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10 quotes by Tunku Abdul Rahman about raising living standards in Sabah and Sarawak through Malaysia in 1962

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Before the federation of Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, there were meetings over meetings held attended by different delegates from Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo.

One of those meetings was held on Jan 6, 1962 in which the representatives met up in Kuala Lumpur. They touched upon different subjects including citizenship, transfer sovereignty, economy and special position of the indigenous peoples.

The meeting lasted for three days till Monday, Jan 8. During the closing session, Sabah’s Donald Stephens said that the pieces of Malaysia’s jigsaw puzzle had fallen into place and the picture it produced was that of a “new, vigorous and young nation in the making.”

Meanwhile, Sarawak delegation leader Yeo Cheng Hoe thanked the prime minister of Malayan federation Tunku Abdul Rahman for his desire to help Sarawak.

Singapore then president Lee Kuan Yew stated that with Malaysia there were no reasons why the standard of living of the people of the five territories should not reach that of more developed countries as we lack neither human or natural resources.

As for Tunku Abdul Rahman, he mainly talked about how Malaysia would raise the living standards of Borneo.

Here are 10 takeaway points from Tunku Abdul Rahman’s address during that meeting convincing Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia:

1.“I am confident that the rate of development in the Borneo territories would be considerably increased after the merger, sufficient not only to offset or compensate for their loss of the Commonwealth Development and Welfare Funds, but to increase the tempo of their economic activities.”

2.“(About the plan to form a Federation of Borneo States) I reasoned to myself that if the people of Borneo themselves could wish to come together for their own good and well-being of their country in the form of a Federation, why then should we not join together?”

3.“The only difference would be that whereas in a Federation of Borneo States, as among themselves, the Borneo territories would continue for a long time to be colonies of Britain, in the Federation, with us they would lose the subject status immediately and would gain in stature, and which become independent territories enjoying equal rights and dignity with all other eleven states which now comprise the Federation of Malaya.”

4.“Please do not think that by embracing the territories of Borneo, Malaya is looking for territorial aggrandizement. We are linked by a common cultural heritage and historical background and financial and economic interests.”

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(Left) A photo of Malaysian flag and (right) Tunku Abdul Rahman.

5.“You might say that the British have promised you independence. The question is when will that come about? Should your independence depend on normal development, I do not think you will achieve it in the near future. And when your independence finally arrives, you will be exposed to a precarious existence as tiny and powerless preys to the hungry and rapacious powers of the world.”

6.“As for the poor people of the rural areas who had been neglected before (in Malaya), they are getting a better life and a better deal than they had ever had before. The same cannot be said for the people of Borneo.”

7.“There is no single railway track in the whole of mainland of Sarawak, not one road connecting one territory with another. So very little has been done to improve the lot of people living in Borneo today.”

8.“To suggest that by joining us in Malaysia the Borneo territories would not be our equals, and to suggest that by joining us they would lose their right to practice their own religion and culture to pursue their own customs and the right to study the languages of their forefathers is not true, and is a falsehood which had intentionally been spread by forces which hope to take control of these territories for themselves.”

9.“The Borneo territories too have their won aborigines who live in the most primitive way in the very deepest part of the country. But even the Ibans, Kayan, Kadazans and Melanaus – to mention a few of your indigenous peoples-suffer today such neglect as we Malays used to suffer. It sadden my heart every time I think of the fact and welfare of the sons of the soil of Sarawak and Sabah.”

10.“Therefore, it is only logical that if the Borneo territories want to secure strength through unity, they should unite with the (Malaya) Federation and Singapore which alone can give us all strength viability and unity.”

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Why is there a badger on the old Sarawak coat of arms?

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If you have never seen the old Sarawak coat of arms, you can spot it on the pediment above the pillars of the Kuching General Post Office on Jalan Tun Haji Openg.

There you will see the shape of an animal on top of a shield and the words “Dum Spiro Spero”.

Now comes the question what is that animal? It is actually a European badger, an animal that cannot be found in Sarawak.

If you are not familiar with a badger, remember Trufflehunter from The Chronicles of Narnia, one of Aslan’s followers?

Why is there a European badger on the old Sarawak coat of arms?

The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family. With the first ruler James, they founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946.

The heraldic arms of the Brooke dynasty were based on the emblem used by James. It consisted of a red and black cross on a yellow shield, crested by a badger.

This animal, in Middle English, was known as a “brock” and was also a nickname for people named “Brook” or “Brooke”. Hence the animal refers to the dynastic surname.

There are different kinds of badgers out there such as honey badger, American badger, European badger, Asian badger and Japanese badger.

The closest thing we have to the European badger (Meles meles) on the coat of arms is the Bornean ferret-badger (Melogale everetti). Although its only known certainty of location is on Mount Kinabalu and nearby regions in Sabah, it is suspected it can be found in Kalimantan and Sarawak too.

