The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist
When Englishman James Brooke sailed into Kuching, Sarawak was better known as the Land of Headhunters.
No community was safe as pirates from as far as the Philippines roamed the high seas and dominated the weak.
Far up in Sabah, “Illanun” or Moro pirates from the southern Philippines Sulu islands swept down in sleek and fast perahus to single out remote villages to carry out an orgy of rape and plunder.
To counter the invaders, Sarawak’s brave Sea Dayaks (Iban) under Dana “Bayang” took up the challenge and made their own sleek war boats called “Bangkong” but soon they too fell into the habit of plundering and headhunting for ceremonial purposes.
In the face of this upheaval and turmoil it took a family of White Rajahs 100 years to turn things around and bring about peace in Sarawak.
It was destiny that brought James Brooke to Kuching. Born in India’s holy city of Benares, James’ older half-brother Charles William was a colonel in the East India Company (EIC).
James hero-worshipped his sibling who was killed in Burma and at the age of 16 joined the EIC’s 6th Infantry Native Regiment in Bengal.
Rising to the rank of Lieutenant, James almost died when he led a cavalry attack on Burmese rebels near Rungpore in Assam on January 27, 1825.
James was left for dead with a bullet in his spine until an officer discovered he was still breathing. Pensioned at the age of 22, James took several years to regain his health.
After his father died in 1834, James bought a ship named the Royalist and sailed all over the Far East.
Following visits to Kuching in 1839 and 1840, James helped the Brunei viceroy Raja Muda Hashim put down a Malay rebellion and was bestowed the position of “Governor” of Sarawak a year later.
In 1844 with the help of the British Navy, James Brooke went on to defeat the Sea Dayaks of Skrang and Saribas in the Battle of Batang Lupar. In 1849, they crushed the Dayak forces of Linggir at Beting Maru.
His nephew Charles, who was a naval officer, also spent his formative years suppressing rebellions namely in two major expeditions – the five-year-long Battle of Bukit Sadok from 1857 till 1861 and the Great Kayan Expedition of 1863.
In the process of bringing peace to Sarawak, Charles organised the first Baram peace-making at Marudi 1899 followed by peace-making agreements with the Lun Bawang of Lawas in 1905 and Kelabit community in 1908.
In Kuching the rubber boom of the early 1900s brought in extra revenue and Charles began to establish basic infrastructure to Sarawak’s capital which was becoming a burgeoning township.
In the old days Kuching, Sibu and Miri’s land communications was limited to bicycles, bullock carts and trishaws which were the main mode of transport
But the rubber boom of the early 1900s brought in extra revenue; the Public Works Department (PWD) employed a qualified civil engineer H. D. Ellis who was the Superintendent of Public Works and Surveys, a post he held from 1897 till 1907.
Mindsets began to change. The motor transport service began with the arrival of the first car in Kuching in 1907 – a Coventry Humber (10-12 horsepower) owned by the Borneo Company manager J. M. Bryan.
As a result of this, several Chinese businessmen began to import trucks and vans and the first public bus service was started in 1912. By 1926, Kuching with a population of 15,000, had 50 private cars, 15 lorries, 33 motorcycles and over 1,768 bicycles.
Following the establishment of telephone lines in Kuching, the Rajah began to take an interest in international communications. By 1920, the number of transmitting and receiving stations had swelled to 19. The Sarawak Gazette in 1991 stated, “Kuching also saw the first locomotive, a train with a temporary track built along Jalan Keretapi mainly because the Rajah, a keen horseman, was a believer in railways.”
However the 16km railway service which ran from Kuching to Mile 10 Bazaar, as a transport facility, lasted only 30 years as it was a losing concern.
Today, Kuching’s transport system is a combination of road and river travel; one can travel to the many coastal and riverine towns in express boats or by land transport.
Currently only three regions in the state remain relatively isolated and unconnected, namely Lawas, Baram and Kapit.
However, with the on-going Pan Borneo Highway project moving along smoothly, it won’t be long before feeder roads will begin to lead into the remotest regions.
Hopefully, after 180 years of civilisation, Brooke’s legacy of connecting the whole state by land will finally see the light of day.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
