History of East Malaysia

Dr. Mark McGinleyHonors College and Department of Biological

SciencesTexas Tech University

Malaysia

East Malaysia

Early Contact With Rest of Asia• West coast of Borneo were trading ports

for trade between India and China from 500 to 1300 CE– Camphor, tortoise shell, hornbill ivory, rhino

horns, beeswax, rattan, spices, and edible bird’s nests

Vijayapura

• During the 7th century CE, a settled community known as Vijayapura, a tributary to the Srivijaya empire, was thought to have established the northeast coast of Borneo

Sultanate of Brunei

• The Sultanate of Brunei began after the ruler of Brunei embraced Islam. Some sources indicate that this had occurred around 1365 CE after the ruler, Awang Alak Betatar, converted into Islam and became known as Muhammad Shah.

• During the same period, trade relations flourished, and intermarriages among the natives and Chinese, Japanese, Arab, and Hindu peoples became commonplace.

Sultanate of Brunei

• The Sultanate of Brunei, during its golden age from the 15th century to the 17th century, ruled a large part of northern Borneo.

• Brunei is now an independent nation bordering Sarawak and Sabah.

• Crude oil and natural gas production account for about 90% of its GDP.

Sultanate Of Sulu

• During the 1450s, Shari'ful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr, an Arab born in Johor, arrived in Sulu from Malacca.

• In 1457, he founded the Sultanate of Sulu; he titled himself as "Paduka Maulana Mahasari Sharif Sultan Hashem Abu Bakr".

The Sultanate of Sulu

• In 1703 (other sources say 1658), the Sultanate of Sulu received North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei, after Sulu sent aid against a rebellion in Brunei.

The Arrival of the British in Sarawak

• In 1838 James Brooke, a British adventure with an inheritance and an armed sloop arrived to find the Brunei Sultanate fending off rebellion from war like inland tribes.

• Sarawak was in chaos, Brooke put down the rebellion and as a reward signed a treaty in 1841 was bestowed the title Governor and granted power over parts of Sarawak

The White Raja

• Brooke pacified the natives, suppressed headhunting, eliminated the much-feared Borneo pirates, bringing ever growing tracts of Borneo under their control.

• Brooke was appointed Rajah by the Sultan of Brunei on August 18, 1842 and founded the White Rajah Dynasty of Sarawak

White Rajas

• The Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for a hundred years and became famous as the "White Rajahs", accorded a status within the British Empire similar to that of the rulers of Indian princely states.

• Indeed, in 1850 the USA recognized Sarawak as an independent state — as did even the British, in 1864!

World War II

• Japan invaded Sarawak and occupied the island of Borneo in Dec 1941, and held it for the duration of World War II until the area was secured by Australian forces in 1945.

• The Last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke, formally ceded sovereignty to the British Crown on July 1, 1946, and Sarawak became a British colony.

The Arrival of the British in North Borneo

• In 1761, Alexander Dalrymple, an officer of the British East India Company, concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu to allow him to set up a trading post in the region which proved to be a failure.

Labuan

• In 1846, the island of Labuan on the west coast of Sabah was ceded to Britain by the Sultan of Brunei and in 1848 it became a British Crown Colony. Labuan became a base for British operations against piracy in the region.

Americans and Germans Get Involved

• In 1865 the American Consul General of Brunei, Charles Lee Moses, obtained a 10-year lease over North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei.

• Ownership was then passed to an American trading company owned by Joseph William Torrey, Thomas Bradley Harris, and some Chinese merchants. – the Sultan of Brunei appointed Torrey as "The Rajah of Ambong and Marudu”

• The rights of the trading company were then sold to Gustav Baron Von Overbeck,a German national– the Sultan appointed Overbeck as "Maharajah of Sabah and Rajah of Gaya and

Sandakan." • The treaty granted Overbeck the right over whole region of Sabah,

including parts purporting to be the dominion of the Sulu Sultanate including Sandakan and Tawau in 1877.

British North Borneo Company

• In the following year, the British North Borneo Company was founded. It brought in Chinese people to work as laborers in plantation farms.

• In 1888 North Borneo became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Administration and control over North Borneo remained in the hands of the Company despite being a protectorate and they effectively ruled until 1942.

World War II in North Borneo• As part of the Second World

War Japanese forces landed in Labuan on January 1, 1942, and continued to invade the rest of North Borneo.

• From 1942 to 1945, Japanese forces occupied North Borneo, along with most of the island. Bombings by the allied forces devastated most towns including Sandakan, which was razed to the ground.

World War II in North Borneo

• In Sandakan there was once a brutal POW camp run by the Japanese for British and Australian POWs from North Borneo.

• The prisoners suffered in agony in their first year of captivity under notoriously inhuman conditions. Allied bombardments caused the Japanese to relocate the POW camp to inland Ranau.

Sandakan Death March

• The 2054 prisoners were forced to march 260 Km through the rainforest.

• Sickness, disease, exhaustion, thirst, hunger, whipping, and shooting killed most of the prisoners– six Australians who

successfully escaped, were never caught, and survived to tell the horrific story of the death march.

After the War

• After the surrender, North Borneo was administered by the British Military Administration and in 1946 it became a British Crown Colony and the Crown continued to rule North Borneo until 1963.

