Empires inevitably fall, and when they do, history judges them for the legacies they leave behind.
– Noah Feldman, American legal scholar
Long before James Brooke discovered “Sarawak”, there was Negara Darul Hanah — a mythical country of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It was part of the domain of the powerful Brunei sultanate founded by a native chief Awang Alak Betatar whose kingdom stretched from Bandar Sri Begawan to as far as West Kalimantan — an area of 250,000 sq km or as big as present-day Sarawak and Malaya combined.
Sarawak’s colonial curator Tom Harrisson in “The Peoples of Sarawak” (Borneo Literature Bureau) (1959) said that Alak Betatar had Kelabit-Murut and Bisayah connections.
In my journey into the Central Highlands (2015), I wrote: “The Kelabits and Muruts themselves believe that in the old days, their ancestors were spread all over northern Sarawak and lived under the ancient kingdom of Brunei who ruled the people living between the shores of the Bay of Brunei and the vast hinterland — which includes the present-day Limbang, Lawas and Baram — extending to the present-day Sarawak-East Kalimantan border.”
It is also common knowledge among the Limbang Kelabits (also called Medihit Kelabits) that their ancestors originated from Belait in Brunei.
In search for greener pasture, some of the Kelabits ascended the Limbang River in stages, settling in the Medihit catchment area in the upper reaches which they still occupy.
The legend of Alak Betatar and the founding of Brunei is well-known to the Bisayah of Limbang.
As the story goes, seven brothers participated in a big boat race to decide who would be king; eldest brother Awang Alak Betatar won the race and was installed Raja of Brunei.
Under Alak Betatar, Brunei comprised the coastal village of Sundar, at the mouth of the Trusan River in Lawas.
His younger brother Awang Jambarak, who finished second, became the Raja of Limbang — a small parcel of land sandwiched between Brunei to the East, Sabah to the West and Baram in the south.
Spenser St John, the Colonial treasurer of Labuan, who was the first European to travel up the Limbang River in “Life in the Far East” (1862), said that Alak Betatar was on an expedition when he chanced upon a vessel from Johor.
He wrote: “Looking for prey … they observed a prahu (boat) gaily dressed out with banners, pulling along the coast. They gave chase and soon came up with her and found the daughter of the Sultan of Johor, surrounded by a bevy of pretty attendants; they seized them and carried them off to Brunei and presented the lady to their chief (Awang Alak Betatar) who married her.”
Under Alak Betatar (1363-1402), who was named “Sultan Muhamed Shah”, the sultanate expanded to neighbouring West Kalimantan from Cape Tanjung Dato at the southern tip of Borneo, to Sambas, Pontianak and Sukadana along the Indonesian coastline.
Brunei’s next possession was Lanjak at the remote northern sector of West Kalimantan 1,200km away from Pontianak.
At that time, “Negara Darul Hana” was a massive territory comprising Sarawak proper and West Kalimantan; the size of 250,000 sq km or Sarawak and Malaya combined.
During Alak Betatar’s 14th century reign, Brunei enjoyed an era of great fame when the Spanish were the first Europeans to visit the sultanate.
Chinese were next when two Chinese fleets, led by Admiral Cheng Ho, visited Brunei. He was followed by Chinese-Muslim voyager Ong Sum Ping who planted the seeds of Islam when married off a relative to the second sultan of Brunei.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Islam began to take root in Brunei and following 200 years gained prominence.
Known as the “Golden Age of the Brunei sultanate’s Royal Court”, Sultan Hassan introduced a hierarchy which Sarawak partly emulates.
During the reign of the ninth Brunei Sultan Muhammad Hassan, Brunei had a succession issue after he died and his eldest son Abdul Jalilul Akbar succeeded him.
However, Sultan Jalilul’s younger Pengiran Tengah claimed that since he was the Crown Prince before his father died, he was the rightful Sultan.
To resolve the issue, Sultan Jalilul appointed his Tengah as “Sultan of Sarawak” and its Kalimantan territories named “Darul Hana”.