Sarawak old coat of arms
Sarawak’s old coat of arms (left) beside the one used today.
The current Sarawak coat of arms

Instead of a badger, we have our own Rhinoceros hornbill befitting the state’s nickname ‘Land of Hornbills’. The bird itself wears a shield on our current coat of arms. This design was established in 1988. The hornbill’s wings have 13 feathers representing all the Malaysian states.

It also features Malaysia’s national flower, the hibiscus.

Right below the hornbill is a banner bearing Sarawak’s motto “Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti” which means ‘Unity, Effort, Service’.

This motto was to replace Kingdom of Sarawak’s Dum Spiro Spero.

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Animals that have gone extinct from Niah Cave, Miri

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While 40,000-year-old human remains and rock art might be the highlights of Niah’s archaeological site, many tend to overlook the cave’s prehistoric fauna.

When archaeologists dug up the site, they found more than just pottery. They also found bones attributed to remains of food as well as charcoal from the fires they used to prepare the food.

Based on findings by Tom Harrisson, Dirk Albert Hooijer, Lord Medway (now the 5th Earl of Cranbrook) and Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koeningswald, they found bones of animals that no longer exist.

Here the animals that have gone extinct from Niah Cave:
1.Tapir (Tapirus indicus)

The tapir has not only gone extinct in Niah Cave but from the whole of Borneo island.

A compilation of specimens from cave excavations in both Sabah and Sarawak reported that Malay tapirs once occurred in northern Borneo. They were roaming around this part of the island from the late Upper Pleistocene, ca. 45,000 years ago through Holocene to near recent dates.

The reasons that they are no longer found here are due to climate change during the post-Pleistocene era, together with restoration of the humid tropical rainforest environment which would have reduced the extent of available habitat favourable to the species.

According to research, it is possible that the final disappearance of the tapir from the island was a recent phenomenon, perhaps occurring over the last 500 years.

Now, they are found mostly throughout the tropical lowland rainforest of Southeast Asia, including Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

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2. Asian giant pangolin (Manis paleojavanica)

Recently, pangolins have made headlines for being the most trafficked mammal. Sadly, their ancestor species were most probably extinct due to humans too. The giant pangolin was 2.5 times the size of the Sunda pangolin.

Lord Medway excavated bones of the Asian giant pangolin at the Niah Cave and then Hooijer identified it in 1960.

They found that it was similar to the extinct giant pangolin in Java island.

Furthermore, carbon dating suggests that the Niah bones are about 42,000 -47,000 years old. This coincides with the presence of humans in Borneo.

Researchers believed this was the first Borneo mammal to become extinct after the arrival of humans.

Species that are extinct from Niah Cave, but not from Borneo

Apart from these, archaeologists have also found bones of other animals which no longer can be found in Niah Cave. But they can still be found in other parts of Borneo.

These include the bearded pig (Sus sp.), orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), banteng (Bos Javanicus) and clouded leopard (Felis nebulosa).

The oldest orangutan teeth found in Niah Cave are larger than those of the biggest animals living today. These animals were possibly larger…but it is possible that maybe it was only their teeth that were larger.

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Seduku the Orangutan enjoying her banana while hanging from a tree at Semenggoh Nature Reserve.

Meanwhile, it is undetermined if the bearded pig we have today is the same species as its ancestors.

Just like the orangutan, the bones and teeth of the prehistoric pig are very much larger than the present-day Borneo bearded pigs.

In National Parks of Sarawak, Hans P. Hazebroek and Abang Kashim Abang Morshidi suggested the smaller body size of the animals is a trend during the latest stage of evolution of the Bornean fauna.

“This trend is possibly related to changes in the environment, from the more seasonal forests of the Pleistocene to today’s rainforests.”

However looking at the extinction of the tapir in Borneo and its presence in other regions, as well as the complete extinction of Asian giant pangolin, there might be unknown factors also influencing this stage of evolution.

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10 interesting things to know about Balikpapan, Indonesia

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Located on the east coast of Borneo island, Balikpapan is the industrial, commercial and financial center of Kalimantan.

It is the second most populous city in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, after Samarinda.

If you want to know more about this city, here are ten things to know about Balikpapan, especially on its unique history:
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Water fountain at Bakapai Garden, Balikpapan. Credit: Pixabay.
1.The various stories behind its unique name

Those who understand Indonesian Malay might find the name ‘Balikpapan’ unique. ‘Balik’ means ‘behind’ while ‘papan’ is wooden plank.

Legend has it a king who was afraid of his daughter falling into enemy hands had bound her to several planks and sent her out to sea. Waves came and hit the planks, turning the daughter – who was still a toddler at the time – over. When the planks washed ashore, a fisherman found the daughter still bound to the board. The area where she was found was called Balikpapan.

Another theory is that the Kutai sultanate’s Sultan Muhammad Idris sent 1,000 planks to help the Paser kingdom build a new palace. They shipped the planks from Kutai to Paser through Borneo shorelines. Out of the 1,000 planks, 10 was washed away and resurfaced at a site which is now called Balikpapan.

The last theory is that it was named after a couple. Kayun Kuleng and Papan Ayun were the ancestors of Pasir Balik tribe, a native people of Balikpapan. The area that they lived is called ‘Kuleng-Papan’ and “Kuleng” means “Balik” in Paser language.

