Historical Info

Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, each being independent states within the Malaysian federation, have a separate and shared histories to each other and with Peninsular (West) Malaysia. Today Malaysia is a cohesive and unified nation, however geographically and historically one can divide Malaysia into two distinct parts: Peninsular Malaysia, the long finger of land extending down from Indochina, and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), which occupy the northern segment of the island of Borneo.

Peninsular Malaysia was known as Malaya, and in 1963 Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaya to create Malaysia. It is appropriate therefore to begin with an overview of the history of Malaysia before introducing Sabah and Sarawak separately.

PRE-HISTORIC MALAYSIA

Scientists have found archaeological evidence of human inhabitants in the Niah Caves in Sarawak from about 40,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of inhabitants on the Malay Peninsula that has been found is from about 10,000 years ago. Neolithic culture was well established by 2500-1500 BC. Most scholars believe the earliest settlers on the Malay Peninsula came overland from southern China in small groups over a period of thousands of years. These early inhabitants became the ancestors of the Orang Asli (original or aboriginal persons in Malay).

During the 1000's B.C., new groups of migrants who spoke a language related to Malay came to Malaysia. The ancestors of these people had traveled by sea from south China to Taiwan, and later from Taiwan to Borneo and the Philippines. These people became the ancestors of the Malays and the Orang Laut (sea people). The newcomers settled mainly in the coastal areas of the peninsula.

Small Malayan kingdoms existed in the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, when adventurers from India arrived and initiated more than 1,000 years of Indian influence. About A.D. 1400, a group of Malay-speaking migrants came to the Malay Peninsula from Srivijaya, a trading kingdom on the island of Sumatra (now part of Indonesia). Led by a Sumatran prince called Paramesvara, these newly arrived immigrants established a commercial kingdom called Malacca and secured Chinese protection for the city-state.

Europeans arrived in what is now Malaysia during the 1500's. Malacca entered a golden age as a commercial and Islamic religious centre but in 1511 it was captured by the Portuguese. When the Dutch captured Malacca in 1641, the port was no longer an important trading center.

GOLDEN AGE OF MELAKA

(1400-1511) We bring you back to the golden age of Melaka (also spelled Malacca). Melaka - a city steeped in history - was founded in 1400 by a fleeing Palembang prince named Parameswara. Its rise from a village of royal refugees to a wealthy kingdom and international center for the spice trade was swift. During the middle and late 1400's, Melaka gained control over much of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and the key shipping route through the Strait of Malacca. It attracted traders from throughout the world. Perfectly located for trade, within 50 years it was the most influential port in Southeast Asia. At any one time, ships from a dozen kingdoms great and small could be seen in the harbor. In the mid-1400's, Melaka became a Muslim kingdom. The traders brought with them the Islamic religion, and Malacca's rulers now referred to themselves as "sultans." Islam spread throughout the Malay Peninsula and to other parts of Southeast Asia. Melaka's prosperity drew the attention of the Europeans, who wished to gain control of the valuable spice trade. At the height of its power, however, fate would ruin the city as quickly as it built it up. In 1511, the Portuguese seized the commercial kingdom of Melaka from the Malays but were unsuccessful in conquering other areas on the Malay Peninsula. Thus began a colonial legacy that would last well into the 20th century.

COLONIALISM

(1511-1957) In 1511, a Portuguese fleet led by Alfonso de Albuquerque - and lured by the spice trade - sailed into Malacca's harbor, opened fire with cannons, and captured the city from the Malays. Malacca's golden age had come to an end. The Malays soon moved their center to Johor at the southern end of the Malay Peninsula. Descendants of the ruling family of Melaka also founded other kingdoms on the peninsula. The Portuguese constructed a massive fort in Malacca - A Famosa (picture to the left) - which the Dutch captured in turn in 1641 and ruled there for the next 150 years. This would give the Dutch an almost exclusive lock on the spice trade. Minangkabau peoples from Sumatra migrated to Malaya during the late 17th century, bringing with them a matrilineal culture. In the 18th century the Buginese from the island of Celebes invaded Malaya and established the sultanates of Selangor and Johore.

