Helmsman of the Enterprise?
Why do I have the feeling I'm missing some joke?
*because you're not a Star Trek fan~*
*shut up, brain.*
Of Rajahs and Hornbills: A timeline of Brooke Sarawak
- Thread starter Al-numbers
- Start date
Why do I have the feeling I'm missing some joke?
*because you're not a Star Trek fan~*
*shut up, brain.*
Why do I have the feeling I'm missing some joke?
*because you're not a Star Trek fan~*
*shut up, brain.*
Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A
His mirror universe counterpart
His alternate reality counterpart
His daughter, helm officer of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B
1840's - 1870's: Johor and Sarawak's economic trade
Economic and social change, part 1 of 2
Muhammad Hazim bin Onn, The Spice Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries, (Kosmo Press; 1878)
Today, if one would look over a map of modern Johor, he or she would quickly notice the substantial number of towns and cities whose names have the word 'Kangkar', or 'Kang' as their beginning words. A closer inspection would reveal that these words are not Malay of origin, but Teochew, and when translated would refer to either "river base" or "port". These place names are just one of the many many legacies of a socio-economic system that dominated Johor back in the mid-to-late 19th century: the Kangchu System.
The Kangchu System was a socio-economic policy developed by the monarchs of the Temenggung dynasty, constructed and codified over a period of forty years. Some of the basic elements of the system were first constructed as back as the 1830's, when the Temenggung family began amassing power at the expense of the ruling dynasty of Johor, the Bendaharas. Legend goes that the local family head at the time, Temenggung Abdul Rahman, noticed that several Chinese settlers – immigrants from British Singapore – were clearing out tracts of land around the Johor River. Upon questioning, he found out that the settlers were intending to plant pepper and gambir on the fields, and they were doing so in Johor to avoid British scrutiny in neighbouring Singapore.
Whether the tale is true, no one really knows, but records do show that around the late 1830’s to early 1840’s, Abdul Rahman began crafting a system that he hoped would accrue both power and wealth into his hands and his family. He created a small bureaucracy to oversee the immigrants and began handing out documents to settler leaders which permitted them to establish spice plantations on the riverbanks. In return, the leaders would pay taxes based on the profits of their spice exports to the state, though given the politics of the time most of it went to the Temenggung family. Slowly, Abdul Rahman’s experiment began to work, and with British collusion the Temenggungs grew to become one of the most powerful families in all of Johor, culminating in the Bendahara handover of 1955 and the installation of his son, Daeng Ibrahim, as ruler.
By the time of his son's ascension, the Kangchu System had grown into a full-fledged socio-economic policy. As the first monarch of his dynasty, Daeng Ibrahim sanctioned the system into an economic force, issuing permits known as Surat Sungai (Malay: "River Documents") to various "Kangchu" (Teochew: "Lord of the River") on a basis that they must be renewed after a specified period of time. These permits allowed the leaders to establish pepper and gambir plantations on river tributaries, as well as create basic services to cater the plantation workers. The bureaucracy was also expanded to handle the growing number of settlers streaming in from Singapore.
Lithograph of Chinese coolies on a riverboat in inland Johor.
The effect was immense. Tens of thousands of Chinese subgroups made their way to Johor, either wanting to establish their own plantations or to work in one of them. Most of the settlers were Teochews from the Canton region, but there were also Fuzhou, Hakka, Hokkien, Hainanese, and other subgroups making their way as well. Many of them would indeed become labourers and plantation workers, but there were also some who became construction workers and dock builders, erecting homes and piers for the new communities. Some became porters and boatmen who would ferry goods and spices up and down the rivers, while others set up shops and coffeehouses in the plantations themselves, catering to the settlers' demand. Many Johorean towns in the 1800's were founded in this way, and their legacy lies in their beginning names: 'Kangkar' or 'Kang'; ‘River base’ or ‘Port’.
The immigrants would often settle in areas where the local leaders are of the same subgroup as themselves, and it wasn't long before informal associations began making a presence. Relations with the local Malays were cautious and sometimes fraught with tension, but the low population density of Johor gave both sides breathing room in terms of owning land. Instead, most of the settlers’ animosity was directed at each other, and communal warfare often broke out between neighbouring plantations on the basis of ethnicity and dialect. However, the scattered nature of the plantations in those days made the fighting localized, and their lack of unity prevented an all-out uprising from quickly seizing control, as was the case with the 1857 Kuching Uprising that took place in neighbouring Sarawak.
Under Daeng Ibrahim, Johor became one of the richest sultanates in the Malay Peninsula, and the treasury was flushed with money and capital. In 1862, Temenggung Abu Bakar took over his father as both monarch of Johor and chief orchestrator of the Kangchu System. By that time, there were no less than 37 Kangchu "leaders" collectively running over 1200 plantations all over Johor. The new sultan accelerated the system, later adding his own touch with the creation of the Kanun Kangchu (Malay: "Laws of the Kangchu") in early 1872. Simply put, the Kanun Kangchu was a series of 81 written clauses detailing the responsibilities and rights of the Kangchu and the Chinese settlers; a radical policy for the time period. Despite heavy opposition from the Malay traditionalists, it passed through the royal court and came into force the following month, permanently solidifying the Kangchu System to the state itself.
As for the wealth generated, both Abdul Rahman and Daeng Ibrahim collected the profits for themselves and the family, but it would be Abu Bakar who would use the treasury to transform the sultanate as a whole...
‘Ranjit Singh’, The Economy of Sarawak from 1868 to 1905, (Lido Press; 1889)
To say that Sarawak in the 1870's went on an economic upswing was not surprising. More eyebrow-raising was exactly howdid Sarawak grew, and just how far-reaching was the economic policy of Charles Brooke towards the kingdom as a whole.
When he ascended the throne in 1868, the new Rajah was already mulling about on how could his underdeveloped kingdom be economically sustainable enough to resist foreign meddling and exploitative colonization. Up until that point, Sarawak’s economy was dominated by ore exports and cottage industries, ranging from wild rubber to rattan furniture. While that in itself was already a money earner – treasury accounts reported an annual income of over 150,000 Pounds in 1871, with nationwide expenses already accounted for – Charles knew that more money and capital would be needed to further develop the nation, especially for infrastructure.
