WHITE RAJAH OF SARAWAK

It also remained as the private domain of the British Brookes family. The first white Rajah of Sarawak was the 19th Century adventurer, Sir James Brooke. He had been appointed Rajah of a large area of Sarawak in 1841, by the Sultan of Brunei, then the overlord, as a reward for his services in putting down Chinese pirates and rebel tribesmen. Brooke rule was, by local standards, efficient and during the years he and his heirs extended their control over Brunei territory, under the excuse that the Sultan’s rule was ineffective or oppressive. In 1864 the British government recognised Sarawak as an independent domain after the USA had done so in 1850, and in 1888 an agreement with the British placed it under British protection, although the Brooke family retained control over all domestic affairs. The first Rajah had been emasculated by a bullet during fighting in Burma and had no children. Thus, to the accompaniment of great family vows, he chose his sister’s son Charles Johnson, as his heir, and Charles added the surname Brooke to his own name. Charles Johnson Brooke reigned from 1868 to his death in 1917 at the age of 87. He was a pompous chilly man with the most startling face. For years, following the loss of his eye in an accident, he lived with one empty socket. Then, during a visit to London he stopped on impulse at a taxidermist’s and bought an eye intended for a stuffed albatross. Wearing this in his empty eye socket, gave Brooke a wild look.

Charles
Johnson
Brooke
In Sarawak he inaugurated a water-works and a wireless transmitter. He believed that it was his duty to shelter the head-hunting Dayak tribesmen from the realities of the world and would not allow their primitive lives to be changed by commercial developments or consumer goods from the West.
The old autocrat had three sons who were so shy of women that, at one point, they looked like becoming permanent bachelors. Then their mother, the Ranee, (she was estranged from her husband and lived in England) recruited an orchestra consisting entirely of eligible young women, and had it perform before her sons.
The choice of the eldest, Vyner, fell on the drummer, Sylvia Brett, daughter of Viscount Esher, and as a token of his love, he sent her a silver model of her drum. Vyner was so shy he bought a book of jokes on their honeymoon and read from it rather than make conversation.
Once installed as Rajah, Vyner proved to be a conscientious ruler. He worked to suppress slavery and head-hunting and sat as a judge in his own court. He mixed with tribal chiefs, drank their potent liquor and got to know them well. Some of his more primitive subjects, such as the Dayaks and Kayans, believed that he had an interview with God every day: they asked him whether God was clean-shaven or wore a beard.
His personal habits were also somewhat eccentric: he would stroll around the garden of his riverside palace accompanied by pet monkeys and occasionally, a pet boa constrictor or porcupine.
Sarawak made headlines in the British Press in the 1930’s when Rajah Vyner’s three daughters entered British society. The newspapers dubbed them incorrectly “the three princesses,” eagerly chronicled their doings. They even inspired a popular song, “My Sarawak.” One married an all-in wrestler: another the bandleader, Harry Roy.
Back in Sarawak, Vyner took on an official named Gerald McBryan who had the most grandiose ambitions. He became a Muslim, went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and dreamed of creating a united Muslim empire extending from Morocco to the Philippines, with himself as ruler in Sarawak. However, McBryan went clinically insane and the last great event of Brooke rule was the introduction of a constitution, with a representative assembly. This was Vyner Brooks gift to his people in 1941 after a century of family rule.

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