¹ Point owed to MrNicholl, R., ‘Brunei Rediscovered’ (Typescript, most kindly supplied by its author, of a Paper read at the Eighth Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia, held at Kuala Lumpur, 25–29 August 1980).Google Scholar

² The Treaty was signed by Sultan Hashim and the wazirs on 3 December 1905 and by Sir John Anderson, representing the British Crown, on 2 January 1906: hence the reference to one 1905–06 Treaty.

³ Brunei Annual Report 1946: p. 82. The original draft Treaty included the words ‘and custom’ after ‘the Muhammadan religion’, but these were omitted from the signed version. See F.O. 12/128 p. 12.

⁴ F.O. 572/39 M. S. H. McArthur: ‘Report on Brunei in 1904’. dated Singapore 5 December 1904, para. 23.

⁵ C.O. 824/2 Brunei Annual Report 1938: p. 2.

⁶ Wright, L. R., The Origins of British Borneo (Hong Kong, 1970).Google Scholar See also Tarling, N., Sulu and Sabah (Oxford University Press, K.L., 1978;, pp. 63, 132, 226, 235 and 238.Google Scholar

⁷ C.O. 144/79 (1O323): minute by Fiddes, G. V. (1858–1936 ), 15 04 1905.Google Scholar

⁸ P.O. 12/78: minutes by Sir R. Herbert (p. 165) and by Lord Salisbury (p. 151).

⁹ As note 4 (above), para. 83.

¹⁰ Ibid., para. 80.

¹¹ Composite taken from F.O. 12/83 P. 103: Sultan Hashim to Queen Victoria, telegram, 18 December 1890; and C.O. 144/69 (4396) Sultan Hashim to Queen Victoria (? early 1893).

¹² F.O. 12/95 PP. 21 ff, minute by ? Sir G. Dallas.

¹³ For example, C.O. 144/79 (10323); and F.O. 12/128 pp. 408 ff.

¹⁴ As note 4 (above), para. 116.

¹⁵ Ibid., para. 105.

¹⁶ C.O. 144/79 (10323) Sir John Anderson (1858–1918 ) to Marquess of Lansdowne (1845–1927 ), no. 3 (confidential), 18 February 1905, para. 5.

¹⁷ Constitutionally, Brunei and Labuan remained separate, although they shared certain officials in common: Brunei was a nominally-independent Malay State, whilst Labuan—one of the Straits Settlements—reverted to the Crown Colony status it had enjoyed between 1847 and 1890. After the Pacific War, Labuan was incorporated within North Borneo (now Sabah).

¹⁸ As note 16 (above), para. 10.

¹⁹ This was actually the phrase of Mr C. A. Bampfylde (1856–1918). one of the Rajah's most trusted advisers. See Baring-Gould, S. and Bampfylde, C. A.: A History of Sarawak (London, 1909), p. 326.Google ScholarMrWard, A. B. comments similarly. Rajah's Servant (Cornell, 1966), p. 20. Sir Charles Brooke would not have dissented.Google Scholar

²⁰ C.O. 144/81 (3460) Sir Charles Brooke to Foreign Office, 23 January 1906.

²¹ C.O. 144/81 (35280) Anderson to Earl of Elgin, no. 13 (Brunei), 27 August 1906, para. 5. (The Earl of Elgin, 1849–1917, was Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1905–08.)

²² C.O. 144/80 (10206) McArthur to Anderson, 13 February 1906, para. 13.

²³ C.O. 531/4 (20919) minute by VV. H. Lee-Warner, 2 July 1912. (Mr Lee-Warner, b. 1880, O.B.E. 1928, d. ?, was Assistant-Resident in Brunei from 1910 until 1914, apart from the year 1912, when he was seconded to the Colonial office).

²⁴ As note 4 (above), para. 55.

²⁵ For a more detailed analysis, see ProfessorBrown, D. E., Brunei: The Structure and History of a Bornean Malay Sultanate (Monograph of the Brunei Museum, 1970), pp. 79–85.Google Scholar

²⁶ Ibid., p. 102.

²⁷ After 1906 one Straits’ dollar was worth 2s 4d (II.66p).

²⁸ C.O. 531/11 (50598) G. E. Gator to High Commissioner, no. 2 (confidential), 30 April 1917, paragraph 6. (Sir G. E. Cator, 1884–1973, was British Resident in Brunei 1916–21, and later, 1933, Resident in Perak).

²⁹ C.O. 144/80 (26871) Will of Sultan Hashim, 20 Safar 1324 A.H. (14 April 1906).