2. The city was part of an old kingdom called Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate

Before the late 19th century, Balikpapan was just a group of Bugis fishing villages which was part of the Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate.

Then in 1844, the Dutch came and defeated Kutai’s ruler Sultan Aji Muhammad Salehuddin. The event forced the sultan into exile, allowing the Dutch to take control of the whole sultanate including Balikpapan.

3.The booming oil industry in Balikpapan under Dutch Rule.

The first oil drilling in the city began on Feb 10, 1897 and the oil well which was called “Mathilda” has been commemorated by its very own monument. The date was set as Balikpapan ‘s anniversary.

Then in 1907, Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij (BPM), a subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell oil company made the city its headquarters. This caused many skilled workers and engineers from overseas to work there, resulting in the blooming of the economy.

More roads, warehouses, offices and bungalows were built in Balikpapan during this period.

4.The Japanese targeted Balikpapan during World War II due to its oil industry.

When the Japanese planned their offence during World War II, their main focus was usually on any city which had an oil industry, such as Miri (Sarawak) and Tarakan (Indonesia).

After they captured the oilfield at Tarakan from the Allies, they found that it was already destroyed.

So the Japanese force headed to Balikpapan in the hope that the oilfields had not been destroyed.

Knowing this, the Dutch commander Lieutenant Colonel Cornelis van den Hoogenband ordered the oilfield in Balikpapan destroyed, evacuating his staff to Samarinda on Jan 18, 1942.

When the Japanese finally landed in Balikpapan four days later, they were met with about 1,100 troops of the Dutch army.

However, this number was easily defeated by the Japanese who came with 5,500 infantry and 1,100 naval infantry.

5.In 1945, Balikpapan served as the site of the last major ground operation of World War II.

From July 1-21, 1945, Allied Forces from Australia, the United States of America, Netherlands and United Kingdom started a series of heavy bombing and shelling on Balikpapan.

This battle was one of the last to occur during WWII before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which effectively ended the war.

6.CIA once air raided the city back in the 1950s
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The coastline of Balikpapan has seen so many battles over the past century.

Although WWII ended in 1945, Balikpapan saw another battle in 1958. The US ran a CIA covert mission to undermine President Sukarno’s government by supporting right-wing rebels in Indonesia.

In 1958, the CIA then attacked Balikpapan and stopped oil exports in the area. This was to weaken the country’s economy.

The Balikpapan air raid subsequently caused Shell to suspend tanker services from Balikpapan.

To fight back, the Indonesian naval and air forces shot down a plane and captured its CIA pilot causing the Americans to withdraw their support of the right-wing groups.

7. The unique multi-cultural society of the city

Looking at East Kalimantan’s overall population, the most populous ethnic group in the province is the Javanese. Coming in second is the Bugis who live in coastal and urban areas. Meanwhile, the third largest ethnicity is the Banjar who live mostly in the city of Samarinda and Balikpapan.

Although the Dayak is only the fourth largest group, their cultural heritage, such as costumes and handicrafts, are widely displayed in Balikpapan in places like shopping malls and airport.

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8.It is among most liveable cities in Indonesia

Thanks to its well-maintained facilities and environmental wellbeing, Balikpapan was voted the best city for living in 2013. It was also voted as the Most Loveable City for 2015.

9.The city’s mascot is the sunbear

The city is home to orangutan, sunbear, deer, proboscis monkey, gibbon, pangolin and plenty of endemic birds.

Of these animals, the sun bear was picked as Balikpapan’s mascot. Unfortunately, the population of sunbears in the area is maybe 50 or less.

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Orangutan can be found in the forests near the city particularly at Wain River Protected Forest.
10.It offers plenty of tourist attractions

Being a seaport city, Balikpapan has many beaches including Manggar Beach, Segara Beach Monument Beach and Kemala Beach.

Other tourist attractions include Wain River Protected Forest, a crocodile farm called Teritip and Bukit Bangkirai rainforest.

For Sarawakians, the city is just two flights away from Kuching. Visitors can fly from Kuching to Pontianak and then take another flight to Balikpapan.

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The city’s airport.

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Tom Harrisson on the discovery of “Ships of the dead” at Niah Cave

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Major Tom Harrisson was many things. He was an explorer, soldier, ethnologist, guerrilla, museum curator, writer and archaeologist.

One of his biggest contributions to Sarawak was the archaeological exploration at Niah National Park in Miri.

In October 1954, Harrisson with his two friends, Michael Tweedie and Hugh Gibb spent two weeks examining that site. After they found evidence of human occupation, they decided to come back again. This time in 1957, the Sarawak Museum organised a larger expedition with the help of transport and equipment from Brunei Shell Petroleum and Sarawak Oilfields Ltd (Shell).

Together with his wife Barbara, the expedition team discovered Deep Skull. Estimated to be 37,000 years old, Deep Skull is the oldest known modern human skeleton. Iron-age rock paintings were also found at the Painted Cave in 1958.

