A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908

Many schemes to promote this industry had been attempted, and had failed; but the Rajah never lost sight of his purpose, and how he was ultimately rewarded with success a reference to the chapter dealing with agriculture will show.

We shall now notice the disturbances that occurred in the period 1868-70.

In July, 1868, the Rajah led an expedition against the Delok Dayaks living in the Upper Batang Lupar for causing trouble over the borders, and another in May, 1870, against the Beloh Dayaks in the Katibas for the same reason. The Katibas, who had hitherto been supporters of the Government, had been led astray by the chief Balang302 in 1866, who then laid a well-planned trap to get the Resident, Mr. J. B. Cruickshank, into his hands to murder him. He was captured by the Rajah, and taken to Sibu, where he was executed.

Both these expeditions were successful, but no particulars of either are to hand. These expeditions, however, did not result in a final settlement of these disturbed remote districts. The Dayaks submitted, only to break out again, and the lesson had to be repeated several times. It will not be necessary or expedient to give an account of each of these. There is a tragic monotony about them – so many villages burnt, so many casualties to the punitive force, so many of the turbulent natives killed, and then a hollow peace patched up between the tribes concerned, with the usual ceremonies of killing of pigs.

The Sea-Dayaks still required to be watched and controlled, and "it would be strange if the Government had not met with difficulties in keeping in subjection 160,000303 wild Dayaks, all possessing energetic souls for warfare." The Saribas, the most troublesome and toughest in holding out, eventually settled down into the most peaceful and law-abiding of the tribes, and became great traders, and thoroughly loyal. This was the case as far back as 1865, and in that year the present Rajah was able to write: "What an altered country is Saribas to what it was a few years ago. People are so quiet and peaceably disposed there now, that never a word of head-hunting is breathed." And the same may be said of the Sekrangs, who, with the exception of one lapse, caused by the falsehood and treachery of a once trusted chief, have remained true and faithful to the Government that had brought them into subjection. And in regard to all the Sea-Dayak tribes, then as now, it should be borne in mind that their uprisings, though bringing them into conflict with it, are never directed against the Government, with the above exception only, which is related in Chapter XIV. Like the Highlanders of yore, we may class the various tribes of the Dayaks having a community of language and customs as clans spasmodically at feud with one another; and their feuds are confined to the far interior of the State.

On the evening of November 28, 1868, the Resident at Muka, Captain W. H. Rodway,304 and Mr. E. Sinclair305 went for a walk to the mouth of the river, distant some two miles, leaving the fort in charge of the Sepoy Sergeant of the guard. That morning a Malay named Ganti, an ex-fort-man, had been sentenced to five years' imprisonment for a serious crime. He at once formed a plan with the other prisoners to rush the fort and effect their escape; and the culpable carelessness of the Sepoy guard soon gave them their opportunity. At 5 P.M. the prisoners were brought back from their work, and noticing that the whole of the guard, with the exception of the sentry, were outside the fort variously employed in the cookhouse, at the bathing place, etc., they walked in and closed the doors, whilst Ganti, who on a plea of sickness had been allowed by the Sergeant to leave his cell in the basement and sit on the floor above under the charge of the sentry, with a handspike killed the sentry. A Mr. Bain, a former employe of the Borneo Company, who was then a trader at Oya, and was at the time ill in the fort, was murdered in his bed by a Chinaman, whom he had imprisoned for debt.

The Resident hurried back to find that the fort with guns and ammunition were in the hands of the prisoners, who were firing at the natives, and whose position was impregnable. Nothing could be done but to send for help from Bintulu. The prisoners amused themselves with firing at the surrounding houses, but their aim was so badly directed that they did no harm to life, and but little to property. At last, being aware that they could not hold out against the force that they knew would be summoned to reduce them, they broke into the Treasury safe, and collecting all the property they could take with them, decamped in the night. The people, who throughout had behaved loyally, promptly went in pursuit, overtook the fugitives, killed every one of them, although some were Muka men, and recovered all the cash, arms, and property that had been carried off.