One solution was a socio-economic policy that was called the Kangchu System. Developed by the rulers of the Johor Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula, it was a policy that led Chinese settlers of various kinds to immigrate to Johor and grow pepper and gambir plantations for worldwide export. In return, these plantations would then be taxed by the state in proportion to the profits generated from their crops. The Sarawak government quickly saw the economic potential, and began to copy the system for use in the kingdom, even drafting a Kanun Kangchu of their own on March 1873. As expected, thousands of Chinese settlers streamed into the kingdom, predominantly settling in the Rajang and Batang Lupar deltas.
However, the arrival of the Chinese settlers also set off considerable debate among the local Malays and Dayaks, especially on the issue of land. Though their plantations would be placed far from many Malay and Dayak villages, there was some inevitable overlap with existing native settlements, and no one wanted to give their hard-earned (and in some cases, battle-won) grounds to immigrant upstarts. Furthermore, the massive influx of new peoples led to considerable strain on the rice industry, forcing Sarawak to import rice from Burma and the Dutch East Indies to make up for the shortfall; an irk that will continue for the rest of the 19th century.
The result was a wealth of litigation and court issues, though due to Charles judicial reforms most of the cases were either resolved quickly or settled out of court. In addition, the Chinese settlers also grew vegetables and introduced new crops from southern China and Indochina, which soon became sought after by the Malays and Dayaks. As well as new crops, the introduction of "spice plants" led several neighbouring Malay and Dayak villages to embark on an unusual form of agricultural experimentation. In early 1875, supported by the Sarawak government, several Malay and Dayak formers began planting "on the side" cash crops to supplement traditional rice and orchard cultivation. Not just pepper and gambir, but sugarcane, cinnamon, and even coffee seeds were planted, grown, and eventually harvested, with plants and supplies courteously sold by the Sarawak government.
Chinese workers harvesting gambir from a Kangchu plantation, circa 1901.
However, the bulk of the kingdom's revenues were not spent on improving agriculture, but on shipping. 1870's Sarawak was a (relatively) isolated, underdeveloped kingdom, and one that was expanding year by year as more and more territories were incorporated into the polity. Due to the sheer vastness of the state, it was deemed more practical to use the existing rivers and waterways rather than building land links to disparate towns by cutting through the rainforest, which would swallow labour, resources, and the finite Sarawak Treasury. Use of Dayak Prahus was encouraged, with money flowing to support Malay and Dayak boat builders. The Sarawak government also used their wealth on buying second-rate ships and gunboats from Great Britain, snapping up old cruisers and cargo vessels and refitting them for use in the East Indies.
The result was, to say the least, an explosion of trade. With the pacification of the interior and the increase of economic opportunities, more and more Sarawakians began plying the waters to sell their goods, especially in the downstream villages. In particular, Kuching grew from a village of about 8,000 in 1868 a town of over 23,000 in 1877, and growing rapidly. New towns also sprung up around the kingdom's numerous river forts, where safety and security led many to establish themselves in the surrounding areas. In particular, the Chinese and Dayak communities began actively interacting with each another on these inland centres, and the wealth of native and imported goods meant that there was never a shortage of buyers and sellers.
This explosion in trade was aided somewhat with the development of a new class of Malay and Dayak traders, connected by strong familial or personal bonds. The 1870's were the era of Charles Brooke's punitive expeditions, and for the thousands of Malays and Dayaks who participated, it was an age that forged the country together in more ways than one. In the fights and battles, personal friendships developed between the Malay and Dayak subgroups, and this bond was reciprocated with mutual trade between allied Malay and Dayak communities during the peace. Dayak beads, traditional medicine, wild cloth, lowland vegetables; the reciprocal trades soon formed a complex web of roving merchants and their goods woven throughout the lowland parts of the kingdom, and beyond...
A painting of the South American Kapok tree, of which it's distant cousins are grown and harvested in Sarawak. In particular, the tree's fluffy seedpods were harvested to be used from cloth-making to pillow stuffing.
One curious side-effect of this trade boom was a revival of a product that was initially thought of as unmarketable in the kingdom: Porcelain. The history of Sarawak may stretch to the 1830's, but there is a deeper history that pervades the island, stretching back over a thousand years. From the height of the Song Dynasty on the 11th century to the zenith of Breunian Empire on the 16th, the region was awash with Chinese traders and their wares, and porcelain was one of the goods brought for sale. The Dayaks were especially taken with porcelain items, viewing them as precious objects to be used carefully and with respect. Some Dayak subgroups – like the Ibans and Melanaus – use porcelain jugs to store food and water, while other tribes would use them for spiritual purposes. Porcelain jars were also symbols of status for the Dayaks, and are often the first to go whenever an enemy tribe plunders their opponent's longhouse.
However, since the 17th century the Bruneian Empire and the dynasties of China went on a slow decline, and the porcelain trade dried up with it. What few items that survived were passed on through the generations, becoming precious or sacred objects among the remaining Dayak tribes. The boom of the 1870's revived the trade in full force. Chinese traders quickly saw the demand for high-quality porcelain, and by 1879 many Chinese stores in Sarawak have at least one section devoted to fine china. Shipped from Hong Kong and Singapore, these items could cost as much as 300 Sarawak Dollars apiece, with many stores putting up higher prices. Despite that, there were many Dayaks and Malays who saved an entire year's worth of money just to purchase a single large vase.
This luxury trade would later implode due to market oversaturation, but it was a sign of just how far Sarawak had come as a nation, and how it is increasingly connected to the wider world...
____________________
Footnotes:
1) This is where history seriously begins to diverge for this TL, though I will not say exactly where or how much has been diverted…
2) Yes, the Kangchu System was an actual thing, and it was used by both Johor and Sarawak up until the First World War. ITTL, things are mostly the same, except for a few important parts, namely the Kanun Kangchu.
3) From past papers and journals, there was some evidence to say that Sarawak had a local coffee and spice plantation economy up until the 1890’s, when worldwide coffee prices went on a freefall. ITTL, they may last longer due to… external factors.
4) Yes, the Dayaks really did place a lot on Chinese porcelain. There used to be a brilliant article floating around the Net detailing on how precious porcelain was to Sarawak, but somehow or other I lost it. ITTL, the porcelain trade will form the basis of a surprising relationship...