Formation of Malaysia

• North Borneo joined Sarawak, Singapore, and Malaya to form Malaysia in 1964.– State of Sabah

Cobbold Commission• The Cobbold Commission was set up to

determine whether the people of North Borneo and Sarawak supported the proposal to create the Malaysia and was also responsible for the subsequent drafting of the Constitution of Malaysia.

20 Point Agreement (Sabah)• Point 1: Religion

– While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo.

• Point 2: Language– a. Malay should be the national language of the Federation– b. English should continue to be used for a period of 10 years after Malaysia Day– c. English should be an official language of North Borneo for all purposes, State or Federal,

without limitation of time.• Point 3: Constitution

– The Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and agreed in the light of a free association of states .

• Point 4: Head of Federation– The Head of State in North Borneo should not be eligible for election as Head of the Federation.

• Point 5: Name of Federation– “Malaysia” but not “Melayu Raya” (idea of joining Malay race by uniting Malaya, Sarawak,

North Borneo, Brunei, and Dutch East Indies)

20 Point Agreement• Point 6: Immigration

– Control over immigration into any part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the Central Government but entry into North Borneo should also require the approval of the State Government.

• Point 7: Right of Secession– There should be no right to secede from the Federation.

• Point 8: Borneanisation– Borneanisation of the public service should proceed as quickly as possible.

• Point 9: British Officers– Every effort should be made to encourage British Officers to remain in the

public service until their places can be taken by suitably qualified people from North Borneo.

• Point 10: Citizenship– a person born in North Borneo after Malaysia must be federal citizen.

20 Point Agreement• Point 11: Tariffs and Finance

– North Borneo should retain control of its own finance, development and tariff, and should have the right to work up its own taxation and to raise loans on its own credit.

• Point 12: Special position of indigenous races– In principle the indigenous races of North Borneo should enjoy special rights analogous to

those enjoyed by Malays in Malaya, but the present Malaya formula in this regard is not necessarily applicable in North Borneo.

• Point 13: State Government– a) the Prime Minister should be elected by unofficial members of Legislative Council– b) There should be a proper Ministerial system in North Borneo.

• Point 14: Transitional period– This should be seven years and during such period legislative power must be left with the

State of North Borneo by the Constitution and not be merely delegated to the State Government by the Federal Government.

• Point 15: Education– The existing educational system of North Borneo should be maintained and for this reason it

should be under state control.

20 Point Agreement• Point 16: Constitutional safeguards

– No amendment modification or withdrawal of any special safeguard granted to North Borneo should be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State of North Borneo

– The power of amending the Constitution of the State of North Borneo should belong exclusively to the people in the state.

• Point 17: Representation in Federal Parliament– This should take account not only of the population of North Borneo but also of its size and

potentialities and in any case should not be less than that of Singapore.• Point 18: Name of Head of State

– Yang di-Pertua Negara.• Point 19: Name of State

– Sabah.• Point 20: Land, Forests, Local Government, etc.

– The provisions in the Constitution of the Federation in respect of the powers of the National Land Council should not apply in North Borneo. Likewise, the National Council for Local Government should not apply in North Borneo.

Sabah Incident of 2013• On Feb. 9, 2013 more than

100 followers of self-professed Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, from the autonomous island province of Sulu in the southwestern Philippines, landed in the Malaysian state of Sabah to press their historic claim to the land.

Read more: Malaysia Raids Sabah Village Held by Filipino Rebels, At Least 26 Dead | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2013/03/04/malaysia-at-least-26-dead-in-ongoing-sabah-siege/#ixzz2ti1QqlSr

Sabah Incident

• Malaysian security forces have surrounded 100 to 200 members of the Royal Army of Sulu, who have holed up in the village of Lahad Datu for the past two weeks in order to press their historic claim to the land.

Read more: Malaysia and Philippines in Diplomatic Standoff over Rebels in Sabah | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2013/02/26/sabah-standoff-diplomatic-drama-after-sulu-militants-storm-malaysia/#ixzz2ti2fb8G1

Sabah Incident

• It does not appear that the Malaysian authorities are willing to give up the land, which boasts valuable petroleum reserves, palm-oil plantations and also serves as an agricultural and manufacturing hub.

Sabah Incident• Back in the 17th century, the two principle sultanates in the region were

Sulu and Brunei. • In 1658, the Sultan of Brunei gave Sabah to the Sultanate of Sulu, which

today is considered part of the Philippines. • However, the picture is further complicated by an 1878 deal between the

Sultanate of Sulu and the British North Borneo Company, in which Sabah was leased to the Europeans on a rolling contract.

• To this day, the Malaysian government pays a token sum, equivalent to around $1,500, to the Philippines every year in recognition of this continuing arrangement.

• The Royal Army of Sulu interprets this deal as a lease that can be canceled, while Malaysia believes that it represents the permanent transfer of the territory.

Sabah Incident

• Ultimately, the Malaysian Military successfully attacked the Sulu gunmen in an attempt to drive them out.

• Final Death Count– Sulu Sultunate – 56– Malaysian police/military- 9– Civilians- 6

• 30 people (26 Filipinos and 4 Malaysians) are currently being prosecuted.