I will now take a glance at the incident of the rebellion of the
inhabitants of the Limbang, the important river near Brunai to which
allusion has already been made, as from this one sample he will be able
to judge of the ordinary state of affairs in districts near the Capital,
since the establishment of Labuan as a Crown Colony and the conclusion
of the treaty and the appointment of a British Consul-General in Brunai,
and will also be able to attempt to imagine the oppression prevalent
before those events took place. The river, being a fertile and well
populated one and near Brunai, had been from old times the common purse
of the numerous nobles who, either by inheritance, or in virtue of their
official positions, as I have explained, owned as their followers the
inhabitants of the various villages situated on its banks, and many were
the devices employed to extort the uttermost farthing from the
unfortunate people, who were quite incapable of offering any resistance
because the warlike Kyan tribe was ever ready at hand to sweep down upon
them at the behest of their Brunai oppressors. The system of _dagang
sera_ (forced trade) I have already explained. Some of the other devices
I will now enumerate. _Chukei basoh batis_, or the tax of washing feet,
a contribution, varying in amount at the sweet will of the imposer,
levied when the lord of the village, or his chief agent, did it the
honour of a visit. _Chukei bongkar-sauh_, or tax on weighing anchor,
similarly levied when the lord took his departure and perhaps therefore,
paid with more willingness. _Chukei tolongan_, or tax of assistance,
levied when the lord had need of funds for some special purpose or on a
special occasion such as a wedding--and these are numerous amongst
polygamists--a birth, the building of a house or of a vessel. _Chop
bibas_, literally a free seal; this was a permission granted by the
Sultan to some noble and needy favourite to levy a contribution for his
own use anywhere he thought he could most easily enforce it. The method
of inventing imaginary crimes and delinquencies and punishing them with
heavy fines has been already mentioned. Then there are import and export
duties as to which no reasonable complaint can be made, but a real
grievance and hindrance to legitimate trade was the effort which the
Malays, supported by their rulers, made to prevent the interior tribes
trading direct with the Chinese and other foreign traders--acting
themselves as middlemen, so that but a very small share of profit fell
to the aborigines. The lords, too, had the right of appointing as many
_orang kayas_, or headmen, from among the natives as they chose, a
present being expected on their elevation to that position and another
on their death. In many rivers there was also an annual poll-tax, but
this does not appear to have been collected in the Limbang. Sir SPENCER
ST. JOHN, writing in 1856, gives, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far
East," several instances of the grievous oppression practiced on the
Limbang people. Amongst others he mentions how a native, in a fit of
desperation, had killed an extortionate tax-gatherer. Instead of having
the offender arrested and punished, the Sultan ordered his village to be
attacked, when fifty persons were killed and an equal number of women
and children were made prisoners and kept as slaves by His Highness. The
immediate cause of the rebellion to which I am now referring was the
extraordinary extortion practised by one of the principal Ministers of
State. The revenues of his office were principally derived from the
Limbang River and, as the Sultan was very old, he determined to make the
best possible use of the short time remaining to him to extract all he
could from his wretched feudatories. To aid him in his design, he
obtained, with the assistance of the British North Borneo Company, a
steam launch, and the Limbang people subsequently pointed out to me this
launch and complained bitterly that it was with the money forced out of
them that this means of oppressing them had been purchased. He then
employed the most unscrupulous agents he could discover, imposed
outrageous fines for trifling offences, and would even interfere if he
heard of any private disputes among the villagers, adjudicate unasked in
their cases, taking care always to inflict a heavy fine which went, not
to the party aggrieved, but into his own pocket. If the fines could not
be paid, and this was often the case, owing to their being purposely
fixed at such a high rate, the delinquent's sago plantations--the
principal wealth of the people in the Limbang River--would be
confiscated and became the private property of the Minister, or of some
of the members of his household. The patience of the people was at
length exhausted, and they remembered that the Brunai nobles could no
longer call in the Kayans to enforce their exactions, that tribe having
become subjects to Raja BROOKE. About the month of August, 1884, two of
the Minister's messengers, or tax collectors, who were engaged in the
usual process of squeezing the people, were fired on and killed by the
Bisayas, the principal pagan tribe in the river. The Tumonggong
determined to punish this outrage in person and probably thought his
august presence on the spot in a steam-launch, would quickly bring the
natives to their knees and afford him a grand opportunity of
replenishing his treasury.
