SARAWAK
SEE also ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY IN SARAWAK 1841 - 1945 ANGLICAN CHURCH IN SARAWAK
KINGDOM OF SARAWAK
Ca 1800 the area of present-day Sarawak was - formally at least - still part of the Sultanate of Brunei. In practice the Sultan's rule was however limited to some semi-independent coastal Malay settlements, the rest of the country - inhabited by tribal [Dayak, Iban (Sea Dayak), Melanau, etc] and Chinese communities (1) - only recognizing his authority when forced to. The growing economic importance of the coastal settlement of Sarawak/Kuching in the 1820's - a result of the antimony trade with Singapore - incited the Sultan to re- impose his control over the area. In 1836 the Brunei governor Pengiran Mahkota (1... - 1858) was confronted with a genaral revolt, which neither he nor special envoy Rajah Muda Hassim [1839 - 1841 (1... - 1846)] were able to quell. Rajah Muda Hassim then turned to James Brooke (s.b.) - a British adventurer - for military assistance. By 1841 Brooke had pacified the area and as a reward received the governorship of Sarawak from Rajah Muda Hassim. The transfer was formalized by the Sultan in 1842 and Brooke then adopted the style of Rajah (King) of Sarawak, becaming the first head of state of an independent Sarawak. (2) In 1888 Sarawak became a protectorate of the United Kingdom and from 1941 to 1945 it was occupied by Japan (s.b.). ADMINISTRATION OF MALAY AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES On the regional and local level the Brooke administration used the British system of indirect rule : - at the highest level were the (European) Residents of four - since 1915 five - Divisions (with the Resident of the First Division as most important- s.b.) - the intermediary level was represented by - the Native Officers - usually Malay, but sometimes also Arabs, Ibans or even Westerners - heading subdidvisions of the Division all over the country - "Titles Officials" - like the "Orang Kaya Pemancha" (Rich Man Commander) in Sariba-land - heading subdivisions in Iban-land. Bothe were in charge the general administration of subdivisions and advised the Resident on native affairs. (this intermediary level also included the Datu, the members of the traditional Malay aristocraty of Kuching and other coastal areas. Their power was largely symbolic) - on the lowest level were the : - Tua Kampung (village elder) in the Malay areas. They administered the village communities and also had some judicial powers, especially for affairs related to Islam, etc. - Penghulu in de tribal areas. They administered several villages, collected taxes, supervised the trade, formed militias when necessary, etc.. On the central level : - the Datu were allowed to sit in the Supreme Council (s.b.) - the leading other officers were allowed to sit in the Council Negri - a semi- legislative council - assembling once every three years. (1) Traders from China had reached Borneo long before the Westerners. Chinese presence on the island - espacially in the part that would later become Dutch - even increased at the end of the 18th century when gold mining became important. In the mining areas the Chinese established so-called "Kongsi" (Zongting), selfgoverning communities - refered to as "democatic republics" by Dutch authors - with their own government, courts, mint, etc. After the discovery of gold and antimony in the Sarawak hinterland in the 1820's a Kongsi was also established at Bau. [Leader : Liu Shanbang/Liew Shan Pang (1... -1857)]. It reamained as good as independent until the arrival of James Brooke, who then imposed taxes and forbid trading with other states. When he also tried to take over the gold mining, the Chinese revolted (1857). They toke Kuching, nearly ending James Brooke's rule. But after a week the revolt was crushed. After this the Chinese communities were largely left alone for the rest of the Brooke period : - their community leaders (Kangshew) enjoyed very fargoing powers under the supervision of the Brooke administration. - uniike the Malay and the Indigenous Peoples, they did not particpate in the adminstration