Baring-Gould Sabine
A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908
Had the late Rajah's policy been adopted, Sumatra, or that part of it which had not been relinquished to the Dutch in 1824, might now contain many States as flourishing as those of the Malay Peninsula. On March 3, 1844, the Rajah wrote: "I was glad of the opportunity I had of seeing the political state of Achin, as it fully confirmed my views, which I made known to Sir – , of the steps necessary to protect and enlarge our commerce. Achin, like Borneo, is now in such a state of distraction that no protection can be found for life or property. To protect our trade we must make a monarch, and uphold him; and he would be a British servant de facto. We could always raise the better and depress the worse, in other words support those who will benefit ourselves."
A policy that both the Rajahs had advocated should be adopted towards Bruni.
For many years, as we have seen, Sarawak had to contend with the opposing influence of Governors of Labuan adverse to her advancement, but in 1875 Mr. Ussher was appointed Governor, and he was not prepared to take for granted all the stories of Sarawak aggression and intimidation which were poured into his ears. He sought for independent testimony, inquired into matters himself, and was not disposed to gloss over the misdeeds of the Sultan and his pangirans, and to suppress all mention of these in his despatches home.
Towards the end of his term of office Mr. Ussher wrote to the Rajah, "I have had an important interview to-day with Mr. Meade at the Colonial Office. The object in view was to ascertain the advisability of permitting you to acquire Baram. I ascertained that the objections against this step were reduced, firstly, to an idea that undue pressure was put upon the Sultan; secondly, that resident (!) traders, British, in that river would be damaged thereby.
"I also ascertained that the Colonial Secretary here was not at all disposed to carry out the views obstructive of Sarawak advance, which have animated his predecessors; but that, on the contrary, he was disposed to allow you and the Sultan to arrive at your own terms, so long as the Sultan was a perfectly free agent in the matter.
"In the course of a rather lengthy, and, I trust, not ineffective address on my part, I successfully combated these trivial and groundless objections, and exposed the fallacy of Sir Henry Bulwer's313 and Mr. Pope Hennessy's views with regard to your dealings with the Sultan. I pointed out also the gross injustice and oppression of the Bruni rule in these territories, and expressed my firm conviction of the general desire on the part of the industrious and agricultural classes to pass under your settled and civilised rule. I demonstrated that there were no resident British traders, either in Baram or elsewhere in these parts, whose interests could be imperilled. Further, that so long as you impose no restrictive export duties on native produce from the river, there was nothing whatever to prevent the sago, etc., coming to Labuan or anywhere else.
"I admitted that I had at first been disposed to adopt the Sultan's view with regard to your relations with him generally, but that careful inquiry and matured experience had proved to me, not only the untruth of the accusations of intimidation brought against you, but also the advisability of permitting you to extend your rule by all legitimate means, instead of supporting from quixotic and mistaken motives the effete and immoral rule of Bruni. Mr. Meade finally suggested to me, that the question might be settled by allowing you to make your own terms with the Sultan, with the proviso, that any agreement or treaty made between the two should be subject to the ratification of her Majesty's Government, who would thus have it in their power to nullify any injustice either to Bruni or British interests.
"From Sir M. Beach's views, and from Mr. Meade's proposal, I argue that the matter lies now at last in your own hands, as Lord Salisbury is likely to accept the Colonial Office views in these comparatively small matters, on account of its necessarily more detailed and minute experience of the interests of Borneo generally.
"On the whole I think we may congratulate ourselves on the prospect of a satisfactory solution of this unpleasant affair. You may always, as you know, depend upon me never to allow an opportunity to pass of helping you and Sarawak generally. Apart from our personal friendship, I act on the conviction that Sarawak is the future regenerator of Borneo."
This was in January, 1879, but Government officials move slowly, and in a mysterious way, and it was not till late in 1882 that the Foreign Office sanctioned the annexation of Baram by Sarawak. Thus, at length, after negotiating a transfer with the Sultan in 1874, the obstruction of the British Government was overcome, but it took eight years to do this.