Mention has been made of the Sepoys. It may be here said how that some of these men came into the Rajah's service. Many of the Sepoys, who had been mixed up with the rebellion in India, and were sentenced to death, had their sentence commuted to penal servitude in the Andamans for life. The Indian Government proposed to the late Rajah to take charge of some of these in Sarawak, and to this he consented, and fifty arrived from Port Blair in March, 1866. There were some soldiers, quite boys, and raw recruits, some of various other trades, and one or two were of superior rank. On reaching Sarawak, they all elected to join the military force, and were distributed among the out-stations. With very few exceptions, they proved themselves to be a steady and reliable set of men. They were treated as free men, the only stipulation imposed upon them was that they were not to leave the country. A few were pardoned and returned to India, the rest died as pensioners of the Sarawak Government.306

On May 13, 1870, an attack was made on Sibu fort307 by a force of some 3000 Kanowit Dayaks under the noted chief, Lintong or Mua-ari. Sibu fort, which is situated on an island, was then in the charge of Mr. H. Skelton,308 with Mr. H. Brooke Low as his assistant, and was manned by a force of about thirteen Sepoys. Mr. Skelton had been frequently warned of the impending attack, but gave no credit to these warnings, and would allow no extra arms to be loaded. That very evening, during dinner-time, a noted Dayak chief, Unggat, had come in to inform Mr. Skelton that the place was to be attacked. Mr. Skelton was angry at being interrupted during his meal, and vowed, that if no assault was made, the man should be imprisoned. When the place eventually was attacked, the chief paced up and down in the fort and would take no part in the defence.

It was the custom of the Sepoys to go out by the back-door before daybreak to perform their ceremonial ablutions, and of this the Dayaks were aware, and lay in wait about the exit to surprise them. But the Sepoys were on their guard, and the door was not opened. The Dayaks then attacked the fort in force, endeavouring to cut their way in with axes, but they were beaten off. Amongst the killed was Lintong's eldest son, a boy who had been the inseparable companion of Mr. J. B. Cruickshank, the Resident of the Rejang, who was then at home on leave.

The Sepoys behaved well, and had to be restrained from going out to fight the Dayaks in the open. Had the fort been taken, the Chinese quarters and the Malay villages would have fallen an easy prey to the Dayaks, and a general massacre would have ensued, as the attack was timed to take place when all the able-bodied Malays were away on their farms. This is the sole occasion on which an out-station fort has been attacked in force, and it revealed to the naked savages the fact that with their primitive weapons it was futile making such an attempt, except by surprise. But indeed, on this occasion, a surprise was intended.

Lintong, the troublesome son of a troublesome father, had been a constant head-hunter, and, before the establishment of the station at Sibu, a scourge to the Melanaus living in the delta of the Rejang. He had before attempted to surprise Kanowit fort, and it was from his spear that Mr. Steele had had a narrow escape. He had, however, fought on the side of the Government in former days; and, subsequent to the attack on Sibu, after having been deprived of his liberty for some time, he again became a supporter of the Government, and eventually a Pengulu. He died of snake bite in September, 1887.

The Rajah left for England in 1869, and went to reside at Burrator. In the same year he married Margaret Lili Alice de Windt, his cousin, daughter of Clayton de Windt, of Blunsdon Hall, Highworth, Wilts, and Dinnington, Northumberland, and sister to Mr. Harry de Windt, the famous explorer, who served in Sarawak as A.D.C. to the Rajah in 1872-1873.

CHAPTER XIII

BRUNI

A good deal has already been said about that blot on the map of Borneo, Bruni, and of its Rulers, and in this chapter shall be given the history of the relations between the Sultans and the present Rajah since his accession, as well as of the policy of the Foreign and Colonial Offices in regard to that "wretched phantom the Bruni Government."309

Many chapters might well be devoted to the past and present history of Daru'l Salam, the Haven of Peace, the sublime Arabic title by which, with a characteristic disregard of the fitness of things, the Brunis proudly dignify their unhappy city, as they do their Sultan with the title of Kaadil-an, the Just. But like morning dreams, these go by contraries. The story they would set forth would be a sad one, as may well be judged from what has already been related and from what will be told in this chapter, though a great deal more might be said. It would be interesting, too, as another example of British indifference to Eastern affairs. From the commencement, when nearly seventy years ago the attention of the empire was so strongly drawn to this nest of murderers and robbers, this haven of criminals, by the late Rajah, till the end, when in 1905 the British Government elected to adopt the bankrupt and depopulated remnant of the Sultanate, its policy in regard to that State has been remarkable for neither consistency nor astuteness.

