SARAWAK'S PLACE IN HISTORY

Chronicle (Levin), 21 December 1946, Page 4

SARAWAK'S PLACE IN HISTORY

It was announced yesterday that Mr. Anthony Brooke, Rajah Muda of the territory of Sarawak, in Borneo, before' its cession to the British Crown, had been banned from entering the territory because of his avowed intention of consulting the native communities regarding the restoration of its independence. The anniouncement that Sarawak was to be handed over from the Brooke family to the British Government was made in February last. Instead of being a British protectorate, the territory thus became a Crown Colony governed from Great Britain. Sarawak has a special place in history, because for the preceding 104 years it was ruled by successive members of the Brooke family. Each of these rulers was called "White Rajah" by the .natives. Sarawak was originally part of the dominion of the Sultan of Brunei. . In 1840 Rajah Muda Hasim, uncle and heir-presumptive of the Sultan, prevailed upon James Brooke, an English officer, to help him in suppressing a rebellion, and in return for. his services he ceded Sarawak to Brooke, who became Rajah in September, 1841. His appointment was confirmed by the Sultan in 1842. In 1863 Sarawak was recognised by the British Government as an independent State, and in 1888 a treaty was concluded by which the British Government took control of

the relations of Sarawak with foreign States, but left the internal administration entirely in the hands of the Rajah. Sarawak differs in this respect from other Protectorates, which are administered by1 British bfficials a^nointed by the Crown. Its status and Government are unique in the Empire. Since the territor^ was eiven to James Brooke, it has been ruled by three generations of the family. The Rajah at the time of the announcement that Sarawak was to become a Crown Colony was Sir : Charles Vyner Brooke, who succeeded his father in 1917. When the Japanese invaded Borneo early in 1942, they overran Sarawak, .and the' Rajah and his family were forced to flee. Then early this year the State passed from the Brooke family and became an ordinary British Crown colony. The area of Sarawak is 50,000 square miles, slightly larger than the North Island of New Zealand, and the population is about 500, Ol'J. with the capital at Kuching in the south and other important centres at Sibu and Miri. The territory possesses one of the four major • oil-producing areas in the British Empire, and wrhen the Japanese invaders came the retreating people destroyed large refineries to keep them from enemy hands. Sarawak has a number of rivers draining" into the China Sea. Th'. largest of them, the Rejang, is navigable for more than 100 miles.