The rock arts were believed to be similar to those of the living culture of the Ngadju in southeast Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.

Here Harrisson in his own words, vividly described the discovery of what mostly now known as “Ships of the dead” and ancient wooden coffins.
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Tom Harrisson. Credits: BBC.

“My wife was the first person to enter this part of the labyrinth. She was so moved that she came back to the camp and burst into tears. Here, is one of the strangest, loveliest and quietest death scenes an archaeologist can wish to see. High above the valley floor, in a cave mouth beautifully coloured with green, purple, orange lichens and mosses, there is a perfectly dry, dusty floor. Upon this floor there was, until we came, no trace or sign of man’s footsteps. The cave is not, indeed, of interest to the local people. For it is one of many where there are no edible birds’ nests to attract the nest collectors; and no bats to attract the guano collectors. Only the footprints of a family of Leopard Cats patterned the floor in many directions.

In a scattered line along this floor lay a number of what at first glance appeared to be ordinary river boats. They lay ‘beached’ pointing inwards, on the dry dust. Coming closer, one saw at once that they were shallower and shorter than boats and were really coffins, each made in two parts, both boatshaped, but slotted to fit together. With each, the lower “boat” had a queer bowsprit, carved in the face of sabre-toothed dragon or tooth-bared crocodile. These boats had originally been placed on posts, one at each end. But over the centuries, all except one had fallen over. Littered on the ground around where human bones of all sorts, and a conspicuous number of shells, mostly sea-shells bored with holes. All over the ground lay pieces of earthenware and stoneware pottery.

About 15m beyond the strange, cool, incaverned beach of boats, the ceiling of the cave arches deeply down to meet the floor. Between 5 to 9m along the wall runs a sloping, and in one place a flat, ledge for about 46m. Where the ceiling runs up again above this shelf or ledge, there suddenly became apparent lines and groups of patterns, in red. It took a little while for the eye to assimilate these, to adjust to the peculiar lighting conditions. It was then easy to realise that at long last we had found actual cave drawings in Borneo. None had previously been known; and very few indeed from anywhere in this part of the world. These drawings (of which we have so far identified rather more than a hundred) range in size from a few centimetres to 120cm. All are executed in what is almost certainly red haematite, perhaps applied with frayed bamboo or with reeds tied together, is the work of people all in the same mood, and of the same culture. They have painted crouched or squatting along the shelf or under the ceiling, quite uncomfortably. The reasons for choosing this particular place are (apart from the presence of the boat-beach immediately below?) that here the cave-ceiling is unusually clean, white, free of animal or plant materials; and that though difficult it is for once practicable to work on the ceiling from below.”

The Ships of the dead now

The boat-coffins have since been transferred to the Sarawak Museum, but the paintings of these ‘Ships of the dead’ can still be viewed on the wall behind the fence at the national park.

Just like Harrisson stated, these ‘Ships of the dead’ can be difficult to see unless you allow your eyes to become accustomed to the light.

They portray ‘dancing’ human figures, often on top of the boats with arms outspread. It is believed these ‘Ships of the Dead’ are longboats carrying the souls of the deceased on the dangerous journey to the land of the dead.

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Novelist Joseph Conrad and how his book “Lord Jim” was inspired by Sarawak

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While W. Somerset Maugham drew inspirations from Sri Aman’s famous tidal bore, there was another British novelist whose works were inspired by Sarawak.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was a Polish-British writer whose hero – Lord Jim (1900) – was famously based on the first White Rajah, James Brooke.

Besides Lord Jim, his other notable works are The Nigger of the Narcissus (1897), Heart of Darkness (1899), Typhoon (1902) and The Secret Agent (1907).

Joseph Conrad

Conrad in 1904 by George Charles Beresford. Credits: Public Domain.
Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim and S.S Jeddah

Lord Jim is a novel by Conrad originally published as a serial in Blackwood’s Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.

Jim is a first mate on an old steamer Patna carrying Muslim pilgrims to Jeddah. When the ship hits something and begins taking on water, Jim and the captain together with two other crewmen jump into a lifeboat to save themselves, leaving the passengers behind.

A few days later, they are rescued by an outbound steamer. When they reach the port, they find out Patna and its passengers are safe. The captain is then put on trial for abandoning his ship and the passengers.

The circumstances in the opening of the book are inspired by an actual event which happened to the crew and passengers of S.S.Jeddah in 1880.

On July 17 of that year, S.S. Jeddah was sailing from Singapore bound for Penang and subsequently Jeddah. When it appeared to sink during a hurricane, the captain and some of the crew abandoned ship, leaving its more than 700 passengers behind. Although, the ship did not sink in the end, a court of inquiry was held for the captain.

In the first part of the book, the circumstances and actions of Jim’s character was inspired by the scandalous Augustine Podmore Williams. He was the chief mate of S.S. Jeddah who abandoned the vessel together with its captain and other officers leaving more than 700 passengers behind.

Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim and James Brooke

Meanwhile, the second part of the book was inspired by James Brooke’s real life exploits in Borneo. Brooke, who managed to set up an independent state of Sarawak, was fascinating for many people during those times.

In the book, Jim was a trade representative in Patusan, a fictional country on a remote island.

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Who grew up reading these Classics Illustrated Comics? Here’s a page from a comic adaptation ofLord Jim by George Evans in the 1950s. (https://cafart.r.worldssl.net/images/Category_3563/subcat_44275/LordJim.jpg#.XKRBOLbJSsw.link)

Away from European civilisation, the place is exactly what Jim needs because he is unable to forgive himself for what happened on the Patna.

On Patusan, Jim earns his respect from the locals by defeating Sherif Ali, a local bandit who extorts fees and steals crops from the locals.

He also protects the people of Patusan from the corrupt local Malay chief, Rajah Tunku Allang. Jim then leads the people of Patusan and they call him “Tuan Jim” or “Lord Jim”.

Sound familiar? In Sarawak, Brooke had assisted Pangeran Muda Hashim in defeating the rebels led by Datu Patinggi Ali. At that time, Sarawak was administered by Pengiran Indera Mahkota who was not a crowd favorite, just like the Conrad’s Rajah Tunku Allang.

Besides Brooke, Conrad also wrote many of his characters based on real people at that time. Stein in Lord Jim, for example, might have been inspired by Alfred Russel Wallace who wrote his hugely influential Sarawak Law paper.

In Lord Jim, Stein learned botany, occasionally sending specimens to his contact in Europe.

Moreover, Wallace’s book The Malay Archipelago (1869) was Conrad’s favorite bedside companion and used it for information in his book Lord Jim.

Was Joseph Conrad’s Patusan set at Batang Lupar?
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A map of the forts and villages of Patusan which appears in Henry Keppel‘s account of The Expedition to Borneo of HMS. Dido for the Suppression of Piracy (1846). Credits: Public Domain.

Conrad described Patusan as a remote backwater in the South Seas, forgotten by the rest of the world. Before Jim arrived to the country, it is ruled by various factions of native Malay people.

The famous theory of what inspired this fictional Patusan is that it might be the actual Patusan. It is a historical Sarawakian fort on the Batang Lupar river where the HMS Dido led by Captain Henry Keppel fought on behalf of Brooke in 1844.

The map of the forts and villages of Patusan was actually featured in Keppel’s account of The Expedition to Borneo of HMS Dido for the Suppression of Piracy (1846).

However, one theory pointed out that Patusan might actually by Berau which is located in East Kalimantan province in Indonesian Borneo.

This was because Conrad actually visited Berau four times during his career as a merchant marine officer.

Other than Borneo, another hypothesis theorised Patusan might be in the island of Sumatra, based on the passage route written in Lord Jim.

Nonetheless, Patrick Tourchon in a study “Joseph Conrad & Sarawak: How if Patusan were in Patusan?” strongly believed that Sarawak alone was on Conrad’s mind when he wrote Lord Jim.

Many disagreed with this theory because first of all, Conrad never actually visited Sarawak.

Tourchon argued, “But this only proves that Conrad’s knowledge about Sarawak came exclusively from books: a point nobody dreams of challenging, and which would rather confirm that Conrad left Patusan where he found it so as not to take any risk.”

Joseph Conrad and his letter to The Ranee

Scholars could continue to argue if Patusan was really located in Sarawak, but as what Tourchon wrote, they could not argue how the first White Rajah was partly the inspiration behind Lord Jim.

Conrad even gushed about Brooke in a letter to Ranee Margaret on July 15, 1920.

He wrote, “The first Rajah Brooke has been one of my boyish admirations, a feeling I have kept to this day strengthened by the better understanding of the greatness of his character and the unstained rectitude of his purpose. The book which has found of the first Rajah’s enterprise and even by the lecture of his journals as partly reproduced by Captain Mundy and others.”

Conrad also expressed his admiration on the Ranee’s autobiography. He continued, “It was never my good fortune to see Kuching; and indeed my time in the Archipelago was short, though it left most vivid impressions and some highly valued memories.”

“It was a very great pleasure to read “My Life in Sarawak”, recalling so many things (which, I, myself, have only half seen) with so much charm and freshness and a loving understanding of the land and the people. I have looked into that book many times since.”

He even admitted to Margaret that he wrote The Rescue, A Romance of the Shallows (1920) partly inspired by the Ranee’s book.

After all, drawing from inspiration and working on their own experiences is how many writers become great. For Conrad, who never visited Sarawak, he drew his inspiration from his reading experience.

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What went down during 1862 Battle off Mukah

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Here is a piece of Sarawak history that could inspire the next movie installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.

It is called The Battle off Mukah, a naval engagement fought in 1862 between the Sarawak navy and the notorious Illanun pirates.

Sarawakian citizens along the coast of Mukah were kidnapped by the pirates, most probably to be sold as slaves. In response, the then heir apparent of the first White Rajah, the Rajah Muda Captain John Brooke led his force in two small warships to defeat these pirates.