During the last twenty years of his reign (1852-1885) the old Sultan, Abdul Mumin, who has been described as having the soul of a huckster, and who died at the age of over a hundred, devoted his life solely to the pursuit of wealth, and the unscrupulous means he employed to enrich himself produced great oppression and misery. Affairs of State were a secondary matter with him, and the ministers and pangirans went their ways unrestrained. Some of these pangirans, who are related to royalty, a few closely, others more or less remotely, exercise "Tulin" or hereditary feudal rights over districts, the ministers holding, ex-officio, similar rights over other districts; the unhappy people therein were completely in their power, and could be squeezed at their own sweet will. Others, not possessing such rights but armed with authority from the Sultan, easily obtained at a price, enriched themselves by forced trading.

The poorer classes of the Bruni Malays are hard-working and law-abiding; but when no man's property is safe from the rapacious grasp of the chiefs, thrift and hard work cease to have an object, and the country becomes dead to industry and enterprise. The inhabitants of the interior, and the Kadayans, an industrious, agricultural people, suffered under the same disadvantages. Like the Chinese, these people once cultivated pepper, but for the same cause gave up doing so, which is not surprising when even their harvests of rice were not spared to them.

The late Mr. C. A. C. de Crespigny,310 who had a considerable experience of Bruni and the country around it, writing upon the condition of the place in the seventies, says:

"A Pangiran of high rank, but of small means, went from Bruni to Kalias, and with his own hands murdered a Chinaman, his retainers keeping their hands in by the slaughter of one or more of the man's relations and dependants. The murderer then gutted the shop and returned to Bruni. It was stated that the Pangiran belonged to a Chinese secret society, as young Bruni in general is said to do, and that the head of the society, having a trade grudge against the poor fellow at Kalias actually paid the Pangiran $800 for the deed. Whether this was true or not would be an interesting subject for investigation; but that the man was murdered by the Pangiran's own hand, and his goods and chattels carried away to Bruni, is undoubtedly the case; and further that the Pangiran was not punished except by verbal reproof. Herein is anarchy.

"On another occasion at Kalias mouth, twenty-eight Chinese were killed by a band of marauders from up the river and neighbouring streams. A fine was imposed upon the river, but no murderers were caught. Herein was want of power.

"On another and later occasion, a Chinaman, also living at Kalias, was murdered by a band of ruffians from Padas Damit and other streams, together with his wife, child, and only servant. On this occasion two of the murderers were caught, taken to Bruni, and as they were men of no consequence, summarily executed. Herein is inconsistency.

"Men are enslaved without proper cause, and slaves are torn from their families and pass to other owners and other countries, against their wish."

The Bruni of the old days, the Bruni of yesterday, and the Bruni of to-day, are all one.

Although by treaty and by decree the trade of the coast of Bruni territory was thrown open to all, the Bruni pangirans used their utmost endeavours to retain it, and traders from Sarawak and Labuan were incessantly obstructed and interfered with. Competition, coupled with free trade, was not to the taste of these pangirans, and as the old Sultan was himself too much mixed up in trading transactions to exert himself to see that foreign traders received due protection, the pangirans were left a free hand to deal with them, and their high-handed proceedings were winked at by Sultan Mumin, if not actually encouraged. A Sarawak Nakoda, who had been trading with Bruni for some time, was suddenly attacked when leaving, and fired into by seven boats which had been lying in wait for him. He managed to escape himself, but lost his property to the value of $700. His boat was destroyed, and the Sarawak flag torn to pieces. Orders were sent down the coast closing some of the ports to Sarawak traders, and imposing prohibitive duties in others. One order recommended the people to go out of the country and "live under the white man in Sarawak till they rotted" if they would not pay the exorbitant taxes demanded of them. Sarawak people, collecting produce in the jungle, or even when fishing along the coast, had their goods and boats seized.