A new spirit had come over the Governors of Labuan, and the somewhat ignoble spite, bred partly of ignorance and partly of jealousy, which had characterised their conduct with regard to Sarawak, and the Rajah in particular, was exchanged at last for generous and honest recognition of the excellence of his rule, and of the injustice of forcing the natives against their will to remain under the cruel oppression of this Old Man of the Sea astride on their shoulders.
The subsequent administrators of Labuan were favourable to Sarawak, but in 1889 the Colony was handed over to the British North Borneo Company. Their officials had no authority outside of Labuan and did not correspond with the Foreign Office, and Consuls were appointed to Bruni.
In June, 1883, the Rajah visited Bruni, and was received by the aged Sultan with special marks of distinction. The Sultan waited at the entrance of the audience chamber, and taking the Rajah by the hand, led him to the throne where he seated him by his side. Negotiations for the cession of Baram and the rivers and districts lying between that river and Bintulu were at once entered upon, and speedily concluded, and on the 13th, the deed of cession was finally sealed and delivered.
The cession of this district gave great satisfaction to the inhabitants, and most of those who had migrated to Sarawak returned by degrees. A fort was erected at Claudetown314 (Merudi) about sixty miles up the Baram river, and here Chinese and Malay traders soon settled, and a brisk trade rapidly sprang up. Minor stations were also established at Miri and Niah. The turbulent Kayans and Kenyahs speedily became pacified, and existing feuds were settled. Now, this district is one of the most peaceful and prosperous in the State.315 The entrance to the river is, and has been, a great hindrance to trade, the bar being very shallow and exposed, so that it is unsafe for sailing vessels and screw steamers. The Government accordingly had a special steamer of 200 tons built in England to carry the trade. She is practically flat-bottomed, and is propelled by paddles. Another, larger, was added as the trade increased. In January, 1884, the Rajah was notified by Earl Granville that her Majesty's Government had no objection to the exercise of jurisdiction over British subjects by the judicial authorities of the Government of Sarawak in this newly-acquired territory.
Only one chief in Baram gave any trouble; and he was Aban Jau, chief of the Tinjar Kayans. He persistently interfered, and thwarted the policy of Government as much as he could without bringing himself into open conflict with the authorities. He maintained a position of semi-independence, and flew his own flag. But in May, 1884, he committed an intolerable act, and had to be humbled. As the affair is illustrative of the iniquities allowed at Bruni until quite recently, the particulars may be given. To appease the manes of his daughter-in-law, Aban Jau sent to Pangiran Nipa of Tutong, asking for a slave, so that he might immolate the unhappy wretch. His messengers went to Bruni, where two pangirans, Matusin and Tejudin, handed them a slave, an old and decrepit man, whom they sent as a present to Aban Jau. The Resident at Claudetown, hearing of this, had the party intercepted and arrested, but too late to save the slave. He had been killed and his head taken, as he was too old to walk, and the messengers did not care to trouble themselves to carry him. Aban Jau was severely punished; he submitted, and his power was broken. He was no better than an aged savage, and there was some excuse for him, as he was complying with ancestral customs; but there was none for the Muhammadan Bruni pangirans for despatching a miserable old slave to a death by torture.
In June, 1884, by the Sultan's orders, a Dusun village was attacked – the time for the attack being chosen when nearly all the able-bodied men were absent, and over twenty women and children were killed. Oppression became so rife that many refugees crossed the frontier into Sarawak territory, abandoning in so doing their property and plantations. In August of the same year, the people of Limbang broke out into open rebellion.
The Limbang river waters a wide district that is fertile and populous. The people possessed extensive sago plantations, and were comparatively prosperous. On this account they were all the more oppressed by the pangirans. There was no protection for person and property, and women and girls were carried off to fill the harems of Bruni. This was the people that suffered such cruel wrongs at the hands of the Pangiran Makota, and it was in this river that he met his death in 1860.
The trouble began with two of the agents of the Pangiran Temanggong, the then Regent and heir apparent, being killed whilst extorting taxes. The pangiran thereupon went up in his steam-launch with a large following, and proposed that the chiefs should meet him at a certain place and discuss matters. The proposal was made in guile, his real purpose being to seize the opportunity for slaughtering them. But these people had had many years' experience of pangirans and their little ways, and met guile with guile. The proposal was acceded to, but whilst the pangiran was on his way to the appointed rendezvous he himself fell into an ambuscade.
