By James Aitchison

A white ruler of a savage jungle populated by headhunters; an English family dynasty controlling a far-flung outpost of the Empire. 

Something out of a boys’ adventure storybook?  Or a Hollywood movie starring Errol Flynn?

History brims with facts more fanciful than fiction, and none more so than the story of James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. 

Today, Sarawak and Sabah are two states of Malaysia, while the Sultanate of Brunei and Indonesia’s Kalimantan provinces make up the balance of Borneo, the world’s third largest island; the Equator crosses its centre.

In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded a British trading post on the island of Singapore.  It was the cornerstone of British imperial power in the Far East.  In that same year, James Brooke, a young ensign in the British East India Company’s 6^th Native Infantry, took up his post in Bengal.  No stranger to Asia, Brooke was born in Benares, India’s holy city, in 1803; his father was a judge and tax collector in the company.  Young Brooke served with distinction, was wounded, and returned to England where his restless nature soon conjured up a plan to launch a trading venture to China.

Inspired by the Raffles legend, Brooke arrived in Singapore in 1839 where he learned more about the mysterious territory of Sarawak, unclaimed by Britain or the Dutch.  Legends circulated about its mineral wealth: gold, diamonds, and antimony, which is used to increase the hardness of metallic alloys.  He also learned that Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin, ruler of Brunei, was having trouble putting down a rebellion in Sarawak.

With typical “gunboat diplomacy”, Brooke sailed in and quelled the rebels in exchange for the governorship of Sarawak. 

The Sultan awarded him the unruly province in 1841; all Brooke had to do was pay a small annual royalty to Brunei, respect its laws, and maintain the Islamic religion.  At the age of 38, he controlled more than eight million hectares of tropical jungle populated by thirty different ethnic groups including Dayaks, Malays and Chinese.  It was heady stuff for the dashing young adventurer.

He chose Kuching as his capital and using the time-tested British method of “divide and rule”, he turned Sarawak into a sovereign nation, or an “independent monarchy”.  He designed a Sarawak flag and issued his own currency.  Even the bloodthirsty Dayak headhunters respected their great White Rajah.  The wealthy Coutts banking family funded many developments, including the purchase of a company steamer.

As time went by, Sarawak prospered and, like all sovereign rulers, Brooke had to face the question of succession.  He had no legitimate heir, but had two nephews, both sons of his younger sister, Emma Johnson.  The elder, Captain John Brooke Johnson, was nominated his successor in 1861.  Confusingly, he became known as Brooke Brooke!  However, when he learned that his uncle was toying with the idea of selling Sarawak to the highest bidder, Brooke Brooke saw his inheritance at risk and challenged James Brooke’s authority.

A disobedient nephew was no match for the White Rajah.  James Brooke banished Brooke Brooke from Sarawak for life.  James Brooke’s younger nephew, Charles Anthoni Johnson, then stepped into the role of heir apparent.

His health broken, James Brooke left Sarawak for the last time in 1863, retreating to a mansion on the moors of Devonshire.  There, he foresaw England’s decline and lack of enterprise; “nations are like men,” he wrote, “the young hope more than they fear, and the old fear more than they hope…”   

In August 1868, Charles Anthoni Johnson, now Charles Brooke, became the second White Rajah of Sarawak following James’s death.

….

Charles Brooke’s reign as Rajah lasted until his death in 1917.  Sarawak prospered.  He began the rubber industry, then promoted the discovery of oil on the northeast coast, while fending off foreign capitalists.  He refused to allow white exploiters to reduce the Malays and Dayaks to tenant farmers in their country.

While Europeans thought him a reserved, even cold figure, the local population adored him.  He relished a passion for opera (which he sang out of tune).  He formalised a system of proper government departments to control the treasury, customs and excise, and public works.  New wharves, warehouses, forts, water supply and other infrastructure were built under his keen eye for detail — even a railroad.  He instituted a second level of government in the hands of elite Malay and Dayak leaders.

His marriage to nineteen-year-old Margaret de Windt augured well at first.  She became Ranee of Sarawak, soon learning to read and write Malay.  She fostered schools for Malays, and even composed the Sarawak National Anthem.  Ultimately the marriage broke down.  The Ranee returned to London with their three sons — Vyner, Harry and Bertram — all of whom proved disappointments to their father.  Charles footed the bills for their education at Eton and Cambridge University, as well as his wife’s extravagant social life.  As Brooke wrote, “God preserve me from my kith and kin.  I want none of them in Sarawak in future…”

 ….

There is an old truism: the first generation creates the wealth, the second consolidates it, and the third dissipates it.  When Vyner Brooke became the third Rajah on his father’s death, he proved ineffectual and hedonistic, perennially shadowed by gambling debts and loan sharks.

Described as “pathetically shy” and “weak”, Vyner Brooke married English socialite the Hon. Sylvia Brett against his parents’ wishes.  His dealings with the Sarawak administrative officers were turbulent; one said he believed that Vyner could see right through people and use their weaknesses to his own advantage.  Despite that, he continued his predecessors’ commitment to the ordinary people of Sarawak; he ruled without any display of white superiority and respected local customs.  His kept his devils to himself and his family. 

As Her Royal Highness the Ranee of Sarawak, Sylvia swanned around London society with their three beautiful daughters in tow.  Rumour has it that she “tried out” her daughters’ husbands before they married.

In 1940, Vyner Brooke confronted the issue of succession.  He was 66, sick of being Rajah, but had no son.  He appointed his nephew Anthony as a potential candidate. 

When the young man proved “unfitted” for the role, Vyner disinherited him and drew up a constitution which would delegate power to the people of Sarawak. 

But first, there was time for one last hurrah: 1941 marked the one hundredth anniversary of Brooke rule.  Vyner and his Ranee put on a great show; local chieftains pledged loyalty, British marines paraded, while newsreel cameras turned.  Fortuitously, the Rajah and Ranee then flew out.  Within weeks, Japanese troops swarmed ashore, seizing the Shell oilfield at Miri.  Kuching was bombed and Sarawak was occupied. 

(Interestingly, the British paid headhunters for every Japanese head they could secure.  Many still hang in jungle longhouses to this day.)

On liberation, there was no question of the Brookes returning to their kingdom despite many local people calling for it.  On 1 July 1946, Sarawak was annexed by the Crown.  With great pomp and ceremony, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, Southeast Asia, officiated.  (It would be a dress rehearsal for his subsequent role at India’s independence.)

And the Brookes? 

The last Rajah received a settlement from the British Government.  Vyner Brooke ended his days in a cold-water flat in Bayswater, a relic of colonial grandeur.  Meanwhile, the last Ranee left her husband and lived in Barbados with her daughter.

Today, Sarawak is a state of Malaysia.  According to many observers, the fact that it has preserved its unique multi-racial society and harmony is testament to the Brooke’s enlightened rule.