In 1775 Lo and his followers seized a gold mine at Mandor in the Sambas district which had been started by Taipu Hakkas and continued to pay taxes to the Sultan of Sambas. Lo gained power by helping the Sultan suppress several local uprisings. He declared himself as “President of Great China” and was recognized as the first Chinese “Rajah” of Western Borneo.
In 1799 when the Dutch took over authority of Borneo territories under the Dutch East India Company, they began to exert authority in West Borneo by signing separate treaties with the Sultans of Pontianak, Mempawah and Sambas to enable them to have better control of the Chinese kongsis.
The Chinese Kongsis rebelled starting a protracted war with the Dutch which lasted for 35 years. By 1820 the Ta Kong kongsi in Montrado had taken over from Lan Fang as the kingpins and posed a serious threat to the Dutch.
In the ensuing war against kongsis who had sided with the Dutch, Ta Kong took their revenge on the San Tiow Kou kongsi led by Liew Shan Pang (Liew 340 Shan Bang later led the Bau Chinese Insurrection of 1857) who fled across the border to Bau. Spenser St John in “Life in the Forests…” said that when Brooke first arrived in Kuching in 1848 there were about 600 Chinese under the protection of the “Santei Kiu” (San-tiao-Kou or “Twelve Company”) under the leadership of Liew Shang Pang (Liew had 11 partners in the Kongsi).
Liew, a Hakka from Pemangkat at the estuary of the Sambas River, was said to have migrated to Bau with a group comprising mainly agriculturalists. By the early 1850s more miners came to Sarawak in large numbers, either by sea or across the border at Lundu district, the nearest land entry point to Bau from Sambas.
With Bau as the “principal Chinese settlement” the Hakkas of “San Tiow Kou” spread out and established villages in Tondong and the Batu Kawa area and by 1856 had already opened up padi fields and vegetable gardens at Sungai Tengah, Matang. St John said that as the Hakka farmers of Sungai Tengah became wealthier, they were able to employ the poorer Bau gold miners as their labourers.
He added: “I must say that these Chinese are not the pure emigrants from China, but the half-breed descendants of the early settlers who obtained Malay and Dayak wives and are more warlike in their habits than the pure Chinese and many have the characteristics of the aborigines.”
“Settled in Sambas before the arrival of the Europeans in those areas, they gradually formed the self-governing communities among the weak Malay States, and by inter-marriage with the women of the Dayak tribes in their neighbourhood, formed both political and social alliances with them.”
With the arrival of the “Tien Ti Hue” (Heaven and Earth) secret society members, they smuggled contraband, including opium to Sarawak (and the Dutch territories) through the Natuna Islands.
When Brooke found out he decided to take action and fined the Bau “kongsi” 150 British Pounds Sterling which St John said was “a very trifling amount, considering the thousands they had made by defrauding the revenue…” Furious with Brooke’s action, Liew decided to get rid of the white men. Sarawak’s Chinese insurrection coincided with the British retreat from Canton during the war with the Chinese forces.
St John said: “The viceroy (of China) had offered 25 British Pounds sterling for every Englishman slain. “The secret societies everywhere were in a state of great excitement, and the Tien Ti sent an emissary over from Malacca and Singapore to incite the gold workers to rebel, and used the subtle but false argument that not only were the English crushed at Canton, but that the British government was so discontented with Sir James Brooke that they would not interfere if the Kongsi only destroyed him and the officers, and did not meddle with the other Europeans or obstruct trade.”
On February 18, 1857, about 600 Chinese gold miners from Bau under Liew Shan Bang headed down the Sarawak River to capture Kuching. 341 Attacking Brooke’s residence, one group of rebels killed a 17-year-old young Brooke officer Nicholetts who had arrived from the out stations and thinking it was that of Brooke, put it on a pike. Another colleague Henry Steel who was in the house managed to escape into the nearby jungle.
Another group of rebels torched the town, and also burnt down the house of Sarawak’s first police officer Inspector Joseph Middleton (1852-1866).
Middleton’s two children and a European guest were also killed by the rebels but his wife narrowly escaped. Brooke managed to escape by swimming across a stream underneath one of the barges of the rebels and heading for one of the government residences. He then headed for the Datu Bandar’s house and was joined by some of the English officers who managed to escape. The rebels also attacked the fort commanded by Mr Crymble with four Malays which contained a prison and weapons and ammunition. Outnumbered, Crymble tried to escape but one of his men had been killed and another Corporal severely wounded.
