History[edit]

Main article: History of Sarawak

Foragers are known to have lived around the west mouth of the Niah Caves (located 110 kilometres
(68 mi) southwest of Miri) 40,000 years ago.[21][22] A modern human skull found near the Niah Caves is
the oldest human remain found in Malaysia and the oldest modern human skull from Southeast Asia.
[21][22][23][24]
 Chinese ceramics dating to the Tang and Song dynasties (8th to 13th century AD,
respectively) found at Santubong (near Kuching) hint at its significance as a seaport.[25]
The Bruneian Empire was established in the coastal regions of Sarawak by the mid-15th century,
[26]
 and the Kuching area was known to Portuguese cartographers during the 16th century as Cerava,
one of the five great seaports of Borneo.[27][28] It was also during this time that witnessed the birth of
the Sultanate of Sarawak, a local kingdom that lasted for almost half a century before being reunited
with Brunei in 1641.[29][30] By the early 19th century, the Bruneian Empire was in decline, retaining only
a tenuous hold along the coastal regions of Sarawak which were otherwise controlled by semi-
independent Malay leaders. Away from the coast, territorial wars were fought between the Iban and
a Kenyah-Kayan alliance.[31]

James Brooke, the first White Rajah

The discovery of antimony ore in the Kuching region led Pangeran Indera Mahkota, a representative
of the Sultan of Brunei, to increase development in the territory between 1824 and 1830. Increasing
antimony production in the region led the Brunei Sultanate to demand higher taxes, which ultimately
led to civil unrest.[32] In 1839, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827–1852) assigned his uncle Pangeran
Muda Hashim the task of restoring order but his inability to do so caused him to request the aid of
British sailor James Brooke. Brooke's success in quelling the revolt was rewarded with antimony,
property and the governorship of Sarawak, which at that time consisted only of a small area centred
on Kuching.[33][34]
The Brooke family, later called the White Rajahs, set about expanding the territory they had been
ceded.[35] With expansion came the need for efficient governance and thus, beginning in 1841,
Sarawak was separated into the first of its administrative divisions [36] with currency, the Sarawak
dollar, beginning circulation in 1858.[37] By 1912, a total of five divisions had been established in
Sarawak, each headed by a Resident.[36] The Brooke family generally practised a paternalistic form of
government with minimal bureaucracy, but were pressured to establish some form of legal
framework. Since they were unfamiliar with local customs, the Brooke government created an
advisory Supreme Council, mostly consisting of Malay chiefs, to provide guidance. This council is
the oldest state legislative assembly in Malaysia, with the first General Council meeting taking place
at Bintulu in 1867.[38] In 1928, a Judicial Commissioner, Thomas Stirling Boyd, was appointed as the
first legally trained judge. A similar system relating to matters concerning various Chinese
communities was also formed.[39] Members of the local community were encouraged by the Brooke
regime to focus on particular functions within the territory: the Ibans and other Dayak people were
hired as militia while Malays were primarily administrators. Chinese, both local and immigrant, were
mostly employed in plantations,[40] mines and as bureaucrats.[39] Expanding trade led to the formation
of the Borneo Company Limited in 1856. The company was involved in a wide range of businesses
in Sarawak including trade, banking, agriculture, mineral exploration, and development. [41]

Territorial expansion of the Raj of Sarawak from 1841 to 1905 played a significant role to the present-day
boundaries of the modern state of Sarawak.

Between 1853 and 1862, there were a number of uprisings against the Brooke government but all
were successfully contained with the aid of local tribes. [39] To guard against future uprisings, a series
of forts were constructed to protect Kuching, including Fort Margherita, completed in 1871. By that
time Brooke's control of Sarawak was such that defences were largely unnecessary. [42]
Charles Anthoni Brooke succeeded his uncle in 1868 as the next White Rajah. Under his rule,
Sarawak gained Limbang and the Baram and Trusan valleys from the Sultan of Brunei, later
becoming a protectorate in 1888 with Britain handling foreign affairs but the Brooke government
retaining administrative powers.[43] Domestically, Brooke established the Sarawak Museum – the
oldest museum in Borneo – in 1891, [42][44] and brokered a peace in Marudi by ending intertribal wars
there. Economic development continued, with oil wells drilling from 1910 and the Brooke Dockyard
opening two years later. Anthony Brooke, who would become Rajah Muda (heir apparent) in 1939,
was born in 1912.[45]
A centenary celebration of Brooke rule in Sarawak was held in 1941. During the celebration, a new
constitution was introduced that would limit the power of the Rajah and grant the Sarawak people a
greater role in the functioning of government. However, this constitution was never fully implemented
due to the Japanese occupation.[46][39][note 1] That same year saw the British withdrawing its air and
marine forces defending Sarawak to Singapore. With Sarawak now unguarded, the Brooke regime
adopted a scorched earth policy where oil installations in Miri were to be destroyed and the Kuching
airfield held as long as possible before being destroyed. Nevertheless, a Japanese invasion force
led by Kiyotake Kawaguchi landed in Miri on 16 December 1941 and conquered Kuching on 24
December 1941, with British ground forces retreating to Singkawang in neighbouring Dutch Borneo.
After ten weeks of fighting there, the Allied forces surrendered on 1 April 1942.[47] Charles Vyner
Brooke, the last Rajah of Sarawak, had already left for Sydney, Australia; his officers were captured
by the Japanese and interned at the Batu Lintang camp.[48]
Crowds throng a street in Kuching to witness the arrival of Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 12 September
1945.

