. were maintained and respected. As the Rajah, he
had the power to introduce laws and also acted as chief judge in
Kuching. He selected his successor, his nephew, Charles Brooke who
became the Second Rajah. Charles Brooke was responsible for acquiring
more land from the Sultan of Brunei which basically led to the land size
of Sarawak today.
He was succeeded by Charles Vyner Brooke as the Third Rajah. While
the manner of his departure was controversial, Charles Vyner nonetheless
instituted significant political reforms, including ending the absolute
rule of the Rajah in 1941 ahead of the Japanese invasion by granting
new powers to the
Council Negri.
Military
Sarawak Rangers
The Sarawak Rangers were a para-military force founded in 1872 by the
second Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke. They evolved
from the fortmen which were raised to defend
Kuching
in 1846. The Sarawak Rangers were first commanded by a William Henry
Rodway (1836-1924), a trainee dentist whose only military training had
been in the Torquay Volunteers when he was recruited to Kuching in 1862.
The later became skilled in jungle warfare and general policing duties,
being equipped with various western rifles, cannons and native
weaponry. This small force also manned a series of forts around the
country, performed ceremonial duties and acted as the Rajahs' personal
guard.
Aside from protecting Sarawak's borders, they were used to fight any
rebels and were engaged in a number of campaigns during their history.
The Sarawak Rangers were disbanded for a few years in the 1930s, only to
be reformed and mobilised for the
Second World War in which they attempted to defend Sarawak from
Japanese invasion in 1942 at the start of the
Pacific War. After the abdication of
Charles Vyner Brooke in 1946, the Sarawak Rangers became a colonial unit under direct British control and saw action in both the
Malayan Emergency and the
Borneo Confrontation.
Battle off Mukah
Jolly Bachelor engaging pirates off T.Datu, Sarawak, 1843
In November 1862 two Sarawakian warships under the Rajah Muda, Captain Brooke Brooke,
attacked a force of
Moro Pirates in six large
proas when they raided the town of
Mukah. Over the course of two or three hours, Brooke with his
steamer Rainbow, and his
gunboat Jolly Bachelor,
sank four of the pirate ships either by cannon fire or by ramming them.
Another was damaged by near hits and abandoned by her crew. In the end
only a few Sarawakians were killed or wounded while the Moros lost
several killed or wounded.
[2]
Economy
By and large the Brookes pursued a policy of paternalism, aimed at
protecting the 'native peoples' from capitalist exploitation but also
preventing the same levels of development which were evident in some
other parts of the
British Empire.
While James laid much of the groundwork for the expansion of Sarawak,
it was his nephew Charles who was the great builder, both in terms of
public buildings, forts and extending the borders of the state.
The Brookes were determined to prevent the peoples of Sarawak from being exploited by Western business interests and formed The
Borneo Company Limited
to assist in managing the economy. The Borneo Company Limited was also
to provide military support to the Brookes during events such as the
Chinese Rebellion when one of the company Steamers,
The Sir James Brooke was used to assist in the recapture of Kuching.
The architectural legacy of the dynasty can be seen in many of the
country's nineteenth century and colonial heritage buildings. In
Kuching these include
The Astana, or governor's residence, the Old
Sarawak Museum,
Fort Margherita,
the Square Fort, the Old Courthouse and Brooke Memorial. Several key
buildings from the Brooke period have been demolished, including the
offices and warehouses of Borneo Company.
The country started issuing its own coinage from 1841 when it issued a
one keping coin. This was later demonetised and cents were introduced
from 1863 onward, in denominations ranging from a quarter cent to 50
cents. These were initially subdivisions of the Spanish dollar which was
legal tender in the country, until a Sarawak dollar was introduced.
The dollar was the currency of Sarawak from 1858 to 1953. It was
subdivided into 100 cents. The dollar remained at par with the Straits
dollar and its successor the Malayan dollar, the currency of Malaya and
Singapore, from its introduction until both currencies were replaced by
the Malaya and British Borneo dollar in 1953.
[3]
Culture
Modern
Kuching still boasts many businesses and attractions which capitalise upon the era of the
White Rajahs like
The Astana, Fort Margherita, St. Thomas's Cathedral and School, and the world famous
Sarawak Museum. The Brooke Dockyard, which was founded in the period of Rajah Charles, is still in operation, as is the original
Sarawak Museum. The James Brooke Café and the "Royalist", a
pub named after Rajah James's Schooner, pay tribute to the Brookes.
See also
References and sources
- References
Klemen, L (1999–2000). "The Invasion of British Borneo in 1942". Dutch East Indies Campaign website.
"Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak, by Harriette McDougall (1882)". Retrieved 16 February 2016.
- Sources
- Runciman, Steven, The White Rajahs: A History of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, Cambridge University Press, 1960
- Brooke, Ranee Margaret, My Life in Sarawak, 1913.
- Sylvia, Lady Brooke, Queen of the Headhunters, 1970.
- Reece, R.H.W., The Name of Brooke: The End of White Rajah Rule in Sarawak, 1993.
- Eade, Philip, Sylvia, Queen of the Headhunters: A Biography of Lady Brooke, the Last Ranee of Sarawak London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007
