Patricia Hului

Back in the day, there were plenty of rebellions set against the Brooke government in Sarawak.

The major ones were led by Rentap (1853), Liu Shan Bang (1857) and Syarif Masahor (1860).

Would it surprise you to know that the last revolt against the White Rajah happened only less than a century ago?

Penghulu Asun’s economical reasons to revolt

In 1931, a former Penghulu named Asun led the Ibans of Kanowit, Entabai and Julau along the Rajang river in a revolt against the White Rajah.

Chang Pat Foh in Legends and History Sarawak stated the cause of the revolt was economic rather than tribal.

He wrote, “Because of the World Economic Slump, the prices of rubber and jungle produce dropped and the Ibans could not pay their taxes.

“Besides, the government insisted on carrying out all regulations causing much discontentment among the people who blame the government for their hardships, resulting in the revolt.”

At first, the Brooke government tried to negotiate with Asun. The last White Rajah, Vyner even went to Kanowit to meet him.

But according to Steven Runciman in The White Rajah: A History of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, Asun was truculent and decided to continue the revolt.

Vyner reported that the difficulties faced by Asun and his peoples were largely due to the shortage of responsible European officers in the outstation.

Furthermore, there were too many clerks who insisted on all regulations being strictly carried out.

Runciman wrote, “With little or no money coming to them from the sale of their crops, the tribesmen found it hard to pay their taxes; and the clerks were not empowered to offer them a respite, nor were they people who could talk with friendly authority to them and explain matters with the easy good manners and jokes that the Dyaks loved.”

The real reasons behind the revolt

George Washington once said, “Serious misfortunes, originating in misrepresentation, frequently flow and spread before they can be dissipated by truth.”

This might be the reason why Pengulu Asun’s revolt started in the first place. According to Dr Bob Reece in The Name of Brooke, the rubber price had caused some trouble among the Ibans in the upper Rajang district.

However, Reece added that “The more systematic collection of the annual door tax, together with the imposition of gun registration fees, had led to wild rumours of further taxes among these volatile upriver people.

“At the same time, the newly-created Forests Department had been establishing reserves where Ibans were not allowed to farm, hunt, or collect jungle produce. The issue of inland passes was tightened up, limits on up-stream settlement were enforced and a minimum size for longhouse was introduced in order to reduce mobility.”

Hence, these enforcement affected the Iban communities who were already short of virgin land for the cultivation of paddy hills.

Adding to the problem, the Brooke government was going through growing systemisation and centralisation in its administration affecting the personal relationship between the communities and the District Officers.

Besides the rumour of increased taxes, there was a rumour of seizure of land by the government.

However, Reece believed that Asun and his followers never constituted a proto-nationalist, anti-Brooke movement, and hostility was directed rather towards particular Brooke officers.

Pacifying the rebellion

Regardless of the reasons, Vyner sent the Sarawak Rangers on an expedition to put down the revolt.

Finally in December 1932, Asun, after reportedly failing to persuade the Iban from Batang Lupar to join him, surrendered and was exiled to Lundu.

After World War II, he was allowed to spend his last years in his home area on the Entabai tributary of Kanowit.

According to former Sarawak Information Services director Alaistair Morrison in his 1993 memoir Fair Land Sarawak, even in old age, Asun struck Morrison as being a formidable personality.

The aftereffect of Asun’s rebellion

Runciman pointed out the aftereffect of Asun’s revolt was a series of headhunting cases by a group of less than 30 young Ibans.

There were some recorded and isolated cases. In 1934, there were three Chinese killed on upper Rajang river and a group of Malays and Kayans attacked on the Pelagus with some of their heads taken.

The Brooke government managed to capture and sentence a handful of the headhunters to death over the years while a few of these rebels hid in the jungle.

“The last four gave themselves in the autumn of 1940, trusting in the Rajah’s clemency. To the irritation of his law officers, he pardoned them, delighted that headhunting should have ceased before the centenary of Brooke rule should be celebrated.