The preparation for the Battle off Mukah

Harriette McDougall, the wife of the first Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak Francis Thomas McDougall, recorded the Battle off Mukah in her 1882 book called the Sketches of Our Life at Sarawak.

Though she herself was not there during the battle, her husband was one of the eight Europeans on board. There were two warships; one 80-foot steamer named Rainbow and a gunboat called Jolly Bachelor.

To prepare the vessels, planks were hung over the railing to raise the rear part of the ships where there were no bulwarks.

Then, they laid mattresses inside part of the ships to receive the shots and spears from the enemy.

Together with a few dozen soldiers and sailors, the two vessels began their journey from Kuching.

The Battle off Mukah

When they were somewhere off Mukah, they came across three of the Illanun perahus.

The water along this coastline was shallow and the Rainbow had the Jolly Bachelor in tow. Brooke’s battle plan was to release the smaller ship as soon as they were in a good firing position.

After confirming with his Sarawakian Malay chief that the vessels were pirates, both Rainbow and Jolly Bachelor went after them.

Brooke described the battle in a letter to James Brooke, his uncle and the first White Rajah “The first boat, a very large and fast one, took the lead and it soon became evident that she would cross our course and get ashore before we could be up to her.”

Then, the offence against the pirates began. The first pirate perahu got away. Brooke led the steamer to sink the second one. The Rainbow was about to chase the third pirate boat when it was ran aground.

But the guns onboard were still working so they pointed them to the third boat. This forced the pirates to abandon the ship without fighting.

Brooke ordered his men to rescue the survivors hanging on to the wreckage. Some of the Illanun pirates were so relentless; continuing to fight and attack the captives with weapons even in water.

During this time, one of the rescued pirates told them that there were another three boats on the way.

True enough after an hour or so, three enemy boats approached Brooke and his ships. The two parties exchanged fire.

In the end, two of the vessels were split in two as the Rainbow ran them over. Meanwhile, the final vessel was destroyed by gunfire and sank with a valuable cargo of gold and jewels.

The rescue of the captives

After the pirate boats were destroyed, they finally could focus on the rescue.

Brooke wrote, “In a moment, the steamer was surrounded by the unhappy captives floating on pillows built of planks and every thing that came to hand. Those that were Chinese holding up their tails to show their nationality, women with children clinging to them.”

According to Brooke, it was not difficult to distinguish the captives from the pirates as the captives had ropes around their necks.

Meanwhile, the bishop who busy treating the wounded captives said they were almost living skeletons.

When the Bishop asked them if their wounds hurt, the captives answered, “Nothing hurts so much as the saltwater the Illanuns gave us to drink. We never had fresh water; they mixed three parts of fresh with four of saltwater; and all we had to eat was a handful of rice or raw sago twice a day.”

And the wounds that these captives received were even more horrifying.

Harriette wrote, “One man came on board with the top of his skull as cleanly lifted up by a Sooloo (Sulu) knife, as if a surgeon had desired to take a peep at the brain inside! It took considerable force to close it in the right place. This man had also two cuts in his back, yet the next morning he was discovered eating a large plate of rice, and he ultimately recovered. Another poor fellow could not be got up the ladder because he had a long-handled three-barbed spear sticking in his back.”

The horror in Illanun’s captivity

The survivors also shared their horrific experiences on how they were attacked and taken captive by the pirates.

The Illanun pirates usually attacked those with valuable cargo. If the ships offered resistance, they killed everybody on board and burnt the vessels.

If the pirates spared their lives, they beat them with a piece of flat bamboo over the elbows and knees, and the muscles of arms and legs. The beating continued until the captives were unable to move.

When the pirates deemed the captives sufficiently meek and obedient, they were made to row.

They put one of their own fellow captives to keep them in check. But if he did not do his job properly, they would knife him and thrown him overboard.

If the captives tried to escape and jump into the sea, the pirates speared them in the water. The poor captives rowed day and night in relays.

To keep them awake, the pirates would rub cayenne peppers into their eyes and wounds.

The Aftermath of Battle off Mukah

Overall, there were about 165 people rescued from the pirates, including two British subjects. Among them were nine women and six children, most of them from Mukah or Oya. In every pirate boat, there were 40 to 50 pirates with 60 to 70 captives.

Sadly, many of them were killed by the pirates when they realised they were about to be defeated. The captives were taken from various locations; some were on their way to Terengganu from Singapore and some at the mouth of Pontianak river.

The Illanun pirates who survived the battle and washed ashore were reportedly killed by the Melanaus along Mukah and Bintulu shorelines. Meanwhile, the Brooke government ordered the locals to give help to the captives who survived.

Of the Illanuns, 32 were taken alive with 10 of them were boys. Brooke gave the boys away to people to bring up with hopes they might be reformed. For the adults, some died because of their wounds while some were taken to Kuching to be tried and then executed.

Garay warships of pirates in the Sulu Sea
Piraguas piratas de los Joloanos c.1850 A depiction of garay warships used by Sulu pirates. Credit: Public Domain.

