A Short Historical Overview
Prehistory and Early History
Not much is known of Sabah's early prehistory. Archeological
finds are rare but it must be presumed that as early as 40,000 years ago modern
man has already roamed the jungles of North Borneo.
By the 9th century AD., Sabah, then under various
chieftains, traded with China and later the Spanish and Portuguese. During the
15th century, Sabah was a vassal of the Sultan of Brunei. In 1521 Ferdinand
Magellan's ships sailed into Brunei Bay and later repaired their vessels in
Banggi and Balambangan, islands in the very north of Sabah. In 1704, the Sultan
of Brunei ceded the lands east of Marudu Bay to the Sultan of Sulu, while the
west coast remained under his rule.
The Sultans of Brunei and Sulu exercised a nominal control
over north Borneo, especially the coasts, while headhunters roamed the forests
and pirates infested the seas. The headhunters were Kadazandusun, as well as
Murut tribesmen, and of the two the Kadazandusun were the first to give up headhunting.
The pirates were Illanun, Iranum, Balanini, Obian, Bajau and Suluk living in
the Southern Philippines and on islands off the coast of North Borneo. Their
vessels were of large size, mostly out-triggered, measuring approximately
ninety feet long and heavily armed. In Sabah, their strongest lairs were in
Marudu Bay and the Tunku Island near present day Kota Kinabalu.
In 1685 the first Englishman visited Sabah. It was Captain
Cowley, and he visited the islands on the northern end of Borneo (Banggi, Balambangan).
In the 1760’s Alexander Dalrymple and James Rennell came to
Borneo and mentioned Sabah.
In 1773 the East India Company founded a trading post on
Balambangan Island, but two years later the settlement was attacked and
destroyed by pirates.
The North Borneo Chartered Company
When Mr Gladstone, Prime Minister of the Liberal Government
advised Queen Victoria to grant a Charter to the British North Borneo Company,
the company acquired the sovereign rights of Sir Alfred.
The Governors of the British North Borneo Company were
appointed with the approval of the Crown and several civil servant of the
colonial office served in North Borneo as Governors before moving to higher
posts. The list of Governors includes distinguished administrators such as Sir
Hugh Clifford, Sir Ernest Birch and Lord Milverton in their younger days.
The Chartered Company was of purely British character. It
could not transfer its territories without consent; it could trade but not
grant a general monopoly. It undertook to abolish slavery, administered law and
justice with regard to the Native Laws and Customs and did not interfere with
the religion of the people.
William C Cowie stands out amongst the many associates of the
Chartered Company. He was a young Scotsman, a ship engineer by profession who
aspired to acquire lands in North Borneo very much like Rajah Brook had done in
Sarawak. He came from his native land with a few friends on a steam launch and
made friends with the Sultans. This enabled him to establish trading posts at
Labuan and Sandakan. He subsequently supplied the Suluk with arms and
ammunition in their fight against the Spaniards, who then ruled over the
Philippines. Many years later, when the Chartered Company was securely
established, he joined the company and rose to be its chairman. His resource
and enterprise did much to advance the interests of the company and his
personal relationship with the Sultans proved of great value.
Jesselton
The North Borneo Chartered Company has been remarkably free
from unrest. Trouble arose when younger relatives of the Sultans protested
against the loss of their birthright. The most important of these was Mat
Salleh, of the family of the Sultan of Sulu by marriage into it. Mat Salleh’s
origins itself are confused, some say he was a Suluk from the Philippines,
others an Orang Sungai of Sabah (from the Kinabatangan area) or even a
Suluk-Bajau from Inanam.
For sure is that Mat Salleh was a courageous, however often
ruthless rebel who revolted against the British. Those were fast acquiring land
and imposing taxes on the native people – amongst others there was a tax on
tapai, the locally brewed rice and cassava wine or beer. Mat Salleh was again
and again able to motivate and recruit large gangs from the ranks of the
Kadazan and Dusun, even though they were from different ethnic back-grounds. He
promised to liberate them from the British, in which he ultimately failed and
many natives lost their lives in the battles against the well-equipped
purchasers of their land.
