Kalimantan - Page 3

When Sarawak was an independent kingdom under the reign of three White Rajahs, the then government carried a number of punitive expeditions against its alleged rebels.

These include an expedition against the Ibans in Kedang and the infamous Cholera Expedition down Lupar river.

Reasons for these punitive expeditions varied; from punishing fleeing criminals to pacifying wars between different tribes.

Here is one of the last few punitive expeditions which took place before the peacekeeping ceremony between the Iban, Kayan, Kenyah and Kajang on Nov 16, 1924.

The expedition had Sarawak government forces together with locals went up Nanga Gaat, Baleh river to punish the Iban group living along Gaat river.

The cause of the Gaat Expedition

During the 19th century, headhunting practices and hostilities caused the Punans to leave Apau Kayan in search of new places to stay.

According to the book Beyond the Green Myth (edited by Peter Sercombe and Bernard Sellato), the Punan moved into uninhabited areas and divided themselves into three groups.

“One group moved to the Kihan, a tributary of the Kayan river in Kalimantan. A second group went to the lower reaches of the Kajang and the middle part of the Linau, tributaries of the Balui in Sarawak. A third group, comprising primarily Punan Vuhang, whose forefather had had no quarrel with the Kayan or the Kenyah, decided to return to the Balui headwaters.”

After the Punan Vuhang returned to the Balui headwaters, the Iban killed 14 of them.

For the Punans, the Iban had seemed to be the genuine forest exploiters and tapped gutta percha for a long period.

They came to the Punan area to collect forest products, appearing harmless and friendly towards the Punan Vuhang.

Hence the Punan Vuhang let their guard down and welcomed the Ibans to their homes.

Friends who turned into enemies

To prove their friendship, the Ibans even held a swearing ceremony whereby they became bound to the Punan Vuhang as blood brothers.

Unfortunately, the Punans had no idea that the Iban were actually planning to kill them.

One the eve of the attack, the Iban asked their hosts to hold a singing ritual in praise of the spirits. After feasting and dancing all night long, they fell into a deep sleep. It was then that the Ibans killed the Punans.

Seeking revenge against the Iban, the survivors and fellow Punans from Linau area sought help from the Kayan. However, the Kayan reported the massacre to the Brooke government. The government later set out a punitive expedition against the Ibans from Gaat who was responsible for the killings.

The Gaat Expedition according to Bertram Brooke

The expedition was joined by Bertram Brooke, the son of second Rajah Charles and the brother of third Rajah Vyner.

According to his report published in the Sarawak Gazette on May 16, 1919, the government force left Kapit heading to Nanga Gaat on Apr 5 that year with G.M. Gifford in charge.

On Brooke’s side, there were 200 government forces and unaccounted number of local people.

They received information that the rebels had prepared a final place of refuge on Bukit Tunggal.

Gifford’s main plan was to drive any of the rebels who might be lurking on the river banks towards Bukit Tunggal instead of allowing them to escape to the flanks.

With this, he hoped the rebels would be cornered into a fight or escape into the Dutch East Indies territory (Kalimantan).

Brooke’s force encountered their first fight with the rebels on the 10th. They fired at two boats, capsizing one of the them.

Setting up base camp at Nanga Marang

Two days later, the force arrived and camped at Nanga Marang which was en route to Bukit Tunggal.

This was where the force divided themselves into two groups; one group pursued them to Bukit Tunggal via river in small boats and another to proceed through land.

Eventually, the two groups reassembled at Nanga Bulat where they found a large number of boats belonging to the rebels abandoned along with household stuff and paddy.

After a few hour of trekking, the force spotted a temporary house which the Iban Gaats built near Bukit Tunggal from a distance.

By the time they reached the house, it was already burning and there were no signs of the rebels.

So, the government force sent out a scout team to check out where the rebels had headed.

After awhile, the scout team came across a large river which they believed was a tributary river of Kapuas river. There, they found a large number of boats where they killed a small party of rebels.

The Gaat Expedition at Bukit Tunggal

The scout team returned to the new camp at Bukit Tunggal reporting what they found. Since speed was crucial, the government selected forty Sarawak Rangers which led by Penghulu Merdan and Gaui in pursuit of the rebels.