5) Yes, the kapok tree (we call them kekabu here) was seriously used for pillow stuffing. We even still sell these in Southeast Asia.
Muhammad Hazim bin Onn, The Spice Trade in the 18th and 19th Centuries, (Kosmo Press; 1878)
Today, if one would look over a map of modern Johor, he or she would quickly notice the substantial number of towns and cities whose names have the word 'Kangkar', or 'Kang' as their beginning words. A closer inspection would reveal that these words are not Malay of origin, but Teochew, and when translated would refer to either "river base" or "port". These place names are just one of the many many legacies of a socio-economic system that dominated Johor back in the mid-to-late 19th century: the Kangchu System.
The Kangchu System was a socio-economic policy developed by the monarchs of the Temenggung dynasty, constructed and codified over a period of forty years. Some of the basic elements of the system were first constructed as back as the 1830's, when the Temenggung family began amassing power at the expense of the ruling dynasty of Johor, the Bendaharas. Legend goes that the local family head at the time, Temenggung Abdul Rahman, noticed that several Chinese settlers – immigrants from British Singapore – were clearing out tracts of land around the Johor River. Upon questioning, he found out that the settlers were intending to plant pepper and gambir on the fields, and they were doing so in Johor to avoid British scrutiny in neighbouring Singapore.
Whether the tale is true, no one really knows, but records do show that around the late 1830’s to early 1840’s, Abdul Rahman began crafting a system that he hoped would accrue both power and wealth into his hands and his family. He created a small bureaucracy to oversee the immigrants and began handing out documents to settler leaders which permitted them to establish spice plantations on the riverbanks. In return, the leaders would pay taxes based on the profits of their spice exports to the state, though given the politics of the time most of it went to the Temenggung family. Slowly, Abdul Rahman’s experiment began to work, and with British collusion the Temenggungs grew to become one of the most powerful families in all of Johor, culminating in the Bendahara handover of 1955 and the installation of his son, Daeng Ibrahim, as ruler.
By the time of his son's ascension, the Kangchu System had grown into a full-fledged socio-economic policy. As the first monarch of his dynasty, Daeng Ibrahim sanctioned the system into an economic force, issuing permits known as Surat Sungai (Malay: "River Documents") to various "Kangchu" (Teochew: "Lord of the River") on a basis that they must be renewed after a specified period of time. These permits allowed the leaders to establish pepper and gambir plantations on river tributaries, as well as create basic services to cater the plantation workers. The bureaucracy was also expanded to handle the growing number of settlers streaming in from Singapore.
Lithograph of Chinese coolies on a riverboat in inland Johor.
The effect was immense. Tens of thousands of Chinese subgroups made their way to Johor, either wanting to establish their own plantations or to work in one of them. Most of the settlers were Teochews from the Canton region, but there were also Fuzhou, Hakka, Hokkien, Hainanese, and other subgroups making their way as well. Many of them would indeed become labourers and plantation workers, but there were also some who became construction workers and dock builders, erecting homes and piers for the new communities. Some became porters and boatmen who would ferry goods and spices up and down the rivers, while others set up shops and coffeehouses in the plantations themselves, catering to the settlers' demand. Many Johorean towns in the 1800's were founded in this way, and their legacy lies in their beginning names: 'Kangkar' or 'Kang'; ‘River base’ or ‘Port’.
The immigrants would often settle in areas where the local leaders are of the same subgroup as themselves, and it wasn't long before informal associations began making a presence. Relations with the local Malays were cautious and sometimes fraught with tension, but the low population density of Johor gave both sides breathing room in terms of owning land. Instead, most of the settlers’ animosity was directed at each other, and communal warfare often broke out between neighbouring plantations on the basis of ethnicity and dialect. However, the scattered nature of the plantations in those days made the fighting localized, and their lack of unity prevented an all-out uprising from quickly seizing control, as was the case with the 1857 Kuching Uprising that took place in neighbouring Sarawak.
Under Daeng Ibrahim, Johor became one of the richest sultanates in the Malay Peninsula, and the treasury was flushed with money and capital. In 1862, Temenggung Abu Bakar took over his father as both monarch of Johor and chief orchestrator of the Kangchu System. By that time, there were no less than 37 Kangchu "leaders" collectively running over 1200 plantations all over Johor. The new sultan accelerated the system, later adding his own touch with the creation of the Kanun Kangchu (Malay: "Laws of the Kangchu") in early 1872. Simply put, the Kanun Kangchu was a series of 81 written clauses detailing the responsibilities and rights of the Kangchu and the Chinese settlers; a radical policy for the time period. Despite heavy opposition from the Malay traditionalists, it passed through the royal court and came into force the following month, permanently solidifying the Kangchu System to the state itself.
As for the wealth generated, both Abdul Rahman and Daeng Ibrahim collected the profits for themselves and the family, but it would be Abu Bakar who would use the treasury to transform the sultanate as a whole...
**********
‘Ranjit Singh’, The Economy of Sarawak from 1868 to 1905, (Lido Press; 1889)
To say that Sarawak in the 1870's went on an economic upswing was not surprising. More eyebrow-raising was exactly howdid Sarawak grew, and just how far-reaching was the economic policy of Charles Brooke towards the kingdom as a whole.
When he ascended the throne in 1868, the new Rajah was already mulling about on how could his underdeveloped kingdom be economically sustainable enough to resist foreign meddling and exploitative colonization. Up until that point, Sarawak’s economy was dominated by ore exports and cottage industries, ranging from wild rubber to rattan furniture. While that in itself was already a money earner – treasury accounts reported an annual income of over 150,000 Pounds in 1871, with nationwide expenses already accounted for – Charles knew that more money and capital would be needed to further develop the nation, especially for infrastructure.
One solution was a socio-economic policy that was called the Kangchu System. Developed by the rulers of the Johor Sultanate on the Malay Peninsula, it was a policy that led Chinese settlers of various kinds to immigrate to Johor and grow pepper and gambir plantations for worldwide export. In return, these plantations would then be taxed by the state in proportion to the profits generated from their crops. The Sarawak government quickly saw the economic potential, and began to copy the system for use in the kingdom, even drafting a Kanun Kangchu of their own on March 1873. As expected, thousands of Chinese settlers streamed into the kingdom, predominantly settling in the Rajang and Batang Lupar deltas.