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The history of James Brooke’s schooner, the ‘Royalist’

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If Sarawakians were to name one 19th century schooner that they may know, the answer would most probably be the Royalist.

(For Pirates of the Caribbean fans who said The Black Pearl, you’d be off by a century as the trilogy was set roughly in the mid-1700s.)

The Royalist itself was famously known to have played an important role in establishing British adventurer James Brooke’s foothold in Sarawak.

He bought the vessel in 1836 with money he had inherited from his father.

The Findlay

That being said, did you know that the Royalist was not Brooke’s first vessel?

Brooke always wanted to sail to this part of the globe. He was reportedly inspired by the book The Eastern Seas written by George Windsor Earl. According to Robert Payne in The White Rajahs of Sarawak, Brooke begged his father for a ship – any ship.

“At last, in February 1834, his father relented and promised to buy a ship for him and to furnish it with merchandise.”

Finally, he saw a ship he wanted in Liverpool. It was black, with a black hull and black mast.

Like any young man excited over a new ride, Brooke got excited and told his friend about it.

In a letter to Cruikshank, he wrote: “Me voila done! I have a vessel afloat, and nearly ready for sea- a rakish slaver brig, 290 tons burden- one that would fight or fly as occasion demanded, and made to pay her expenses The Indian Archipelago, the northeast coast of China, Japan, New Guinea and the Pacific is the unlimited sphere of our adventure.”

So, the ship (which was called The Findlay) sailed from England on May 6, 1834.

Unfortunately for Brooke, his captain (a friend named Kennedy) and first mate (Harry Wright) did not see eye to eye with each other.

Kennedy and Wright were constantly quarreling along the journey. Brooke then abruptly decided to sell The Findlay and its cargo.

The Eastern Seas 2
The Eastern Seas by George Windsor Earl.
The Royalist

Frustrated, Brooke returned to Bath, England where he spent his time fox-hunting and yachting. At this time, Payne stated that he “seemed to have no purpose in life.”

Finally, his purpose in life came in the form of a 142-ton topsail schooner.

When Brooke’s father died in December 1835, he inherited £30,000 (about £3,780,000 in 2019). He immediately bought a yacht, The Royalist. She was believed to be built in Cowes in 1834 as a gentleman’s yacht for Rev T.L Lane.

It was “armed with six six-pounders, a number of swivel guns, and every kind of small arms.”

The Royalist was a vessel of the Royal Yacht Squadron, one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world that still exists to this day.

Due to this, she could fly The White Ensign. This was a flag flown on British Royal Navy ships and shore establishments.

In other words, the Royalist was accorded the same right as ships of the Royal Navy.

This time, Brooke had learned his lesson from The Findlay, so he chose his officers wisely. For his first journey on the Royalist, he took some of his relatives and friends to the Mediterranean.

During this journey, he even brought along his nephew John Brooke Johnson Brooke who later became Rajah Muda, his heir to the Kingdom of Sarawak. This was before Brooke disinherited him in favour of his younger brother, Charles.

They travelled to Malta, Bosporus, Halicarnassus (now Bodrum) and Rhodes. Then, they returned home in June, 1837.

For 18 months, Brooke studied where he was going and charted his journey.

In fact, his initial plan was to establish a settlement at Malludu Bay (now Kota Marudu, Sabah).

The Royalist sets sail to the Far East

After that long and studious period of planning, he was ready to sail the Royalist by the end of 1838.

He was famously quoted from his diary stating, “Could I carry my vessel to places where the keel of European ship never before played the waters, could I plant my foot where white man’s foot has never been before – could I gaze upon scenes which educated eyes have never looked on – see man in the rudest state of nature – I should be content without looking to further rewards.”

Finally, the Royalist sailed from Devonport on Dec 16, 1838 with 19 crew members.

On June 1, 1839, Brooke arrived in Singapore where he remained for a few weeks. It was here that Brooke finally heard about Sarawak.

Payne wrote, “He learned that the antimony ore, which gleamed with a dull silvery gleam and which he could see being unloaded in Singapore harbour, came from Sarawak. He learned, too, that the Rajah (Pangeran Muda Hashim) was fighting some obscure rebels in the interior. There had been no mention of Sarawak in his prospectus. Now he was on fire to enter Sarawak.”

At that time, the future king never thought he would became the first White Rajah of Sarawak.

The Royalist arrives in Sarawak

So Brooke made his preparation, readying gifts such as silk, cloth, sweets, preserved ginger, gunpowder to present to Pangeran Muda Hashim.

Even during the 19th century Made-in-China items were famous as Brooke prepared a huge box of toys from China for Pangeran’s children.

On July 27, the Royalist left Singapore and heading toward Borneo. Then on Aug 11, they laid eyes on Mount Santubong for the first time.

Three days later on Aug 14, the Royalist sailed slowly up Sarawak river passing through mangroves and nipah palms along the riverbank.

“At night, less than two miles from Kuching, he dropped anchor. At first dawn the Royalist rounded a bend in the river, and at seven o’clock came in sight of Kuching,” Payne wrote.