of the state. (2) At this moment the new state covered only original Sarawak (Kuching and its vicinity). In the course of the following years its territory was however largely expanded by the systematical annexation of parts of Brunai, until by 1905 Sarawak covered most of North Borneo. [see Brunei (to be added) for more) While these annexations encountered little resistance from weak Brunei, things were different when the Brooke administration started imposing its authority on the native communities, especially on the Iban. Principal Iban resistance leaders 1842 - 1844 : Sharif Sahab (1... - 184.), Sharif Mullar and Sharif Ahmed, supported by former governor Pengiran Mahkota (s.a) 1848 - 1849 : "the Laksamana" 1853 - 1862 : Rentab (1800 - 186.) 1853 - 186. : Sharif Masalor (1810 - 1890), head of the only "national" Borneo resistance against the Brooke 1890 - 1908 : Banting 1931 - 193. : Penghulu Asin. __________________________________________________________________________________BRITISH REPRESENTATIVES
British Agents [possibly with the title of Consul-General until ca 1900 (1901?)] 1888 - 1941 The Governors of the Straits Settlements British Advisor Until the 1930's the UK didn't much intervene in the internal affairs of Sarawak. But then the influence of the Colonial Office increased and reforms were imposed both in the administration and in the judiciary system. To "guide "this evolution from a "feudal" to a modern state an advisor was appointed in 1940 1940 - 1941 Walter Evelyn Pepys 1885 - 1966 British Representative (prepared and organized the transfer of power to the colonial Office) 1946 Christopher William Dawson 1896 - 1983 __________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF STATE
Rajah (Kings) of Sarawak Yang di-Pertuan Negara Sarawak House of Brooke 1842 - 1868 Sir (1848) James Brooke, before governor of Sarawak 1841 - 1842, absent from 1859 to 1863 and from 1863, briefly expelled from Kuching in 1857 (3) 1803 - 1868 Officers administering the Government during the absences of the Rajah 1859 - 1863 Rajah Muda (1861) Capt. John Brooke Johnson Brooke, nephew, expelled in 1863 during the brief return of the Rajah to Sarawak 1823 - 1868 1863 - 1868 Rajah Muda Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, brother of John Brooke (4) 1829 - 1917 1868 - 1917 Sir (1888) Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke s.a. 1917 - 1946 Sir (1927) Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke, son, absent 1939 - 1940, in exile during the Japanese occupation and the period of Allied military rule 1941 - 1946 1879 - 1963 Officers administering the Government during the absence of the Rajah 1939 - 1940 Rajah Muda Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, nephew [son of the Heir Presumptive (Tuan Muda) Capt. Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke (1876 - 1865)], dismissed by the Rajah 1912 - 1946 John Beville Archer, Chief Secretary* and Political Advisor to the British Military Administration 1893 - 1947 Heirs Apparent Rajah Muda (the Rajah Muda was the second most inportant official of the Kingdom) 1861 - 1863 Capt. John Brooke Johnson Brooke s.a. 1863 - 1868 Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke s.a. 1868 - 1891 none 1891 - 1917 Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke (5) s.a. 1917 - 1939 none 1939 - 1940 Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke s.a. 1940 - 1944 none 1944 - 1945 Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke (2x) (3) The leader of the Chinese revolt of 1857 Liu Shanbang (s.a.) is sometimes considered as de facto "Rajah of Sarawak" during his occupation of Kuching from Feb 19 to Feb 23 1857. (4) Both John Brooke and Charles Anthoni were born Johnson. They adopted (and added) the name Brooke respectively in 1848 and 1852 (5) Since 1912 his brother the Heir Presumptive (Tuan Muda) Capt. Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke (s.a.) was considered equal in rank. __________________________________________________________________________________ADMINISTRATORS
