Urifah bt. Kesuma, The Imperial Web in Southeast Asia: 1889-1905, (Dutton: 1987)
…With the Philippines still smouldering from the First War of Independence, and following the entrenchment of the Habsburg
Kriegsmarine at the oil town of Miri, one British mandarin in Singapore typed out a worrying cable in late 1899: “…Such are the number of nations rooting around here, that I fear a mere spark could ignite the entire tinderbox.”
And indeed, there was much to worry for. By the decade’s end, the colonizers of Southeast Asia were beginning to feel crowded by their own numbers. Never before had so many European nations jostle for such a limited amount of territory, save for perhaps the African continent. On the four principal regions of Sundaland alone, there were six different colonial Powers all vying for space: the British Empire, the Dutch East Indies, the Kingdom of Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Imperial Russia. Besides that, the region also contains the influential native states of Johor and Siam, as well as the half-native, half-foreign, independent British appanage of the Kingdom of Sarawak.
Further afield, there was more at play. In Indochina, both the British and French eyed each another’s diplomatic movements through the buffer state of Siam. In the scattered archipelagos of the east, both the Spanish Philippines and the Dutch East Indies filled voluminous swathes in contemporary naval charts. At New Guinea, four different types of colonialism were taking root and colouring the land under the differing principles of their faraway masters. Once open seas have transformed into important waterways, with the South China Sea alone becoming chocked full with military cruisers from almost a dozen navies, while merchants and refugees headed south in crowded junks, fleeing persecution and social unrest in Qing China. [1]
With so many colonies and native states crammed side by side, it was unavoidable for tensions to mount. While grudges and agitation between the Powers were far from new, the arrival of the Russian Empire to the region in 1898 ratcheted up the stakes for everyone involved, especially with the Franco-Russian alliance raising eyebrows in the West. While Tsar Alexander III personally stated his disinterest in forging an east-west connection through the Malay Peninsula, the Straits Settlements Office in Singapore remained suspicious of the Tsar’s naval base in Phuket, unsettled by the possibility of an ocean-girdling Franco-Russian colonial force. The fact that France herself was still eying more territory from Siam and occupied several border provinces did not help jitters.
Nor was there any reprieve in Sumatra, where the sultanate of Aceh suddenly found itself in an awkward position. Unlike British-oriented Johor, the royal court at Kutaraja eagerly pivoted towards Ottoman scholarship and imported whatever knowledge was
en vogue at Cairo and Kostantiniyye, as well as sending students abroad to be educated in Islamic reformism. Similarly, their Ottoman protectors also found much to trade and influence with their tropical partner, resulting in a number of financial loans to the sultanate and a naval base being built near the capital by the mid-1890’s.
The arrival of the Russian station at Phuket altered everything. Almost everyone at Aceh had heard of the Russo-Turkish War, which was disseminated by way of wandering performers and storytellers whom orally recounted the battles of Plevna and the Caucasian east. As such, the establishment of a Russian base right across the Strait of Malacca was considered as a dark sign, with many Acehnese whispering that the faraway war against the mightiest Islamic empire has come to their very doorstep. Many villages and local notables had lived through the worst of the Aceh War, developing deep physical and psychological scars from the conflict. Many now feared at the ominous portent as were those itching for a fight.
Contemporary postcard featuring the Ottoman ironclad Mesudiye
. An outdated vessel, she was retrofitted and sent to Aceh to patrol her shores against perceived Russian influence.
More importantly, it knocked the Acehnese court to their senses regarding native defence, and Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah II hastily accepted requests for Ottoman naval patrols and Turkish generals whom would train the locals in modern warfare. There were also rising concerns about the racial nature of the state, especially as Chinese migrants and refugees began settling on Aceh’s shores…
…January 1st 1900 passed through the region in great fanfare, with celebrations heralding the new century being held across the length and breadth of colonial Southeast Asia. But it took only 14 months afterwards for another affair to jangle regional nerves: the Trat Crisis. Since the 1890’s, the Siamese border provinces of Chantaburi and Trat were occupied by French colonial troops from neighbouring Indochina, holding them as bargaining chips against the whim of Bangkok. By February 1901, French officials decided to force Siam’s hand again: Indochina shall annex all Siamese provinces that lay on the banks of the Mekong River, in exchange for giving up the two occupied regions. [2]
This caused an uproar. The Colonial Office at London rebuked the territorial exchange, but what no one expected was the reaction of Imperial Russia. Siam had courted the empire as a fifth column of support, and Alexander III was nothing if not a man of his word. He publicly broke with protocol and vowed that Russia would support Siamese integrity in whatever fashion possible, even commanding imperial vessels to be stationed at Bangkok to prevent a repeat of 1893, where French gunboats aimed their cannons at the Royal Palace. The Russian response stunned both French and British diplomats, and the resulting negotiations saw the territorial gains being massively shrunk. In the end, France was forced to relinquish both Chantaburi and Trat in exchange for annexing only three provinces in the south: Battambang, Sisophon, and Siam Nakhon. [3]
It was a sharp lesson for Paris, whom quickly made adjustments to their alliance that would ensure Russian support in future colonial endeavours. Sadly, this would also be Alexander III’s last flirt with Siam as his health – already in decline – deteriorated afterwards…
Map of French Cambodia after the Trat Crisis, showing the absorbed towns/provinces of Battambang, Sisophon, and Siam Nakhon (renamed as Siam Reap – Defeat of Siam). The purple areas signified French claims over Siam.
