Attlee and Abdillah
Newpaper of the banning of the Rajah Muda from entering Sarawak - such was his support that the British feared open insurgency should be arrive in the country. Noticeable is the lies of the colonial office towards the bottom, in fact those supporting the british were the minority. Many in Britain felt that the dominance of the Malays in the Council Negri and among nationalists meant the rest of the country did not support them - they were wrong.
An important part of these unfolding events lay many miles away in London. The post war government was that of Clement Attlee. They had made great progress in conquering many of the plagues left by the conflict. Recently however they had taken losses in the 1950 general election dispite an increase in the popular vote. This was held to be wealthy voters objecting to his strongly working class emphasis and thinking a conservative government would make them more prosperous. He was focused on keeping his party unified and working with a slim majority - as you can imagine Sarawak was not top of his mind.
Clement Attlee - British Prime Minister (1945-1954)
By 1950 the british empire appeared to be on the decline, outclassed by both America and the USSR. Attlee avoided loosing face by withdrawing from Palestine just as things began to erupt in a withdrawal popular with the public however it resulted in a mess that has yet to heal. His government had followed policies of decolonisation that had resulted in the independance of India,Burma and Ceylon along with other eastern colonies - Attlee recognised that to attempt to keep them would be impossible given their realtive strength and numbers. It also saw the genesis of the Commonwealth through the spread of dominion status . The Sarawakians argued that this should be extended to them as well. Much emphasis was placed on using the remaining colonies to help Britains desperate bank balance with development schemes and investment. Many in Sarawak feared they would be exploited and have their assets shipped to Britain.
1950 protests in Kuching area. By March control was only kept through occupation by colonial police and troops of urban areas and through the resources of the crown colony of North Borneo opperating from Labuan. The YMA which the british had set up to increase support of colonialism had instead become a hotbed of nationalist furvor and the base from which extremist elements had begun to immerge. Indeed the YMA had formed a group called "Rukun" or pillar as they claimed to be a pillar of freedom and independance. They were nearly para-military, organised mass youths who took control of areas of towns across Sarawak and preventing British civil control from acting effectively. Additionally things were complicated by the arrival in late 1949 of refugees from China after the victory of communism, they feared that the Rukun would establish a communist state and called on Britain to prevent this.
The sudden increase in the level of opposition in Sarawak had led to questions being asked of the Colonial Office, the government even agreed to a proposal from the Council Negri that a delegation be sent to talk about the crisis. At the same time the Brookes had begun formal proceedings against the sale of Sarawak and the issue began to become known in Britain.
The start of formal proceedings that would leed to an invitation for Anthony Brooke to come to Britain.
Arrival of Anthony Brooke - Rajah Muda and head of the Sarawak delegation - in Britain.
On March 13 the official Sarawak delegation arrived in Britain. Referred to by Churchill as "a motley affair" they were 9 strong. The british government had been unwilling to allow the Rajah to attend because he was under MI5 watch and basically trapped in his house in Singapore however given the state of Sarawak they were forced to accpet the demands that he be able to attend. The Post war Britain they arrived in was a grim place - in spite of great advances made by the Attlee administration they were forced in austerity measures and loss of wealth. In such drab surrondings the arrival of an exotic party to Westminister - covered in Sarawak flags as they were - caused great attention.
Abang Abdillah gave his now famous speech outside Westminister in which he compared the suffering of the people of Sarawak to that of Singapore during the war. Many saw in him another Ghandi. His eloquant speeches made front page news and the issue shot up the public awareness, the majority of people felt sympathy for the Sarawakian cause and support for the tradition of the Brooke rule. The Colonial office issued statements against this but they appeared clumsy and barbaric.
Clement Attlee and King George VI awaiting the arrival of Anthony Brooke - 1950.
A key moment of the entire affair was when - against the advice of the Colonial office - Anthony Brooke was invited to tea with the royal family. George VI was known to be a generous and warm hearted ruler, he also was strongly agaisnt racism and authoritarianism - having called South African bodyguards "the Gestapo". Brooke suggested both in referance to the harsh repression of the Colonial Office in Sarawak. The two men were said to get on brilliantly, both talking about their wartime experinces. Anthony Brooke met and apparently "charmed" the young princess Elizabeth who had just arrived back from a royal tour of Australia and New Zealand and was appaled at the treatment of the people of Sarawak. As a result of this royal pressure began to mount of Attlee and the Colonial Office.
From the modern perspective one could perhaps see that Sarawak to Attlee had become an issue of annoyance, fighting for public opinion and support he became unwilling to risk supporting the Colonial Office to repress another Eastern colony that was causing trouble. Better instead to negotiate and see if a solution favourable to Britain could be extracted at minimal cost. It was suggested that Sarawak should be made a dominion with the rights of the Brookes enshrined in a new constitution and self rule granted.