St John said: “The wounded man begged Mr Crymble to fly and leave him there, but asked to shake hands with him first, and tell him whether he had done his duty. The brave Irishman seized him by the arm and attempted to drag him up the stairs leading to the dwelling over the gate, but the Chinese had already gained the courtyard, and pursuing them drove their spears through the wounded man. Mr Crymble was forced to let go on his hold and, with a brave follower, Daud, swung himself down into the ditch below. “Some of the rebels, seeing their attempt to escape, tried to stop Mr Crymble.
A man stabbed at him but only glazed his thick fleece coat and received in return a cut across the face from the Irishman’s cutlass which was a remembrance to carry to the grave.” After regrouping Brooke and his officers headed for Samarahan with a view to proceed to Batang Lupar where together with Charles, they could organise a counter-attack from the well-equipped Forts of Lingga and Skrang.
The following day when the rebels realized that Rajah Brooke was still alive and they had to contend with Charles and his army of at least 10000 “Wild Warriors” from Skrang, held negotiations with the remaining Europeans under the leadership of Bishop Dr Francis MacDougall, two European businessmen and some of the Malay leaders.
The Chinese rebels then decided to retreat after exacting a promise that MacDougall and the other survivors of the insurrection would remain loyal to their friend and not Brooke.
The tides of fortune however changed for Rajah Brooke when his party of Malay warriors and their families met the Borneo Company’s steamer Sir James Brooke which had just arrived from Singapore, at the mouth of the Samarahan River. Brooke boarded the vessel as his forces prepared to launch a counter attack.
As the Chinese rebels prepared to defend their position at Fort 342 Belidah, opposite Siniawan, Brooke was joined by Bidayuh warriors from Serembu who defended his country house “Peninjau” which was perched at the top of Mount Serembu. They also cornered the rebels at Siniawan, Bau and Tondong, killing many. St John said that more that a large majority of the 2000 rebels, half of them women and children, finally crossed into Sambas through the route at Gumbang where they were detained by the Dutch.
Describing the steep Gumbang hill crossing St John added: “The danger was extreme; but at that moment, as if by inspiration, all the young Chinese girls rushed to the front and encouraged the men to advance, which they again did; and cheered by the voices of those brave girls, who followed close clapping their hands, and calling them by name to fight bravely, they won the brow of the hill..”
However, on arrival at Sambas the survivors of the long march home, resentful of original group of rebels who had forced them to take up arms against the Rajah, murdered more than half of the 100 who had made it across the border. It was a bitter lesson for the Hakka rebels and it took a long time before the government forgave the Chinese. Despite the insurgency, Charles Brooke, the second Rajah, forgave the Chinese and they began to return to Sarawak; yet their population of 4947 in 1871 was still small when compared to the Malays (52519) and the Dayaks (70849) at that time.
Following Brooke’s policy to encourage emigration into the country, it increased almost 10 fold to 45000 by 1909. Brooke realised that he had to open up Sarawak to the Chinese because they were good businessmen and provided most of the tax revenue which was required for development and thus opted for an “Open Immigration” policy for the Chinese.
In 1900 Wong Nai Siong, a Methodist preacher from the Fukien Province visited Sibu and drew up an agreement with Rajah Charles Brooke to promote economic development in the Rejang basin. Initially about 1000 Foochows arrived in Sibu and ventured into padi and vegetable planting.
But the crop failed and harsh conditions led to the death of about a third of the Chinese immigrants. However their fortunes changed when another American Methodist Reverend Lintal Hoover persuaded the Foochows to switch to growing cash crops such as pepper and rubber and by early 1910s, they began to prosper.
In a History book of Sarawak, Bamfylde and Baring Gould quoted Charles Brooke as saying: “Upon my arrival I was strongly possessed by the opinion that the Chinamen were all rascals and thieves—the character so generally attached to the race at home. But to be candid, and looking at both sides, I would as soon deal with a Chinese merchant in the East as with one who is European, and I believe the respectable class of Chinese to bed equal in honesty and integrity to the white man.”
ENDS/JR 3.2.23 End - 12
