A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.
– George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic and political activist
Born in Sibu in 1898 during the era of Sir Charles Brooke, Tuanku Haji Bujang Tuanku Othman was destined to lead.
A member of the Rajang Perabangan Malay community, his ancestors was of Arab Hadrahmi stock and related to Brunei nobility Governor Sharif Mashor Muhamad Al-Shahab of Sarikei.
Tuanku Bujang grew up at the turn of the 19th century when Sarawak was entering the modern era — the arrival of the first car in Kuching, a 600-km telephone service extending to Miri and the discovery of oil at Canada Hill.
Ushering in the 20th century, Foochow immigrants led by Wong Nai Siong landed in Sibu at the invitation of the Rajah to develop the swamplands in the middle Rajang enclave.
Bujang was 26 when Vyner Brooke attended the famous ‘Great Kapit Peace-making’ effort of 1924 between paramount chief Temenggong Koh Jubang and Kayan-Kenyah rebels of Ulu Belaga and Kalimantan.
During this time, he befriended the nephews of Koh, Penghulus Jugah Barieng and his brother Tedong, who would play an important role in the local political scenario.
On January 1, 1932, at the age of 29, Bujang joined the newly-formed Sarawak Constabulary and was the first Sibu Malay to be promoted to the lofty rank of Probationary Inspector — one rank lower than Sarawak’s top cop Datu Bandar Abang Mustapha.
In 1934, the tall and tanned gentleman officer was hailed as a hero after he grappled and disarmed an armed man who ran amok in Sibu.
For his courage, Rajah Vyner awarded Bujang a Sarawak medal for valour.
Later that year, he was made a native officer and served in Kuching where he was appointed as a magistrate.
As native officer, he served under Brooke’s favourite officer Scotsman Andrew McPherson who served in the judiciary, and as chief of the native court as well as Resident of Kapit and Sibu.
While serving in the Rajang, MacPherson married into the Iban nobility and had two children. In 1940, McPherson, who was on furlough in Cape Town, took a second wife, a South African named Clare.
On December 28, 1941, three days after the Japanese invaded Sarawak, McPherson led a group of 23 Brooke officers — 18 men, his pregnant wife and their two children — on a 300-km boat journey up the Rajang River to escape the invaders.
Leaving his two Eurasian children Bibi and Bujang who were adopted by his loyal subordinate Tuanku Bujang, his group crossed the Indonesian border in January where they took refuge at the Dutch outpost of Long Nawang.
Sadly, in August 1942, the Japanese caught up with McPherson’s group and another batch of 40 Dutch soldiers who had joined the refugees, and executed all of them.
Just before the Japanese invaded Kuching, Lt Tuanku Bujang led the 105-strong Sarawak Rangers ‘Force B’ which disbanded within days of the fall of Kuching.
Under the Japanese, Tuanku Bujang was appointed a senior administrative officer but months before the repatriation of Sarawak, joined the Australian Allies forces ‘Semut Operatives’ who liberated Kuching on September 11, 1945.
In 1946, Bujang joined the anti-cession movement after Vyner ‘sold’ Sarawak to Great Britain on July 1, 1946. Apparently, Vyner was given an honorarium of 2 million British pounds sterling.
After the assassination of Sir Duncan Stewart in 1949 and the anti-cession movement disbanded, Bujang re-joined the British colonial administration.
In 1955, he became a Sarawak ‘Datu’ and two years later promoted to administrative officer after being awarded the MBE by the Queen
With the formation of Malaysia in 1963, he was appointed to the Malaysian Senate.
He became actively involved in politics after the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) was founded followed by Parti Negara Sarawak (PANAS) on April 9, 1960 and Sarawak National Party (SNAP) on April 10, 1961.
On December 29, 1961, Tuanku Bujang and Melanau lawyer Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub and Sibu councillor Tun Salahuddin formed the fourth political party in the state — Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak (BARJASA) — and he became its inaugural president.
Tuanku Bujang continued to play a role, establishing a strong Malay-native bumiputera party when his old friend and colleague Jugah who took over from Koh and became paramount chief, went on to form the Rajang-based Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PESAKA) on August 15, 1962.
In July 1963, Tuanku’s close friend Penghulu Jugah, Abang Mustapha, Ong Kee Hui and Ling Beng Siew flew to London to sign the decolonisation accord with the British.
On March 28, 1968, BARJASA merged with PANAS to form Parti Bumiputera of which Tuanku Bujang was vice President.
Parti Bumiputera was the forerunner of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) following a merger with PESAKA on April 30, 1973.
Jugah, who became a Temenggong, was PBB’s inaugural president while Sarawak’s present Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud was deputy president.
After the demise of the first Governor of Sarawak Tun Abang Openg on March 28, 1969, Tuanku Bujang was appointed Governor of Sarawak from April 2, 1969 to April 1977.
Tuanku Bujang passed away peacefully on November 28, 1986.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
