A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908

by S. Baring-Gould; C. A. Bampfylde

Little suspecting the fate that had overtaken his fellow-conspirator and trusty agent, and deeming that the time had come for him to perform his part—the third branch of the conspiracy—Masahor moved on Kuching with a well-selected mob of his particular desperadoes. But the Tuan Muda was warned of his approach. The chiefs "earnestly breathed their anxieties about this individual, saying, 'Do what you think best for the safety of the country, we are ready to follow you.' All our guns were loaded and we never moved without being armed, which gave our friends great confidence, and the doubtful ones considerable fear." The Sherip was warned that he would be looked upon as an enemy and fired upon if he entered Sarawak territory, but this warning, if received in time, was unheeded. The Tuan Muda now started with a sufficient force to bring the Sadong people to their senses, but he had not proceeded far down the river before he encountered the Sherip advancing towards Kuching with two large prahus crowded with men. The Sherip was brought up and ordered to turn his boats and follow the Tuan Muda's flotilla, and this order he dared not disobey. The Tuan Muda had no time to deal with him then, unless it had been done summarily, which would have entailed unnecessary loss of life, so Masahor was escorted out of the river, and bidden return to his own country: he was warned not to follow into the Sadong.

The Government station in the Sadong is at Semunjan, about twenty miles up the river. The Malays of this place were well-disposed. On the Tuan Muda's arrival early next night he was immediately warned that the Sherip's sole intention in going to Kuching was to put all the white men to death, and that he intended to strike at him first,[^[248]] and a little later came news that the Sherip was anchored in the river just below. With enemies before him this rendered the situation critical, for the force with him was not large. He resolved to deal with the Sherip at once; "he is the enemy to strike, the rest are mere trifles," was the opinion of the chiefs with him.

No time was lost. The Jolly Bachelor and the prahus at once silently dropped down the river, and took up positions around the Sherip's large prahus; fearing the culprit might escape during the night, the sampans, or canoes, attached to his prahus were at once taken away.

The Tuan Muda had only Muhammadan Malays with him; to them the person of a Sherip, a descendant of the Prophet, was sacred, and to have him seized and put in irons was simply impossible. At dawn he called upon those who did not court destruction to leave the Sherip's prahus, which several did, and then he opened fire with round shot; so as to spare life, grapeshot was not used. The Sherip's vessel was struck about the water-mark, and soon began to fill, when a breeze springing up, he cut his cables and drifted ashore, escaping into the jungle with a few followers. The Tuan Muda's men were reluctant to follow him; some thought the Sherip invulnerable, others that he had the power of damping powder and blunting weapons from a distance, and the search for him was but half-hearted. Three times the Tuan Muda had raised his rifle and covered the Sherip as he climbed the bank, but spared him. It is a pity he was merciful, for wandering down the banks of the river the Sherip and his followers came across a boat from which two Malays had landed. The boat they seized, and in it escaped to Muka—the Malays they wantonly murdered to cover their tracks. Among other articles found in his prahu was the Sherip's long execution kris; his bringing this was significant.

Then the Tuan Muda returned up the river. At Semunjan he learnt that the Bandar Kasim had incited the Malays there to rush the fort whilst he, the Tuan Muda, was engaged with the Sherip, but they had declined to have anything to do with him. On arriving at Gadong, then the principal Malay settlement, the Tuan Muda found that the Bandar Kasim and his rebellious clique had decamped over the border. He assembled the now thoroughly cowed people, and told them they had all been imposed upon by a man, passing himself off as a Bruni Rajah, and that he did not blame the lower class people. As Bandar Kasim had disavowed and challenged the Government the whole of his property was confiscated, and all his slaves were liberated. The people were assured by the Tuan Muda that he had no intention of taking steps to punish their misconduct, though he plainly told them they should have known better, and he begged them to be more careful in future. They loudly upbraided their chiefs for having misled them, and one man angrily turning to the people, exclaimed, "You are all a parcel of babies, only fit to crawl, instead of standing upright." He spoke the truth, but these poor ignorant creatures had not yet learnt to stand upright. The words of their chiefs were still law to them, and years of oppression had taught them to submit without murmur to the rule of the great over their lives and property. But the spell was broken. Their chiefs had fled before the Tuan Muda, and the greatest Sherip in the land had been utterly routed. The agent of the Bruni Government, whose presence on the coast has been mentioned, on hearing that the Sherip had been fired upon, left his large prahu and fled in fear to Bruni in a small boat, declaring that he believed the heavens would collapse next. Shortly afterwards the Bandar Kasim arrived at Kuching with his whole family, and delivered himself up to the mercy of the Government.

The Tuan Muda then proceeded to Sekrang, and there received a letter from the Malay chief of Serikei, Abang Ali, urging him to come to their assistance, as Sherip Masahor had returned, and was again oppressing the people. At once the Tuan Muda collected a flying force of 150 large bangkongs, manned by his faithful Dayaks. Serikei was found to be deserted, and the Sherip had fled to Igan. His fine house was burnt down. After ascertaining that Kanowit was safe in the keeping of the people there, the Tuan Muda proceeded to Igan, the Sherip's actual stronghold, which was reported to be strongly fortified. This place with the district around was his own particular property, and was the centre of his followers, but he had no heart to face the Tuan Muda again, and fled to Muka. Igan was looted and burnt. Much of the Sherip's property was seized, including many long brass guns, or native cannon, of handsome design, which had been heirlooms in his family for generations, and some of these now adorn the Court House in Kuching.

The expulsion of Sherip Masahor completed the discomfiture of the conspirators and their adherents, and brought their conspiracies to an end. Though lacking unison and proper disposition these had menaced extreme danger. But the crisis past left the Government more firmly established than ever. The Sherips, the Bruni nobles, and the disaffected Sarawak chiefs now realised that their power to do harm and to mislead the people was for ever broken. Dispelled was all existing doubt as to the power of the Government to endure without extraneous assistance; and dispelled from the minds of the people was the myth of the might of the Sultan and his nobles. Confidence was established in many who were at heart in sympathy with a Government which brought them justice and security, but who, doubting its stability as a bulwark against the oppression of their chiefs, had been prepared again to resign themselves to their power.

The repression by the Tuan Muda of this last effort of the supporters of extortion and misrule inaugurated an epoch of peace and freedom for all time. He had acted with vigour, and without delay. His resourcefulness and influence over the people enabled him to tide over a most difficult time with but poor material, and under the most trying circumstances. "I will not praise you, for words fall flat and cold, but you have saved Sarawak, and all owe you a deep debt of gratitude," were the words in which his uncle and chief conveyed his deserved appreciation of the services that had been rendered by him; and he won for himself the entire trust of the people of all classes, a trust that remains unimpaired to this day.

Indifference to the fate of Sarawak had been openly expressed by the British Government; consequently no helping hand had been proffered, though the troubles with which the State was beset were well known. Even the presence of a man-of-war, though she lent no active support, would have exercised great moral effect. "Sarawak has been encouraged and betrayed,"[^[249]] in mournful anger wrote the Rajah, "England has betrayed us beyond all doubt, and in the time of urgent peril cares nothing whether we perish or survive."

In April, Captain Brooke, the Tuan Besar, returned to Sarawak and resumed his duties as head of the Government. His brother's arrival released the Tuan Muda from his duties at the capital, and left him free to devote his time to the more active work yet to be done in the provinces, where his presence was needed to reassure the people; and there were still the refractory Dayaks of the Serikei and Nyalong to be subjected, and Rentap to be smoked out of his lair.