Crown Colony of Sarawak

The Crown Colony of Sarawak was a British Crown colony on the island of Borneo, established in 1946, shortly after the dissolution of the British Military Administration. It was succeeded as the state of Sarawak through the formation of the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

History

Cession

After the end of the Japanese occupation of Sarawak on 11 September 1945, the British Military Administration put John Fitzpatrick in control of Sarawak before handing it back to Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke seven months later on 15 April 1946. Charles Vyner Brooke arrived in Sarawak on 15 April 1946 to receive the handover. He was generally well received by the Sarawak population. During the Japanese occupation, Sarawak had suffered a total loss of 23 million dollars due to the destruction of oilfields, airstrips, and rubber plantations. Vyner Brooke found that he did not have enough resources to develop Sarawak. He also didn't have a male heir to inherit the position of White Rajah and did not have confidence in the abilities of his brother Bertram Brooke and Bertram's son Anthony Brooke to govern Sarawak. Vyner Brooke hoped that with the cession of Sarawak as a British Crown colony, the British would be able to rebuild Sarawak's infrastructure and develop its postwar economy. The news of the cession of Sarawak came to light on 8 February 1946; there was a mixed response from the Sarawak people. The Iban, Chinese, and Melanau communities received the news positively. However, the majority of Malays were against the cession of Sarawak to the British government. British representatives conducted a survey among the ethnic groups in Sarawak regarding the cession issue. On 10 May 1946, a report was compiled and sent to the Colonial Office in London, which included the following:
According to ABC Radio Melbourne, Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke would receive £1 million as compensation for the cession of Sarawak. This gave an impression that Vyner was trying to sell Sarawak for personal gain – in contrast to the 1941 constitution of Sarawak which stated that Sarawak would head towards self-governance under Brooke's guidance. The constitution was not implemented due to the Japanese occupation. The proposed cession was also criticised by a local Malay newspaper, Utusan Sarawak, as the British had failed to protect Sarawak from Japanese invasion in 1942, only to try to claim Sarawak after the war. In addition, the British would only approve financial loans to rebuild Sarawak upon Sarawak's cession as a Crown colony. The British claim on Sarawak was therefore seen as an effort to exploit the natural resources of Sarawak for their own economic interests. On top of this, the British Colonial Office had also tried to combine British Malaya, the Straits Settlements, British North Borneo, Brunei, and Sarawak into one administrative unit. From 1870 until 1917, the British had tried to interfere with the internal affairs of Sarawak, but this was met with stiff resistance from Rajah Charles Brooke. The British also tried to interfere with the succession issue of Anthony Brooke in 1940, and in 1941 had urged Vyner Brooke to sign an agreement to station a British advisor in Sarawak for fear of Japanese influence in Southeast Asia. The British also became wary that Australia intended to take over the military administration of Sarawak. Consequently, the British government wished to take control of Sarawak before the Australians did. The British were in a dire financial situation after the war and would require the resources from Sarawak to rebuild its post-war economy and repay war loans. On 6 February 1946, the official explanation for annexation of Sarawak was given by British House of Commons, stated that the British would require additional obligations to discharge its duties under the 1888 protectorate agreement for Sarawak, 1941 agreement on the obligation to act on British representative advice on defence, foreign affairs, and status of foreign nationals, and the UN Charter.
From 15 to 17 May 1946, the cession bill was debated in the Council Negri and was approved by 19 to 16 votes. European officers were generally supportive of the cession, but the Malay officials strongly opposed the cession. About 300 to 400 Malay civil servants resigned from their posts in protest. Questions had been raised about the legality of such voting in Council Negri. Outsiders such as European officers took part in the voting that decided the fate of Sarawak. Several Chinese representatives were threatened with their lives if they did not vote to support the cession. The cession bill was signed on 18 May 1946 by Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke and the British representative, C.W. Dawson, at the Astana, Kuching; the cession of Sarawak as a British Crown colony became effective on 1 July 1946. On the same day, Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke gave a speech on the benefits for Sarawak as a Crown colony:
The first governor did not arrive until 29 October 1946. Sarawak was a British Crown colony for 17 years before participating in the formation of Malaysia.