THE BRITISH RULE

In 1786, the British acquired Penang Island and established a settlement called George Town there. Gradually, Britain acquired control over more of the area to protect its shipping lanes between China and India. The Dutch traded Malacca with the British for Bencoolen, Sumatra. In 1824, the Dutch signed a treaty which surrendered to the British their possessions on the Malay Peninsula. Nevertheless, total British control was not established until the early 1900's. In 1819, Britain sent Sir William Raffles to establish a trading post on Singapore Island. In 1826, the British formed a colony called the Straits Settlements that included Melaka and the islands of Penang and Singapore. In 1840, James Brooke, a wealthy English adventurer, helped the sultan of Brunei quiet a local rebellion. In return, the sultan ceded the southern part of his territory, present-day Sarawak, to Brooke in 1841 and bestowed on Brooke the title rajah. Brooke and his descendants, called "white rajahs," ruled Sarawak as a self-governing state until the 1940's. In 1881, North Borneo (as Sabah was then called) came under the control of a private trading company called the British North Borneo Company. The British declared North Borneo and Sarawak to be British protectorates in 1888. During the late 19th century Chinese began to migrate to Malaya. In 1896 the Malay states accepted British advisors, and Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang formed a federation. By 1914, Britain had either direct or indirect colonial control over all the lands that now make up Malaysia, which it called British Malaya. British rule took several forms. For example, Britain had direct colonial rule in the Straits Settlements, family control by the Brookes in Sarawak, and corporate control in North Borneo. In the kingdoms on the Malay Peninsula, the British governed indirectly, through local rulers. Britain placed a representative called a resident in each kingdom. The local sultan agreed to accept the resident's advice on political and economic matters.

To increase its revenues from British Malaya, the British expanded tin mining in the late 1800's. They also introduced rubber trees from Brazil and established rubber plantations in the late 1800's and early 1900's. To provide labor for these enterprises, the British imported Chinese workers for the tin mines and Indian laborers for the rubber plantations. To help feed the rapidly expanding work force, the British encouraged the Malays to farm for a living.

The British also encouraged ethnic divisions. For example, the British administered the two main ethnic communities in Kuala Lumpur separately through their Malay and Chinese leaders. By hardening the lines that divided the Malays, Chinese, and Indians, these policies helped keep the groups from uniting against the British.

INDEPENDENCE FROM THE BRITISH

From the 1890s the British invested heavily in what was then called Malaya, developing transportation and rubber plantations. Coupled with the power of the White Rajahs in Borneo, Britain ruled over Malaya until 1941 when the Japanese invaded Malaya and captured Singapore in early 1942. Japan occupied British Malaya and much of Asia until losing the war in 1945. World War II and its aftermath brought the end of British rule.

After World War II ended in 1945, the British tried unsuccessfully to organize Malaya into one state due to a mature independence movement organized as an alliance under YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman. This led to the birth of Malayan nationalism, which opposed a colonial status. In 1946 the United Malaya National Organization (UMNO) was established. Britain dissolved the Straits Settlements in 1946. In 1948, the kingdoms on the Malay Peninsula, plus Melaka and the island of Penang, united to form the Federation of Malaya, a partially independent territory under British protection. Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak became separate crown colonies. In the same year the Malayan Communist Party was formed and began a guerrilla uprising against the British that became known as the Emergency. With Malay help, the British finally subdued the Emergency in 1960, three years after independence. In 1955 the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) joined UMNO in an anticommunist, anticolonial coalition that won 51 of 52 parliamentary seats. The British relinquished their powers, and in 1957 the Federation of Malaya had gained complete independence from Britain. Singapore, which had a mostly Chinese population, remained outside the federation as a British crown colony. Peninsular Malaysia became an independent nation called Malaya in 1957. When the British flag was finally lowered in Kuala Lumpur's Dataran Merdeka in 1957, Tunku became the first prime minister of Malaya (picture).

MALAYSIA IS BORN

The first prime minister of the new nation was Tunku Abdul Rahman. Earlier in the 1950's, he and other leaders had formed a political alliance of the three main ethnic parties: the United Malays National Organization, the Malayan Chinese Association, and the Malayan Indian Congress. This three-party partnership, known as the Alliance, was the forerunner of the National Front that is Malaysia's most powerful political organization today.

