Sarawak: The Land of Brooke

James Brooke

Ever since I first found out about James Brooke 25 years ago through Bob’s course in Asian Studies and the book Flashman’s Lady, I have been fascinated by the history of Sarawak.  Imagine a young British adventurer sailing into the wilds of Borneo full of head hunters and pirates in 1839, who has the chutzpah to negotiate with the Sultan of Brunei that in exchange for suppressing the warring tribes and pirates in the area, who were causing the Sultan no end of angst, he would be granted the kingdom of Sarawak.  That's what happened and for over 100 years Brooke and his family ruled as the White Rajahs of Sarawak.

By all accounts Brooke was quite a progressive ruler.  He did not follow the usual path of the colonist at the time.  He practiced a collaborative ruling style, brought a market economy, social, civil and education services to the region while steadfastly maintaining local customs and protecting the indigenous people from being exploited by Western interest.  His first principle of rule as the White Rajah was that Sarawak was the heritage of the Sarawak people which as Rajah he held in trust for them.

 

Fort Margarita built by Raja Charles Brooke

Brookes ship: The Royalist, a 142-ton topsail schooner

Today Kuching is a vibrant, modern, multi-cultural city full of funky cafes, street art and a beautiful waterfront.  Kuching means 'cat' in Malay so there are lots of cat themes throughout the city, including a cat museum which we didn't go to.

The state parliament building.  A bit OTT and I wonder it is the best use of tax payers money but the locals seem proud of it.

 

Street art and cafes

Evening view of the Sarawak River

The head hunters are gone.  The only heads now are displayed in museums.  The numerous indigenous people such as the Dayaks, Ibans, Orang Ulu and Melanau, now live 21^st Century lives wearing blue jeans and t-shirts and having mobile phones, satellite TV, and four wheel drive cars.  Many still live in their distinctive style of communal building, the long house, but these houses are no longer of grass and thatch but sturdy brick and concrete with all the mod cons.  Just as the rainforest reminded us of our home in Australia (previous post), the traditional long houses reminded us of our house in Bellingen.

Heads displayed in the traditional way in an Iban house

Traditional long house

Our house in Bellingen

Modern long house

The tribes are known for their textiles, bead work and wood carving.  There were lots of examples in the tourist souvenir shops and in the museums.

Sarawak Museum

Wood carvings

Weaving

Bead work

Iban mask

We realise that next time we visit Sarawak we will need to go up the rivers to the less populated areas to see some of the vestiges of the traditional lifestyle.  The cities are lovely and modern but far removed from the age of Brooke.