History - Page 22

Did you know that when plans for electric street lighting were drawn up in Penang and Kuala Lumpur in 1894, the second White Rajah Charles Brooke refused to adopt this new technology?

Despite his misgivings, Sarawak eventually had its first wired telephones installed around Kuching in 1898.

Then in 1914, the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company installed the first electrical power stations in Miri, while Borneo Company Limited installed another power station in Bau.

Finally in January 1923, a power station was completed at Khoo Hun Yeang Street and it started operation in June that year.

Today the road where the power station was once located is now known as Power Road, or Jalan Power.

After that, Sibu had its first power station installed in 1927, followed by Mukah in 1929.

From 1922 to 1932, the electrical supply in Kuching was managed by the Electrical Department, under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department.

On Dec 1, 1928, the Electrical Department put out a PSA in The Sarawak Gazette to remind Sarawakians on how to use electricity wisely and safely.

Here is the PSA in which the department called the Ten Electrical Commandments. Some may be strange to us in 2019 as people who have Earth Day, high electricity bills, and a climate crisis, while a few are still applicable to this day:

1.Thou shalt have no needless drudgery in thy home – delegating to electricity all wearisome tasks.

2.Remember the clear light- leave it burning.

3.Thou shalt not permit the cords of thy appliances to become frayed and worn, and easy prey to short circuit.

4.Thou shalt not allow the frost to gather to an unseemly depth upon the freezing unit of thy refrigerator.

5.Remember thy bag of thy vacuum cleaner to keep it empty.

6.Thou shalt not forget that electricity is cheaper than eyesight, and shalt not use freely of the first to improve the second.

7.Thou shalt not tax thy electric circuits beyond their capacity lest they blow out their fuses.

8.Thou shalt not fail to keep extra lamps in the house against the day when they shall surely be needed.

9.Thou shalt have at least one light in every room controlled by a switch near each door – thus will you save much stubbing of toes and barking of shins.

10.Thou shalt utilise thy toaster and thy percolator and all thy table appliances to the fullest extent, for this wilt thou add to they own comfort and thy family’s enjoyment.

Before logging for timber became one of Sarawak’s most controversial practices in the 20th century due to issues in scale and transparency, part of the Sarawak economy in the 19th century depended on other products from the rainforest as well.

With the dense rainforest available, Sarawakians have been relying on forest products as a source of livelihood for centuries.

These forest products were not limited to personal consumption but also for trade and commercial use.

Here are at least six Sarawak forest products that were greatly sourced during the 19th century.

1.Gutta-percha

Gutta-percha is naturally inert, resilient, electrically non-conductive thermoplastic latex produced from the sap of trees of the genus Palaquium.

Long before gutta-percha was introduced to the western world, gutta-percha was used for making knife handles, walking sticks and other purposes.

After it was discovered as a good electrical insulator, western inventors used it to insulate telegraph wire by 1845.

Here in Sarawak, the gutta-percha was mainly collected and processed to trade with the Chinese during the 19th century.

American zoologist and the first director of the New York Zoological Park William Temple Hornaday visited Sarawak in 1878. He travelled around the country observing the local cultures, including the Dayaks.

This was how Sarawakians processed gutta-percha back then, according to Hornaday.

“The native found a gutta tree, about ten inches in diameter and after cutting it down, he ringed it neatly all the way along the stem, at intervals of a yard or less.

Underneath each ring he put a calabash to catch the milk-white sap which slowly exuded. From this tree and another about the same size, he got about four quarts of sap, which, on being boiled that night for any special benefits, precipitated the gutta at the bottom in a mass like dough.

The longer it was boiled the harder the mass became, and at last it was taken out, placed upon a smooth board, kneaded vigorously with the hands and afterwards trodden with the bare feet of the operator. When it got almost too stiff to work, it was flattened out carefully, then rolled out in a wedge-shaped mass, a hole was punched through the thin end to serve as a handle and it was declared ready for the trader.

And he also observed how the sellers tried to trick the traders:

I have seen the Dyak roll up a good-sized wad of pounded bark in the centre of these wedges crude gutta, in order to get even with traders who cheat in weight, but I have also seen the sharp trader cut every lump of gutta in two before buying it. The crude gutta as a mottled, or marbled, light-brown appearance, is heavy and hard, and smooth on the outside.”

2.Nypa fruticans

Did you know that the large stems of Nypa fruticans (nipa palms) are used to train swimmers in Myanmar because of its buoyancy?

Meanwhile in Sarawak, this plant was used for various functions, from roofing, to basketry and even to make sugar.

In 19th century Sarawak, every part of the palm was turned into a different kind of forest products.

According to British colonial officer Hugh Low, nipa palms “though in growth amongst the humblest of the palm tribe, in its value to the native of this island is inferior to few of them.

“It is found on the margins of the rivers as far as the saltwater extends, and large salt marshes at the mouths of rivers are covered with it to the extent of thousands of acres; its chief value is for covering houses, the leaves of which for this purpose are made into ataps, and endure for two years.

“Salt is made in some places from its leaves by burning them, in others sugar is extracted from syrup supplied by its flower-stem. The fruit, though tasteless, is esteemed by the natives, and to make an excellent preserve. Its leaves, on luxuriant plants, are occasionally twenty feet long, all growing from the centre.”

3.Rattan

From the 19th century to this day, rattan is one of the most durable Sarawak forest products. It is not just bendable but it is also perfect for weaving.

Today, you can find it mainly used to make rattan mats and woven rattan baskets. In the olden days, it was even used to build longhouses when there were no nails available.

4.Dammar

Dammar is a resin usually obtained from tapping trees although some is collected in fossilised form from the ground.

