When Jason Brooke was born in London in 1985, he had no idea how big his future responsibilities would be. Returning to the present, Jason discusses with New Sarawak Tribune his thoughts, emotions, and plans for the future with the Brookes.
A mission to reconnect
This is the first of a two-part article on the Brooke legacy.
Young Jason Desmond Anthony Brooke rummaged through the old letters and diaries, which were filled with historical facts about something far more significant than its physical appearance. As a little boy, he was always curious about the Sarawak-related items in his home, the content on the papers written by his ancestors, the Brookes, and how Sarawak appears now in comparison to how it did in the past.
Ever since he was seven years old, Jason was fascinated by the history of his ancestors — James Brooke, Charles Brooke, and Charles Vyner Brooke. And more often than not, he would question his grandfather, Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, who served as Sarawak’s last Rajah Muda in the 1940s. His grandfather would tell him, “When you are mature enough to appreciate what it meant to the Brookes on a spiritual level as I saw it, then you are ready to know Sarawak as we all knew it.”
However, at the time, Sarawak was only known to the little boy through written words. Jason recalls picturing the land as a historical site confined only by his imagination due to the lack of internet access in the late 2000s. This is what made it more intriguing to him.
Inquiring about his ancestors from his father, James Bertram Lionel Brooke, who lived at the Astana as a child, Jason said that there were bookshelves at home containing journals and letters regarding the Rajahs.
“It was obvious that this was about our family, so I asked my father who this Rajah Brooke fellow was. He never kept anything from me and always answered my questions. But it was emotionally difficult for him to explain Sarawak and its significance.”
Despite being on European soil, Jason was brought up as a Brooke with a Sarawak perspective.
“Dad was always sharing the Brooke perspective. We weren’t quite British in the way the Brookes would look at the British. Yes, we were of British extraction 200 years ago, and we had British ethnicity. But the question is, at what point does a cultural group or a person becomes a local?
“To me, that was an interesting question in the Brooke story because, through time, the family began to identify as Sarawakian, adopting the Sarawak point of view, and eventually becoming a product of Sarawak,” said the 37-year-old.
Tracing the history of the Brooke Rajah’s ruling, Jason said Charles Brooke, the second rajah, was the most Sarawakian figure among the three Rajahs. He added that during the reign of the second Rajah, he had a close relationship with the Ibans of Sarawak, and embraced many of their beliefs and practises.
The name, the legacy
Since the early 1800s, the name ‘Brooke’ has been significant in Sarawak’s history. From the days when James Brooke worked with local leaders to establish a new state of Sarawak, to when Charles Brooke expanded the borders and introduced modernity to Sarawak in the early 1900s, and to when Charles Vyner Brooke developed Sarawak’s economy prior to Japanese occupation — these are some of the key aspects that have shaped the state into who she is today. Not to be forgotten were the efforts made by Tuan Muda Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, who co-ruled Sarawak with his brother Vyner and his son — Rajah Muda Anthony (Jason’s grandfather).
Asked whether being the descendent of a Brooke was a burden, Jason gave a resounding no.
“For me, it has been a privilege rather than a burden. Growing up, I was constantly interested. I couldn’t figure out why I felt that way at first. But, as time passed, I realised that I might have felt a feeling of responsibility as a Brooke.”
To him, the obligation in the name of the Brooke carried immense significance as it was intertwined with a history that affected millions of Sarawakians.
“The name itself speaks of a legacy in which everyone with Sarawak roots is connected with the history of my family,” he said, adding that he hopes his two sons, Jago and Charles, will share his enthusiasm and sense of duty towards Sarawak.
Jason had no expectations when he finally arrived in Kuching, Sarawak 15 years ago, but he pondered about the land that had only existed in his imagination during his childhood. Having spent a month in Kuching in 2008, he had an eye-opening encounter and experienced the place in person as told by his ancestors.
“I had no idea what to expect from that visit or what people would think of the Brooke family’s history in Sarawak. As a result of being exiled by the British for opposing colonisation, no Brooke had visited Sarawak for a very long time. But before I departed for the state, my grandfather sent me his blessings and told me what I should keep in mind when I arrived.
“And the experience was life-changing. I started forming new relationships and rekindling old ones. People were interested as to why a Brooke was visiting them after such a long time, and many had asked as to what had happened to us.”
Jason noted that one of the many inquiries that emerged during his first visit to Sarawak was regarding the Brooke heritage, which binds the people here to their history.
“They wanted to know what we were going to do about it and how we were going to look after it.
“Upon my return from that visit, I established a charity called the Brooke Trust, the main purpose of which, at least initially, was to take care of old artefacts and ensure their preservation,” said the historian, recalling his first mission as a Brooke here.
Bringing together the past and present of Sarawak
Following the British acquisition of Sarawak as a crown colony in 1946, the Brookes — Bertram and Anthony — were barred from entering the state for fear of posing a political threat to the British. Anthony was a key figure in the Independence Movement led by Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Abdillah at the time. Bertram shared a letter written in the 1950s, after his resignation from politics, in which he wrote about how the British would not allow him, a Sarawakian at the time, to return to Sarawak to live out his remaining years before his death.
“In one of his letters, he expressed sadness that the people of Sarawak may assume the Brookes didn’t care about them, that the Brookes had decided they didn’t want anything to do with Sarawak anymore. These thoughts affected him deeply,” said Jason.
Among the many things that Anthony Brooke shared with his grandson about Sarawak, he had always emphasised that the Brookes were only a few dozen people here and that they did not build Sarawak despite the fact that the Brookes were widely attributed for many things.
“However, it was also a part of a much larger community of local leaders here who were developing the state with them over the course of 100 years,” said Jason.
With these values instilled in him, Jason made it his mission to connect Sarawak’s past with its future.
“If we strive to clarify who we are throughout our lives, where we come from, what our purpose and role in life are, all of those things offer me a grounding in what I’m doing because these are my blood, ancestors, and roots that go back 200 years. That is very grounding and reassuring.
“It is crucial for me to maintain these roots and connections, in my opinion. This is why I feel the need to talk to people and try to comprehend things from different perspectives, since I want to preserve these memories while I can,” said Jason.
Meanwhile, all of this answers the ultimate issue of what, after decades, a Brooke is doing in Sarawak; because he is simply on a mission to reconnect Sarawakians with their history, instilling pride in their local leaders and a time that laid the foundation for Sarawak’s identity.
