Sibu, Kingdom of Sarawak, 15 June 1906
The docks looked livelier than it had ever been, and that uneased Jilang.
He made a few more adjustments and allowed his men to cast the ropes. Walking out onto the open deck, the Melanau captain quickly noted how many other ships and boats were docked alongside the warehouses; there were the traditional sampans, cockerels, and Dayak prahus all filled with the usual hauls and goods and chatter amongst their occupants. But there were also the big boats, the
large boats, with sails and metals and gigantic odd engines that belch out foul-smelling smoke, all above large underbellies that can hold incredible loads. And from his place, it seemed far more dockworkers were attentive to those hulks.
But why so many? The war up north is already over. There’s no more need for emergency transports or food hauls.
Putting the uneasiness aside, Jilang went back to work. His small boat will soon filled with sacks of sago flour and the starch will be very profitable if sold to the right buyers. Climbing up onto the pier, he began to walk towards his usual warehouse when a group of dockworkers strolled past, all in line. Normally, such as sight would be uninteresting for him, but for two things: they were all carrying shoulder-poles, and the baskets hanging from them were filled to the brim with white bricks.
“
Tumpan Taniya!” He cried out in Malay pidgin to one of them at the end of the line. “What are those bricks you are carrying about?”
The dockworder – Chinese, if severely browned by the work and sun – looked a tad addled, but then exclaimed, “
Getah perca, this is! Very valuable stuff! All the
Omputeh are buying them for lots of money!” before re-joining the line.
Gutta-percha? Jilang thought, looking on.
Why would the Europeans want such a thing? And why now? Unless…
His eyes widened.
Could it be? Everyone knows certain tree saps can be transformed into an incredible variety of goods, but gutta-percha is most valuable if they are congealed into insulation, or handles for weapons. Indeed, how many blowpipe grips and cutting handles from Sarawak and beyond – from the smallest daggers to the greatest of swords – are made or furnished from congealed rubber?
And if the Europeans are buying them in such masses, that would mean…
As he looked out at the workers, hunched over by the bricks of rubber carried on their backs, making their way to the large ships, Jilang shuddered. He didn’t want to imagine what kind of great war the white peoples are waging against.
Anton Kumat Rodriguez, Bezoars, Smoke, and Merchant-Raiders: The Historical Economy of Sarawak and Sabah (Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1995)
…When the call to arms was raised for Sabah’s conquest, thousands of Malays and Dayaks answered it, leaving behind their lands and farms which were entrusted to family members, neighbours, and friends for safekeeping.
For the local economy, the loss of many agricultural hands was uncommon but not unprecedented. The tribal wars of old often involved most, if not all men in a community to leave their fields behind, and the decades-long expansion of Sarawak were often spearheaded by the Brookes waging punitive expeditions with thousands of local men, young and old, by their side. As such, local customs have long since adapted to a prolonged loss of an agricultural and artisanal workforce with the remaining men, women, and children taking care of things. But the Great War was different. The conquest of Italian Sabah and the fallout of the
Ancur lasted far longer and was fought bloodier than any Sarawakian war campaign yet seen, straining traditional harvesting customs to the limit.
As a result, the kingdom reported subpar rice harvests for the remainder of 1905 until at least 1908 from all the casualties and missing people, which created a noticeable drop in rice tax collections for the government. The loss of so much agricultural manpower was exacerbated by the economic disruption brought by the Italian and French navies across the region’s seas and oceans, especially with their targeting of cargo vessels. The price of rice in Sarawakian markets jumped to over twice that of normal levels, leading the government to enact emergency price controls and lowering rice tax rates.
And it wasn’t just the rice. Market values of lumber, gold, silver, coal, and crude petroleum all jumped throughout Sarawak as the Great War increased demands amongst belligerents while straining supplies amongst producers. The local timber industry came under intense scrutiny as Dayaks and Resident-Councillors made sure local companies didn't fell too many trees close to indigenous villages. Conversely, the value of cash crops like pepper and gambier dropped like a stone due to global belt-tightening, which resulted in dozens of bankruptcies amongst Sarawakian
Kangchu spice-planters. On the opposite end, mining investors saw themselves becoming richer by the month as the monopolistic Borneo Company Ltd. recorded their greatest net profits yet from their control of local gold and coal seams.
But perhaps the biggest winner of the disruption was gutta-percha. Sarawak has a long and storied history with traditional rubber-tapping, yet the gutta-percha boom of the 1850s to the 1880’s saw the
palaquium and
dichopsis tree species facing local extinction due to overharvesting. The problem was so dire that the late Rajah Charles ordered the planting of several
palaquium seedlings in the Astana gardens and gave them to Chinese Methodist settlers in order to save a potential revenue stream.
Now, the trees are fully mature and the settlers of the Rajang Delta took the opportunity to the full as rubber prices quadrupled over the course of the Great War. A new method of tapping was recently discovered by botanists in neighbouring Singapore that allowed the trees to still live afterwards
[1.], and this was utilized to the full as the settlers tapped the trees and sold them to German, Dutch, and British middlemen. The sap was then coagulated and purified through petroleum-based liquids
[2.] (mostly supplied from Miri) before being exported to Australia, India, and beyond.
