The Rajah’s Order No. S- 2, 1928 amended by O- 3, 1930 provided for the freedom of all Sarawakians. This order may be cited as Order No. S-2 (Slavery) 1928 and shall come into operation on July 16, 1928. WHEREAS by Orders dated respectively 24 June 1868, 14 November 1882 and 24 August 1883, certain regulations concerning slavery were enacted and WHEREAS it is the right of every man to be free.
NOW THEREFORE for the purpose of allaying doubts, it is hereby declared and enacted as follows: (1) (i) For the purpose of this Order ‘Slave’ means a person over whom any or all the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. (ii) Nothing in this Order shall be construed as applying to any form of indentured labour.
(2) From the date of publication of this Order in the Sarawak Gazette every person in the State of Sarawak shall be free.
(3) No person shall (i) do any act which involves or implies any right of ownership over the person or property of any other person which but for the provisions of this Order he might or would have had by virtue of any claim that such person is or was a slave. (ii) use the word ‘slave’ or ‘ulun’or ‘dipan’ in respect of any other person or any other word or words meaning or suggesting or implying that such other person is or was a slave.
BRITISH GOVERNMENT A F F I R M E D S A R AWA K SOVEREIGNTY STATUS Extract from Official Report of House of Commons, 28 February 1940. State of Sarawak SIR J. GRAHAM KERR asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the proximity of the independent protected State of Sarawak to British possessions in the East and its strategic importance, he will inform the House regarding the recent deposition of the Raja Muda, and the resignation, some months earlier, of five senior members of the Civil Service, including the chief secretary, the financial secretary, the chief justice and the principal medical officer.
MR M. MACDONA LD: The relations of His Majesty’s Government with the State of Sarawak are governed by the Agreement of 1888, under which Sarawak was recognised to be an independent sovereign State, in the internal affairs of which His Majesty’s Government had no authority to interfere, except for the limited purposes mentioned in the Agreement.
In these circumstances I think it would be improper for me to make any comments on the facts referred to in my honourable Friend’s question. Commentary: In 1940, the British Parliament confirmed Sarawak’s status as an independent sovereign countr y according to the 1888 protectorate treaty made between the two nations.
