BY ABIDGAIL MERTA GANGGANG
Jason Desmond Anthony Brooke, the sixth generation of Brookes, talks about having Sarawak’s history on a little piece of land in the United Kingdom as one of the Brooke Trust’s upcoming projects. He also discusses his plans to revive the art of keringkam by creating opportunities for locals through ASPIRE with Yayasan Hasanah.
Rajah’s legacy shines through Brooke Trust
The arrival of James Brooke in Kuching, Sarawak on August 15, 1839, has resulted, through four generations, in a unique relationship between the Brooke family and the people of Sarawak.
The Brooke Trust, which is dedicated to sharing Sarawak’s unique heritage, was established to safeguard the Brooke family’s collection of papers and artefacts.
Jason Desmond Anthony Brooke, the grandson of the last Rajah Muda Sarawak, Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, serves as the Chair of the Board of Trustees, guiding the organisation towards its objectives.
“The Brooke Trust is a non-profit organisation that began operations in 2008 and was formally registered in 2010,” he said.
The President of the Sarawak Association said that it has evolved into a dynamic volunteer-led charity with a mission to share the Brooke dynasty through projects that engage, inform, and inspire, as well as encourage responsible care of our world.
“Our vision is to transform a unique historical legacy into socially responsible outcomes for Sarawak and the rest of the world,” said Jason, who is also a member of the Borneo Research Council.
The trust
In order to ensure the heritage’s preservation when he first established the charity, Jason digitised the Brooke archives, which included letters, postcards, and journals.
“That was the first project we finished in the United Kingdom under the Brooke Trust. We have thus made these archives accessible to the people of Sarawak.”
In addition to safeguarding archives, Brooke Trust also takes care of related physical sites, structures, artefacts, and records. They also held educational and outreach programmes on a regular basis, as well as encouraged the use of bygone skills.
The Brooke Trust collaborated with the Sarawak Museum in 2016 to create and sponsor a permanent exhibition at Fort Margherita. Known as the Brooke Gallery, it tells the story of one of history’s most remarkable kingdoms: Sarawak and its Brooke Rajahs.
With the success and popularity of that gallery, the trust curated another gallery in the Old Courthouse in Kuching, which houses the textile collection of the second White Rajah Charles Brooke’s wife, Ranee Margaret.
Having owned a pristine collection of keringkam, songket, kebarung, and other crafts of ancient textiles arts, the display tells the story of the journey of understanding where the textiles came from, why the Ranee had them, what her interest in them was, and what she had written about them.
Collaboration with Yayasan Hasanah
Aside from preserving Brooke history, Jason revealed an ongoing project organised by the Brooke Trust in collaboration with Yayasan Hasanah. The project, which seeks to safeguard the ancient craft of keringkam, promotes the art through tuition and internship programmes.
“Yayasan Hasanah has been a strong supporter of our work in Sarawak. We have developed a programme called ASPIRE with them, in which we will bring together our roots and story, as well as the history of the Ranee and the keringkam, and introduce them to youth in challenging situations,” said Jason.
Under ASPIRE, local embroiderers will share their talent and passion for weaving the keringkam with troubled youth from rehabilitation or detention centres.
“We will provide an accredited programme of tuition within those facilities over the course of eighteen months of tuition and six months of internships with Brooke Museums,” he added.
Jason hoped that by introducing the programme, he could prepare them to re-face the world once they reached the age of 18.
“They not only gain embroidering skills and a certificate of qualification, but they also gain a platform to continue this craft in a way that it is properly valued.”
The Borneo Archive is another programme organised in collaboration with Yayasan Hasanah. Jason said that the programme entails digitising 5,000 photographs of Borneo from the 1860s to the 1940s.
“We also hope that this programme will develop into a collaborative platform where people who view these photos can contribute to the body of knowledge about who these people are or the story behind these photos.”
Burrator House
During the interview, the Brooke descendant discussed the Brooke Trust’s upcoming project, Burrator House. The Victorian mansion, which preserves a piece of Sarawak on British soil, was originally the home of James Brooke.
“When he retired in 1859, a group of admirers in the United Kingdom organised a crowdfunding campaign to buy James the property after he had spent all of his money building Sarawak. The property, which is 70 acres in size, is located in the heart of Sheepstor, Devon. It is a remote location covered in beautiful ferns and had a tropical feel to it. It reminded James of his first home in Sarawak,” Jason said.
Burrator House, which the Brooke Trust purchased during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, was sold by Charles Brooke 150 years ago when Sarawak was in debt. The house that still stands today was not the only piece of Sarawak that lay at Devon. According to Jason, when James died, he was buried in the church next to the estate.
“And his burial at the 500-year-old mediaeval church marked the start of a tradition in which both the second and third Rajahs, Charles Brooke and Charles Vyner Brooke respectively, as well as the Tuan Muda Bertram Willes Dayrell Brooke, were buried.”
The church — St Leonard’s Church in Sheepstor, Devon, England — was another symbol of Sarawak’s history in England, with stained glass windows depicting the pitcher plant, butterflies, stories, and even the Kuching bishop’s crest.
“There were also prisoner of war memorials erected there. And in the church hangs a large pua kumbu that the late Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing donated when he paid a visit in the 1990s.”
The Brooke Trust is currently restoring the estate in order to establish a museum dedicated to Sarawak’s history.
“We want to tell the story of Sarawak on this one small piece of Sarawak land in the United Kingdom. We are collaborating with the Ministry here and the Sarawak Museum Department on developing this story that we can tell in England.”
Discussing the feature of the upcoming gallery in Devon, Jason revealed that Burrator House, located in a national park, has beautiful scenery surrounding it.
“It is surrounded by a garden with lakes, waterfalls, and rivers. We’ve also been resurrecting the jungle garden, discovering hidden pathways, staircases, and water features.”
The house, which hasn’t changed much since James lived there 158 years ago, will provide visitors with a glimpse into the life of the first Brooke Rajah.
“We want visitors to feel as though they are entering the Rajah’s home. The pua kumbu, parang, and shield will adorn the halls, while the walls will be decorated with James’ own heritage, such as his oil paintings, vases, and family photos.”
Jason added that the museum will primarily flow through three of the larger rooms of the house, with little touchpoints that tell the history of Sarawak, its political development, and the relationships that have evolved over generations.