However, the arrival of the Chinese settlers also set off considerable debate among the local Malays and Dayaks, especially on the issue of land. Though their plantations would be placed far from many Malay and Dayak villages, there was some inevitable overlap with existing native settlements, and no one wanted to give their hard-earned (and in some cases, battle-won) grounds to immigrant upstarts. Furthermore, the massive influx of new peoples led to considerable strain on the rice industry, forcing Sarawak to import rice from Burma and the Dutch East Indies to make up for the shortfall; an irk that will continue for the rest of the 19th century.
The result was a wealth of litigation and court issues, though due to Charles judicial reforms most of the cases were either resolved quickly or settled out of court. In addition, the Chinese settlers also grew vegetables and introduced new crops from southern China and Indochina, which soon became sought after by the Malays and Dayaks. As well as new crops, the introduction of "spice plants" led several neighbouring Malay and Dayak villages to embark on an unusual form of agricultural experimentation. In early 1875, supported by the Sarawak government, several Malay and Dayak formers began planting "on the side" cash crops to supplement traditional rice and orchard cultivation. Not just pepper and gambir, but sugarcane, cinnamon, and even coffee seeds were planted, grown, and eventually harvested, with plants and supplies courteously sold by the Sarawak government.
Chinese workers harvesting gambir from a Kangchu plantation, circa 1901.
However, the bulk of the kingdom's revenues were not spent on improving agriculture, but on shipping. 1870's Sarawak was a (relatively) isolated, underdeveloped kingdom, and one that was expanding year by year as more and more territories were incorporated into the polity. Due to the sheer vastness of the state, it was deemed more practical to use the existing rivers and waterways rather than building land links to disparate towns by cutting through the rainforest, which would swallow labour, resources, and the finite Sarawak Treasury. Use of Dayak Prahus was encouraged, with money flowing to support Malay and Dayak boat builders. The Sarawak government also used their wealth on buying second-rate ships and gunboats from Great Britain, snapping up old cruisers and cargo vessels and refitting them for use in the East Indies.
The result was, to say the least, an explosion of trade. With the pacification of the interior and the increase of economic opportunities, more and more Sarawakians began plying the waters to sell their goods, especially in the downstream villages. In particular, Kuching grew from a village of about 8,000 in 1868 a town of over 23,000 in 1877, and growing rapidly. New towns also sprung up around the kingdom's numerous river forts, where safety and security led many to establish themselves in the surrounding areas. In particular, the Chinese and Dayak communities began actively interacting with each another on these inland centres, and the wealth of native and imported goods meant that there was never a shortage of buyers and sellers.
This explosion in trade was aided somewhat with the development of a new class of Malay and Dayak traders, connected by strong familial or personal bonds. The 1870's were the era of Charles Brooke's punitive expeditions, and for the thousands of Malays and Dayaks who participated, it was an age that forged the country together in more ways than one. In the fights and battles, personal friendships developed between the Malay and Dayak subgroups, and this bond was reciprocated with mutual trade between allied Malay and Dayak communities during the peace. Dayak beads, traditional medicine, wild cloth, lowland vegetables; the reciprocal trades soon formed a complex web of roving merchants and their goods woven throughout the lowland parts of the kingdom, and beyond...
A painting of the South American Kapok tree, of which it's distant cousins are grown and harvested in Sarawak. In particular, the tree's fluffy seedpods were harvested to be used from cloth-making to pillow stuffing.
One curious side-effect of this trade boom was a revival of a product that was initially thought of as unmarketable in the kingdom: Porcelain. The history of Sarawak may stretch to the 1830's, but there is a deeper history that pervades the island, stretching back over a thousand years. From the height of the Song Dynasty on the 11th century to the zenith of Breunian Empire on the 16th, the region was awash with Chinese traders and their wares, and porcelain was one of the goods brought for sale. The Dayaks were especially taken with porcelain items, viewing them as precious objects to be used carefully and with respect. Some Dayak subgroups – like the Ibans and Melanaus – use porcelain jugs to store food and water, while other tribes would use them for spiritual purposes. Porcelain jars were also symbols of status for the Dayaks, and are often the first to go whenever an enemy tribe plunders their opponent's longhouse.
However, since the 17th century the Bruneian Empire and the dynasties of China went on a slow decline, and the porcelain trade dried up with it. What few items that survived were passed on through the generations, becoming precious or sacred objects among the remaining Dayak tribes. The boom of the 1870's revived the trade in full force. Chinese traders quickly saw the demand for high-quality porcelain, and by 1879 many Chinese stores in Sarawak have at least one section devoted to fine china. Shipped from Hong Kong and Singapore, these items could cost as much as 300 Sarawak Dollars apiece, with many stores putting up higher prices. Despite that, there were many Dayaks and Malays who saved an entire year's worth of money just to purchase a single large vase.
This luxury trade would later implode due to market oversaturation, but it was a sign of just how far Sarawak had come as a nation, and how it is increasingly connected to the wider world...
____________________
Footnotes:
1) This is where history seriously begins to diverge for this TL, though I will not say exactly where or how much has been diverted…
2) Yes, the Kangchu System was an actual thing, and it was used by both Johor and Sarawak up until the First World War. ITTL, things are mostly the same, except for a few important parts, namely the Kanun Kangchu.
3) From past papers and journals, there was some evidence to say that Sarawak had a local coffee and spice plantation economy up until the 1890’s, when worldwide coffee prices went on a freefall. ITTL, they may last longer due to… external factors.
4) Yes, the Dayaks really did place a lot on Chinese porcelain. There used to be a brilliant article floating around the Net detailing on how precious porcelain was to Sarawak, but somehow or other I lost it. ITTL, the porcelain trade will form the basis of a surprising relationship...
5) Yes, the kapok tree (we call them kekabu here) was seriously used for pillow stuffing. We even still sell these in Southeast Asia.
1) This is where history seriously begins to diverge for this TL, though I will not say exactly where or how much has been diverted…
Hmmm. According to the linked article, the Kangchu system was used in Sarawak in OTL, so that's not the divergence. Is it the fact that Charles Brooke is taking care to include the Malays and Dayaks in the system by encouraging the Chinese planters to use their boats?
