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

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

But Sarawak is placing Borneo once more to the fore amongst the pepper producing countries of the far East, and in 1907 exported 5177 tons, as against 400 tons in 1886. After many previous failures the foundations of this large industry, which is entirely in the hands of the Chinese, were laid in 1876 by the Rajah in conjunction with certain local Chinese merchants.

As with sago and pepper, Borneo is essentially a rubber producing country, and it is to be hoped when the time arrives, and as yet it appears to be far from being in view, that the natural product is worked out, it will be more than replaced by cultivated rubber. The Borneo Company have laid out extensive plantations, that give promise of a paying and lasting industry.

With the exception of the cultivation of sago, agriculture in Sarawak is, and will remain dependent upon imported labour. It is not in the nature of the Malay, whose wants are so few and simple that they are procured by a minimum of exertion, to undertake any work requiring persistent and diligent labour; and no more is it in the nature of the Sea-Dayak, though he is not afraid of hard work. Having finished his farming and gathered his harvest the latter prefers an occupation that, whilst bringing in a fair profit, will gratify his proneness for roaming. The native methods of rice growing are crude and wasteful, and attempts to improve these have failed, as have all attempts to introduce Chinese for the purpose of cultivating rice, with the idea of establishing an agricultural industry for which there is so much room and need in Sarawak. The Malays and Dayaks, like the Kayans and Melanaus, produce barely enough rice for their own consumption, and rice figures as the biggest item in the imports of a country which is capable of producing a considerable quantity more than it needs.

Sugar cane grows well, but enterprise in its production has probably been damped by the failure, through mismanagement, of an English Company, which, in 1864, started a large plantation on about the very worst soil that could have been selected. Tobacco planting proved to be a failure, and a costly experiment to the Government. Coffee and tea grow well on high ground, but the country has little elevated plateau land suitable for its cultivation. Gambir is a paying product, but the cultivation of pepper has proved more attractive to the Chinese, though the production of gambir has been fairly well maintained at over 1000 tons yearly. Tapioca, cotton (which in former days was largely exported from Bruni), the cocoa-nut, the areca or pinang, and the oil or soap palms all grow well. Ramie is being cultivated by an English Company in the Lawas, and experiments have shown that this plant will grow well. The sisal aloe grows freely, and on poor soil. Pine-apples are largely cultivated for canning. The fruits and vegetables common to all countries in the Malayan Archipelago abound in Sarawak.

The land regulations are liberal and fair. Bona fide planters receive every encouragement, though none is held out to speculators in land. The indiscriminate alienation of large tracts of land for unlimited periods and for indefinite purposes is an unsound policy, which does not find favour in Sarawak. It leads to land being locked up, sometimes for a long period, and to placing ultimately in the hands of a foreign speculator profits which the State should reap, and to the natives it causes many hardships. In 1890, such a concession was granted to a company by the Dutch Government in the province of Sambas, quite independently of any consideration for existing and long-established rights of the natives, the real owners of the soil. This act drove many families over the borders into Sarawak, when rudely awakened to the fact that except by the permission of the employees of a company, only to be obtained by payment, they could not farm, neither could they fish or hunt, nor could they obtain the many necessities of life with which the jungle supplies them.

In his report upon Borneo for 1899, Mr. Consul Keyser writes:—

I should here like to dispel, once and for all, the idea so often heard suggested that the Ruler of Sarawak is averse to progress and the introduction of European capital. That the Rajah is anxious to discourage that undesirable class of adventurer, who descends upon undeveloped countries to fill his own purse regardless of the result, it is true. The fate of the adjacent country of Bruni, whose ruin and decay are not entirely disconnected with the unfulfilled promises and specious tales of selfish speculators, is in itself ample justification, if one were needed, for this attitude.

At the same time, no bona fide investor need fear to visit Sarawak if he is prepared to deal fairly with the natives and conform to the usages of the country. Such a man would be sure of welcome, and he himself equally certain of success.

Land is usually granted at a small rental in large or small areas, in accordance with the capital and the objects of the grantee. The proportion of the land which is to be brought under cultivation in successive years is agreed upon. Any portion of the land that the grantee may have failed to bring under cultivation within the stipulated time, or, having cultivated, has abandoned it, reverts to the State; though in the former case circumstances occasionally arise which justify some latitude to the planter. But all land brought under cultivation becomes the absolute property of a planter or his assigns, and remains so, as long as it is maintained under cultivation. Abandonment of a plantation is abandonment of the land, and it then reverts to the State; and the State thus remains the real owner of the land, though not of the plantation on it. This system is obviously of advantage to the planter. He obtains his land, which he may select where he chooses, for next to nothing, and he runs no risk of losing capital sunk in the purchase of what might prove to be an unprofitable property, and therefore one that is unsaleable. And it secures to the State a sufficient guarantee that the land will be cultivated and kept under proper cultivation. Practically the whole of the Chinese pepper and gambir planters hold their land under these terms, and they are as secure in the possession of their gardens, and the right to alienate them, as if they had bought the land. Land is sold only for special purposes, such as for buildings and gardens in a town or its suburbs.