Anti-cession movement

The cession has sparked nationalism among Malay intellectuals. They started the anti-cession movement with their main centre of operation in Sibu and Kuching. Meanwhile, the majority of Chinese supported the cession because the British would bring more economic benefits to Sarawak and illegal gambling and the opium trade would be banned under British rule which would also benefit the economy. The majority of the Iban people respected the decision made by the Rajah as they believed that he acted on the best interests of the Sarawak people. Meanwhile, the Indians in Sarawak also supported the cession as they viewed the British governing principle as satisfactory.
The Malays established the Malay Youth Association in Sibu and Sarawak Malay National Association in Kuching. Those civil servants who resigned from their government posts established a group called "Group 338" to symbolise the prophet Muhammad when he led 338 infantry to victory in the Battle of Badr. Initially they organised talks, hung posters, signed memorandums, and took part in demonstrations in order to express their dissatisfaction over the cession. Anthony Brooke also tried to oppose the cession but was banned from entering Sarawak by the British colonial government. The demands and appeals by the Malay community was not heeded by the British. This caused a more radical organisation to be established in Sibu on 20 August 1948, known as Rukun 13, with Awang Rambli as their leader. In Awang Rambli's opinion:
Thus, the second governor of Sarawak, Duncan Stewart was stabbed by Rosli Dhobi in Sibu on 3 December 1949. Following this, Rukun 13 was outlawed with Rosli Dhobi and three other members of the organisation hanged with the rest jailed. This incident increased the British effort to clamp down on the anti-cession movement of Sarawak. All the organisations related to anti-cession were banned and anti-cession documents were seized. Following the incident, Anthony Brooke tried to distance himself from the anti-cession movement for fear of being associated with the plot to kill the governor of Sarawak. The people of Sarawak were also afraid to lend support to the anti-cession movement for fear of backlash from the British colonial government. This led to the end of anti-cession movement in February 1951. Although the anti-cession movement ended as a failure, Malaysian historians regarded this incident as a starting point of nationalism among the natives in Sarawak. This incident also sent the British a message that the local people of Sarawak should not be taken lightly. The British had described the members of Rukun 13 as traitors but in the eyes of Malaysian historians, the Rukun 13 members are regarded as heroes that fight for the independence of Sarawak.
On 4 February 1951, various anti-cession organisations in Sarawak sent a telegram to the British prime minister on plans on the future of Sarawak. They received a reply from the British prime minister which assured them of the British intentions to guide Sarawak towards self-governance in the Commonwealth of Nations and that the people of Sarawak were free to express their views through proper channels according to the constitution, and their opinions would be given full consideration by the British government.

Later development

In 1959, in response to a petition written to the Queen, the British government assured that the British government would not desert the responsibility of developing Sarawak until the Sarawak people were able to govern their own country properly.

Administration

The governor of British Crown Colony of Sarawak was a position created by the British government upon the cession of Sarawak by the Brooke Administration in 1946. The appointment was made by King George VI, and later by Queen Elizabeth II until the formation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. After the formation of Malaysia, the title was changed to 'Governor of the state of Sarawak' and the appointment was later made by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The official residence of the governor of Sarawak was The Astana, located on the north bank of the Sarawak River.

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Note
1.	Charles Arden-Clarke	29 October 1946	27 July 1949	First governor of the Crown Colony of Sarawak.
2.	Duncan Stewart	31 October 1949	10 December 1949	Assassinated by Rosli Dhobi while visiting Sibu on 3 December 1949, and died on 10 December.
3.	Anthony Abell	11 December 1949	16 November 1959	Originally appointed for the term of 3 years only, but his term was extended to 1959. He was later a member of the Cobbold Commission.
4.	Alexander Waddell	23 February 1960	15 September 1963	Last governor of Sarawak.

Sarawak was perhaps unique among Crown colonies in that pre-existing institutions of government continued under the new regime. The Supreme Council and Council Negri, established under the Brookes' 1941 constitution, retained their prerogatives with the rajah being replaced by a governor. Even so, these bodies were entirely appointed. In 1954, the Council Negri had legislative and financial authority and consisted of 25 members: 14 officials from the civil service, and 11 non-officials representing various ethnic and interest groups. In exercising his powers, the governor was required to consult with the Supreme Council.
In terms of local government, the territory was divided into five divisions each overseen by a resident. Each division was sub-divided into districts overseen by district officers, and these were further divided into sub-districts. Each division and district had an advisory council and districts sometimes also had a Chinese Advisory Board. The government also began constructing a system of local authorities before the war and by 1954 about 260,000 people were living in incorporated areas. While early local authorities were race-based, this was found to be an unworkable system and local authorities were soon integrated.
In 1956, the constitution was reformed to increase democratic representation. The Council Negri was enlarged to 45 members, of which 24 were elected non-officials, 14 were ex-officio, 4 were appointed to represent interests considered insufficiently represented by the governor and 3 standing members. The new Supreme Council consisted of three ex-officio members, two appointed members, and five members elected from the Council Negri.