Seems that the Kangchus will become fully integrated to the upper crust of Johor (and Sarawak) society. (Are the "River Lords" include the Phua clan?)
Close but no cigar. While the extra emphasis on shipping is a major factor ITTL that won't be present IOTL, it is the formation of the informal trading network between the Malays and Dayaks that will change everything, and it will one that'll cause even more butterflies when northern Borneo and the Riau islands are included. Goods can now arrive at their destination quicker and cheaper than ever before, and many people outside the kingdom would be very interested to have a "Sarawak connection" to get their wares quickly.
However, this also means opening the doors to contraband goods not allowed in the Sarawak government, and no one has said anything yet on outside forces tinkering with the shipping business, let alone ask "why is that kingdom building a large (brown-water) navy....?"
Oh yes, they will. With the wealth generated, it's hard not to be in with the upper crust
. In this timeline, both Johor and Sarawak are looking at each other across the sea, and so are their Kangchu leaders. There might be informal connections made between the "River Lords" of Johor Bahru and Kuching, though Charles Brooke would not be happy with that*.I'm afraid I have no clue on the Phua clan,
though there will be a lot of local clans vying for political power in the near future, particularly in Johor. Wealth attracts lots of ambitious people, and those who have Abu Bakar's ear would have the biggest influence of all (though considering Abu Bakar, it might be the Kangchu who will have to listen to him).*Where the Kangchu goes, so will the opium.
1860's - 1870's: Sarawak's foreign immigrants
Happy New Year and Maulidur Rasul! Now, on to the updates!
Chloe Pang, A Socio-Political History of Sarawak; 3rd Edition (Kayangan Publishing: 1999)
...I870’s Sarawak was a kingdom in constant flux, and increasing links with the outside world pushed it onwards to the forefront of social change. From almost every navigational direction came new arrivals into its ports, bringing with them trade, culture, and deep ties back to the lands from which they departed. It was a tumultuous time in which a crucible was formed, and it was from this that the kingdom would have its political evolution…
China
The Chinese immigrants were among the first to make their mark in the decade, and in an unsavoury way as well. As thousands of immigrants made their way to work in the Kangchu System, they would form their own groups, clans, and associations to differentiate themselves from the locals and band together in their new home.
Of these, one particular association would prove to be a point of consternation for the White Rajah: the Ghee Hin Kongsi. A plurality of the Kangchu immigrants that arrived in Sarawak were Teochew, but they formed a large majority in neighbouring Johor, and their association was recognized by the Johorean Sultan as a means to better watch over the pepper plantations. When the Natuna and Anambas Islands were handed over to the kingdom in 1875, it wasn't long before boats from both nations began to dock on the islands' towns, and it wasn't long before the Ghee Hin started making inroads in mainland Sarawak itself.
For a kingdom that has regularly battled against Chinese secret societies, the arrival of the Ghee Hin was an enormous headache. The kingdom had long criminalized on the sale of opium, but the product was readily sold in neighbouring Johor. Sarawak's investment in shipping meant that more goods can now be transported to British Singapore at a lower cost, but it also meant large quantities of opium and contraband entering the state from the Malay Peninsula. Worse, a large plurality of Sarawak Chinese were of Hakka origin, and their own association, the Hai San Kongsi (itself based in Malaya and travelled via the islands), were bitterly opposed to the Teochew-dominated Ghee Hin.
Wildcat fights quickly broke out amongst the plantations, and weapons began to flow just as swiftly as smuggled goods. While the scale of the fighting never peaked to the point of the turf battles in Malaya, by the late 1870's there was a general feeling that something had gone amiss in the Kangchu System. Sarawak would later approve the sale of opium through "official" channels and elevate Kangchu leaders in administrative matters in the style of Johor, but until the Kangchu Talks of May 1879 the kingdom would fight a losing battle against the opium smugglers, raiding warehouses in the Rajang Delta whilst patrolling ceaselessly on their island holdings.
However, there were a few immigrants that didn’t take part in the Kangchu System whatsoever. Following the farmers and planters were the merchants and traders, recognizing the opportunity of commerce in a new land. Many of Sarawak’s Chinatowns date back to this decade as hundreds of trading families settled in the southern port cities. Aside from engaging with the Kangchu and the settlers, they also traded with the Malays and Dayaks, exchanging products from cottage industries for outside goods.
Though the Chinese community at this point had associations and organizations, they were very fragmented and more focused on preserving ethno-socio-cultural fabric than anything else, barely engaging politically with the other residents of Sarawak. Nonetheless, their organizational framework was formed during this era, and it would provide a template for other groups to follow…
The East Indies
The late 1860’s were a time of consolidation and conquest for the Dutch East Indies, and in their wake lay many who disliked their new colonial lords. The new laws, taxes, and social upheaval caused by the Dutch resulted in many residents throughout their archipelago to count their options, and there were several roads to choose. While most families either fought against the Dutch or make do with the new times, some in the archipelago decided to either work alongside them as trading partners or simply move someplace else. Throughout the 1860's to the early 1900's there were small trickles of emigration and immigration as various groups roved around the East Indies searching for a new home.
Pepper farmers fleeing from Aceh and Palembang roved with Bugis, Javanese and Hadrami merchants, settling in various new towns and locales. Of the flock, a few decided to settle in the coastal towns of Sarawak. Kuching, Maling, Bintulu, and Fort Charles all received about a dozen or so new families every year, with immigration peaking around the mid-1880's. The pepper farmers quickly blended in with the kingdom’s plantation economy, setting up their own spice farms around the towns and the river deltas. Later on, they would be among the first to experiment with the new cash crops encouraged by the government, diversifying Sarawak's economy in the late 19th century.
The merchants would also discover their own niche in Sarawakian society, becoming commercial outlets for the kingdom’s riverine trading network and becoming intermediaries in the archipelago's informal commerce system. Later, as the northern Riau islands were bequeathed to the Brookes, trade links would also form with Johor and British Singapore, though the Chinese never lost their primacy on the Borneo-Peninsula trade. Marriages with the Malays were common, and in time great families would rise from these unions.
Of particular note were the small cadre of teachers and educated men whom emigrated from the sultanates of Sumatra. Back then, the Sumatran teachers were considered to have a "greater gasp" of the Malay language, and schools set up by Sumatran teachers were heavily attended by the Kuching Malay populace. While the Sarawak government didn't approve of a national education system (they thought the kingdom was for too diverse for such policies), they did encourage the usage of Malay among the locals to better facilitate communication and trade, and so encouraged the growth of Malay schools by providing them with literary materials and financial backing.