In 1961, the term "Malaysia" came into being after Tunku convinced Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak to join Malaya in a federal union. In the 1960s membership in the federation shifted several times, finally settling into the present pattern in 1963, when Malaysia was established. The Malay majority hoped that including Sabah and Sarawak, which had ethnically diverse populations, would balance the large numbers of Chinese from Singapore. Economic and political disputes soon developed between the mostly Chinese state leaders of Singapore and the mostly Malay federal government of Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore withdrew from the federation peacefully and became independent.

In Malaysia, as in the former British Malaya, the ethnic groups followed different traditional occupations. Malaysia was a multi-racial country with a mix of people from many different races and cultures. The Malays controlled government and agriculture, while the Chinese dominated commerce and industry. The Chinese resented the political power of the Malays, and the Malays envied the economic success of the Chinese. The tensions eventually triggered racial violence. In 1969, bloody riots broke out after an election on Peninsular Malaysia. The government declared a state of emergency, suspending the Constitution and Parliament until 1971. It was a painful moment in the young nation's history that most Malaysians prefer to forget. Turbulence in the government went on into the early 1970s, when stability returned and the Malaysian economy began to prosper.

After the riots, Malaysia's political leaders tried to build national unity. They amended the Constitution to forbid discussion, even in Parliament, of certain "sensitive issues," including the special position of the Malays and of Borneo's ethnic groups, and the powers of the Malay sultans. The amendment also required all government bodies to use Bahasa Malaysia as their principal official language. Many non-Malays, however, resented the government's attempts to build national unity through increased emphasis on Malay culture.

Also after the riots, Malaysia's leaders determined to improve the economic conditions of the Malays. In 1971, they launched a 20-year plan called the New Economic Policy to achieve a better balance of wealth among racial groups. To minimize racial politics, the government created in 1974 a multiparty alliance called the National Front, uniting Malay, Chinese, and Islamic groups. Despite considerable regional and ethnic divisions, Malaysia has made significant gains in creating national unity. In the last two decades, Malaysia has undergone tremendous growth and prosperity, and has arguably made significant progress in race relations. Many attribute the country's success to the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Doktor Mahathir bin Mohamad, who has led the country since 1981.

1990s & THE NEW MILLENNIUM

By the end of the 1990's, the New Economic Policy and its successor, the New Development Policy begun in 1991, had done much to eliminate racial tensions. Malaysia's economy had grown at a robust rate for two decades, and rapid economic growth had brought prosperity to all racial groups in the country. Government leaders announced a new goal called "Vision 2020," which aimed to make Malaysia a fully developed nation with a high standard of living by 2020. The goal suffered a setback, however, when an economic crisis spread throughout Southeast Asia. By 1998, the growth of Malaysia's economy had slowed somewhat, but Malaysia took measures to put its economy back on track. In 1999, some administrative offices began moving to a new city named Putrajaya, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Kuala Lumpur. When completed, Putrajaya will serve as Malaysia's administrative capital. Parliament will remain in Kuala Lumpur.

Sabah

Sabah's early history and the origination of her indigenous people, their languages and customs are shrouded in mystery, lost in the unwritten past. The earliest evidence of man's footprint in Sabah comes from archaeological excavations around the bed of and ancient lake at Tingkayu, in Eastern Sabah, showing the existence of human habitants as far back as 20,000 years, during the last ice age.

However, today's indigenous inhabitants can find their roots in the Austronesians of Taiwan (they in turn originate from continental Asia) and have no relation to Sabah's earliest inhabitants (what happened to them is also a mystery). These Austronesian speaking people would have migrated to Borneo's shores between 3000 and 1500 BC. This is in concordance with the large scale Austronesian expansion that creates a chain of commonality from its point of origin in Taiwan, through the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and Hawaii.

By the 10th century AD, Chinese traders began voyages to Borneo exchanging large ceramic storage jars and other items for birds' nests, natural medicines from the jungle, resin, rattan and hornbill casques to the "golden jade" highly prized by China's emperors. According to historical records a Chinese trading settlement existed on the east coast of Sabah along the Kinabatangan River around the 14th Century.

