HISTORY OF SABAH
The Kingdom of Brunei
Before the 16 century, the area we now know as Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak
centred around the kingdom of Brunei. In this region the kingdom of Brunei was also the
centre of trade with China. This region was in tum controlled by two great empires of that
period; first by the Sri Vijayan of Sumatra and then by the Majapahit of Java. However,
early in the 15 century, the Malacca empire under Parameswara spread its influence and
took over the trade of Brunei. Through its traders, Islam spread to Brunei by the end of
the 15 century. Leadership of the Islamic faith passed to the Brunei Sultans after the
fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511. Under Sultan Bolkiah, the kingdom of Brunei
extended its influence as far north as Luzon and Sulu, and south and west of Borneo.
Except for the Europeans, other foreigners who have
had dealings with Sabah or Borneo left no written records of their activities in the
region. The indigenous peoples of Borneo have no written records except oral history and
traditions.
The Chinese appeared to have had trade and
diplomatic ties with Borneo as early as 600 A.D. The Brunei Annals recorded the existence
of a Chinese province in the Kinabatangan area. Archaeological evidence from ceramics
unearthed in Borneo revealed that for centuries the Chinese had barter-traded their
ceramic wares for spices.
The Coming of the Europeans
1521
:
Pigafetta, chronicler of Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Brunei and was received with great
pomp and royalty.
1526
:
The Portuguese under Menezes visited Brunei.
1577
:
The Spaniards conquered Philipines; also attacked Brunei; the Sultanate of Sulu was
brought under the Spaniards.
1609
:
The Dutch set up a trading post in Southem Borneo. 1619 :The Dutch set up a trading post
in Batavia (Jakarta) in Java.
1658 :
Sultan of Sulu given the north east
coast of Borneo by the Sultan of Brunei in retum for his help in settling a civil war
dispute between the Sultan Abdul Mubin and Pengeran Bongsu. Intemal quarrelling in the
Brunei Sultanate was one of the factors that led to the decline of the empire.
1665 :
The first Englishman to visit Borneo - Captain
Cowley.
Balembangan
In 1761, Alexander Dalrymple, an officer of the
British East India Company at Madras, India concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu
which permitted him to set up a trading post in the North Borneo region. He chose
Balembangan island, about twenty miles to the north of Kudat town. In 1763, Dalrymple
hoisted the British flag on Balembangan and renamed the island 'Felicia'. Another of
ficer, John Herbert was sent to build a settlement in Balembangan. The settlement was
doomed to failure from the start. Maladministration and piracy brought the trading post to
a fiery end in 1775. An attempt was made to revive it in 1803, this time by the
Governor-General of India, Lord Arthur Wellesley through his appointed officer, Robert J.
Farquhar, Resident at Amboina. This time the attempt was to tum Balembangan into a
military station. Again, it was a failure and it was finally abandoned in November 1805.
British attention was then increasingly fumed
towards other regions of the Malay Archipelago.
Labuan
British interest in North Borneo was revived 40
years later in Labuan, an island situated north west of Borneo. In 1844, James Brooke
approached the Sultan of Brunei regarding the cession of Labuan island to be used by the
British as a coaling base, to act against piracy and to increase trade.
On 18 December 1846, a treaty was signed in which
the Sultan ceded in perpetuity Labuan and its islets to the British Crown. Brooke became
the first Govemor of Labuan and her Majesty's Consul-General in Borneo. The Deputy
Governor was William Napier, Hugh Low the Colonial Secretary and Spencer St. John,
Brooke's private secretary. Labuan did not live up to expectations as a mini-Singapore or
Penang as the founders had hoped. An enervating climate, a malaria prone region and lack
of basic amenities were not conducive for growth. Its chequered history can be seen in its
administration which changed hands several times. In 1890, Labuan came to be administered
by the British North Borneo Chartered Company, in 1907 it was placed under the government
of the Straits Settlements. After the War, Labuan became part of the colony of North
Borneo and most recently, Labuan became part of the Federal Territory of Malaysia on 16
April 1984.
The American Trading
Company and the British North Borneo Chartered Company
After the disappointment with Labuan, British
interest in North Borneo waned until 1881, when a commercial enterprise, the British North
Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC), began administering the country. Their presence was
however preceded briefly by American influence and interest.
In 1865, the American Consul of Brunei, Claude Lee
Moses obtained a 10-year lease from the Sultan of Brunei on North Borneo. He then sold it
to the American Trading Company owned by J.W. Torrey, T.B. Harris and some Chinese
merchants. Torrey chose Kimanis, an area south west of North Borneo as his base, and began
a settlement there, naming it 'Ellena'. Attempts to find financal backing for the
settlement were futile and the settlement was thus abandoned.
With the imminent termination of the territorial
lease at hand, Torrey managed to sell his rights to the Austrian Consul in Hong Kong,
Baron Von Overbeck. Overbeck managed to get 10-year renewal of the lease from the
Tumonggong (Temenggong) of Brunei. To finance his plan for North Borneo, Overbeck found
financial backers in the Dent brothers (Alfred and Edward). Later he, together with Count
Montgelas of the Austro-Hungarian Embassy in London and A.B. Mitford, a politician
transferred their rights to Alfred Dent.
In 1881, Dent fommed the British North Borneo
Provisional Association Ltd. On the 1 November, the British Crown officially granted a
Royal Charter to the Association. In 1882, the British North Borneo Chartered Company was
fommed. It took over all the rights of the Provisional Association. Sir Rutherford Alcock
became the first President and Alfred Dent the Managing Director.
In 1888, North Borneo became a British
protectorate, that is, British would defend it if it were attacked, making North Borneo a
British sphere of influence.
The Company's rule in North Borneo had the greatest
impact on the development of the region. A system of indirect rule was established in the
administration of North Borneo. The rule was generally peaceful except for small pockets
of resistance, the most serious being the Mat Salleh War from 1894-1900 and the Rundum
resistance by the Muruts in 1915.
The BNBCC effectively ruled up to 1942, after more
than 60 years in Sabah, when the Second World War rudely interrupted on peaceful North
Borneo. Japanese forces landed in Labuan on 1 January and occupied Sabah until she was
liberated by the Ninth Division Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F) in 1945. After the
Second World War, North Borneo was administered by the British Military Administration
until civil govemment was restored on July 15, 1946.
Crown Colony
In 1946, Sabah was placed under the British Crown
as the BNBCC could not afford to rebuild Sabah, after the devastation of the War. The
destruction of the capital Sandakan by allied bombing was so complete that Jesselton was
chosen as the altemative post-war capital - it has remained so to this day. The colonial
system of administration after the War was not dissimilar to the Chartered Company era.
The rule was generally peaceful. Reconstruction and development of the country were the
main focus of the administrators.
Independence
The population was generally placid and it was not until the 1960s that
political conciousness emerged. The winds of change - the tide of independence being
experienced by other countries had arrived in Sabah. It began with an announcement in 1961
by the Prime Minister of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, regarding the formation of the
Federation of Malaysia which were to include Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore.
Malaysia was formally established, without Brunei, on 16 September 1963 and North Borneo's
name was changed to Sabah. Preceding this, North Borneo obtained self-govemment from the
British on 31 August 1963. However by 1965, Singapore was out of the Federation.
As a state within a Federation many changes
occurred, administratively, politically, socially, etc. The pace of development was
hastened and Sabah entered a new and challenging era when she became part of the
Federation of Malaysia.
Source :
Sabah's Heritage:A Brief Introduction
to Sabah's History & History
, Sabah Museum, Kota Kinabalu, 1992.
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