In time, these men and women would lay the seeds of the kingdom's Malay literary and political movement...
India
By the 1870's Sarawak already had an Indian community of its own, albeit a miniscule one. In the previous decades, the previous Rajah had used Sikh and Hindu troops from British India to man the numerous river forts of the kingdom, helped in part by the British who wanted to punish low-ranking men who participated in the Indian Rebellion. Sarawak was deemed to be "a suitable place of sentencing", and several hundred rank-and-file troops ended up being stationed in Borneo as a form of exile.
By the time of Charles' ascension, the descendants of those men had planted firm roots in their new home, and the use of Sikh troops on river forts has been made law by the Sarawak government. The men were to be stationed for a period of several years, after which they would have the option of either returning to India or stay in Sarawak. Most went back, but a few stayed behind; becoming shopkeepers or policemen for the ever-expanding nation, sending remittances back to their families in exchange for spouses or supplies.
This small community was then enlarged by the addition of several thousand Tamils from Southeast India and Ceylon. The kingdom, for all its inclusion of laws favouring Malays and Dayaks, had several European planters that managed to slip past the bureaucracy to establish their own spice farms. These men once used local labour, but the arrival of the Chinese immigrants and the immense court litigation that followed, coupled with the increase of Malay and Dayak working laws, prompted them to import foreign workers instead. Around 3,000 to 5,000 labourers, predominantly Tamils, immigrated to Sarawak from 1871 to 1879, usually by way of being contracted.
These people would toil for years and even decades in the plantations, though some would compete with the Chinese and East Indies merchants in commerce and services. Barbers and moneylenders are one niche position, though the Muslim Tamils would later make their mark with their mamak stalls and coffee shops. There were even a few Indian traders that arrived to Sarawak out of their own free will, riding the coattails of the British to trade in the latter’s ever-expanding Empire.
Though minuscule when compared to the previous arrival groups, they would form one of the most important pillars of Sarawak’s political evolution, not least because by the end of the 1870’s, even they had made links with the peninsula and island port that lay across the sea…
Other notable events
One last factoid; the year 1871 was an important one in several ways. It was not only the year when the Borneo Treaty was signed and hence, Maritime Southeast Asia carved into multiple pieces, it was also the birth year for the kingdom’s now-famous (or infamous) boat-racing celebration: the Sarawak Regatta.
Though records are scant, it is believed that the event was first thought of when the newly-acclaimed Rajah, Charles Brooke, searched for a more peaceful way to settle disputes between different Dayak tribes and reaffirm his relations with his native allies. Stopping by the Isle of Wight on a brief trip to England, he attended the Cowes Week regatta and was inspired by the event, carrying over the idea of a boat-racing competition back to his kingdom. With the riverine nature of the Dayaks and the pride both Dayaks and Malays take into their boat-crafting, the proposal was met very swimmingly in the kingdom.
The first Sarawak Regatta was launched on New Year’s Day 1871, with almost thirty teams from the capital and the nearby villages racing one another down the Kuching River. Prizes were awarded to the winners, with the overall champions receiving a cash reward of 50 Sarawak Dollars and being the toast of the day. Though short in duration, the event caught significant local attraction, and many Kuching residents thronged the piers and riverbanks to cheer on their favourites; a new tradition was born.
In time, the Regatta will place a prominent part of social life in the kingdom, and – even more in time – play a notable part in regional history as well…
____________________
Footnotes:
1) Let's just say a lot has happened over the past decades that has made a lot of stuff quite different than OTL.
2) There were secret societies in Sarawak IOTL. ITTL, they have linked up with the main players from Malaya. In any case, Sarawak's troubles won't be the Bornean equivalent of the Larut Wars or the Johor turf battles, but it won't exactly be an easy time for the Brookes either.
3) The Sarawak Regatta was an actual thing, and it still exists today, albeit in a different form. ITTL, the event will have a more... prominent place in regional - maybe even word - affairs.
Chloe Pang, A Socio-Political History of Sarawak; 3rd Edition (Kayangan Publishing: 1999)
...I870’s Sarawak was a kingdom in constant flux, and increasing links with the outside world pushed it onwards to the forefront of social change. From almost every navigational direction came new arrivals into its ports, bringing with them trade, culture, and deep ties back to the lands from which they departed. It was a tumultuous time in which a crucible was formed, and it was from this that the kingdom would have its political evolution…
China
The Chinese immigrants were among the first to make their mark in the decade, and in an unsavoury way as well. As thousands of immigrants made their way to work in the Kangchu System, they would form their own groups, clans, and associations to differentiate themselves from the locals and band together in their new home.
Of these, one particular association would prove to be a point of consternation for the White Rajah: the Ghee Hin Kongsi. A plurality of the Kangchu immigrants that arrived in Sarawak were Teochew, but they formed a large majority in neighbouring Johor, and their association was recognized by the Johorean Sultan as a means to better watch over the pepper plantations. When the Natuna and Anambas Islands were handed over to the kingdom in 1875, it wasn't long before boats from both nations began to dock on the islands' towns, and it wasn't long before the Ghee Hin started making inroads in mainland Sarawak itself.
For a kingdom that has regularly battled against Chinese secret societies, the arrival of the Ghee Hin was an enormous headache. The kingdom had long criminalized on the sale of opium, but the product was readily sold in neighbouring Johor. Sarawak's investment in shipping meant that more goods can now be transported to British Singapore at a lower cost, but it also meant large quantities of opium and contraband entering the state from the Malay Peninsula. Worse, a large plurality of Sarawak Chinese were of Hakka origin, and their own association, the Hai San Kongsi (itself based in Malaya and travelled via the islands), were bitterly opposed to the Teochew-dominated Ghee Hin.
Wildcat fights quickly broke out amongst the plantations, and weapons began to flow just as swiftly as smuggled goods. While the scale of the fighting never peaked to the point of the turf battles in Malaya, by the late 1870's there was a general feeling that something had gone amiss in the Kangchu System. Sarawak would later approve the sale of opium through "official" channels and elevate Kangchu leaders in administrative matters in the style of Johor, but until the Kangchu Talks of May 1879 the kingdom would fight a losing battle against the opium smugglers, raiding warehouses in the Rajang Delta whilst patrolling ceaselessly on their island holdings.