The supreme executive agency of Sarawak was the Council of State (later : Supreme Council) created in 1855. It was chaired by the Rajah and its other members were : - the Rajah Muda (when there was one) - the highest ranking (European) officials of the administration : - the Resident of the First Division (later Chief Secretary) - the Treasurer (later Financial Secretary) - three to five of the Datu, the traditional Malay aristocraty. In 1875 a new agency - the Committee of Administration, largely consisting of the same officials (except the Rajah) - was created. Originally intended to administer Sarawak in the absence of the Rajah, the Committee later became a nearly permanent executive body. After the accession of Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke its importance declined and in the 1920's it actually existed only on paper. It was revived in 1934 and after the appointment of Parnell as Chief Secretary (s.b.) it started to evolve into a kind of ministry, an evolution stopped by the Japanese attack. (very incomplete, all additional information will be very welcome) CHIEF- AND FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATORS Chairmen of the Committee of Administration Residents of the First Division 1875 - 1880 William M. Crocker 1881 - 1895 Francis Richard Ord Maxwell 1896 - 1903 Charles Agar Bampfylde 1856 - 1903 - 1904 H. F. Deshon 1904 - 1909 Sir Percy F. Cunyghame 1909 - 1910 H. R. A. Day 1910 - 1915 Ivone Kirkpatrick Caldecott 1915 - 1923 Arthur Bartlett Ward 1923 : The Resident of the First division ceased to chair the Committee. He was replaced by a Chief Secretary. Chief Secretaries (During the vacancies Rajah Charles Vyner de Windt Brooke perfomed the duties of the Chief Secretary) 1923 - 1926 John Coney Moulton 1886 - 1926 1927 - 1928 H. B. Crocker 1928 - 1930 none. 1930 F. F. Boult 1930 J. C. Swayne* 1930 - 1931 none. 1931 - 1932 J. C. Swayne* (2x) 1932 - 1934 Charles Frederick Cunningham Macaskie (but with the style of Government Secretary) 1888 - 1969 1934 - 1937 none. 1937 - 1939 Edward Parnell 1939 - 1941 John Beville Archer s.a. 1941 Cyril Le Gros Clark, arrested by the Japanese and later assassinated by them 1... - 1945 1941 - 1946 none 1946 John Beville Archer* (2x) Treasurers and Financial Secretary Treasurers 18.. - 18.. 18.. - 1897 C. S. Pearse 1898 - 1902 Henry Carslake Brooke Johnson (* 1898 - 1900) 1873 - 1949 1902 - 1920 Francis Henry Dallas 1865 - 1920 1920 - 1927 George C. Gillan 1927 - 1934 A. A. Rennie 1934 - 1937 Edward Parnell s.a. Financial Secretaries 1937 - 1941 H. M. Calvert 1941 - 1946 none 1946 ... OTHER ADMINISTRATORS Among the other administrators were the Directors of Public Works, the Postmasters General, the Secretaries of Chinese Affairs, etc, etc. At the approach of WWII, "new" agencies were added to these "traditional" ones. Among them : - the Political Secretariat - the Secretariat of Defence Political Secretary 1941 Gerald MacBryan Secretary of Defence 194. - 1941 J. L . Noakes, arrested by the Japanese __________________________________________________________________________________MILITARY LEADERS
Commanding Officers of the Sarawak Rangers The permanent military forces of Sarawak - the Sarawak Rangers - were established in 1862. They (mainly) consisted of Iban warriors commanded by British Officers. The army was disbanded in 1932 and its men transferred to the Sarawak police. At the eve of the Japanese invasion it was revived as part of the British-Indian troops operating in the area. (not all ranks could be traced) 186. - 1870 A. Rodway 1870 - 1871 F. Walter 1871 - 1875 G. H. Becehus 1875 - 1877 ... 1877 - 1883 Capt. William Henry Rodway 1836 - 1924 1884 - 1886 Herbert Withers Peck 1886 - 1899 ... 1899 - 1900 G. L. B. Killick 1900 - 1902 ... 1902 - 1903 G. Wilson 1903 - 1904 Sir Percy F. Cunyghame s.a. 1904 - 1905 J. Whaeler Aldright 1905 - 1913 Capt. ... Stuart-Cunyghame 1913 - 19.. Capt. W. R. B. Gifford 19.. - 1923 ... 1923 - 1932 R. E. Lesueur 1932 - 1941 none 1941 LtCol. C. M. Lane, Commanding Officer of the 2/15th Batt. Punjab Infantry Regiment (The Sarawak Rangers were reformed in 1953 as part of the British Army and later transferred to the Malaysian Army) __________________________________________________________________________________JAPANESE AND ALLIED COMMANDERS AND ADMINISTRATORS 1941 - 1946