³¹ C.O. 717/92 (File 92395/1932) B.M.P.C. to Crown Agents, 8 September, 1932.

³² Not including the years of Japanese Occupation (1942–45) and British Military Administration (1945–46).

³³ C.O. 531/11 (10824) Sir Arthur Young to Mr W. Long, Secret, 29 December 1917, para. 16. Sir Arthur commented that if Belait were exchanged for Trusan and Lawas, the people ‘would feel that they had been inconsiderately treated if they were handed over as part of a business transaction, and it would tend to disquiet the inhabitants of other districts of Brunei’.

³⁴ C.O. 717/110 (51535/1935) minute by (Sir) G. E. J. Gent (1895–1948), 19 March 1935.

³⁵ I regret that I have been unable to obtain definite information on this point. Incredible as it may appear, neither the R.A.F. Museum at Hendon, nor the Ministry of Defence (Air Historical Branch) have any figures detailing the sources whence the Royal Air Force derived its fuel in 1940–41. It may be assumed, however, that wartime consumption was far higher than it had been in 1935 and that the proportion obtained from Brunei declined accordingly. Further, after Brunei itself fell to the Japanese at the end of 1941 (thereby cutting off oil exports to the United Kingdom), the R.A.F. continued to operate; clearly, therefore, Seria oil cannot have been of such overwhelming importance by that time as it had been in 1935. Finally, Datuk R. X. Turner, S.P.D.K., C.M.G. (Assistant-Resident, Brunei 1940–41) commented that he was not aware that the R.A.F. ‘was so dependent on Brunei for its needs’ as suggested by G. E. J. Gent in 1935 (letter to the author, 14 August, 1983).

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ This is not to deny that atrocities were committed by the British in Borneo at other times; nor that the power of the Royal Navy was always in the background.

³⁸ The post of Assistant-Resident was abolished during the years 1914–31. For most of the pre-WW₁ era, this officer was the only European Government servant permanently resident in the Sultanate. At the beginning of 1913 he was joined by a British ‘Superintendent of Customs and Monopolies’ (Goldfinch, E. G.), styled ‘Treasurer’ 1915–1919.Google Scholar

³⁹ During 1935 a total of 30 people were imprisoned at one time or another (cf. 25 in 1936 and 41 in 1937). The worst year appears to have been 1954, when 179 people were imprisoned (but cf. 44 in 1952 and 43 in 1955; 1953 n.a.).

⁴⁰ Major, G. S.Carter, D. S. O., A Tragedy of Borneo (Kuala Belait, 1958) p. 7.Google Scholar (Major Carter, a New Zealander, was one of the officers who parachuted into the interior of Borneo to organize the indigenous guerrilla force.)

⁴¹ See W.O. 203/2689 and W.O. 203/2690.

⁴² C.O. 537/1613 item 214A Sultan to H.M. the King, telegram, 6 July 1946; and Ibid., item 227 Governor-General to C.O. no. 94 (telegram). 18 July 1946.

⁴³ W.O. 203/2400 (Final Report of the British Military Administration, by Brigadier C. F. C. Macaskie).

⁴⁴ Various sources.

⁴⁵ CAB 98/41 War Cabinet (Attlee) Committee on Malaya and Borneo: memorandum by Mr O. Stanley (C.O.): ‘Draft Directive on Policy in Borneo’ dated 18 January 1944; see also C.O. 825/43 (File 55104/15), items 22 and 28.

⁴⁶ C.O. 943/1 file 18: minute by SirWhiteley, Gerald, 27 10 1949.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ E.g. C.O. 717/129 (51535/1938) memorandum by MrBlack, J. G., 31 01 1938.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ See Horton, A. V. M., ‘The Brunei Smallpox Epidemic of 1904’ in Sarawak Museum Journal (forthcoming).Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Mr E. R. Bevington, C.M.G., C.Eng: recording made for the author, 24 July 1983. (Mr Bevington, b. 1914, was Development Commissioner in Brunei, 1954–58.)

⁵⁰ Ibid.

⁵¹ Mr Bevington recollected that it had been the Government's policy to lend Sheikh Azahari money for his business ventures—to ‘get him involved in something worthwhile’—in the hope that ‘he would become more interested in money-making than polities’. If so, the ploy failed.

⁵² The Constitution, promulgated on 29 September 1959, established an Executive Council and made provision for a partially-elected Legislative Council. Elections were eventually held in August 1962, one year behind schedule, the People's Party winning all the seats. After the uprising which took place in December that year the party was outlawed.

⁵³ Borneo Bulletin, 4 October 1958.