“By 1940, anyone could wander through Sarawak with no fear that his head would soon adorn a longhouse. It was no mean achievement to have eliminated a custom so deeply ingrained in the Borneo Peoples,” Runciman wrote.

A jar burial is where one’s remains are placed into a large earthenware jar and then placed in a grave or a tomb.

The custom of jar burials can be found all over the world including India, Taiwan, Japan, Iran, Syria, Egypt, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Where did these jars come from?

First of all, where did all of these jars come from? In Malaysian Borneo where jars – commonly known as tajau – were widely used in the past, these jars came from China through traders and merchants.

Zhao Rukuo or Chau Ju-kua was a Song dynasty official who wrote the book titled Zhu Fan Zhi. Although he himself never travelled outside of China, the book contained information on China’s trading records with the outside world. He also wrote a list of foreign places with descriptions of each place and their local customs.

Gaining his information from foreign merchants, Zhao recorded a wide range of countries including Japan, Srivijaya, Brunei, India, Mecca, Africa, Spain and Borneo.

From Zhao’s writing we know that China was exporting pottery to Borneo at the beginning of the 13th century. But it is also possible the trade started at a much earlier date.

In Borneo, this pottery was traditionally used for many purposes; as a sign of wealth, as a currency and to bury their loved ones.

Jar burials found in Niah Caves, Sarawak

One good example of jar burials in Borneo can be found in Niah Caves, Miri. The oldest jar burials found intact in the archipelago were excavated from the Neolithic cemetery found there.

How did the archaeologists determine that it was a Neolithic cemetery? They found three small bronze items; two from inside the jar burials. They dated all three bronzes items to a time earlier than 500 cal BC.

However, only 5-10% of the burials in Niah were placed in a jar. Some were buried in wooden coffins or bamboo caskets.

The dead who came back to life after being stuffed in a jar

Even so, British administrator and Sarawak ethnologist Charles Hose (1863-1929) explained that old jars were more valuable than the newer ones.

Additionally, not all could afford the luxury of a jar, especially a big one that could fit a dead body. Those who could not afford it had to make do with a wooden coffin.

The same thing applied in North Borneo back then. Museum curator and archaeologist Ivor Evans (I886-1957) recorded in his book Among Primitive Peoples in Borneo wrote:

“All good Dusuns wish to be buried in a jar; but a jar is expensive, and so the bodies of poor people are buried in a rough wooden coffin or wrapped up in mats. If the deceased is sufficiently well off to afford a jar, the body is slipped into it legs first and pushed, or even stamped, down till it does not protrude.”

He also recorded an interesting story of a man who came back to life after being buried in jar.

Evans had a Dusun servant named Omboi. There was a bad epidemic of smallpox in the Tuaran district which killed off many people, including Omboi’s father.

So they decided to bury him in a jar. Evans wrote, “The neck of the jar was, however, rather narrow, and when the mourners began to stamp the body home with the flat of their feet, the “corpse” got up and objected to the process in forcible language. The patient had merely been in a state of coma, and he eventually recovered.”

How could a body fit into a jar?

So what happens if the mouth of a jar is too narrow to fit the body through? According to Evans, in Tuaran, Sabah, the vessel was cut in two horizontally at its largest circumference. Then the body packed into the lower portion and the top replaced and fastened down with some kind of resin.

But then how did they actually cut it? Is it possible to cut it into two without breaking the pottery into pieces? Hose might have had the answer.

In Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Hose explained that the jar was sunk in the water of the river until it was full of water and wholly submerged.

It was held horizontally by two men, one at either end, just beneath the surface of the water.

Then, a third man struck the widest circumference of the jar with an axe. They turned the jar over and the man struck the jar at the opposite side of the first strike.

Hose wrote, “At the second stroke the jar falls in two, sometimes as cleanly and nicely broken as though cut with a saw.”