And the rest is history.

The Eastern Seas
A small replica of The Royalist on display at The Brooke Gallery at Fort Margherita.
The royal shipwreck

Two years after Brooke became the first White Rajah of Sarawak on September, 1843, the Royalist was recorded in Brunei.

Then, it was reported that the Royalist was sold as a trading vessel early in 1844 but still retained her name.

On Dec 11, 1854, the schooner was wrecked near Kawhia, New Zealand. Her captain then, a man named Tavernor wrote a letter on Dec 12, 1854 to Charles Davis reporting on the wreck.

“I had done my best to save the vessel from destruction; but afterwards my whole thought was how to save our own lives, but fortunately the tide and serf left us sufficiently for us to get onshore safe. We then commenced to get everything from the wreck that we possibly could, it then being 6 o’clock, and the tide making fast, this morning we cut her fore-mast and main-mast away, saved them with sails and yards, and a little timber, whether we shall save more I cannot say all the timber and most part of the wheat, the vessel is now a total wreck.

The Royalist was 86 tons register, and had on board 1,700 bushels wheat, and 14,000 feet sawn timber, at the time she went ashore.”

Captain Tavernor (Dec 12, 1854)
The Resurrection of the Royalist

In September 2018, the Royalist made headlines as it would make a return to Kuching after 180 years.

Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced that the replica of the Royalist, with the exact scale of the original vessel will be placed at the Brooke Dockyard.

This would be after The Brooke Trust and Hollywood were done using it for their shoot in the upcoming White Rajah film.

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Penghulu Asun and the last revolt against the Brooke government

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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
Asun
A screenshot from Alaistair Morrison’s memoir Fair Land Sarawak: Some Recollections of an Expatriate Official showcasing a photo of Asun.

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.”

Fox and Steele Kanowit Bazaar
Kanowit bazaar.
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.

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No tigers in Borneo? Thank the smart-ass kancil

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Everybody knows what a tiger looks like; it is known for its one-of-a-kind fur pattern of dark stripes against reddish-orange fur.

Besides Malaysia, it is also the national animal of India, Bangladesh and South Korea.

Although Borneo is home to around 222 mammals, 44 of them being native to this island, no tiger has been officially recorded here.

It is believed that there used to be a Bornean tiger, which could possibly have been from an extinct tiger population thought to have lived in the Sunda island of Borneo in prehistoric times.

Archaeological excavations in Malaysian Borneo found an upper canine tooth and bones that were identified as belonging to a tiger.

However, some believed that these items had been obtained through trade.

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It has been assumed that the Bornean tiger might have been rather small in size, similar to the Sumatran tiger. Credits: Pixabay
The legend behind why there are no tigers in Borneo

According to a legend recorded by Harold Courlander, we can put the blame on the kancil, or lesser mousedeer (Tragulus kanchil).

Kancil, or Sang Kancil, is a popular character in Indonesian and Malaysian folktales and is widely known for its wit and cunning.

Long ago, when tigers were rulers of Java island, a great famine broke out.

The tigers came together to discuss how to overcome the famine. They came to the decision that the only way out was to take over Borneo island. There, they hoped to find food and force the inhabitants to pay them tribute.

So the tiger king appointed three messengers to meet the King of Borneo and deliver an ultimatum: “Send us food and gold, or we shall came with an army to conquer you!”

To ensure the threats were real, the tiger king even plucked his largest whisker to show the King of Borneo as proof of his strength.

The three tiger messengers crossed the Java sea and landed on Borneo. There, they began their mission to look for the King of Borneo.

They searched high and low but could not find anybody. (This is because the creatures had heard about the tigers and went into hiding.)

Unexpectedly, the messengers came across Kancil, who had heard of their arrival and been waiting for them. The tigers demanded he bring them to the King of Borneo so they could deliver the message and the whisker.

Just like our modern day version of “Please leave a message after the beep”, Kancil replied that his king was busy hunting, but promised to convey the message and return with the king’s own whisker in answer.

The role of a porcupine

Instead of looking for the ‘king’, Kancil went to the cave of the thick-spined porcupine (Thecurus crassispinis). It is one of the three species of porcupines that can be found in Borneo.

Kancil asked the porcupine to pull one of its quills from his back. Then, he returned to the tigers with the quill.

Besides his cunning and wit, Kancil is known to trick his opponents with falsehoods and exaggerations. He then told the tigers that he found his king resting while his servants sharpened his claws by grinding them between two mountains.

He related that the King of Borneo’s message to the tiger king was that his soldiers were tired of their peaceful existence and burned to go to war.

To show his readiness to go to war, the king of Borneo had plucked a whisker from his face.

With that he produced the porcupine quill and gave it to the tiger messengers.

When the messengers returned to Java with the quill, the tiger king was surprised to see the so called “whisker”, as it was 20 times thicker than his.

Imagining defeat at the hands of a giant adversary, the tigers were quick to abandon their plans to Borneo, and that is why there are no tigers on Borneo today.

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