Sabah was, by that time, under the nominal control of the Sultan of Brunei, who ruled over much of north Borneo until the 19th Century, when during a period of colonial expansion various Westerners turned their attention towards Sabah. An Austrian, Baron Von Overbeck, bought the rights to Sabah from the Sultan of Brunei, and just to be on the safe side, also paid the Sultan of Sulu, who exerted considerable influence over trade along the northeast coast. Von Overbeck, together with Englishman Alfred Dent, established the British North Borneo Chartered Company in 1882. This company, with the protection of the British Crown, was to administer Sabah (which they named British North Borneo) until the end of World War II.

In the aftermath of WWII a move towards independence swept through Southeast Asia, and resulted in the colony of North Borneo gaining its own independence in 1963, when it reverted to its original name of Sabah. Shortly afterwards, Sabah, along with neighbouring Sarawak, joined in the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. The colonial name of Jesselton, Sabah's capital, was changed in 1967 to Kota Kinabalu, literally "The City of Kinabalu".

Sarawak

The eastern seaboard of Borneo had been charted (though never settled) by the Portuguese in the early 16th century. The area of today's Sarawak was known to Portuguese cartographers as Cerava. Sarawak had been a loosely governed territory under the control of the Brunei Sultanate in the early 19th century, although in the early 17th century Sarawak had her own the first and the last Sultan, Sultan Tengah. During the reign of Pangeran Indera Mahkota in 19th century, Sarawak was in chaos. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827-1852) the Sultan of Brunei, ordered Pangeran Muda Hashim in 1839 to restore order and it was during this time that James Brooke arrived in Sarawak. James Brooke, a British adventurer with an inheritance and an armed sloop, arrived to find the Brunei sultanate fending off rebellion from warlike inland tribes. Brooke put down the rebellion and in reward was granted power over part of Sarawak. Appointing himself 'Raja Brooke', he pacified the 'natives', suppressed head-hunting, eliminated the much-feared Borneo pireates and founded a dynasty that lasted until after WWII. The Brooke family of 'white Raja's' continued to bring tracts of Borneo into their control throughout their rule.

Japan invaded Sarawak and occupied the island of Borneo in 1941, occupying Miri on December 16 and Kuching on December 24, and held it for the duration of World War II until the area was secured by Australian forces in 1945. The Rajah formally ceded sovereignty to the British Crown on July 1, 1946, under pressure from his wife among others. In addition the British Government offered a healthy pension to sweeten the negotiations. His nephew Anthony continued to claim sovereignty as Rajah of Sarawak.

After the end of the Second World War, Anthony Brooke then opposed the cession of the Rajah's territory to the British Crown, and was associated with anti-secessionist groups in Sarawak. Anthony was banished from the country. He was allowed to return only seventeen years later, when Sarawak became part of the Federation of Malaysia.

Sarawak became a British colony (it was formerly an independent state under British protection) in July 1946, but Brooke's campaign continued. The Malays in particular resisted the cession to Britain, dramatically assassinating the first British governor. Sarawak was one of the main sites of the Indonesian Confrontation between 1962 and 1966. It became an autonomous state of the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, despite initial opposition from parts of the population.

Today, Sarawak is an economically important part of Malaysia, accounting for major oil and timber exports. It is also an important producer of pepper, rubber, and palm oil. Tourism is well developed although it is probably one of the least visited of all Malaysia's states. This is a surprising fact as Sarawak has excellent national parks, Kuching is one of the most pleasant cities in Asia, and far up Sarawaks huge rainforest rivers is a fascinating diversity of Dayak tribes and untouched jungles.

Today's heritage highlights:

Monuments and Memorials

Borneo was subject to Japanese occupation during WWII leaving in its wake monuments and memorials dedicated to fallen soldiers.

The Australian Memorial & the Infamous Death March

Located in Sandakan, Sabah, this memorial is dedicated to some 2,700 Australian, British and local prisoners of war who died at the Sandakan POW camp and the death marches in Sabah during the war.

The Death Marches, 1942-1945 started from Sandakan bound for Ranau, a small village on the flanks of Mt Kinabalu, about 250 kilometers to the west of Sabah, through the rugged Borneo jungle interior. The march comprised of POW's (mainly Australian and British soldiers) whom were actually transported to Sandakan by the Japanese in 1942-43, following Singapore's fall to construct a military airfield. In late January 1945 the Japanese decided to move 455 of the fittest prisoners to Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu) but had to stop the march at Ranau, due to Allied air activity on the west coast. At the end of May, there was a second march from Sandakan and in mid-June a third and last march, comprised of only 75 men. As both sea and air were under the complete control of the Allies, a track had been cut through the mountains, linking existing bridle-trails which had deliberately been routed away from any habitation, across the most inhospitable and difficult terrain possible. As there was no medical assistance and little food, any 'stragglers' were 'disposed of'. Despite this, about half the prisoners completed the march, only to die at Ranau from illness, malnutrition and ill-treatment by their captors. Two Australians managed to escape in the early stages of the second march with the help of villagers, and four more successfully escaped from Ranau into the jungle, where they were cared for by local people.