Sarawak remained part of the Empire of Japan for three years and eight months. During this time it
was divided into three provinces – Kuching-shu, Sibu-shu, and Miri-shu – each under their
respective Provincial Governor. The Japanese otherwise preserved the Brooke administrative
structure and appointed the Japanese to important government positions. [49] Allied forces later carried
out Operation Semut to sabotage Japanese operations in Sarawak.[50] During the battle of North
Borneo, the Australian forces landed at Lutong-Miri area on 20 June 1945 and had penetrated as far
as Marudi and Limbang before halting their operations in Sarawak.[51] After the surrender of Japan,
the Japanese surrendered to the Australian forces at Labuan on 10 September 1945.[52][53] The
following day, the Japanese forces at Kuching surrendered, and the Batu Lintang camp was
liberated.[54] Sarawak was immediately placed under British Military Administration and managed by
Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) until April 1946. [55][56]
Lacking the resources to rebuild Sarawak after the war, Charles Vyner Brooke decided to cede
Sarawak as British Crown Colony and a Cession Bill was put forth in the Council Negri
(now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly), which was debated for three days. The bill was passed
on 17 May 1946 with a narrow majority (19 versus 16 votes). This caused hundreds of Malay civil
servants to resign in protest, sparking an anti-cession movement and the assassination of the
second colonial governor of Sarawak Sir Duncan Stewart.[57] Despite the resistance, Sarawak
became a British Crown colony on 1 July 1946.[3] Anthony Brooke opposed the cession of Sarawak
to the British Crown,[58] for which he was banished from Sarawak by the colonial government. [39][note
2]
 He was only allowed to return 17 years later after Sarawak had become part of Malaysia. [59] In 1950
all anti-cession movements in Sarawak ceased after a clamp-down by the colonial government. [31]

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Kalong Ningkan declaring the formation of the Federation of Malaysia on 16
September 1963
On 27 May 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the prime minister of the Federation of Malaya, announced
a plan to form a greater federation together with Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei, to
be called Malaysia. On 17 January 1962, the Cobbold Commission was formed to gauge the support
of Sarawak and Sabah for the plan; the Commission reported 80 per cent support for federation. [60]
[61]
 On 23 October 1962, five political parties in Sarawak formed a united front that supported the
formation of Malaysia.[62] Sarawak was officially granted self-government on 22 July 1963,[3][4] and
became federated with Malaya, North Borneo (now Sabah), and Singapore to form a federation
named Malaysia on 16 September 1963. [63][64] The governments of the Philippines and Indonesia
opposed the new federation, as did the Brunei People's Party and Sarawak-based communist
groups, and in 1962, the Brunei Revolt broke out.[65] Indonesian President Sukarno responded by
deploying armed volunteers and, later, military forces into Sarawak. [66][67] Thousands of Sarawak
communist members went into Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, and underwent training with
the Communist Party of Indonesia. The most significant engagement of the confrontation was fought
at Plaman Mapu in April 1965. The defeat at Plaman Mapu ultimately resulted in the fall of Sukarno
and he was replaced by Suharto as president of Indonesia.[68] Negotiations were restarted between
Malaysia and Indonesia and led to the end of the confrontation on 11 August 1966. [69][note 3]
A number of communist groups existed in Sarawak, the first of which, the Sarawak Overseas
Chinese Democratic Youth League, formed in 1951. [31][note 4] Another group, the North Kalimantan
Communist Party (NKCP) (also known as Clandestine Communist Organisation (CCO) by
government sources) was formally set up in 1970. [70] Weng Min Chyuan and Bong Kee Chok were
two of the more notable communist leaders involved in the insurgency. As the political scene
changed, it grew progressively more difficult for the communists to operate. This led to Bong
opening talks with chief minister Abdul Rahman Ya'kub in 1973 and eventually signing an agreement
with the government. Weng, who had moved to China in the mid-1960s but nonetheless retained
control of the CCO, pushed for a continued armed insurrection against the government in spite of
this agreement. The conflict continued mostly in the Rajang Delta region but eventually ended when,
on 17 October 1990, the NKCP signed a peace agreement with the Sarawak government. [71][72]

Politics