Fire was opened on his party, and he was forced to beat a retreat, his launch damaged, seventeen of his men killed, and more wounded. Bruni was thrown into panic, and stockades were erected to resist an expected invasion. The Limbang people followed up their advantage by raiding the suburbs of the town, and a house was attacked within half a mile of the Sultan's palace.
The Sultan, then in his dotage, was helpless, and appealed to the acting Consul-General, Mr. Treacher (now Sir William Treacher, K.C.M.G.), to help him out of his difficulties. Mr. Treacher knew that the Limbangs had been driven to rebellion by the intolerable exactions to which they had been subjected, and he declined to interfere, unless the Sultan and his wazirs should concede a charter releasing the Limbangs from all arbitrarily imposed taxes, and limiting taxation to a small poll tax, and a 5 per cent ad valorem duty on gutta percha, granting them at the same time immunity for their property and sago-plantations, and engaging that no more tax-collectors should be sent from Bruni to the river, and that a general amnesty should be accorded.
This charter, embodying so many radical reforms, was granted with ill-concealed reluctance, and without the slightest intent of performance.
Armed with this document, Mr. Treacher proceeded to the Limbang. But already the Sultan had sent word to the Muruts to fall on the Limbangs and kill and pillage as they liked.
Whilst Mr. Treacher was negotiating with the chiefs, news arrived that these savages had murdered four Kadayan women and two men, and they were consequently ill-disposed to accept the charter. They knew by experience that they could not rely upon the good faith of the Sultan and his wazirs. However, Mr. Treacher was urgent, and hesitatingly they appended their marks to the document; relying rather on the white man to see that its provisions were carried out, than feeling that any confidence could be placed in the word of the Sultan.
And in fact, no sooner was the agreement signed, than the Sultan sent his emissaries into the Baram district to invite the Kayans to raid the Limbang, but the Sarawak Government got wind of this, and at once took prompt and effective measures to prevent the tribes on the Baram from answering the appeal.
In December, 1884, Mr. Frank R. O. Maxwell,316 who was administering the Government in the absence of the Rajah, when at Bruni heard that sixteen Sarawak Dayaks and four Malays had been killed while collecting produce in the neighbouring river, Trusan. The Sultan in his impotence to act, suggested to Mr. Maxwell his willingness to cede the Trusan district to Sarawak. The feudal rights over this district were held by the Pangiran Temanggong, and he too consented. Bruni and Sarawak, he said, were the same country, and in transferring his rights to Sarawak he would be incorporating himself in the Sarawak Government. Subject to the approval of the Rajah, Mr. Maxwell accepted this offer of the Trusan.
The Sultan, the Pangiran Temanggong, and other wazirs and pangirans were then all in favour of the cession of the Limbang, as well as the Trusan, to Sarawak. The Chinese and Malay traders and the lower classes strongly advocated the transfer; and the Regent and the wazir next to him in rank gave Mr. Maxwell a written promise with their seals attached that, pending the return of the Rajah, Limbang should not be transferred to any foreign government. On the return of the Rajah early in 1885, Trusan was occupied, and a fort and station established some thirty miles from the mouth, to which English and native officers were appointed. The Muruts up the river were a quarrelsome people, and blood-feuds were common, and gave some trouble at first. The people generally had become miserably poor through a long course of oppression.
Trusan is a good example of what tact and discretion can do in dealing with natives, and the Muruts were the most savage of those in that part. In a very few years they became peaceful, well-to-do, and contented, enjoying the fruits of their labours in security. Trusan has now a fairly flourishing trade, and the rich plains through which the river winds, and which in days gone by had been extensively cultivated with rice, but which had been rendered desolate by extortion, now afford large grazing grounds for herds of water-buffaloes, which are bred for export, and also excellent land for the cultivation of the sago palm.
