BEFORE WE can study
the good work that the Chartered Company did in North
Borneo, we shall have to do some 'tidying up'. You
will remember that even after the great defeat of the
pirates by the forces which Rajah Brooke called to
his aid. North Borneo was still a divided country.
Two rulers were its overlords although neither ruler
had much real, power. In the west the Sultan of
Brunei., in the east the Sultan of Sulu, these were
the men to whom the people of North Borneo owed
allegiance. The Sultan of Brunei was a good man who
wanted to keep his state in better order than some of
his Lawless nobles wished.
He
asked Rajah Brooke to interest the British Government
in a plan for taking over Labuan and helping Brunei.
Brooke therefore pointed out to the British
Government that Labuan could be made into a very
important point near the route from Singapore to Hong
Kong. If British forces were sent to Labuan, he said,
shipping could be safeguarded and increased. He had a
plan of development for Labuan which would make it
into a large free port and a naval base. After some
delay, the British Government agreed to take over the
island. At a spectacular ceremony the Union Jack was
hoisted on Christmas When in 1846, and two years later
Rajah Brooke become the first governor of the island.
The
mainland was still divided between its two rulers (if
we may use the word ruler in connexion with the two
Sultans who had lost nearly all real control). For a
time it seemed as if the United States of America
might colonize the part of North Borneo which
belonged to the Sultan of Brunei. He ceded most of
his territory to the American Consul who had been
sent to Brunei and made an American trader, Mr.
Torrey, Rajah of Ambong and Marudu. Rajah Torrey
started a company at Kimanis in 1865 and also formed
a small government. We know that he made a Mr. Thomas
Harris his Honourable Chief Secretary, for his grave
is at Kimanis today. The American company had little
capital; the United States themselves were being torn
apart by a civil war which impoverished them. As a
result, twelve years later, after the company had
completely failed, the Sultan cancelled its
authority.
A
british company run by a family called Dent had by
then become interested in trading in North Borneo.
Its representative, an Austrian called Baron Over beck
who had already tried to interest Austrian firms in
trading in North Borneo before he joined the Dent
Company, met Rajah Torrey and made plans for
obtaining a new concession from the Sultan. This was
done quite easily. The Sultan willingly bave them all
the lands as far as the east coast. But he must have
forgotten what you read in Chapter Four: the Sultan
of Sulu had been given the lands north and east of
Kimanis! The company was therefore unable to do
anything, especially as many Dusun headmen would
recognize no authority but their own.
This
was a serious blow. There was, however, at Sandakan,
a British trader called Cowie, who was friendly with
the Sultan of Sulu. He knew that the Sultan was about
to be heavily attacked by the Spanish forces in the
Philippines, for a small war had already begun. Cowie
suggested that the Sultan should sell his North
Borneo lands to the Dent Company's representatives
before these lands were seized by the Spanish forces
which were soon certain to attack. In 1878 the Sultan
decided to do this. As a result Sir Alfred Dent's
Company was able to take over the administration and
trading rights of 18,000 square miles of North Borneo
territory. The company then flew the Union Jack in
Sandakan. Thus North Borneo was united under the
British flag. There werte, however, still many
difficult points accept any responsibility for the
country.
The
new British North Borneo Company made it plain from
the beginning that, although it was interested in the
development of North Borneo's trade, the company
itself did not intend to take part in tradind
activities. What it planned to do was to preserve the
peace. It would then allow other companies to work in
North Borneo, and it would collect fair taxes from
them, just as governments do all over the world. The
company at first hoped that it would collect enough
revenues to build roads, hospitals, schools and
provide other social services in North Borneo and
also to pay a dividend to its shareholders in
England. During the years between 1882 and 1942 it
certainly succeeded in building up our social
services, but it very rarely had any money left to
pay anything to shareholders. Nearly all the revenue
derived from the country was used up in Borneo.
QUESTIONS