Together with them they carried two day’s provisions. The plan was if the river they encountered turned out to be Kaniou (a tributary of Kapuas river, meaning they were in Dutch East Indies territory), they should return.

If not, they were to proceed as far as as their supplies would allow, in hopes of overtaking some of the rebels.

Meanwhile, the rest of the forces would be at the burned house until the 19th when it would proceed slowly downriver collecting as much as food and property as possible on the way.

By Apr 22, the force reached Nanga Marang base where they were met with Merdan and Gaui who arrived previous evening via land.

The end of the Gaat Expedition

Bertram reported, “The rebels had evidently taken their women for safekeeping to the house on the ridge (the house that they burned), for these had abandoned their skirts upon the road. Mosquito curtains, Kayan mats, cooking utensils, baskets of provisions, valuable parangs, and even several guns were among the articles strewn along the route until all traces ceased, there being apparently nothing remaining to discard.”

After the expedition ended, Bertram considered the mission a successful one.

He wrote, “It is, however, satisfactory that such a severe lesson has been given with so small a loss of life. It would seem given with so small a loss of life. It would seem that the rebels having no property to return to in the Gaat, must choose between unconditional surrender and moving into Dutch East Indies territory. It is locally considered unlikely that they will take the latter course.”

The Gaat Expedition was not enough for the Punan

Te Punan Vuhang who had joined the government forces during the Gaat Expedition, however, were not satisfied despite the reported success.

They felt the victory belonged to Brooke’s forces, not to them, and so decided they would carry out further revenge.

They went to Iban territory in the Baleh river basin and killed four Ibans.

In return, the Ibans again used a friendship-betrayal scheme to take revenge. But they mistakenly killed a group of Penan Bunut.

Unsatisfied, they decided to seek revenge against the Punan Vuhang. At the meantime, the Punan Vuhang sought refuge among the Kenyah in Kalimantan who were also enemies of the Ibans.

A few years later in 1924, the Kapit Peace making ceremony finally forged peace between the Iban, Kayan, Kenyah and other tribes.

For the first time in a long time, peace finally came to the area and the Punan Vuhang returned to Balui headwater from Kalimantan.

The Battle of Long Jawai was one of the earliest battles in the history of the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1963-1966).

The confrontation was an undeclared war which started from Indonesia’s opposition to the creation of Malaysia.

Indonesia’s then President Sukarno opposed the new nation arguing it was a British puppet state and a new-colonial experiment.

Additionally, they claimed if there was any expansion of Malaysia, it would increase British control over the region while possibly implicating Indonesia’s national security.

Meanwhile, the Philippines opposed the federation as they made a claim on eastern North Borneo for its historical links with the Sulu archipelago.

Initially, the Malayan government had set Aug 31, 1963 as the date on which Malaysia would come into existence.

This was to coincide with Malaya’s independence day celebration.

However, due to fierce opposition from the Indonesian and Philippine governments, the date was postponed.

Both countries later agreed they would accept the formation of Malaysia if a majority in North Borneo and Sarawak voted for it in a referendum organised by the United Nations.

But amidst these peace talks and the referendum, Indonesia had already started their infiltration into Sarawak through Kalimantan.

On Aug 15, 1963, there was an incursion into the Third Division (what is Sibu Division today). Then Gurkha soldiers were deployed to the border there to patrol and ambush incursions.

After a month of operations, 15 of the enemy forces had been killed and three were captured.

This was not the last of the incursion by the Indonesian army.

The Battle of Long Jawai

Less than two weeks after the Malaysian federation was declared on Sept 16, another incursion happened in a small outpost in Long Jawai of Third Division, about 30 miles from the Sarawak border.

Long Jawai back then was a small settlement with a population of 500 and the outpost was also used by the Japanese troops during World War II.

On the morning of Sept 28, about 150 (some records state 200) Indonesian soldiers attacked the outpost.

The outpost was garrisoned by six Gurkha soldiers led by Corporal Tejbahadur Gurung, three policemen and 21 Sarawak border scouts.

In Britain’s Brigade of Gurkhas by E.D. Smith, the men at the outpost were reported still sleeping when they were first attacked.

“At about half-past five the Gurkha rifleman on sentry duty heard movement near his post. Every man stood to. Shortly afterwards, three or four shots were fired nearby,” Smith wrote.

