FOR SOME years the
Chartered Company Government worked hard at laying
the foundations of the new State. Several areas of
land were added peacefully to the 18,000 square miles
which the first arrangement gave to the Chartered
Company. The most important addition was the land
stretching from Sipitang to Bongawan and into the
Tuaran district. In this way company rule spread to
thePadas region and the Kualu Penyu area. Even Labuan
was put under the North Borneo Government in 1889;
this was not a good arrangement at that time, for the
Government did not want this responsibility. Everyone
was glad in 1906 when the island became a part of the
Straits Settlements. Several small districts were
independent for a time but one by one they accepted
the rule of the new Government and became part of the
State of North Borneo.
People
could se that happiness was more likely to come to
them under the company's administration than in the
old days. Taxes were small and fair, and improvements
were being made so that trade could develop. Within a
few years there was even a telegraph line between
Labuan and Sandakan; 700 miles long, it stretched
through dense jungles and even in 1897 cost almost
171,500 dollars, Soon work began on a railway too in
other to make it easy to travel between Jesselton
and the Beaufort district. Most of North Borneo were
too pleased with the new state of law and other to
have any desire to make trouble.
Mat
Saleh was the exception.
Mat
Saleh was half Sulu and half Bajau, an east coast
trader by occupation. He was a clever manand had the
gift of leadership. in his own way he had a sense of
honour. What he did not realize in1894 when he began
to make trouble was that the days of warlike chiefs
had finished. Mat Saleh still robbed people of their
many and property and killed them if they refused to
give in to him. It was because he had murdered
several people that the Government gave him strong
warnings. Once in 1895 he invaded Sandakan with a
small army all heavily armed. The Governor gave him a
chance to swear to be loyal to Government, instead of
shooting hom, as he could have done. Mat Saleh did so
and took his followers away from Sandakan. However,
he treacherously changed his mind and soon committed
further murders. Therefore an attack was made on his
stronghold, the island of Jambongan. Mat Saleh had
over a hundred armed followers on that island, but
they soon fled and managed to escape. For another
year of so he lived the life of an our law in the
country between Sandakan and Kudat, always being
pursued but always escaping. He usually built forts
to live in, fairly strong points made of tree trunks
and hard earth. While the police were attacking these
Mat Saleh would escape into the jungle.
Until
1897 Mat Saleh was no more than a nuisance to the
Government. All the Government officers wanted to
give him generous treatment because they thought that
an intelligent man like this should help to govern
the country, not merely plunder it. By 1897, however,
he had finally rurned his back on law and order and
had forgotten his many promises. It was then that he
began to make trouble on the west coast near
Jesselton. First he captured Gaya Island, looted the
shops and murdered those who opposed him. Then he
gained the support of the coastal Bajaus and took
over the part of the country near Menggatal and the
Inanam River. Looting took place in many villages
there. The Government was now determined to stop this
trouble. A force was raised and nearly a hundred
officers, policemen and loyal citizens struck back
against Mat Saleh. Again he eacaped. This time he
made his headquarters up-country near Ranau. The fort
which he built there was very strong, and his army
too was a large one. Therefore the Government force
raised reinforcements. Over 250 Government officers,
police and helpers marched towards Ranau where they
stormed the fort with the help of two picces of
artillery. The first attack was beaten back by Mat
Saleh;s men, five of the attackers being killed. Then
before a final attack could be made, the outlaws
crept away from the fort in the darkness; once again
Mat Saleh had escaped. His losses had been very
heavy, not less than a hundred of his men being
killed. Although he had escaped, he had suffered a
heavy defeat.
The
hunt for Mat Saleh went on. You have already read
about Mr. Cowie in an earlier chapter. He and the
Governor ( after whom the town of Beaufort was nameed
) arranged to meet Mat Saleh and discuss peace. They
and two other men bravely walked unarmed into the
rebel camp. After much discussion, when it often
seemed likely that the four unarmed Europeans would
be killed, Mat Saleh agreed once again to be loyal to
the Government. He agreed once again to be loyal to
the Government. He promised to apprar at Menggatal
when the Union Jack was hoisted for the first time,
for it was only State of North Borneo had taken over
the administration of Menggatal. This promise he
kept. In front pof all the inhabitants he swore on
the Koran to be loyal and to live in peace near
Tambunan. This happened in 1898.
Mat
Saleh had many good points in his character. Two
things, and he could not let people live in peace.
Before 1898 was over he was making trouble near
Tambunan, Killing and plundering again. His men
murdered Government officials who were sent to them,
and the Governor, who had been very patient, decided
that this was the last opportunity that Mat Saleh
would weste. Astrong force was sent against him at
the end of 1899 under the command of Captain
Harington. It beat Mat Saleh's men in seceral battles
over difficolt country between Menggatal and the
Tambunan Plain. Then the siege of his great forts
began. The smaller ones were soon taken but his chief
fort was shelled and machine-gunned for ten days
before being captured. Mat Saleh died on the tenth
day, and those of his followers who could escaped
that night. Captain Harington had conducted his
campaign with great skill, so that although his
forces killed many of the enemy only about twenty of
his own men were wounded.
Most
of the villages of which Mat Saleh had taken control
were glad to see him finally defeated. He had
reminded them of the bad old days when there was no
safety for the weak. Chiefs of localities which had
been independent now asked the Government to take
them under its control. So it was that by the year
1900, apart from a few small differences, Sabah was
united within the frontiers it has taday.
One
of these exceptions was Pensiangan, which the
Chartered Company Government had not then reached,
although within a few years it did so. Peace reigned
in all parts. In spite of this a great rising of the
Muruts unexpectedly occurred in1915. There seemed to
be little reason for it, yet a large area near
Pensiangan and Rundum suddenly burst into fierce
rebellion. Mr. Baboneau, the District Officer,
organized a gallant defence of Rundum agaist
thousands tribesmen, men whom he had considered to be
his friends. When they failed to storm the Government
station, the rebels went into a rough fortress on a
near-by hillside. Soon Government reinforcements
arrived, and about a hundred men went into action
against this fort. It was completely destroyed, many
rebels were killed and the Rundum rebellion was
utterly defeated. To this day nobody really knows why
it ever happened; there was a stoty which many Muruts
belived that a Prophet wanted themall to come
together in a huge cave in order to show the
greatness of the Murut race; the Muruts who lived
near Pensiangan did this after attacking Mr. Baboneau.
The cave become a fortress and the trouble quickly
grew worse. Tt was a great tragedy.
QUESTIONS