In reply to the Rajah's despatches complaining of these outrages, the Sultan expressed friendship for Sarawak and a desire to foster trade, and in one or two cases actually made reparation; but he excused himself in general by his helplessness to enforce his will on the turbulent and headstrong nobles. And, in fact, the difficulties did not lie in lack of a clear understanding and of formal agreements, perhaps not in a languid desire on the part of the Sultan to stand on good terms with the Rajah, but in the arbitrary conduct of the leading pangirans holding authority along the coast. Respect for treaties and for fair dealing formed no part of the mental equipment of these feudal tyrants, and the central power at Bruni was either too weak, or too timid, or too deeply involved to interfere with them.

In January, 1870, the Rajah wrote to Lord Clarendon:

"In regard to matters relating to the interests and welfare of the coast of Borneo to the northward and eastward of the territory under my control, I am led to understand that her Majesty's Government has no desire to direct attention to this part, with a view to bringing about a better system to further the ends of peace and trade, and to relieve the honester and lower classes from the gross and degraded position to which they are now reduced by the oppressive measures of the Bruni Government. H.H. the Sultan permits anarchy and bloodshed throughout his dominions, and there is no exaggeration in saying that this is carried on within sight of the British flag at Labuan."

The authorities at Labuan, which was a fully constituted Crown Colony, the Governor being also Consul-General for Borneo, were either purposely blind to what was going on at Bruni, which was but a few miles off, or were too much hampered in their actions by instructions from home to effect any reforms in the State. But, to quote from the letter of a Naval Officer of high rank, "Mr. J. Pope Hennessy" (afterwards Sir John Pope Hennessy, who was Governor of Labuan from 1867-1871), "had an object in upholding the Sultan and encouraging him in the oppression of his subjects, as that caused many to take refuge in Labuan." A little judicious advice, backed by the immense power which the Sultan and his nobles knew the Governor had behind him, would have effected much towards the amelioration of the lot of the natives, but nothing whatever was done. The Bruni Malays must "stew in their own juice," it was no concern of her Majesty's Government that Sarawak trade should be interfered with, for what was Sarawak to Britain? It was no concern of her Majesty's Government that the Sultan and his pangirans were breaking the heart of the people, killing the incentive to industry. It looked on with a cold eye, and with a callous heart.

As a colony Labuan was a failure. Only a few natives and Chinese had settled there, and there was little trade. Instead of being the medium through which reforms on the coast might be effected, Labuan for long stood in the way, by checking the spread of the influence of Sarawak along the coast. The Foreign Office was guided by the advice of their Consul-General, and was rarely other than ill-advised, though the late Sir Henry Keppel "had pleaded the cause of civilisation that the Rajah of Sarawak should be encouraged and not thwarted in his attempt to advance." And he expressed "a hope that he might live to see the Sarawak territory extended to Bruni itself." Mr. J. Pope Hennessy in his address to the Legislative Council of Labuan in June, 1871, said: "The policy promulgated thirty years ago by some enterprising and benevolent Englishmen that the Dayaks could be civilised, and that Europeans could conduct the details of trade and administration in the rivers of Borneo has proved to be visionary."

It is easy to imagine what would be the nature of advice tendered to the Foreign Office upon Bornean affairs by such a man. At the time when he made this statement Sarawak was in absolute tranquillity, and the trade of 1870 had nearly doubled that of the preceding year.

And, with exceptions, the Governors of Labuan were always more or less hostile to Sarawak, because jealous of it. Labuan was stagnant and Sarawak steadily advancing in vigorous life.

In April, 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by a staff of English and Malay officers, visited Bruni in the Government steamers Heartsease and Royalist. It was perhaps not unnatural that this visit was at first regarded with suspicion as being in the form of a demonstration against Bruni, to back unheeded protests against the maltreatment of Sarawak subjects, and the nonfulfilment of treaty engagements. But this impression was soon dispelled, and the Rajah was received by the Sultan, "a fat, kindly-faced old man of some eighty years of age," with cordiality and honour. The Rajah's main object in visiting Bruni was to obtain an effective guarantee that his subjects trading in Bruni territory should not be molested and unwarrantably interfered with. A treaty conceding all that the Rajah asked for was accordingly drawn up and ratified by the Sultan, and was satisfactory enough on paper. The Sultan solemnly undertook the redressing of injuries, guaranteed protection to traders, and the imposition of fair and moderate customs duties only.