Rare photograph of Christine Shew Wen, a second-generation child of Qing Methodist immigrants to Sarawak, tapping gutta-percha rubber in Sibu, circa 1908.
Besides being used as supplementary agents, crude petroleum formed the second most valuable export for wartime Sarawak. After the takeover of Brunei and the Seria oilfeilds, the British and Austrian consuls quickly made hasty agreements with Kuching to export as much of the raw crude as possible to their warring empires, for Sarawakian gain. Despite the turmoil of the South China Sea, the following months and years saw rapid growth of the local infrastructure as new oil derricks and pumpjacks were installed, with an accompanying swell of foreign workers to service the area. As passages to India were deemed too dangerous and Sarawakian law forbids local labour exploitation, the bulk of these skilled workers originally came from Dutch-ruled Eastern Borneo, which already embarked on its own nascent petroleum industry around the same time as Sarawak’s
[3.]. Later, men from the Philippines and Indochina would be recruited into the endeavour, forever changing the local demographic and political scene...
…Another side-effect of the war economy was the sheer explosion of Sarawakian trade to the rest of the world. For the past few decades, the kingdom’s indigenous peoples have slowly opened themselves to the fast-paced nature of global trade, with the Iban subgroup in particular gaining notoriety for their search of foreign luxuries. By 1905, a native-based trading network has emerged that strung across the local seas, with Singapore and Malaya on one end to western Dutch Borneo and Philippine Paragua on the other, mostly carried on the backs of the Sama-Bajau. With their knack for the seas, it became more and more common for land-based Dayaks to form partnerships with Sama-Bajau families to export local salt, sago, rattan, forestry wares, and semi-artisanal goods in exchange for foreign rice, silk, rare goods, porcelain, and lacquerware.
The Great War altered this paradigm. In the initial months, locally-headed Sarawakian trade buckled as foreign navies went on the prowl across the surrounding waters, though the need for supplies in the Sabahan theatre kept many traders otherwise occupied. But after the fall of Italian Sabah and the pacification of the local seas, the conditions were ripe for an export boom as regional demand for basic goods soared across mainland and maritime Southeast Asia. Iban, Melanau, Kadazandusun, and Sama-Bajau captains pioneered new routes that took them to Singgora, Mindanao, the Mekong delta and beyond. Under the watchful eye of the Royal Navy, the potential for greater trade – particularly for salt, sago, and traditionally-tapped wild rubber – enticed many to sail beyond their horizons. By 1906, a small trading community had coalesced in Zamboanga while Sarawakian ships had begun to dock at Cambodian shores.
Of course, not all of these new changes were seen positively by everyone, particularly the Chinese and
Peranakan trade companies of Singapore. Before 1905, the two groups dominated local and regional trade (or the sectors that weren’t already controlled by western companies and colonial enterprises), forming wealthy companies that linked each other all across Southeast Asia. But their very lucrative businesses and pro-establishment leanings also made them targets for British, French and Italian gunboats; many trade firms in Singapore, Saigon, and beyond went bankrupt in 1905 to 1906 as their vessels were sunk, interned, or commandeered by belligerent forces.
Stepping into the void, it was perhaps no wonder that the new Dayak merchants weren’t exactly welcomed by the established Chinese and
Peranakan business elite. To be forced to compete with western firms is one thing, but going up against local natives is another entirely. An additional irk was that most Dayak tradesmen came from a lower economic base, investing relatively minimally in their endeavours while their Chinese counterparts sank more money into their collapsed ventures. But in every cloud lies a silver lining, and some less discerning firms tried to form partnerships with the Dayaks themselves. Differences in demand – most native Sarawakians cared little for bulk goods and raw materials were far more in demand amongst westerners – meant few of these lasted long, but those that did paved the way for the successive eras of the Sarawakian economy…
Bethel Masaro, A Land Transformed: Sarawak and the Great War, (Sandakan University Press: 1990)
…In fact, the Great War created many complications to which the people were unprepared for.
While the deaths of so many combatants were tragic for families back home, the death toll was grimly distributed somewhat evenly on the land – while several places lost dozens of casualties, many villages lost only a few men, and a fair number lost just one. Far more adverse were the rate of injured and disabled combatants whom were maimed during the conflict whom could no longer farm, work, nor hunt. Permanent injury is nothing new for the Dayaks of Sarawak and most subgroups have developed customary systems to care for the disabled after tribal wars, with their sons, wives or relatives taking up the reins of village life.
However, the Great War and the Sabahan theatre was more destructive than any prior conflict, resulting in tens of thousands of injured tribesmen which overwhelmed traditional care-giving systems. While some injuries were minor, a number of men were stuck with grievous wounds (especially from Askari bullets) that crippled or debilitated them, despite the attention of foreign doctors accompanying the Sabahan front. With the absence of a national healthcare system or any sort of modern medical facilities in contemporary Sarawak, many of these injured tribesmen were sent back home after the fall of Sabah, leaving their care to their fellow villagers and to traditional medicine.