In 1599, together with 1,000 Brunei Malays and native warriors, established a fort at Bukit Bedil at the foot of Mount Santubong.
Sultan Tengah ruled for 42 years until he was killed by one of his soldiers at “Batu Buaya” at the mouth of the Sarawak River in 1651, thus ending the reign of Sarawak’s first sovereign.
Early in the 1600s, the Brunei sultan introduced a system of four wazir or ministers of state — to help him rule the country together with an executive committee of nobles and council comprising ordinary citizens.
Members of the Brunei aristocracy, four pengirans were given the titles of Temenggong, Bendahara, diGadong and Pemanca.
The titles of Temenggong and Pemanca are currently being used for community leaders in Sarawak.
In pursuing the story of the Sukadana Sarawak connection in 2000, I accompanied Sarawak governor Tun Ahmad Zaidi’s son Nurman to the old Sukadana dynasty, an Indonesian village called “Telok Melano”.
Apparently, Tun Zaidi’s Sukadana roots remain intact having discovered an old “Makam” royal mausoleum linked to his family.
During Sultan Tengah’s reign, he appointed four ministers to administer “Darul Hana” and also established ties with the Johor and Pahang royal families.
Three hundred years later in 1826, the interest in Sarawak was revived when Sultan Omar Ali of Brunei sent his nephew Pengiran Indera Mahkota to Kuching to establish a small village to administer Sarawak proper which was now confined to Kuching (Sarawak Proper) to upper Sarawak.
As viceroy of Sarawak, Pengiran Mahkota Sarawak taxed the Malay aristocratic “Datus” in a tussle for control of the antimony ore and gold which was discovered in Bau.
Mahkota’s allies were Sea Dayak warriors from Skrang and Saribas who assisted him in subduing the Malays of Siniawan and Bidayuhs of upper Sarawak.
To escape persecution, Sarawak Malay chief Datu Patinggi Ali and his followers rebelled against Mahkota’s forces at Lidah Tanah returning to the ancient capital, 12 miles up the Sarawak River.
In 1840, Ali was confronted by Englishman James Brooke and his gun-boat “Royalist” and after a few unsuccessful skirmishes, agreed to declare Sarawak’s first “White Rajah” in the following year.
Sarawak was ruled by three Brookes-nephew Charles and Vyner — until the last Rajah ceded Sarawak to Great Britain on July 1, 1946.
In 1993, the Sarawak Museum authorities found Tengah’s long lost grave and Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (from 1981 till 2014) agreed to the building of a Sultan Tengah Mausoleum costing RM546,000.
In the meantime, after the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the ancient ties between Sultan Tengah with Johore and Pahang royal families were revived.
In the early 1970s, Sultan Abu Bakar of Pahang visited Sarawak and attended the Baram Regatta at Marudi.
A decade later in 1982, Sultan Abu Bakar’s son Sultan Ahmad Shah, who was the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, became the second Pahang King to call on Sarawak.
In 1985, I had the honour of joining the Johore Sultan Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Iskandar on a week-long tour of Kuching, Kapit, Bintulu and Miri.
In the entourage was Sultan Iskandar’s daughter, now the Raja Permaisuri Agong Sultanah Azizah, and the current King Sultan Abdullah, who was betrothed to her at that time.
In 1999, I was accorded another honour by being bestowed the “Ahli Mahkota Pahang” or Crown Member of Pahang at Pekan with two famous singers Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk M Nasir.
In January 2019, Sultan Abdullah, who was crowned the King of Malaysia, became the third member of the Pahang royalty to visit Kuching.
His overnight trip with the queen in April was to witness the laying of foundation stone of “Masjid Darul Hana” as a tribute to Sultan Tengah and his descendants.
A year earlier in 2017, Taib initiated his dream of building a “Darul Hana” or “S” bridge linking both banks of the Sarawak River — from the Astana complex in Northern Bank to the Charles Brooke memorial next to the Kuching courthouse.
As Sarawak celebrates its 60th Independence anniversary, the year 2023 is the fulfilment of Sultan Tengah’s long forgotten dream of the making of a “Great Sarawak Empire”.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