One of Mat Salleh’s best remembered deeds was the attack and
the subsequent complete destruction of the English trading post on Gaya Island
in 1898. The island is now part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine National Park,
just off Kota Kinabalu. He and his gang looted the place and burnt it down,
completely destroying it. It is said that people from across the mainland in
Sembulan, Tanjung Aru and as far as Putatan could see great flames over Pulau
Gaya. Everybody shouted “api, api (fire, fire)”! Subsequently, the new
settlement the English built on the land opposite Gaya Island became to be
known, informally, as Api-Api: after the incident, in 1899, the English decided
to move to the mainland, and installed themselves between Tanjung Aru, Sembulan
and the area just opposite Pulau Gaya. Sir Henry Walker, commissioner of land,
established the township which was named in memory of Sir Charles Jessel, one
of the directors of the Chartered Company managing the area: ‘Jesselton’.
However, the name Jesselton was difficult for locals to pronounce, and Api-Api
remained the preferred name for the new town (now still to be found in ‘Api-Api
Centre’
etc, and in the Chinese translation of Kota Kinabalu: ‘Yapi-Api
- 亞庇).
Mat Salleh’s hideout was in the area of Kampung Mengkabong,
not far away from Tuaran, or some 25 km from the present day State Capital of
Sabah, Kota Kinabalu. Mat Salleh met his death in Tambunan, where he was
besieged in his fort until he had to give up. After his death, which was
witnessed by one of the English, the fort was razed to the ground and only a
mound betrays to-day it position. Legends still abound around Mat Salleh, who
in the eyes of the locals was not entirely a hero then. Many had to die for his
ideas and private wars, which had not improved the native’s position. He
remains as historical as mystical, and some claim he was actually not shot, but
made it away safely to his home in the Kinabatangan area. He holds now the title
of 'Sabah's first freedom fighter'.
British Colonial Ere
Independence
The inhabitants of Sabah have based their societies on kinship
and by tribal affiliations. Under the British Chartered Company headhunting was
outlawed, and the native codes of law (adat) were 'modernised'. Life went at a
generally placid pace and it was not until the 1960s that a political
conciousness emerged. The winds of change - the tide of independence being
experienced by other countries had arrived in Sabah. It began with an
announcement in 1961 by the Prime Minister of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman,
regarding the formation of the Federation of Malaysia which was to include
Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore. Malaysia was formally
established, without Brunei, on 16 September 1963 and North Borneo's name was
changed to Sabah. Preceding this, North Borneo obtained self-government from
the British on 31 August 1963.
As a state within the Federation many changes occurred,
administratively, politically and socially. The pace of development was
hastened and Sabah entered a new and challenging era when she became part of
the Federation of Malaysia. Though some initial struggles and conflicts with
its neighbours, Indonesia and the Philippines, and interesting internal
government politics Sabah remained a peaceful nation where the many different
ethnic groups from various belief systems live in harmony together.
Source: Discover Sabah
- Early Settlements
According to archaeological findings, Sabah is said to be inhabited by humans from about 28,000 years ago. Prior to the 16th century, the area of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei were controlled by the Kingdom of Brunei who in turn were controlled by the empires of Sri Vijayan of Sumatra and then later on by Majapahit of Java.
However during the 15th century, Parameswara who was the king of Majapahit Empire, took over Mallaca and spread its wings over the trade of Brunei. As the port started trading with other Asian and Arab countries, it flourished economically and along with paved the way for Islam. Islam was accepted by one and all and the Brunei Sultans were no exception. After Sultanate of Malacca's rule ended during the mid 16th century, after the advent of Portuguese, it was left upon the Sultans to spread Islam. They extended their rule as far as Luzon and Sulu and to south and west of Borneo.
- Arrival of Europeans
It was in the year of 1761, when Alexander Dalrymple, an officer with East India Company, posted at Madras (now Chennai), settled and had a agreement with the Sultan of Sulu to set up a trading post in Borneo. Alexander chose the site of Balembangan Island, and in 1763 he renamed it as ‘Felicia’. But due to bad supervision and piracy, the trading post turned out to be a big fiasco. Later on, in 1803, Governor General of India, Lord Arthur Wellesley tried to revive the post and reassign it as a military station, but his plans failed and finally the idea was aborted in 1805.
Due to this failure, British rulers diverted their attention to other Malayan regions such as Labuan. But it took almost 40 years to revive their interest in North Borneo and specifically in Labuan. This time, in 1844, James Brook approached the Sultan of Brunei to use Labuan as a coaling base, to prohibit piracy and increase trade.