However, there were a few immigrants that didn’t take part in the Kangchu System whatsoever. Following the farmers and planters were the merchants and traders, recognizing the opportunity of commerce in a new land. Many of Sarawak’s Chinatowns date back to this decade as hundreds of trading families settled in the southern port cities. Aside from engaging with the Kangchu and the settlers, they also traded with the Malays and Dayaks, exchanging products from cottage industries for outside goods.
Though the Chinese community at this point had associations and organizations, they were very fragmented and more focused on preserving ethno-socio-cultural fabric than anything else, barely engaging politically with the other residents of Sarawak. Nonetheless, their organizational framework was formed during this era, and it would provide a template for other groups to follow…
The East Indies
The late 1860’s were a time of consolidation and conquest for the Dutch East Indies, and in their wake lay many who disliked their new colonial lords. The new laws, taxes, and social upheaval caused by the Dutch resulted in many residents throughout their archipelago to count their options, and there were several roads to choose. While most families either fought against the Dutch or make do with the new times, some in the archipelago decided to either work alongside them as trading partners or simply move someplace else. Throughout the 1860's to the early 1900's there were small trickles of emigration and immigration as various groups roved around the East Indies searching for a new home.
Pepper farmers fleeing from Aceh and Palembang roved with Bugis, Javanese and Hadrami merchants, settling in various new towns and locales. Of the flock, a few decided to settle in the coastal towns of Sarawak. Kuching, Maling, Bintulu, and Fort Charles all received about a dozen or so new families every year, with immigration peaking around the mid-1880's. The pepper farmers quickly blended in with the kingdom’s plantation economy, setting up their own spice farms around the towns and the river deltas. Later on, they would be among the first to experiment with the new cash crops encouraged by the government, diversifying Sarawak's economy in the late 19th century.
The merchants would also discover their own niche in Sarawakian society, becoming commercial outlets for the kingdom’s riverine trading network and becoming intermediaries in the archipelago's informal commerce system. Later, as the northern Riau islands were bequeathed to the Brookes, trade links would also form with Johor and British Singapore, though the Chinese never lost their primacy on the Borneo-Peninsula trade. Marriages with the Malays were common, and in time great families would rise from these unions.
Of particular note were the small cadre of teachers and educated men whom emigrated from the sultanates of Sumatra. Back then, the Sumatran teachers were considered to have a "greater gasp" of the Malay language, and schools set up by Sumatran teachers were heavily attended by the Kuching Malay populace. While the Sarawak government didn't approve of a national education system (they thought the kingdom was for too diverse for such policies), they did encourage the usage of Malay among the locals to better facilitate communication and trade, and so encouraged the growth of Malay schools by providing them with literary materials and financial backing.
In time, these men and women would lay the seeds of the kingdom's Malay literary and political movement...
India
By the 1870's Sarawak already had an Indian community of its own, albeit a miniscule one. In the previous decades, the previous Rajah had used Sikh and Hindu troops from British India to man the numerous river forts of the kingdom, helped in part by the British who wanted to punish low-ranking men who participated in the Indian Rebellion. Sarawak was deemed to be "a suitable place of sentencing", and several hundred rank-and-file troops ended up being stationed in Borneo as a form of exile.
By the time of Charles' ascension, the descendants of those men had planted firm roots in their new home, and the use of Sikh troops on river forts has been made law by the Sarawak government. The men were to be stationed for a period of several years, after which they would have the option of either returning to India or stay in Sarawak. Most went back, but a few stayed behind; becoming shopkeepers or policemen for the ever-expanding nation, sending remittances back to their families in exchange for spouses or supplies.
This small community was then enlarged by the addition of several thousand Tamils from Southeast India and Ceylon. The kingdom, for all its inclusion of laws favouring Malays and Dayaks, had several European planters that managed to slip past the bureaucracy to establish their own spice farms. These men once used local labour, but the arrival of the Chinese immigrants and the immense court litigation that followed, coupled with the increase of Malay and Dayak working laws, prompted them to import foreign workers instead. Around 3,000 to 5,000 labourers, predominantly Tamils, immigrated to Sarawak from 1871 to 1879, usually by way of being contracted.
These people would toil for years and even decades in the plantations, though some would compete with the Chinese and East Indies merchants in commerce and services. Barbers and moneylenders are one niche position, though the Muslim Tamils would later make their mark with their mamak stalls and coffee shops. There were even a few Indian traders that arrived to Sarawak out of their own free will, riding the coattails of the British to trade in the latter’s ever-expanding Empire.
Though minuscule when compared to the previous arrival groups, they would form one of the most important pillars of Sarawak’s political evolution, not least because by the end of the 1870’s, even they had made links with the peninsula and island port that lay across the sea…
Other notable events
One last factoid; the year 1871 was an important one in several ways. It was not only the year when the Borneo Treaty was signed and hence, Maritime Southeast Asia carved into multiple pieces, it was also the birth year for the kingdom’s now-famous (or infamous) boat-racing celebration: the Sarawak Regatta.
Though records are scant, it is believed that the event was first thought of when the newly-acclaimed Rajah, Charles Brooke, searched for a more peaceful way to settle disputes between different Dayak tribes and reaffirm his relations with his native allies. Stopping by the Isle of Wight on a brief trip to England, he attended the Cowes Week regatta and was inspired by the event, carrying over the idea of a boat-racing competition back to his kingdom. With the riverine nature of the Dayaks and the pride both Dayaks and Malays take into their boat-crafting, the proposal was met very swimmingly in the kingdom.
The first Sarawak Regatta was launched on New Year’s Day 1871, with almost thirty teams from the capital and the nearby villages racing one another down the Kuching River. Prizes were awarded to the winners, with the overall champions receiving a cash reward of 50 Sarawak Dollars and being the toast of the day. Though short in duration, the event caught significant local attraction, and many Kuching residents thronged the piers and riverbanks to cheer on their favourites; a new tradition was born.
In time, the Regatta will place a prominent part of social life in the kingdom, and – even more in time – play a notable part in regional history as well…
____________________
Footnotes:
1) Let's just say a lot has happened over the past decades that has made a lot of stuff quite different than OTL.