Like many of Sarawak forest products, dammar has a wide variety of uses. It can be burned to fuel fire, dissolved in molten paraffin wax to make batik, as incense and varnish.

According to Low, the Dayak mixed damar with oil to caulk their boats and make them leak-proof.

5.Oils

Speaking of oils, you can still get our native oils or ‘butter’ at the tamu or local markets today.

Here’s how the Dayaks once collected the minyak engkabang, according to Reverend Andrew Horsburgh in his book Sketches in Borneo (1858):

“Mengkabang, or vegetable tallow (Dipterocarpus) is procured in the following manner from one of the wild fruits of the jungle. When the fruit, a species of nut, has been gathered, it is picked, dried and pounded and after being thoroughly heated in a shallow cauldron, it is put into a rattan bag and subjected to a powerful pressure. The oil oozes from the bag, and being run into bamboo molds is there allowed to cool, in which state it becomes hard and yellow, somewhat resembling in purified bees’ wax. It is principally used by the Dyaks and Malays for cooking, being very palatable, but in this country it is employed for the manufacture of patent candles, for which it is superior to palm oil.

The press employed by the Dyaks in expressing these oils is, like many other of their contrivances, both simple and effective. It consists of two semi-cylindrical logs about seven feet long, placed in an upright position, their flat surfaces being fitted together and their lower ends securely fastened into each other.

On each of their upper ends a stout knob is cut, and a third piece of wood, about two feet long and three inches wide, is put over the knobs so as to clasp them together. Wedges are then inserted between the outside of the knob and the inside of the hole, and these when driven home subject whatever is between the logs to a powerful pressure.”

6.Bamboo

Bamboo was one of many multipurpose forest products in Sarawak during the 19th century. Thanks to its hard and durable surface, it was largely used for furniture, houses and bridges.

In 1946, the third White Rajah Vyner Brooke ceded Sarawak to the British Colonial Office.

Rajah Muda Of Sarawak Anthony Brooke, the designated heir, initially opposed the cession along with a majority members of Council Negri.

After the cession, the British government actually banned Anthony from entering Sarawak.

Have you ever wondered what was written on the ban letter and what basis the British government had for barring the Rajah Muda from entering Sarawak?

The then Governor-General of the British dependencies of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo Malcolm MacDonald actually wrote an open letter to Anthony which was published in The Sarawak Gazette on Mar 7, 1949.

This was after Anthony wrote several letters requesting to lift his travel ban.

So this was the content of MacDonald’s reply to Anthony dated Feb 11, 1949:

Dear Mr Brooke,

Thank you for your letters of December 28th and January 4th. As I explained in my note of January 11th. I was away from Singapore when they arrived and only received them on my return that day.

In your first letter you say that since December 17, 1947, when the Secretary of State for the Colonies told the House of Commons that he was giving personal attention to the question of the ban on your entry to Sarawak, you have been given no indication of the outcome of his consideration of the matter. I would point out that you were given this indication on February 18, 1948 in the public statement made in the House of Commons reporting the Secretary of State’s decision.

The decisive reason for this was also stated in the speech made by the Under Secretary of State on that occasion. Let me restate the position.

The British Government did not propose that Sarawak should be ceded to His Majesty the King. That proposal was made by His Highness the Rajah of Sarawak himself and the Cession was afterwards effected by means which His Majesty’s government have no doubt were legal and constitutional/

You have consistently challenged the propriety of the change, and in this connection have expressed a wish to proceed to Sarawak.

It is sometimes suggested that as a British subject you should be permitted to travel freely and to advocate any constitutional policy in any part of His Majesty’s dominions.

But you are not in relation to Sarawak an ordinary British subject to the force of circumstances to which I have referred.

You are the ex-Rajah Muda and, incidentally, have made it clear that your purpose is to restore your family, with yourself in the immediate line of succession to Sarawak’s rule.

There have been instances in various countries where a Ruler has vacated his throne either by compulsory remove, voluntary abdication or constitutional cession of his territory. It is customary in all such cases that members of this individual’s family who might be regarded in some quarters as having a claim to rule in the place of those newly installed should be denied entry for at least many years afterwards to the territory concerned. This policy has been generally accepted, in British as well as foreign countries, even if the danger of disturbances resulting from such a visit might be slight. It is regarded as a right and necessary course in the interests of the uninterrupted peace and good government of the peoples of the country.

This policy therefore applies to you in Sarawak. It was thought proper to extend the ban to Brunei and North Borneo in view of their proximity and close intercourse with Sarawak.

It is not expected that there would be violent disturbances on a large scale in Sarawak if you were permitted to return there. The contentment of the overwhelming majority of the people under the new Government is evident.

Nevertheless, your presence would raise false hopes amongst the small minority who are your adherents and excite activities which would probably cause disturbances of the peace between them and other members of the public.

Such considerations were no doubt amongst the reasons which have so often led to the decision that an individual in your special position should not be permitted to visit the country where he was once in the line of succession to the throne, at least until many years after the constitutional change took place.

Naturally the need for the prohibition becomes even stronger when as in your case, the person concerned has declared his intention to strive for a reversal of the change.

I can therefore give you no reason to hope that the ban on your entry into any of the Borneo Territories will be modified or lifted in the foreseeable future.

Yours sincerely,
Malcolm MacDonald.

Anthony still managed to return to Sarawak. Even though he died at his home in New Zealand on 2 March 2011 at the grand age of 98, his ashes were buried as per his last wish at the Brooke Family Graveyard near Brooke Heritage Trust near the Astana, on 21 September 2013.

His ashes were buried in a private ceremony attended by his wife Gita, grandson Jason Brooke, British Deputy High Commissioner Ray Kyles, and New Zealand High Commissioner David Pine.