Sarawak Chronology

In the Chronology of the 1960 Almanac an effort was made; to include the significant dates of Sarawak history up to 1888; in the Chronology of the 1961 Almanac dates up to 1932 have been amassed, ,and these are here published in the hope that errors may be amended and further additions made. Many dates of significance are still lacking: when, for instance were the various outstations established? The dates of some of the forts are known, but these by no means correspond with the setting up of administrative machinery in those parts, whilst the sub‑stations are most elusive: what sadistic Resident picked on Pusa for instance, and when? Again, when did phuttering outboards replace sweating paddlers in Government perhaus? It is to be hoped that administrative officers will be able to make good these omissions. Further, the dates of the more noteworthy mission stations and schools are lacking, though these are of considerable importance; it is to be hoped that they can be supplied by the bodies concerned.

The more that Sarawak records are examined, the more it becomes apparent how pressing is the need for an economic history of the country. It is to be hoped that by now the resources of the sword and trumpet idiom have been exhausted, and that an end has come to the personality cult; it is time to examine the play of those economic forces which affected the life of the people at large much more forcefully than the innumerable expeditions (many of which were but inflated police patrols), which have hitherto loomed so large in the pages of histories. There are ample statistics available from which to reconstruct the trends of trade and movements of prices, and even a casual examination reveals how interesting these are, for Sarawak has suffered from recurrent booms and slumps throughout its history. For instance, the 1880's which

appear to be years of progress and expansion, were in fact a time of dwindling markets and low prices, indeed slight fluctuations of European economy produced drastic repercussions here. Further the vagaries of the Sarawak dollar were disturbing, for it fluctuated with the price of silver, .and though about 1876 it was worth 4 /6, by 1897 it had dropped with various ups and downs to 1 /11. This must have been exasperating for Government officers who, joining the service in 1889 when it was worth 2 /10, would take their first leave with lightened purse at the latter rate. Only with the introduction of the Straits dollars in 1904 did these uncertainties come to an end.

The, cost of living in Sarawak would appear always to have been higher than in Malaya. Until the Japanese occupation the country never produced enough rice to feed itself and imported pork and other elementary foodstuffs on a scale astonishing for a supposedly agricultural economy. Conditions in this respect have changed little in eighty years. Equally little have they changed in the incidence of crime: current outcries as to the increase of crime would seem unwarranted. It is doubtful if the rate of offences per head of population has increased at all; today thieves address themselves to private property, in the past Government offices would appear to have been the chief sufferers; even the General Post Office was rifled.

Of the dates listed below the first will attract attention, and the many who disbelieve this preposterous occurrence are referred to the Sarawak Gazette for 1930, page 89. The year 1872 is significant, for the revenue from antimony had been the basis of Brooke finance, yet in five years this withered away, fortunately 1877 saw the beginnings of pepper exports, albeit on a minute scale. In 1881 Bishop Hose procured three of the first para rubber seeds from the Botanical Gardens in Singapore and planted them in the S.P.G. compound in Kuching. One historic tree was still standing in 1920.

The Great Penyamun Scare of 1894 was one of the most extraordinary features in Sarawak history, for it spread panic throughout the country and brought trade to a standstill in many parts. It is suprising to learn that only in 1895 did rickshaws reach Kuching, previously conveyance had all been by pony trap bullock cart.

The wreck of the S.S. Rajah Brooke on the Acasta Rock in 1896 caused a great sensation, for she was the largest vessel in these parts. Fortunately there were no casualties. Between Kuching and Singapore the sea is void of obstacles save for two or perhaps three rocks, yet these seem to possess a syren attraction for shipmasters. In 1913 the S.S. Rajah of Sarawak, successor to the ill‑fated Rajah Brooke, run into the Cruiser Rock, and diverse other vessels have done likewise. There is some fear lest these venerable landmarks be wholly demolished by assault.

The turn of the century brought several significant developments. In Kuching the jangle of the telephone was first heard (1900) and the cinema made its appearance (1908). Throughout the country there was much planting of rubber and two estates of Dahan (1902) and Sungei Tengah (1907) were laid out. In1903 came the opening of the Government Lay School, this latter was a favoured project of the Second Rajah, in which he took an intimate interest; it was a school with three collateral streams, English, Chinese and Malay and was intended to serve as a model for future educational development. Amongst his less blistering comments on the mission schools was the observation that they turned out Chinese boys who could not read Chinese. The new school was intended to remedy this and to teach them English as well. It is interesting to speculate how much heart‑burning Sarawak would have been saved had the Second Rajah's educational policies been continued.

In 1909 the Pavilion was opened as headquarters of the Medical Department and outpatients' clinic. It was not the hospital, for this was in what is now the gaol (built 1888). The admiring Editor of the Gazette describes it as "The finest building in Kuching", and so perhaps it was, apart from the Court House. Unfortunately the venerable tradition that it was designed by the Second Rajah himself on the model of a place of resort in Mentone is untrue; there is no doubt that it was designed by a reputable firm of architects still operating in these parts, which today would no doubt willingly meet the total cost of its demolition.

1910 was the Annus Mirabilis of Sarawak history: at Miri No. 1 Well was completed and produced oil beyond expectation; from Kuching went the first consignment of rubber sheeting at $363 per pikul.