2) There were secret societies in Sarawak IOTL. ITTL, they have linked up with the main players from Malaya. In any case, Sarawak's troubles won't be the Bornean equivalent of the Larut Wars or the Johor turf battles, but it won't exactly be an easy time for the Brookes either.
3) The Sarawak Regatta was an actual thing, and it still exists today, albeit in a different form. ITTL, the event will have a more... prominent place in regional - maybe even word - affairs.
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I wonder how much intermarriage there will be between the Chinese, Malay and Dayak upper classes. That could determine whether the coming Malay/Dayak literary and political movement is anti-immigrant in addition to being pro-democracy.
I do question that too. AFAICT, intermarriage is very rare between these communities even today. Malaysian and Singaporean society seems to be strongly "pillarised".
Good update.
Waiting for more, of course...
Is this OK enough?
Well, if you want a layman's answer, not much. At this point, Many of Sarawak's upper classes marry with those from either the same tribe or ethnic group, and cultural conventions still hold sway over much of the land, even among immigrants. Over time though, this will change as faith, commerce, and successful partnerships began working their pull on the status quo. The Malays and the East Indies merchants would be one mixed community ITTL, and there might be some among the Muslim Tamils as well. The Chinese will be the biggest ITTL wildcard; the commerce, faith and partnership factors will pull heavily on established clan marriages, and this isn't counting in the later Christian Chinese immigration yet.
Also, I haven't put in the Chinese Peranakan and Jawi Peranakan communities yet. They were already established in Malaya by then, and might just hop over to Borneo ITTL.*
As for whether or not will the intermarriages affect the future literary and political movement, keep in mind that there were more than just ethnic factors pulling along the ideas IOTL. In the early days, some of the first political dialogues in Malaya and Sarawak were more based on faith rather than ethnicity, and ITTL, it might not even be that that will kickstart the kingdom's national awakening. For the moment though, Sarawak is sticking to it's roots, though there are already signs of it crumbling away.
Well, keep in mind that Malaysia and Singapore's societies have been shaped by more than 50 years of socio-cultural and religious relations, not to mention the link between both nations and the international world. Back during the 18th and 19th centuries, there were quite a few mixed-race communities in Malaya and the DEI, and they played a significant role in the commerce and events of the era.
Keep it up, sketchdoodle!
I'm trying!
Also, just before I leave, I'd like to present this. It was supposed to be placed in the "War Expeditions" update, but I didn't have the time to finish it and only did after the post was up. It's a bit inaccurate, but it's still coherent in showing just how much land Charles Brooke and the Dayaks have gained from Brunei. The new terretories aren't being made official yet, but almost all the areas in pink are Sarawak-held.
Also, keep in mind that this is 1877. There's still three years to go until the end of the decade, and a lot can happen till then.
Well the Brookes have outflanked the Sultan of Brunei it looks like. What next? Try and push back the Sulu border.
Maybe not. If I am correct, the Spanish by the mid-70's would have started blockading the Sulu islands to force it to capitulation. ITTL, this might happen earlier due to Sarawak getting a foothold in the north, forcing Manila to start their southern conquest early.
As for Brunei, let's just say the sultan might be thinking of... unconventional options.
I was referring to the Sulu territory on Borneo.
Egads, he will offer his kingdom as a Protectorate to the Habsburg crown?! The unconventional audacity!
Ah... as for that, the Brookes are currently in two minds:
One: The Sulu territory on Borneo is a nice prize, but as it is, their resources and wealth are already being used on developing the country and screwing over Brunei, and there's not enough left of the former to completely take over Sulu Borneo. Plus, the Spanish are currently blockading the islands, and it's not good to be seen with your pants down and with a boatload of War Dayaks trailing behind you. Besides that; any sudden intrusion would risk causing a diplomatic screw-up on the level of the old DEI disputes or the Anglo-Dutch-Sarawak treaties of 1870-71.
Two: Sulu Borneo is a nice prize. the Brookes have long known that the island is rich in ores and mineral wealth (The antimony mines were what started the kingdom in the first place!), and Sulu Borneo might have the full motherlode. With Fort Brooke close by, it would take only a few weeks to supply and arm any Dayak expeditions up in the north, and the kingdom's investment in shipping is making the process easier by the year. Plus, a takeover of Sulu Sabah would blot out the last remaining land in Borneo from colonization, and the Brookes are nothing if not serious on paternalistic rule.
So for now Sarawak is tending on chipping Brunei to oblivion, though it's keeping a close eye for any news up north. There would probably be emissaries and traders going around Sulu Sabah asking on whether or not should the locals join the banner of the White Rajah, but no serious expeditions... for the moment.
And as for Brunei, it might be Habsburgs... or it might be somebody else. Remember: just a generation ago, the sultanate had political and commercial reach over all of the Sarawak coast. And anyone who's inquisitive can just look at the court records and see just how rich and powerful Brunei was back in the golden days. But those days are over, and the sultanate is now nothing more than the capital and whatever hundred-or-so kilometers of land that surrounds it. Trade is drying up, and it's finances are close to the point of insolvency; the Brookes have been sending "cession money" as compensation for the lands Brunei lost, and it's probably one of the few pillars that's propping up the state as it is.
As you can imagine, this does not make the Brookes or the British "dutiful protectors" in the eyes of the Bruneian people, much less the royal court. Also, keep in mind that as of the 1870's, Bandar Brunei has tenuous links with the U.S.A. However, the U.S burned their bridge with the Yankee Rajah Affair, and the sultan would probably not ask them for future help. That leaves... the French, the Italians, the... Spanish (Oh God, Brunei would rather submit to Sarawak than to Manila
), and whatever nation that has a consul in Singapore and Hong Kong; which would mean Austria-Hungary and Germany.Gee, if I were the sultan of Brunei and want something to completely screw Sarawak and Great Britain over, who should I choose?
Ah... as for that, the Brookes are currently in two minds:
Gee, if I were the sultan of Brunei and want something to completely screw Sarawak and Great Britain over, who should I choose?
Germany? Japan?
Not telling.
Its the Luxembourgers isn't it? No one expect a landlocked Grand Duchy to turn up on the coast of Borneo.