Besides that, the Sabahan conflict also created a number of leadership voids in a fair number of communities. Up until then, the Brooke system of war called for chieftains to accompany the Rajah or Resident-Councillor, leading their men into battle. While this system of war preserved old notions of conflict and presented a united front, it also meant placing tribal leaders into the line of fire. Despite the Sarawakians’ knack for jungle warfare and asymmetric tactics, a number of chieftains died alongside their men as they advanced into Italian Sabah, often by Askaris shooting as they tried to attack. This created a host of complications for their respective villages back home, as tribal successions differ according to subgroup and circumstance.
For example, some groups like the Malays, Penans and Bidayuhs select their headman or chief by informally choosing who amongst them leads better, confirming their selection in a somewhat meritocratic manner. But for some others, like a few Malay and Iban sub-branches, leadership selection can be influenced through heredity and it is not uncommon for a longhouse to select a dying chief’s sons as successors. After the Sabahan conflict and into the
Ancur, there were succession conflicts plaguing parts of Sarawak as villages clashed as to whether to choose family or prowess in terms of leading their tribe.
Complicating the issue further, some Dayak villages surrounding Kuching and the major towns have been Christianized or Islamized before 1905, with some of their youngsters attending missionary or hut schools. For these villages, the question took more of a cultural and religious angle: should they choose a person who represents something new, or harken back to tradition? In particular, the Bintulu and Niah basins – already in simmering discontent due to tribal migrations intruding on local grounds
[4a.] – saw an upswing in sporadic violence as tribal successors fought along cultural and religious polestars. These events, among others, would have profound effects during first great tribal assembly under Rajah Clayton’s rule…
Photograph of an unknown river in Sarawak, circa 1907. Courtesy of the British National Archives.
In the former Italian Sabah, problems of a different sort were flickering. The influx of Sarawakian aid was a lifesaver to many displaced communities and the region saw much in the way of rebuilding, rehousing, and the reconciliation of thousands of broken families, with the new Rajah Clayton himself overseeing such rituals and cases. Understandably, this endeared many indigenous Sabahans to the new order, yet not everyone was so enthused. Over twenty years of Catholic proselytization has left a small number of lowland and coastal communities converted to the new faith, and they were one of the few pillars that propped up Italian rule in Sabah as it lasted. Besides that, Italian companies also hired many workers from the Philippines to work for the colony, which formed a small minority of Filipinos whom also depended on the colonial state for help.
Now under new administration, these converted villagers and immigrant workers were now shunned by the wider tribal society for siding with the former colonizers and sharing their religion, even though a fair number of them were forcibly enticed (or coerced) into fighting and serving the commanders of Sandakan. With the closure of many logging and mining fields – save the coal mines of Silimpopon which were too valuable to be shut down, many of these unfortunates also had little to work and were forced to take on menial labour, which made them even more suspicious in the eyes of local animists and Muslims…
But not all of the kingdom stumbled during the aftermath, and a few places underwent more heartening outcomes. Plopped right in the middle of the South China Sea, the Natuna and Anambas islands formed a microcosm of Sarawakian dynamism during the Great War. Home to Malay, Chinese, and Sama-Bajau fisherfolk
[4b.], the brief rule of the Italians and the subsequent war for the sea saw many families aiding one another to protect their boats and catches. Afterwards when Sarawakian rule was re-established, the island’s strategic location and the rise of the Dayak merchants meant a fair number of these communities became more financially and personally involved in international trade as boatbuilders, captains, crewmen, and other occupations. Naturally, relationships and intermarriage followed, with the already syncretic oceanic Islam of the Sama-Bajau becoming syncretized with traditional Chinese deities and other Dayak sea figures as time went on. While such cross-cultural mixing did exist before the Great War, it paled in comparison to the dynamism and activity that now affected these outer islands.
Paradoxically, local literature also blossomed in this period, though not all were happy in nature. The increased literacy of urban communities and the need to record down information created a notable uptick of written records amongst local Sarawakians; from converted indigenous priests to former nobles to partially-educated youths whom left their hut schools to join the land and sea conflicts. Though the central government had no general education policy, the slow but sustained rise of hut schools, missionary centres, and madrassahs across Sarawak allowed a new generation to give voice to the trials and tribulations that scarred the land, through their eyes…
A Chinese youth at Ranai, Natuna Besar Island, smiles at the camera while his fishing companion, an old Malay grandmother, looks curiously at his behavior. Taken circa 1907.
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Notes:
1. This method of rubber-tapping (which involves cutting a groove into the bark of a rubber tree and letting the sap flow into a cup) was discovered after thorough experimentation in the Singapore Botanical Gardens IOTL, and this method is still used today in rubber plantations across Southeast Asia.
2. In the 1880’s to the early 1900’s, gutta-percha was purified and coagulated using repeated washes of water and light petroleum liquids, particularly benzene.
3. IOTL, the Dutch embarked on their own adventure with liquid black gold during the early 1890’s, though geological exploration and local tales have confirmed the presence of oil seeps in east Borneo as early as 1863.
4a. and 4b. See post #1261. Bintulu in particular has seen a small but noticeable rate of local Dayaks converting to Islam around this period, both IOTL and ITTL.
