JAMES BROOKE came to Borneo
in 1839, after spending all his life in the Far East.
He had often sailed through the waters of the Malay
Archipelago; during his voyages he was deeply
impressed by their beauty but distressed by the
sufferings which piracy was causing. In his boat the Royalist
he sailed to Borneo, to find even worse trouble
there.
The
Sultan of Bruneiwas the ruler of Sarawak as well as
North Borneo; but his power in Sarawak was small,
just as it was in the north. A rebellion was raging
in Sarawak which the Sultan was powerless to crush.
James Brooke, an experienced soldier, helped him. The
rebels were defeated although Brooke was very careful
to spare as many as possible. For the first time for
many years peace spread throughout Sarawak. Both the
victors and the vanquished trusted Brooke, and in
spite of plots by his rivals, he was asked to became
Rajah of Sarawak. He took up this appointment in 1841
after receiving permission from the British
government.
Rajah
Brooke quickly learned more about the land to north.
He realized that both Brunei and Labuan could become
important port where the new steamships could call on
the way from Hong Kong to Singapore. The Sultan of
Brunei welcomed the prospect of increased British
interest in this area and offered to tranfer Labuan
to Britain for ever. In the meanwhile Brooke
continued to fight and beat the piraes who were
raiding Sarawak from North Borneo.
Brooke
knew from the first that only ships of the British
Royal Navy could defeat the pirates completely. He
asked again and again for its help. In 1843 his
patience was rewarded, for Her Majesty's Ship Dido
came and attacked one pirate stronghold after another
in Sarawak. Unfortunately Dido
had to go on to China before it could do the same in
Berunai or North Borneo. Rajah Brooke then went to
Brunei to encourage the Sultan to break the power of
his piratical nobles. Serip Usman, the leading pirate
of the north, thought that this would be a good
opportunity to sail into Brunei and kill both Brooke
and the Sultan. He was made bold by the fact that
H.M.S. Dido
was far away. What he did not know was that a fleet
commanded by Admiral Cochrane had come to Borneo to
carry on the good work done by the Dido.
Rajah Brooke joined the fleet at Brunei and sailed
with it to the head quarters of Serip Usman on the
bank of the Marudu River near Langkon Estate. There
Serip Usman had built a very powerful fortress.
Unfortunately for him it was not strong enough to
hold out against the landing party which Admiral
Cochrane sen up the river. On 19th August, 1845,
twenty-four boats went in to the attack; they carried
officers and men of the Royal Navy and the Royal
Marines, nearly 550 men in all. It was a hard battle.
Serip Usman's fort could be approached only by river
and not by land. He had built a barrier across the
river, a barrier made of tree trunks bound with heavy
chains. To reach his fort, the attackers had to
destroy this barrier. This was very difficult to do,
because there was a considerable amount of artillery
in the fort. While sailors chopped at the great
tree-trunks, Usman's gunners fired at them. Their
task was therefore very difficult. Navy guns,
however, helped them by firing at the pirates' guns.
Serveral of these were hit and destroyed. After
working under gunfire for along time, the British
sailors destroyed the barrier and rushed the main
defences of Serip Usman's fort. The fight was short
and ended in the complete defeat of the pirates. They
fled to the jungle, leaving Usman behind them dead.
That one day ensured the eventual freedom of North
Borneo from its terrifying ordeal, although there was
still much work to be done.
The
sailors were astonished at the things they found in
the ruined fort. Some of the dead pirateswere wearing
old-fashioned armour; others had brass helmets; no
less than twenty-five brass cannon were captured. One
of the 'warriors' was an unfortunate Chinese; he had
been captured and enslaved and made to fight for his
oppressors.
In
breaking the power of this notorious pirate, the
British had lost six men killed, while fifteen had
been wounded.
The
fleet sailed away, and Rajah Brooke returned to
Brunei. No sooner had he arrived there than he
learned of new trouble with a pirate chief. This time
it was a renegade noble called Pengiran Usop. He had
made an attack on Brunei with 300men in Brooke's
absence, but he was driven ff and retreated to
Kimanis. His power was broken, and the headman of
Kimanis finished his evil career by killing him.
It
became obvious that although the Sea Dyaks and the
pirates of the Illanun race were fierce and cruel,
many of them were under the control of other people.
Their secret leaders and organizers were often the
Malay nobles in the 'court' of the Sultan of Brunei.
They become alarmed at Rajah Brooke's success and
forced the Sultan to try to kill him; the Sultan did
not want to do so, but it seemed that he was not
strong enough to resist Brooke's enemies, Luckily,
however, they had waited too long.
Although
they persuaded the Sultan to allow them to kill those
of his family and advisers who were friendly with
Brooke, one of these lived long enough to sent a
warning to the Rajah.
Rajah
Brooke was always quick to take action. Almost before
his enemies realized that their plans had gone wrong,
Brooke appeared with Admiral Cochrane and his fleet.
Brunei was captured with no difficulty, and the evil
power of the nobles was broken. Once again some of
the leaders fled towards Kimanis. Haji Saman led them
and they quickly built up a defensive position at
Membakut. Brooke pursued them in a warship called Her
Majesty's Ship Iris
which was commanded by Captain Mundy. Before they
attacked, hundreds of the inhabitants of that part of
the coast came with their boats and guns and asked to
be allowed to fight against Saman. With their help,
Captain Mundy's men pushed up the Membakut River,
destroying enemy positions as they went. Haji Saman
made a last stand in a large house on a hill but soon
fled into the jungle. When the attackers captured
this house, they found no less than fifty heads
hanging in it and many helped in the fight so gladly.
They must have been living a very terrifying sort of
life during the time before Rajah Brooke arrived.
QUESTIONS