Barely a month had elapsed since the peace had been patched up with the Limbang people by the acting Consul-General, before the people were again in revolt, and many Bruni Malays, men and women, were killed, large numbers of buffaloes were mutilated, and again the capital, Bruni, was menaced. Nothing further was done by the British Government, and nothing could be done, except to establish a firm government in the disaffected region, and the Foreign Office was not prepared to do this. As for the authorities in Bruni, they were incapable of doing anything. Their only idea of keeping rebellious subjects under control was to invoke the aid of wild interior tribes, and invite them to butcher and plunder all who resisted their exactions, and this they could no longer do.
On May 30, 1885, the old Sultan Mumin departed this life, at the venerable age of over one hundred years, and the Pangiran Temanggong Hasim, reputed son of the late Sultan Omar Ali,317 the predecessor of Sultan Mumin, was elevated to the throne. Sultan Hasim, who was past middle age when he succeeded, was a shrewd man, though hard and vindictive. His antecedents had not been exemplary, but hopes were entertained that, being a man of strength of mind and of advanced ideas, an improvement would be effected in the administration of Bruni, which would lead to the establishment of good order and bring the place and State out of absolute decay into comparative prosperity, but these hopes, strong man as he was, he was powerless to fulfil.
In order to appreciate much that occurred during the reign of Sultan Hasim it is necessary to understand the conditions under which he became Sultan, and the effect that these conditions had upon his power and position.
His predecessor, Mumin, had an only son, the Pangiran Muda Muhammad Tejudin, a semi-imbecile, nicknamed Binjai, literally the son of misfortune, signifying an idiot. Much as Sultan Mumin would have liked to have proclaimed his son heir to the throne, it was quite impossible for him to do so in opposition to the natural objections of the nobles, upheld, as these were, by the laws of Bruni, which preclude the accession of any prince afflicted with mental or bodily infirmity. The succession would therefore fall upon either of the Sultan's nephews, the Pangiran Bandahara, or the Pangiran di Gadong, and both claimed it. These two powerful princes and wazirs, with their feudal and official territorial rights, and the many nobles and chiefs who owed them allegiance, represented the most powerful factions in the country, and the accession of either to the throne would have plunged the country into bloodshed. To avert this, the British Government persuaded Sultan Mumin, but not without bringing considerable pressure to bear upon him, to nominate the Pangiran Temanggong Hasim, the senior wazir, as his successor, and to appoint him Regent, the old Sultan being too feeble-minded to govern.
Hasim's elevation to the throne gave profound offence to the Pangirans Bandahara and di Gadong, and to the majority of the people, who believed the story of his mean birth, and that he had no just title to the rank he held as a prince of blood royal. That his accession was not disputed was due only to its implied support of the British Government, though that support would probably have failed him had he been forced to fall back upon it. The Bandahara and di Gadong, though they retained their offices, for many years refused him their support, and would neither attend his Council nor maintain any kind of relation with him, notwithstanding the fact that they were his two principal Ministers of State; and he was powerless to force them to do so, or to deprive them of their offices.
Moreover, his predecessor had left him in sore straits for the means necessary for the support of his government, and even of his household. None of the late Sultan's property came to him, and the whole of the crown-lands in Bruni territory had been illegally granted to others, and these, though his rightful appurtenances, he had no power to recover.
Sultan Hasim thus came to the throne practically shorn of everything that goes to the support of a crown. Abandoned by his ministers, and the loyalty of his people denied him, deprived of his revenues, and with but a few followers, there was nothing left him but the sovereign rights, shadowy in nature since he had not the means fully to exert them. A pathetic picture; but in spite of his faults it says much for his personal ability and strength of character that he was able, not only to maintain his position, but gradually to gain sufficient power to exert his authority, and to make his will felt. It must not be overlooked that many of his worst acts were the direct outcome of his necessitous condition, and the constant intriguing against him by his own ministers.
Owing to lack of power to chastise the rebels, though not of will, Limbang had been let alone by the Sultan, and for some time there were no aggressive acts committed by either side, but in November, 1885, the people of Limbang were again in open rebellion and had killed two more Bruni subjects. The Sultan thereupon sent the Rajah two pressing messages asking him to visit Bruni, and this the Rajah did. The Sultan laid the state of affairs before him, and declared that he saw no hope of peace unless the Rajah would consent to attack the Limbang, and reduce the people to order for him. Limbang was sufficiently near to be a menace to the capital. Twice it had been threatened by them, and the suburbs raided. The third time might be more disastrous. The town might fall into their hands.