He accordingly ascended the river with a considerable force in
September, and great must have been his surprise when he found that his
messenger, sent in advance to call the people to meet him, was fired on
and killed. He could scarcely have believed the evidence of his own
ears, however, when shortly afterwards his royal launch and little fleet
were fired on from the river banks. For two days was this firing kept
up, the Brunais having great difficulty in returning it, owing to the
river being low and the banks steep and lined with large trees, behind
which the natives took shelter, and, a few casualties having occurred on
board and one of the Royal guns having burst, which was known as the
_Amiral Muminin_, the Tumonggong deemed it expedient to retire and
returned ignominiously to Brunai. The rebels, emboldened by the impunity
they had so far enjoyed, were soon found to be hovering round the
outskirts of the capital, and every now and then an outlying house
would be attacked during the night and the headless corpses of its
occupants be found on the morrow. There being no forts and no organized
force to resist attack, the houses, moreover, being nearly all
constructed of highly inflammable palm leaf thatch and matting, a
universal panic prevailed amongst all classes, when the Limbang people
announced their intention of firing the town. Considerable distress too
prevailed, as the spirit of rebellion had spread to all the districts
near the capital, and the Brunai people who had settled in them were
compelled to flee for their lives, leaving their property in the hands
of the insurgents, while the people of the city were unable to follow
their usual avocations--trading, planting, sago washing and so forth,
the Brunai River, as has been pointed out, producing nothing itself.
British trade being thus affected by the continuance of such a state of
affairs, and the British subjects in the city being in daily fear from
the apprehended attack by the rebels, the English Consul-General did
what he could to try and arrange matters. A certain Datu KLASSIE, one of
the most influential of the Bisaya Chiefs, came into Brunai without any
followers, but bringing with him, as a proof of the friendliness of his
mission, his wife. Instead of utilizing the services of this Chief in
opening communication with the natives, the Tumonggong, maddened by his
ignominious defeat, seized both Datu KLASSIE and his wife and placed
them in the public stocks, heavily ironed.
I was Acting Consul-General at the time, and my assistance in arranging
matters had been requested by the Brunai Government, while the Bisayas
also had expressed their warm desire to meet and consult with me if I
would trust myself amongst them, and I at once arranged so to do; but,
being well aware that my mission would be perfectly futile unless I was
the bearer of terms from the Sultan and unless Datu KLASSIE and his wife
were released, I refused to take any steps until these two points were
conceded.
This was a bitter pill for the Brunai Rajas and especially for the
Tumonggong, who, though perfectly aware that he was quite unable, not
only to punish the rebels, but even to defend the city against their
attacks, yet clung to the vain hope that the British Government might
be induced to regard them as pirates and so interfere in accordance with
the terms of the treaty, or that the Raja of Sarawak would construe some
old agreement made with Sir JAMES BROOKE as necessitating his rendering
armed assistance.
However, owing to the experience, tact, perseverance and intelligence of
Inche MAHOMET, the Consular Agent, we gained our point after protracted
negotiations, and obtained the seals of the Sultan, the Bandahara, the
Di Gadong and the Tumonggong himself to a document, by which it was
provided that, on condition of the Limbang people laying down their arms
and allowing free intercourse with Brunai, all arbitrary taxation such
as that which has been described should be for ever abolished, but that,
in lieu therefor, a fixed poll-tax should be paid by all adult males, at
the rate of $3 per annum by married men and $2 by bachelors; that on the
death of an _orang kaya_ the contribution to be paid to the feudal lord
should be fixed at one pikul of brass gun, equal to about $21; that the
possession of their sago plantations should be peaceably enjoyed by
their owners; that jungle products should be collected without tax,
except in the case of gutta percha, on which a royalty of 5% _ad
valorem_ should be paid, instead of the 20% then exacted; that the taxes
should be collected by the headmen punctually and transmitted to Brunai,
and that four Brunai tax-gatherers, who were mentioned by name and whose
rapacious and criminal action had been instrumental in provoking the
rebellion, should be forbidden ever again to enter the Limbang River;
that a free pardon should be granted to the rebels.
Accompanied by Inche MAHOMET and with some Bisaya interpreters, I
proceeded up the Limbang River, on the 21st October, in a steam-launch,
towing the boats of Pangeran ISTRI NAGARA and of the Datu AHAMAT, who
were deputed to accompany us and represent the Brunai Government.
Several hundred of the natives assembled to meet us, and the Government
conditions were read out and explained. It was evident that the people
found it difficult to place much reliance in the promises of the Rajas,
although the document was formally attested by the seals of the Sultan
and of his three Ministers, and a duplicate had been prepared for them
to keep in their custody for future reference. It was seen, too, that
there were a number of Muhammadans in the crowd who appeared adverse to
the acceptance of the terms offered, and, doubtless, many of them were
acting at the instigation of the Tumonggong's party, who by no means
relished so peaceful a solution of the difficulties their chief's action
had brought about.