Jars as a secondary burial

Not all jar burials in Borneo were practiced as a primary burial in which the body was placed immediately after death.

According to Hose, a jar burial was also practiced as a secondary burial. For example, the usual practice of the Kenyah group back then was to keep the coffin containing the corpse until the end of the mourning period.

“A bamboo tube carried down through the floor to the ground permits the escape of fluids resulting from decomposition. The coffin itself is sealed closely with wax, and elaborately decorated with carved and painted wood-work.”

After several months or even years, a feast was held to open up the coffin. Then the bones were taken out, cleaned, packed into smaller coffin or large jar before carried to the cemetery.

“There it is placed either in the hollowed upper end of massive post, or into a large wooden chamber containing, or to contain, the remains of several persons, generally near relatives. These tombs are in many cases very elaborately decorated with painted woodwork,” Hose wrote.

Today, the act of putting several family members in a large tomb is still practiced by some of the Kayan and Kenyah communities in Sarawak. Except that these large wooden chambers are now made of bricks and look like small, well-decorated houses.

However, the custom of jar burial in Borneo is no longer practiced and have been replaced by the more conventional wooden casket.

In archaeology, rock art or cave paintings are man-made markings drawn on natural stone.

Unbeknownst to many, there are at least six interesting historical rock art sites found in Sarawak. Each holds a piece of its own unique history that has not yet been fully uncovered.

Here are six places of rock arts in the Land of Hornbills where you can find them:

1.Santubong Village

According to Sarawak Museum Journal published in December 2010, a total of 11 boulders were found on the edge of a curving portion of the beach of Santubong village (Kampung Santubong).

These boulders display at least 22 pieces of rock art with most of them facing the water.

Some of them have facial features while others come with geometric designs.

Still little is known about these rock arts at Santubong village.

2.Jaong River

Located about 2km from Kampung Santubong, there is a small tributary river of the Santubong river called Sungai Jaong.

There lies the famous ‘Batu Bergambar’ or carved boulder which is at least 1,000 years old.

This particular rock art looks like a kind of headdress. In addition to that, there are about 10 rock arts spread across the Sungai Jaong area.

Besides rock art, Sungai Jaong was also the site of an ancient iron smelter.

There were crucibles used in smelting iron as well as porcelain, earthenware and glass beads.

While the exact age of the rock arts are unknown, the iron smelter is believed to be from the 10th century.

3.Sireh Cave

Located at Serian district, this cave site is mainly associated with burials and rock arts of charcoal paintings.

Found at the cave entrance, the wall paintings depict mainly human and animal motifs.

Besides that, the cave entrance is also where earlier settlers cremated their warrior’s bodies.

During an excavation led by Ipoi Datan in 1989, they found a sequence of pre-pottery layers with stone tools at least 20,000 years old.

4.Sorang Caves

The rock arts found at Sorang Cave, Tatau are believed to be closely related to the Pre-Neolithic stone tools discovered there.

Not much has been reported about Sorang Cave, except that the paintings found there are different from Sireh and Niah caves.

5.Niah Great Cave

The most famous rock arts on this list are none other than the ones found in Niah Great Cave at its Gua Kain Hitam (also nicknamed The Painted Cave).

Discovered in 1958 by an archaeological team led by Tom Harrisson, some of the paintings were found up to 15 feet above the cave floor and extending over 200 feet in width.

Archaeologists believed the rock arts were associated with funeral burials in boat-like coffins.

Apart from the longboats/coffins, there were also paintings of humans and animals.

6.Long Semadoh

According to Sarawak Museum, there are five ancient burial sites around Long Semadoh. Each of them was found with Ming ceramics and lidded jars from the 18th-19th century.

As for rock arts, there are two stone carvings of human figurine which probably go back as far as the 17th to 18th century.

Read also:

Six archaeological sites in Sabah that you need to know