Another account pointed out that a border scout left his position to visit his sick wife in the village.

There in the village, he spotted some Indonesian soldiers and raced back to warn his comrades.

Regardless, Corporal Gurung quickly alerted the radio operators in their signal hut to establish communication with their headquarters.

Soon enough, the Indonesians launched their attacks.

They blasted the outpost with mortar bombs, machine guns and heavy small-arms fire.

Meanwhile, a small party of the enemy charged into the signal hut where the radio operators were still trying to contact their headquarters.

Unaware that their enemies were approaching since they were wearing earphones, the operators were killed before any communication was established.

The retreat to Belaga

In the meantime, the two sides of the battle continued to exchange fire until the fighting lasted for a few hours.

By 8am, only three men were left and able to continue to fight while the rest were wounded. This was when Corporal Gurung decided to call a retreat.

Unfortunately for the local scouts, all but one were captured by the Indonesian armies. Ten (some accounts stated eight) of the scouts were later executed.

The only scout who managed to escape went along with Corporal Gurung and the remaining Gurkha soldiers searching for safety.

Smith described their journey in his book, “Without food or medical supplies the small party spent the night in pouring rain, keeping the wounded men as warm as they could. Then, having made them as comfortable as possible, the corporal and his companions left for the nearest village, many miles away. Living off roots, they had a long and hazardous journey as it was four days before they reached the outpost of Belaga, weak and exhausted but with weapons spotlessly clean and able to give first-hand account of the battle.”

The aftermath of Battle of Long Jawai

At this time the Malaysian federation had come into existence. So by attacking Long Jawai, Indonesia had broken off its diplomatic relations with Malaysia.

In response, other Gurkha units were deployed into the air using helicopters. They began attacking any stragglers and small units broken off from the main force.

Eventually, they also found the tortured bodies of the local scouts.

On Oct 1, the Gurkha units caught two longboats carrying the Indonesian armies in an ambush eventually killing 26 of them.

The Indonesian survivors of this attack were later then killed in another ambush on Oct 10.

Overall, the Battle of Long Jawai had cost the lives of many from both sides. Thirty three Indonesians were killed while 13 British and Malaysian soldiers died during the battle.

Long Jawai or Long Jawe or Long Jawi or Long Jawe’?

If you can’t find Long Jawai in a Sarawak map, that is because it is spelt differently in different records.

Most non-Malaysian books and records spelt it as Long Jawai. Other records spell it as Long Jawe, Long Jawi or Long Jawe’.

All of these names refer to a large but isolated Kenyah longhouse far up the Balui tributary of the Rejang.

After the confrontation, former Sarawak Information Services Director Alastair Morrison visited Long Jawai with Temenggong Jugah Barieng when the latter was holding the post of Minister for Sarawak Affairs.

According to Morrison, the visit was to make relief payments to the relatives of those killed during the Battle of Long Jawai.

He wrote in his book Fair Land Sarawak, “The people of Long Jawi had only moved into Sarawak during the war and they had been much upset by the attack made on them. Their assailants had suffered severely because troops had been flown in behind them and they were ambushed on their return journey, but this did not save the border scouts who had been captured. They were taken a little way upriver and there slaughtered- apparently a return to an old and blood thirsty ritual.”

The residents of Long Jawai were very welcoming of Morrison and Jugah during their visit.

Morrison described his experience, “My special recollections of Long Jawi were Jugah addressing the people of the longhouse later, when we were entertained in the traditional manner, dancing the ngajat of seeing the wall behind him festooned with pictures of the British Royal Family. And, of course, the young 6th Gurkhas then garrisoning the area. Several off-duty soldiers attended the presentation and subsequent party. They were called on to dance and replied that as good soldiers they could not possibly do anything like that. They gave demonstration of arms drill instead. But as the evening wore on it became apparent that not only had they been dancing in Long Jawi, but that they had been teaching the Kenyah girls Nepalese dances too.”

A historical site wiped out in the name of development

Although Long Jawai played an important historical site for Sarawak and Commonwealth countries overall, there is no remnant of it today.

This is because the area became submerged underwater when the Bakun dam impoundment began in 2010.