Labuan War Memorial & Peace Park

The War Memorial in Labuan is a beautifully landscaped cemetery dedicated to 3,900 Australian, New Zealand and British servicemen who lost their lives during the war. A section is also dedicated to the Indian soldiers of the Punjab Regiment. The Peace Park on the west coast of Labuan is also dedicated to fallen soldiers. Located next the park is Surrender Point, built as a memorial on the spot where the commander of the Japanese Army surrendered to the Austrialian 9th Division on 9th September 1945. This led to the end of World War II in Borneo.

Historic Buildings and Sites

Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, has some of Borneo's best 19th Century buildings, constructed during the rule of Charles Brooke, the second White Rajah of Sarawak. The Astana (1870) was built as Brooke's residence, and is now the governor's residence. Fort Margherita (1879) named for Charles Brooke's wife, originally the police headquarters, now houses the Police Museum. The Square Tower (1879), built as a prison, is now a multimedia information centre and video theatre, providing information and documentaries on Sarawak's tourist attractions. The Court House complex (1874), a superb collection of buildings, includes the colonial-baroque Clock Tower, and the Charles Brooke Memorial built in 1924. The complex also includes the Pavilion building - a piece of old New Orleans transplanted to Kuching and completed in 1909 - and the Round Tower, originally planned as a fort in 1886.

In Sabah, very few buildings survived the bombing at the end of WWII. Sandakan, the pre-war capital, has three surviving structures. The Sam Sing Kung Temple is the oldest building in Sandakan and the Tham Kung Temple, built in 1894, has a unique 'temple within a temple' feature - a new temple was built around the original. St Micheal's and All Angels Church is a beautiful granite church begun in 1893 which took 20 years to complete. 

The house of Agnes Keith is now a popular tourist stop for those who have read her books. Her first book on Sabah, "Land Below the Wind", helped to popularise the old seafarer's name for Sabah. It describes her life in Sandakan from 1934 to 1942. Although of a pre-war design, the house was rebuilt after the war. 

In Kota Kinabalu only three buildings were left standing after WWII. The Atkinson Clock Tower built in 1905 in memory of the city's first District Officer who died at the age of 28 of 'Borneo fever'; the colonial Post Office building constructed in 1916 to house various government offices which now houses the Sabah Tourism Board office; and the Welfare Department Building constructed around 1910. It was destroyed in a fire in 1992.

In Labuan, the Chimney Information Centre, built in 1999 using the design of a colonial-era school, is a site museum which traces the history of coal mining on the island. The coal mines of Tanjung Kubong were in operation from 1847 till 1912. The Chimney Tower, underground tunnels and coal-mining shafts are relics of this once highly successful commercial era in Labuan's history.

Museums

The Sabah Museum has excellent displays of costumes and accessories worn by the various indigenous peoples of Sabah, musical instruments, ceramics and brassware. The photo collection gives a valuable insight into Sabah's modern history from the 1930's till the present. Another interesting section of the Sabah Museum is the Heritage Village, set in the museum grounds. Here you can wander about the traditional houses of Sabah's major tribes, and see their tools and fishing traps on display. In the gardens, herbs, vegetables and medicinal plants used for food and healing are grown.

The old wing of the Sarawak Museum, built in 1891 in the style of a Normandy town house, has one of the best collections of any museum in Southeast Asia. The exhibition of traditional woodcarvings is magnificent, as are the splendid Chinese ceramics and furniture, art gallery and archaeological exhibits, including a reconstruction of the early human settlements at Niah Caves.

Other museums in Sarawak are dedicated to some fascinating themes. These include the Cat Museum, Chinese History Museum, Islamic Museum, Timber Museum, Police Museum, and Pua Kumbu (textile) museum.