Further south, a new affair was brewing in the independent state of Johor. While sultan Abu Bakar made no secret of his Anglophilia and European reformism, parts of the royal court weren’t as pivotal as he. Oppositionally, a faction of conservative nobles supported for greater Ottoman influence in Malaya, pointing to nearby Aceh and Riau-Lingga as an inspiration. It was this that led to a secret discussion between several power brokers of leasing the district of Tanjung Piai – the southernmost point of Johor, Malaya, and continental Asia – to the Sublime Porte.
Abu Bakar squashed any notion of such when the plot was uncovered, not least because the sultanate’s finance minister notified him of British influence in the region’s commerce, but he failed to keep the matter from reaching the ears of Singapore. Still reeling from the crisis at Siam, the Colonial Office decided to take the initiative in a secret discussion with the sultan and his ministers: Johor could lease Tanjung Piai to the Royal Navy for a fee, or the British would enact high tariffs on Johorean goods.
Abu Bakar caved. The court was astonished. True, the cape was nothing more than a mangrove swamp surrounded by tidal mudflats, but it still meant a diminution of Johorean soil. The fact that their regional ally behaved in such a forward and bullish manner further unsettled the government. This event, culminating after decades of creeping anxiety over Johor’s cultural and racial makeup, would finally birth what is locally known as the
Kaum Islah – The Reformers…
…Borneo was perhaps the most tinkersome of all the regions of Sundaland. With that said, no one expected the decade to end with Sarawak, Great Britainm and Austria-Hungary banding together to create a new regional ‘Oil Bloc’. The formation of the Oil Policy was seen by many as an odd event, but few overlooked its subtler implications of a trans-imperial pact. All the stakeholders were united around the presence of petroleum along the Bornean coast, and all were aware of the substance’s potential. Miri became a mini-boomtown with drilling wells mushrooming on the hills and reclaimed swamps, maintained mostly by immigrant workers harangued from China, the majority of them being Christian refugees fleeing the aftermath of the Sino-Japanese War. [4]
More darkly, it also led the Oil Bloc to eye the sultanate of Brunei. Being a protectorate of the Italian government, Brunei had coasted through the 1890’s without much action. The establishment of the Oil Bloc, with both the Royal Navy and the
Kreigsmarine building special bases at Miri, changed everything. Italian prospectors now fanned out over the sultanate’s swamps, and it wasn’t long before everyone’s suspicions were confirmed: there was petroleum, and lots of it. The discovery of major oil deposits at Padang Berawa in April 1902 were a sensation, and the Sandakan government quickly forced an agreement that stipulated the majority of profits to Rome and to the oil companies. This action, culminating after years of neglect and manipulation, was too much for some, and several Bruneian nobles began to consider opening secret channels to other Powers...
But more was as yet to come. Just five months later, another discovery was made in the Italian territory of Sabah. Near the border with Dutch Borneo, prospectors stumbled upon the largest ore deposit ever discovered on the island till then: the Silimpopon coalfield. This double discovery of resources quickly shot Italian Borneo to become a high-priority area for the Italian government, whom quickly ordered for greater protections to their faraway possessions. But the increased presence of the
Regia Marina also sparked new misgivings; Batavia, Singapore, and especially Kuching had lingering doubts as to their neighbour’s character, and Charles Brooke had always been irked by Italy’s protection over Brunei, of which he viewed as his ultimate conquest. Still, it wasn’t until 1903 that these doubts manifested in another spectacular incident: the Labuan Affair.
Map of Labuan island, circa 1888.
Situated on the northern edge of Brunei Bay, the island of Labuan had been a British Crown Colony under the guidance of Singapore since the Brooke-Royal Navy expedition of 1846 [5]. But due to a combination of neglect, improper administration, and sheer dumb luck, it was administratively paralyzed when nearby Brunei became an Italian protectorate. Now, the colonial office at Sandakan wished to remove a potential threat to Brunei’s petroleum deposits. Italian envoys were sent across Sundaland and Europe, hoping to buy the island or trade it with other pieces of territory. Unfortunately, the Colonial Office wished to exchange Labuan for Italian Eritrea, and Charles Brooke shut out any notion of giving away an island that his predecessor once fought for.
In the end, tiny Labuan was sold to the Kingdom of Italy for an exorbitant sum of 27,000,000 Pounds, which astonished the government in Rome. The Italian public was even more enraged; that their own government would give so much for a small (yet strategic) island was inconceivable, and riots ensued across all major Italian cities. In 1904, the government fell, succeeded by a new administration that leaned sharply to the political right.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising then that relations between Sarawak, Great Britain, and Italy took a dramatic nosedive afterwards…
____________________
Notes:
[1] and [4]: See post #1048 for the Sino-Japanese War and its aftermath.
[2] France did this (in a sort of ways) at Luang Prabang IOTL at around the same decade, which is why the Mekong River up there is controlled by Laos on both sides. ITTL, this did not happen.
[3] Also known IOTL as Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siam Reap aka. western Cambodia.
[5] This happened
waaaaaaay back in post #43, and was essentially the expedition that made Sarawak independent from Brunei.
