WHEN PEOPLE in Sabah
think about how long they had a British government,
they rarely think about days longer ago than 1880.
Yet over a hundred years before that the British flag
was flying here. This was how it happened.
In
the year 1763 Britain won one of the greatest wars in
her history. Amongst the nations which she defeated
was Spain. In the last chapter you read about the
Spaniards in the Philippines and how they built up
Manila. Although Manila was so far from Britain, the
Spaniarda were not safe even there. A British
expedition captured the city after great victories.
One
of the people whom they freed from prison in Manila
was the Sultan of Sulu. He was so grateful for his
release that he offered Britain as a gift his lands
in North Borneo. At that time, Britain did not really
want to take over this responsibility, but she rather
reluctantly accepted the gift in 1763. The British
flag was hoisted over Balambangan Island, and part of
North Borneo passed under British protection.
Some
years later the British East India Company set up a
trading post there, since the island had the nearest
harbour to Hong Kong. What a short and tragic history
the post had! The once-imprisoned Sultan had died and
his son, who succeeded him, trusted the Manila
Spaniards in spite of the way in which they had
treated his father. The new Sultan knew that the
British trading post was small and unprepared for
trouble. Encouraged by Spain, he prepared a
treacherous attack on the island. In 1775 he sent his
cousin Dato Tating there disguised as a carpenter
with a gang of 'workmen' whose object was not to work
but to kill. Tating waited for a good opportunity to
strike; when the guards were at their weakest and
most unprepared, his men made a sudden attack. Only a
few of the Company's men an immense quantity of
merchandise. Nearly all of the traders had been
killed, but some others were at sea and so escaped.
They made an attempt to start a station at in Labuan,
but they were not very successful. For thirty years
after this British traders tried half- heartedly to
tap the fabled wealth of Borneo. All efforts failed,
and by 1805 thje first British connexion with North
Borneo had ended. Afew traces of the settlement at
Balambangan are said to exist still, although of
course they are overgrown. Apart from these relics,
the first British settlement in North Borneo left no
mark upon the territory.
The
country was in a sorry state. It had no real rulers,
no system of government and no peace. Pirates
infested the seas; robbers ruled the coast. No wonder
trading companies were not anxious to risk life and
money by persevering further in this unhappy land.
It
must have been sad for the people to look back to
better days. It is certain that times had once been
good, for Sir Stamford Raffles, the famous founder of
Singapore, received a report in 1812 that;
'.
. . in 1520 the whole island was in a flourishing
state. The numbers of Chinese that settled on her
shores were immense; the products of their industry
and an extensive commerce with China in junks gave
her lands and cities a far different aspect from her
appearance at this day, and their Princes and courts
exhibited a splendour and displayed a magnificence
that has long since vanished.'
Raffles
himself was sorry for the people, even the pirates
and head-hunters. He wrote that they hsd been driven
to their crimes by the Dutch policy of destroying
their lawful trade. Those crimes howere, were so
horrible that really nothing could excuse them.
Unfortunate villagers were constantly being captured
by raiding bands and sold as slaves; murder was
common-place.
The
worst pirates were the Illanuns whose powerful ships,
manned by slaves, ranged far and wide from the Sulu
Sea. A powerful ally of theirs was Serip Usman of
Marudu Bay, a relative of the Sultan of Sulu. He
loved cruelty and destruction for their own sake. He
would buy people as slaves a hundred dollars. Their
only chance of freedom then lay in the hope that
their relatives could raise two hundred dollars as a
ransom. At that time money was worth a lot more than
now; today that sum would be very poor afterwards.
The people of Brunei itself were terrorized by a
savage tribe of Bajau pirates, the Balagnini. Nobody
could lead a peaceful life in those days. Serip Usman
was only one of many pirates, but he had forts all
the way round the coast from Tuaran to the Sulu Sea.
Kudat was completely under his savage control.
Such
was the state of our country in the middle years of
the last century, whenSir James Brooke turned his
attention to it. As Rajah of Sarawak he had done much
to bring law and order to that part of Borneo, as you
will see in the next chapter. Now the North was to
receive his attention!
QUESTIONS