The Rajah, however, declined to interfere. The Limbang people were at peace with Sarawak, and numbers of his subjects were working produce in that river, and met with friendliness there. To reduce these people to submission, and then to hand them over to oppression, after having deprived them of the power to protect themselves, was what the Rajah would never consent to do. That something must be done, and done at once, he felt, but the question of what should be done was for the representative of her Majesty's Government to decide.
As we have before pointed out, in the Sultanate of Bruni, there are various rights claimed. The Sultan has his rights, some districts revert to the holders of certain offices, and others are under the hereditary feudal rule of the pangirans. Limbang pertained to this last category. The Sultan was sovereign, but his sovereign rights consisted in this alone, namely, to send his agents into the country and squeeze it. The feudal lords were the pangirans, and as they could not oppress the exasperated and revolted people any more, they were ready to surrender their rights to the Rajah, but could not do this without the Sultan's confirmation and seal. What the Sultan wanted was that the Rajah should crush the rebellion, so that he might work his vengeance on the Limbang people, and turn the screw on them till nothing more could be extracted from them. This the Rajah perfectly understood, and he declined to do the dirty work for the Sultan. The refusal of assistance by the Rajah produced a coolness on the part of the Sultan. He would not, however, receive this refusal as final, and he repeated his request to the Rajah in an altered form; he requested him to place the gunboat Aline with a strong force of Sarawak Dayaks, also a large sum of money, at his (the Sultan's) disposal, for the purpose of enabling him to reduce the Limbang people under his own officers, if the Rajah himself would not head the expedition.
The Rajah's refusal aroused an angry feeling in the breast of Hasim, and this was fanned to bitter hostility, when the Consul-General informed him and the Limbang people simultaneously, in reply to a petition of the latter that they might be placed under the rule of white men, that her Majesty's Government was prepared to consent to the transfer of Limbang to Sarawak. The Sultan's hostile attitude was not shared by his ministers, or by the Bruni people generally, or even by the hereditary owners or rulers of the Limbang. These latter, as has been shown, unable to extract more taxes from the people, hoped to receive from the Sarawak Government an annual stipulated income in lieu of precarious and uncertain exactions. They accordingly begged the Rajah to take over the river. But the Sultan refused to consent, and his refusal was probably actuated even then by motives other than those of revenge and resentment as the sequel will show.
In September, 1886, two cold-blooded murders were committed in the Tutong, within a day's journey overland from Bruni. Two young pangirans, a man and a woman, had been living together without the sanction of their respective parents. The girl, after a while, was ordered by her father, Pangiran Nipa, to return to him. She did so, and he then put her to death with his own hands. The young man, Pangiran Japar, was brother to Pangiran Mat, who had been placed in charge of Tutong by the Pangiran di Gadong, the ex-officio holder of feudal rights in that district. Japar and Mat were both subjects of Sarawak. A short time after the murder of the girl, Nipa's brother, the Pangiran Tejudin, son-in-law of the Sultan, and uncle of the unfortunate girl, sent an armed party to Pangiran Mat, to inform him that a mandate had been issued by the Sultan for the execution of Japar. Pangiran Mat did not ask to be shown this mandate, and in fact Tejudin had none, but was intimidated into allowing his brother to be killed.
The Rajah was at the time at Bruni, and he at once demanded of the Sultan that a fair trial of Pangiran Tejudin should be held. There was very little doubt that the Sultan's name had been misused, and Japar was a Sarawak subject. As no justice was likely to be obtained in Bruni, the Rajah further demanded that the murderer should be handcuffed and sent to Labuan for trial, when the truth would come out. But this was refused. The Sultan naturally was determined to screen his son-in-law, who had instigated the murder, and who was then in the palace enjoying his protection. The Rajah indignantly declined to meet the Sultan so long as the murderer was sheltered under his roof. So the matter ended, but it widened the rift between the Rajah and the Sultan.