On 18th December 1846, the Sultan handed over Labuan and its neighbouring islands over to the British for an infinite period and John Brooke was crowned the Governor General of Labuan. But the administration of Labuan under the rule of Brooke failed and in general no British ruler could govern it for an extended period of time. After passing through the hands of British North Borneo Chartered Company and traits Settlements, it ultimately became a part of Malaysia on 16th April 1984.
- North Borneo under the rule of BNBCC
After a succession of failures, the British became disinterested in Borneo and it was in the year of 1881 when North Borneo came under the administration of a commercial company, British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC). The building blocks of BNBCC were laid when the agreement between Sultan of Brunei and American Consul of Brunei took place. North Borneo was sold on 10 year lease to Claude Lee Moses who in turn sold it to an American Trading company owned by J.W. Torrey, T.B.Harris and some Chinese merchants. Kimanis was chosen as the base by Torrey and he renamed it as ‘Ellena’. But the transaction didn’t last long due to non-availability of financial backing. The settlement was then sold by Torrey to Baron Von Overbeck, Austrian Consul in Hong Kong. He renewed the 10 year lease from Tumonggong of Brunei. He found his financial backing in the form of Dent brothers to whom he later transferred the rights of North Borneo. In 1881, Alfred Dent formed the British North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd, which was later renamed as British North Borneo Chartered Company (BNBCC) when it received its Royal Charter.
North Borneo became a British protectorate and they peacefully ruled it until the advent of Second World War. 60 years had passed by, under the British rule and the peace of Sabah was shattered when the Japanese invaded it on 1st January 1942, until it was liberated by A.I.F in 1945. Later on, after the Second World War, in 1946, North Borneo came under the administration of British Military and civil government.
Due to the destruction caused by the war, BNBCC could not afford to re-establish their colony and Sabah came under the British crown. The bombings were so shattering, that the capital was shifted to Jesselton. Under the rule of the British Crown, reconstruction and development of the city started taking place.
- Independence of Malaysia
On 31st August 1957, Malaysia achieved independence after 446 of imposing rule under the British. 11 states of Malay Peninsula came together to form the Federation of Malaysia. In 1963, colonies of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore which were under the rule of British Crown came under the rule of Malaysia. The Sultan of Brunei initially showed interest in merging his country with Malaysia, but later withdrew. However in 1965, Singapore retreated from the Federation and was proclaimed as an independent country.
Source: Sabah.com
History of Sabah
Sabah, which was known as North Borneo before it joined the
Malaysian Federation in 1963, was part of the Sultanate of Brunei in the 16th
century while the north-eastern coast of the state became part of the Sultanate
of Sulu which was centered in the southern islands of the Philippines. The the
mid 18th century, Europeans began making an appearance and the British managed
to open a trading post on Pulau Balambangan off the northern tip of Sabah. This
post however failed to take off.
In 1865, the American Consul for Brunei, Claude Lee Moses
obtained a lease over North Borneo. The lease ownership was passed to an
American company which tried to set up a post in what is today Kimanis. That
also turned out to be a failure and was abandoned. The lease was then sold to
Baron von Overbeck, the Austrian Consul in Hong Kong which he then transferred
to Alfred Dent who in 1882 formed the British North Borneo Company to develop
the colony. The capital was first established in Kudat, then transfered to
Sandakan. North Borneo became a protectorate of Great Britain in 1888 but
administration and control over the colony remained in the hands of the Company
ruled until 1942 when the Japanese invaded. There were of course resistance to
the company's rule, including by Mat Salleh in the late 1890s and the Muruts in
the early 1900s.
The Japanese occupation between 1942 and 1945 was brutal and
this was when the infamous Death Marches by British and Allied soldiers forced
by the Japanese took place. British Military Administration took over when the
Japanese surrendered and in 1946, North Borneo became a British Crown Colony.
Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), which suffered Allied bombing, was rebuilt and
chosen to replace Sandakan as the capital.
On September 16, 1963, North Borneo together with Malaya,
Sarawak and Singapore formed the Federation of Malaysia and from then on it
became known as Sabah.
Source: Sabah Tourist Association
Source: Sabah Tourist Association
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