In 1917 died the Second Rajah and with him ended an era. Despite enfeebled health his all‑prevading activities continued to the day of his departure for England; he had expected to return to Sarawak, but this was frustrated by death and his body was embalmed against the day of removal to Kuching. Unfortunately this was not done, and two years later the interment took place at Burrator.

In retrospect the passing of this very great man overshadows other events of these years, but contemporaries viewed affairs in shorter perspective and thought only of the War, Sarawak did well out of the First World War; only occasional obituaries echoed from afar the unspeakable horrors of Flanders, for the rest there was mounting prosperity, which nourished an unpleasing tea party patriotism. One highly significant event was the insistence by the French Government in 1915 that British subjects must carry passports in order to pass through France. This effectively marked the end of a century of British hegemony. Since Waterloo a British subject could go where he would ‑without passport or any other document, he was amendable only to the laws of God as interpreted by the Foreign Office.‑ Britons in the Far East were accustomed to disembark at Marseilles and travel overland for the last stage of the journey; hence the insistence on passports by the French affected them immediately. . Many attempted to ignore so monstrous an affront to national prestige, and the warning had to he repeated with increasing urgency. In the end the British Government capitulated, and from 1916 all British subjects travelling abroad were required to carry passports. The Victorian Foreign Secretaries (must have turned in their graves.

1918 passed out to the resonant strains of praise and thanksgiving. Few who took part in the flamboyant victory celebrations whether ,civil or ‑ecclesiastical can have had any presentment of what the future held in store. In the last four months of 1918 the influenza epidemic swept through Sarawak on its‑ way to Europe, where it wrought such fearful carnage. In 1919 the rice crop failed throughout the, East ‑resulting in dreadful famines in China and elsewhere. As Sarawak depended so largely on imported rice‑ it ‑ .was grievously affected, and rationing with controls was introduced. The 1920 harvest was little better and only in 1921 was it possible to lift controls. Rubber was slumping steadily and in 1922 touched bottom at $11 per pikul; meanwhile the Bau Gold works closed and other enterprises were abandoned.

This was the blackest year Sarawak had yet faced, and its whole economy was badly dislocated; fortunately the Miri oilfield continued to expand and the royalties replenished an otherwise empty chest.

At a distance it is possible to savour they elements of light relief in the grim Years of Victory. In 1915 the Sarawak Government Railway had been opened to the 3rd Mile and was in due course extended to the 13th. In its heyday there were five trains in either direction propelled by three locomotives and observing a speed which precluded any possibility of mishap. There was an ugly attempt at sabotage in 1917 when some miscreant spread fat on the rails at the 7th Mile incline and nearly brought traffic to a standstill, but in June, 1920 occurred Sarawak's only railway castastrophe, when the up 11.30 a.m. passenger train collided head‑on with a down ballast train outside the Kuching Central Station. The guard of the ballast train was badly shaken, and the two lomotives were only with difficulty *disentangled.

In April, 1921 the observant Mr. Somerset Maugham arrived in Kuchin2 and spent a pleasurable few months touring the country. Diverse people subsequently had occasion to regret their loquacity with this engaging guest, .and Mr. Maugham was later bitterly attacked by the Gazette. The veracity of his accounts was not impunged, but the impropriety of his having published them was hotly denounced.

From 1922 there was a slow and fluctuating recovery of prices so that by the end of the decade Sarawak was once again enjoying a prosperity comparable with that of the great years 1910‑1918. With 1930 came the regular air service, first, from Karachi to London and then from Bangkok to Amsterdam; the world was shrinking, even Sarawak was shrinking with appearance of the outboard engine, but economically the world was shrinking faster still: in September, 1929 the bottom of the New York Stock Exchange had astonished the world by dropping out, and by late 1930 Sarawak's economy was fast crumbling into ruin. By August, 1931 No. 1 R.S.S. sold for $9.66 per pikul and other grades of rubber were unsaleable; this time there was not even a victory to justify the disaster. In 1932 the Sadong Coal Mine was abandoned, and the office of Chief Secretary was abolished; all superfluity was done away,

In 1933 the Education Department was abolished and work started on building the Sylvia Cinema, which was opened the following year. This should occasion no surprise, for a century before had not King Ferdinand VII of Spain suppressed the University of Madrid and with a portion of the funds thus saved endowed a school for bullfighters? In any case an inspection of the Sylvia's programmes shows that it presented cinema performances of a character not to be found, elsewhere in the East, and when it was subsequently sold to a private firm there was universal lament:

The present series of dates comes to an end with Sarawak's prosperity at its lowest ebb,. In the whole dark prospect there were but two bright spots: Ban and Mid. The Borneo Company Ltd. had abandoned its gold workings at Bidi in 1911 and at Ban in 1921, now with the inflated price of gold a swarm of Chinese prospectors set to work and produced gold in astonishing quantity. When the rest of the country was sunk in depression, Bau displayed an uninhibited 49'er prosperity. In Miri production increased till 1929, after which it fell away sharply, but there was sufficient to ensure prosperity. Had it not been for these two, Sarawak would have been reduced to the pitiable pass in which her neighbours found themselves.

There ‑must be many living today who can recall the dates of developments, innovation and inventions which bore upon the lives of the people of Sarawak, but of which no official records exist. May the publication of this Chronology serve as a joR to memory and an incitement to reminiscence.