In June, 1887, Sir Frederick Weld, Governor of Singapore, went to Bruni to settle a dispute between the North Borneo Company and the Sultan over a debateable strip of land. Sultan Hasim seized the occasion to pour into the ear of Sir Frederick a tissue of accusations against Sarawak, and no Sarawak official was allowed to be present to refute them. The Government of the Rajah was charged with disturbing the peace, and with sending its emissaries into the Limbang to foster discontent, and to keep the rebellion simmering, in the hopes of being able to find an excuse for annexing the district. Sir Frederick listened, but apparently believed little he heard, for he recommended the Sultan to hand over the Limbang to the Rajah. He further strongly urged the Sultan to accept a British Protectorate over his remaining dominions, and to receive a Resident, who might act as adviser in the administration of the State. The Sultan consented to this latter recommendation; his intention, however, to accept a British Resident at Bruni, to prevent his misrule, and to curb the tyranny of his adherents, was only pretence. Sir Frederick Weld was perhaps acting beyond his instructions in proposing the appointment of a Resident, but the proposal was sound. In September, 1888, the late Sir Hugh Low, then Resident of Perak, was despatched to Bruni to conclude an agreement with the Sultan by which Bruni became a Protectorate.
In the Federated Malay States, as in the Indian Protectorates, British Residents are placed who can advise as to the conduct of government, and it is perfectly understood by the native rulers that their advice must be followed. Now, a British Protectorate had been extended over Bruni, and as a consequence a Resident should have been placed there to control the Sultan and check the misdoings of his chiefs. But nothing of the sort was done. The Limbang was left in a condition of disorder, and a menace to its neighbours, and the Brunis to the arbitrary injustice and cruelty of their rulers. Trusan now offered a near haven of refuge to which many fled, both slaves and free-born people, the latter chiefly to save their daughters from a fate worse than slavery – a short period in a harem, and then domestic drudgery for life. The British Government would do nothing, and looked very much as if it were not disposed to allow any one else to do anything. Sir Hugh Low,318 who had an exceptional experience of Bruni and the people, had urged the Sultan to place the Limbang under the Rajah, tendering the same advice as had Sir Frederick Weld; but to this, also, Hasim turned a deaf ear.
The Limbang chiefs, after having maintained their independence for six years, early in 1890 decided to settle the question of their future for themselves. They assembled, and of their own free will and accord placed their country under the protection of Sarawak, and themselves under the authority of its Government; in token of which they hoisted the Sarawak flag. In justice to the claims of the inhabitants, and in conformity with a promise he had made to them to tender such assistance as lay in his power, the Rajah accepted the responsibility thus placed upon him, and annexed the country on March 17, subject to the approval of her Majesty's Government.
The Rajah had already frequently approached the Sultan on behalf of these unfortunate people to urge that justice should be done to them, and that they should not be given over to be preyed upon by rapacious pangirans. The Pangiran Muda, son of the late Rajah Muda Hasim, who by birth was the nearest to the throne, and who possessed feudal rights over a part of the Limbang, having abandoned all hope of being able to exercise those rights and draw any revenue from the district, ascended the river and openly proclaimed to his people that he had handed over all his rights to the Rajah. The other hereditary holders of feudal authority in the district had again approached the Rajah, and had entreated him to annex Limbang, which had become not only unprofitable to them, but a menace to Bruni. The Rajah would have been untrue to his word passed to the Limbang chiefs had he left them to their fate, after the failure of his negotiations and repeated attempts to intercede for them with the Sultan. Although he was averse to taking this step, yet he felt that it was not possible for him to refuse the appeals that came to him from all sides to interfere, and it was the only solution of the difficulty, failing the appointment of a British Resident, for the people could not be expected to again place themselves under the power of a Sultan who would keep no promises, and who intended no mercy.
The Sultan, however, mortified in his pride, and being thus prevented from giving vent to his vindictive feeling, had remained obdurate. For some time he had been accumulating arms and ammunition at Bruni for a great attempt upon the Limbang, whilst through his minister, the di Gadong, he was keeping up a pretence of peace. If he succeeded, the horrors that would have ensued in the Limbang may well be conceived; but if he failed, he would draw on Bruni hordes of desperate savages, infuriated by years of ill-treatment, and the Brunis feared that the capture of their town and a general massacre would be the result.