Whilst the conference was still going on and the various clauses of the
_firman_ were being debated, news arrived that the Rajas had, in the
basest manner, let loose the Trusan Muruts on the district the day we
had sailed for the Limbang, and that these wretches had murdered and
carried off the heads of four women, two of whom were pregnant, and two
young unmarried girls and of two men who were at work in their gardens.
This treacherous action was successful in breaking up the meeting, and
was not far from causing the massacre of at any rate the Brunai portion
of our party, and the Pangeran and the Datu quickly betook themselves to
their boats and scuttled off to Brunai not waiting for the steam-launch.
But we determined not to be beaten by the Rajas' manoeuvres, and so,
though a letter reached me from the Sultan warning me of what had
occurred and urging me to return to Brunai, we stuck to our posts, and
ultimately were rewarded by the Bisayas returning and the majority of
their principal chiefs signing, or rather marking the document embodying
their new constitution, as it might be termed, in token of their
acquiescence--a result which should be placed to the credit of the
indefatigable Inche MAHOMET, whose services I am happy to say were
specially recognised in a despatch from the Foreign Office. Returning to
Brunai, I demanded the release of Datu KLASSIE, as had been agreed upon,
but it was only after I had made use of very plain language to his
messengers that the Tumonggong gave orders for his release and that of
his wife, whom I had the pleasure of taking up the river and restoring
to their friends.
H. M. S. _Pegasus_ calling at Labuan soon afterwards, I seized the
opportunity to request Captain BICKFORD to make a little demonstration
in Brunai, which was not often visited by a man-of-war, with the double
object of restoring confidence to the British subjects there and the
traders generally and of exacting a public apology for the disgraceful
conduct of the Government in allowing the Muruts to attack the Limbang
people while we were up that river. Captain BICKFORD at once complied
with my request, and, as the _Pegasus_ drew too much water to cross the
bar, the boats were manned and armed and towed up to the city by a
steam-launch. It was rather a joke against me that the launch which
towed up the little flotilla designed to overawe Brunai was sent for the
occasion by one of the principal Ministers of the Sultan. It was placed
at my disposal by the Pangeran Di Gadong, who was then a bitter enemy of
the Tumonggong, and glad to witness his discomfiture. This was on the
3rd November, 1884.
With reference to the heads taken on the occasion mentioned above, I may
add that the Muruts were allowed to retain them, and the disgusting
sight was to be seen, at one of the watering places in the town, of
these savages "cooking" and preparing the heads for keeping in their
houses.
As the Brunai Government was weak and powerless, I am of opinion that
the agreement with the Limbang people might have been easily worked had
the British Government thought it worth while to insist upon its
observance. As it was, hostilities did cease, the headmen came down and
visited the old Sultan, and trade recommenced. In June, 1885, Sultan
MUMIM died, at the age, according to Native statements, which are very
unreliable on such points, of 114 years, and was succeeded by the
Tumonggong, who was proclaimed Sultan on the 5th June of the same year,
when I had the honour of being present at the ceremony, which was not of
an imposing character. The new Sultan did not forget the mortifying
treatment he had received at the hands of the Limbang people, and
refused to receive their Chiefs. He retained, too, in his own hands the
appointment of Tumonggong, and with it the rights of that office over
the Limbang River, and it became the interest of many different parties
to prevent the completion of the pacification of that district. The
gentleman for whom I had been acting as Consul-General soon afterwards
returned to his post. In May, 1887, Sir FREDERICK WELD, Governor of the
Straits Settlements, was despatched to Brunai by Her Majesty's
Government, on a special mission, to report on the affairs of the Brunai
Sultanate and as to recent cessions of territory made, or in course of
negotiation, to the British North Borneo Company and to Sarawak. His
report has not been yet made public. There were at one time grave
objections to allowing Raja BROOKE to extend his territory, as there was
no guarantee that some one of his successors might not prefer a life of
inglorious ease in England to the task of governing natives in the
tropics, and sell his kingdom to the highest bidder--say France or
Germany; but if the British Protectorate over Sarawak is formally
proclaimed, there would appear to be no reasonable objection to the
BROOKES establishing their Government in such other districts as the
Sultan may see good of his own free will to cede, but it should be the
duty of the British Government to see that their ally is fairly treated
and that any cessions he may make are entirely voluntary and not brought
about by coercion in any form--direct or indirect.