See here NATIVE AND CHINESE COMMUNITIES AND THEIR ADMINISTRATORS IN OCCUPIED SARAWAK Malay and Indigenous Peoples The Japanese attitude towards both communities may be described as very ambiguous. On the one hand all was done to increase their participation in the adminstration of Sarawak (6); on the other the Japanese imposed forced labour and a strong police control by local pro-Japanese militias (the Jikeidan) and expected the populations to volunteer for the North Borneo Self Defence Corps (the Kyodotai). Chinese Compared to what happened elsewhere in occupied East Asia (China itself, Malaya, Thailand, .. ) the conditions of the Chinese were relatively good (as long as they didn't show nationalist sympaties) : they were allowed to participate in the local government and to sit in regional advisory councils and unlike the other communities they were not subject to (para-)military duties. On the other hand they suffered most of the bad economic conditions and of the Japanese attempts to control their business and many of them toke refuge in the inland (7) (6) Among the Japanese measures in favpur of Malay and Natives were : - the creation in 1943 of Regional Advisory Councils (the Ken Sanjikai), with members drawn from the Malay, Indigenous and Chinese leading classes, - the appointment of non-Westerners to reponssible administrative positions like Distrcit Officer or District Juge. The Japanese especially favorized the Iban : - Immediately after the conquest a Liaison Office for Iban Affairs was created. Its head was Eliab Bay, who was in charge of the integration of the Iban in the administration and of the Indigenous and Chinese food trade and transportation in Sarawak. - In 1944 a pro-Japanese Iban political movement - the Perimpun Dayak - [Chairman : Charles Manson] was established. (7) To control the Chinese trade and communities the Japanese established two offices : - the Kuching Chinese Economic Board, - the Oversea Chinese Association Actual Japanese authority never extended far beyond the coastal areas and the inland soon became a gathering place for opponents to their regime.
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN SARAWAK AND NORTH BORNEO
Anglicanism was introduced in Sarawak as early as 1848 by missionaries invited by Rajah James Brooke. The community remained under the care of the Bishops of Calcutta until 1855 when a separate "Diocese of Labuan and Bishopric of Sarawak" was created. (1) In the course of the following years other parts of Borneo [Brunei and North Borneo (Sabah)] came under the care of the new jurisdiction and from 1869 to 1909 - when a separate Diocese of Singapore was erected - it also was in charge of the other Anglican communities in South-East Asia. (1) This somewhat strange construction was a consequence of the fact that Sarawak formally was an independent state and that the Archbishops of Canterbury had no legal right to create a diocese outside the frontiers of the British Empire. The solution consisted in the creation of a Diocese of Labuan - a British possession - and the appointment of its incumbent as Bishop of Sarawak. By 1870 it was however clear that Sarawak was the real center of the jurisdiction and that the arrangement of 1855 existed only on paper. __________________________________________________________________________________HEADS OF THE COMMUNITY
Bishops of Labuan and Sarawak 1855 - 1868 Francis Thomas McDougall 1817 - 1886 1869 - 1879 Walter Chambers 1824 - Bishop of the United Diocese of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak (Although the other Anglican communities in the area had already been placed under Sarawak in 1869, the formal name change occured only in 1881) 1881 - 1908 George Frederick Hose Bishops of Labuan and Sarawak 1909 - 1916 Rupert William Mounsey 1917 - 1931 Ernest Denny Logie Danson 1880 - 1946 1931 - 1937 Noel Baring Hudson 1937 - 1948 Francis Septimus Hollis
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