THE WHITE RAJAHS OF SARAWAK

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WHITE RAJAHS OF SARAWAK

(Continued from last iceelc.)

Brooke offered to cede Sarawak and her revenue to the British Crown, but Cabinet absolutely declined u> consider the question either of protectorate or transfer. Jt seems strange that just at this time, when Britain was building up a colonial empire in the Southern Pacific, when she was -eliding out able statesmen like Sir George Grey to expend their energies on little, far away islands whose worth was as yet only a gamble, she should yet llatl.v refuse to consider the gift of "what one might call a ready-made colony. Vet she did, and .lames Brooke, realising that without the protection of another nation Sarawak might at any moment be ■■acquired"' by some foreign Power, opened negotiations with France. This was \riy much against his will, and on advice he abruptly ceased his negotiat ions. Then came a turbulent and unhappy period in his life. He had many di- agreements with his heir-presumptive, a nephew, and finally di.-inlieriii-d him. Later he appointed another nephew, Charles lirooke, who e\cnl ually liecame the second Kajah, to he liis successor. Shortly afterwards he \\ ;i ~ -tri.-ken with paralysis and died in 1805, not in Sarawak, lint in Kngland. where he is buried. A great man was .lames Brooke. With Eastern honours lavish lv heaped upon him, the sole control of great trade and revenue in his hands, he remained the most unostentatious of men, loving simple things and people. He hated hypocrisy and sham, and perhaps the iruc.-t epitaph one could give him is: "He was a great giver and a great builder." There were never two men so diHerent. The first Rajah had I ii liluir and kindly, the second wa< severe and reticent, with stern ideals: of duty. 1 "neiiioi iouul, unimaginative, the- people of the odd little Ka.-tcrn kingdom did not readily lake to ihN successor In their beloved and colourful llajali. Vet. like his uncle, C !i.i lies Brooke had one love and one ambition — Sarawak. He succeeded in abolishing slavery, in draining marshes, laving road:-, revising trade, building little straggling Kudiing into a model capital. He st lengthened. tliQ army, imported lay and religious teacher-. Cholera, which lav.rjed the country from outpost, to capital, turned his mind to the construction of waterworks. .Kpidemics are now almost unknown. Lean and spartan, fearless and cold-eyed, the Rajah went about his work in an emotionless and almost, inhuman way. lie had no interest in the superstitions and customs of tin; natives, as had his predecessor, yet the welfare of Sarawak was a matter of ayonising concern. He knew the Malays, their entire , lack of foresight, and he bitterly I'iiUL.ht any move towards commercialising Sarawak. The idea of exploiters ravaging its soil, monopolising its minerals, made him hold the reins of Sarawak tighter than ever before. Vet, remorselessly, the very innovations he had introduced,

education and increased trade, brought about tlie opening of sates to the world of speculators and exploiter.-. Not during the Rajah 5 lifetime, however. This indomitable man. who li\ed to extreme old age, never relaxed in his orlice. To the Malays who were brought up before his courts He appeared as ancient and mysterious as the Koran —a frail old man with one piercing blue eye (he io>c tbe other hunting!, a face like an eagle and a diplomatic dealings. Hi- would sit upon an iron bench, and his rooms were decorated with hard wooden chairs and spartan furniture, every other kind being "fripperies." His occasional r-ocial elVorts were dreaded by the entire white population of Kucliiiig. who were invited merely beeau-e be deemed it his duty to he polite. "Ho would receive his reluctant and trembling visitors w.th a snarl that was meant to be a gracious welcome." His deafii'.-i" made it diHicult to conver.-e with him. and he was quite likely to arise in the middle of a conversation and summarily dismiss the guests. Yet in spite of these eccentricities, which were only evidences of a nature too hard and unbending to stoop to pleasure. Sarawak sincerely mourned when it became known that this strange old man. the mainspring of t.he State, was dying. Tha whole town waited for the signal of a lowered flag on the palace tower. He made one last journey to England, and died, to be buried beside Sir James « Brooke, his uncle. He was nearly ninety, and almost succeeded in living out the turbulent war ycirs. It had not been easy for him in follow in the adventurous footsteps of the first Rajah. Hβ had made no effort to compete with the glamour and romance of those earlier days, but had forged steadily and doggedly ahead from the first steps toward progress that had lieen the lifetime work of •Tames Brooke. Remarkable changes came about under his rule . . . sago, pepper, coconut, copra, rubber, gutta-percha, resin are but few of the products of which the export was fostered by Sir Charles, while the mining of gold, antimony, tin, mercury, nickel and dia- ' monds gave employment to the natives and proved a source of revenue to the State. His son, Vyner Brooke, lnppv-go-lucky, always laugh ing in spite of his severe, almost inhuman upbringing, ascended the yellow throne. True to the tradition of the Brookes, he has held '"Sarawak" his motto. To-day it is an almost perfect model State, which commands an important position in the China Sea. The chief towns are prosperous, although the flow of foreign capital for development has been rigidly controlled. Unemployment is unknown, disease is rare. Owing to the danger of armed aggression the State has recently assumed a new importance and two aerodromes are being built for R.A.F. use.

It is just 100 years since yoiinjr •Tames Brooke chased the hire of antimony into Borneo, and Sarawak is preparing for its centenary. Hollywood is planning a lilm based on the romantic story of t lie three White liajalis. and chief amongst tie advisers will lie the present Kanec. It has been claimed that Sarawak has been ehea|>ened by synthetic L'lamour, hut surely no one could wish for a story more truly incredible than this, of the three men who, out of a junjrle, built an independent State, a model to many older and more "'civilised'" countries. "Sarawak belongs to the Malays, the Sea JKaks. the Land Dyaks and the Kvans and other tribes, not to us. It is for them we labour, not for ourselves." That is the tradition of tlie Brookes, a family who in a century have accomplished marvellous things.