But this treaty, owing to the Sultan being powerless to enforce its provisions outside the capital, soon became worse than useless; for, relying on it being observed, Sarawak traders again ventured into the Bruni ports, only to meet with the same treatment as before. The extortion of outrageous customs dues went on as formerly. The Bruni nobles, "the most useless race that ever encumbered the earth,"311 set themselves deliberately to frustrate every object aimed at in the treaty, and, so that they might keep the trade with its enormous profits to themselves, they plundered, and even killed those who ventured to compete with them. But their day was not to last for ever. The Kayans, driven to exasperation by the heavy fines and other extortions imposed upon them, eventually rose against these tyrants, and drove them out.

Next to the Rejang, the Baram is the largest river that flows into the sea on that coast. In its basin are congregated large populations of Kayans and Kenyahs.

In 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by the Ranee, visited this river to ascertain for himself how far it would be safe for Sarawak subjects to trade there. He steamed a long way up the river, and was everywhere well received by the natives, who had been much depressed by extortion and were eager to be relieved from the thraldom in which they were held by Bruni. There had been no encouragement given to them to work the jungle produce in which their country was rich, except to purchase necessaries, and these could be obtained through their Bruni masters alone, and that at exorbitant prices. There was in consequence little trade at the time. But what this river is capable of producing may be shown by its trade returns at present. The exports, entirely of jungle produce, after the district had been for twenty years under Sarawak, amounted in 1906 to $272,223.

Although the Sultan had no real authority over the Kayans and Kenyahs there still existed among them a certain regard for him, and of this the Bruni Government took advantage. These races had never been subdued by the Sultans by force of arms. They never had voluntarily tendered submission. The restraint exercised over them was due mainly to the fact that the Brunis held the mouths of the rivers and consequently controlled the trade, and that trade was one in the very necessaries of existence. It was inevitable that the rulers of Bruni should resent, and resist to the utmost, the opening of the rivers to Sarawak traders, which would involve, as they well saw, the drying up of the source of their wealth.

The natives on the Baram had an exaggerated opinion of the power of Bruni, but this illusion was dispelled after a feeble attack made on the Kayans in September, 1870, which resulted in ignominious failure. Still, they were prepared to submit to such demands which, though extortionate, custom had taught them to regard as the Sultan's due, and they could not do without the imports, which they were precluded from obtaining elsewhere and from others, than Bruni and the hands of pangirans. But the rapacity of the pangirans became at last intolerable; and we will here give two instances illustrative of the methods adopted by them, which were connived at by the Sultan.

In 1873, a mixed party of Dayaks, Tanjongs, and Bukitans from the Rejang river, working produce in the Baram, were attacked by the Kayans. Six were killed and one escaped. The survivor stated that the party had been treacherously attacked; but on the other hand the Kayans asserted that the behaviour of the strangers had been so suspicious that they had satisfied themselves that they were a head-hunting party. The Rajah complained and demanded redress. The Sultan sent an agent in his small steamer to impose a fine, which in itself was excessive. The agent proceeded to the house of the chief of the lower Baram Kayans, although these people had nothing to do with the killing of the subjects of the Rajah, but it was as far up as he dared to venture, and levied the fine upon them, demanding double the amount he had been instructed to impose, the difference, of course, to go into his own pocket. The Rajah had fixed the fine, but the Sultan had put on his price as well, so that he might have his pickings out of the affair, and now his agent doubled that sum. It was in vain for the chief to protest that neither he nor his people had been concerned in the murders. The Sultan's agent threatened the chief that if he did not pay, the Rajah would send several men-of-war, that others would be despatched from Labuan, and more from Bruni, and that all their country would be laid waste and their villages burned. After a stormy interview, the chief succeeded in beating the agent down to a fine amounting to $8000, just thirty times more than the amount demanded by the Rajah as compensation to the relatives of those killed. And this fine the chief was constrained to pay.