History of Sarawak
The History of Sarawak can be traced as far as 40,000 years ago to the paleolithic period where the earliest evidence of human settlement is found in the Niah caves.
[9] Another earlier excavation by Tom Harrisson in 1949 unearthed a series of Chinese ceramics at Santubong (near Kuching) that date to the Tang and the Song dynasties in the 8th to 19th century AD.
[11] Early kingdoms within the Sarawak were Santubong (near Kuching), Sadong (near Samarahan), Saribas, Kalaka (both in Betong Division), Malano (in Mukah),[12] and Banting and Lingga (both located in Sri Aman).
A total of 79,654 ceramic pieces, beads, coins, and gold were found at Gedong, located 7 miles inland of Santubong.
In Syair Tarsilah Cetera Dato' Gudam dan Temenggong Qadir Negeri Saribas, the state was said to be ruled by two sisters.
[clarification needed] His kingdom consisted of groups of similar Melanau and Kajang language speakers and covered coastal Sarawak until Belait.
[12][16][17] European maps in the 16th and 17th centuries named the Santubong area as Cereua (1537), Cereuwa (1550), Melano as Belanos, Sadong as Sedang, Kalaka as Calca and Bintulu as River de Berulu.
In the 17th century, Samuel Blommaert, a Dutch merchant mentioned that "Sadong were one of the best place for trade comparable to Lauwe (Lawai)".
At Florence, Italy, an old map dated 1595 shows the Sarawak coastal areas as districts of Oya, Balingian dan Mukah which was marked as Malano.
According to Historian Robert Nicholl, Rajah Tugau of the Melanao was the Rajah Makatunao mentioned in the Philippine History book of Maragtas to which the 10 Datus of the Kedatuan of Madja-as in Panay Island, at the Visayas region, waged a war against, it is through the Melano that Visayans have further links with the Srivijayans in Vijayapura (The Srivijayan vassal-state in Borneo) before the conquest of Majapahit.
[14]: 36 During its golden age, Brunei under the leadership of Nahkhod Raga Sultan Bolkiah (1473-1521 AD) managed to conquer the Santubong Kingdom in 1512.
[19] Following the discovery of antimony ore in the Kuching region, Pangeran Indera Mahkota (a representative of the Sultan of Brunei) began to develop the territory between 1824 and 1830.
When antimony production increased, the Brunei Sultanate demanded higher taxes from Sarawak; this led to civil unrest and chaos.
[24][25] Based on the Iban legends and myths, they originally arrived from the Kapuas river in West Kalimantan (in present-day Indonesian Borneo).
[26][27][28] The early Iban folk story was also aligned by the modern-day language research by Asmah Haji Omar (1981), Rahim Aman (1997), Chong Shin and James T. Collins (2019) as well as from the evidence of material cultures from M. Heppell (2020) that verify the Iban language and its cultures emerged from the upper Kapuas region.
[29] According to the studies made by Benedict Sandin (1968), the era of Iban migrations from Kapuas Hulu was identified to begin from the 1750s onwards.
During the White Rajah's era in the 19th century, the migrations of the Ibans largely headed north towards the Rejang Basin, the area was reach from the upper Katibas, Batang Lupar and Saribas Rivers.
[29] The colonial government initiative has left a favourable effect on the expansion of the Iban language and culture throughout modern day Sarawak.
Meanwhile, Japanese forces seized British Borneo to guard their eastern flank in the Malayan Campaign and to facilitate their invasion of Sumatra and West Java.
British forces led by Lieutenant Colonel C. M. Lane retreated to Singkawang in Dutch Borneo bordering Sarawak.
Though the Malays were typically receptive toward the Japanese, other indigenous tribes such as the Iban, Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit and Lun Bawang maintained a hostile attitude toward them because of policies such as compulsory labour, forced deliveries of foodstuffs, and confiscation of firearms.
Beginning in March 1945, Allied commanders were parachuted into Borneo jungles and established several bases in Sarawak under an operation codenamed "Semut".
[55] During the battle of North Borneo, the Australian forces landed at Lutong-Miri area on 20 June 1945 and had penetrated as far as Marudi and Limbang before halting their operations in Sarawak.
[citation needed] A Cession Bill was put forth in the Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) and was debated for three days.
This caused hundreds of Malay civil servants to resign in protest, sparking an anti-cession movement and the assassination of the second colonial governor of Sarawak Sir Duncan Stewart by Rosli Dhobi.
This plan caused the local leaders in Sarawak to be wary of Tunku's intentions in view of the great disparity in socioeconomic development between Malaya and the Borneo states.
[65] Sarawak was officially granted self-government on 22 July 1963,[68][69] and formed the federation of Malaysia with Malaya, North Borneo, and Singapore on 16 September 1963.
[70][71] The Malaysian federation had drawn opposition from the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei People's Party, and the Sarawak-based communist groups.
SLL tried to realise a communist state in Sarawak through constitutional means but during the confrontation period, it resorted to armed struggle against the government.
In 1973, Bong surrendered to chief minister Abdul Rahman Ya'kub; this significantly reduced the strength of the communist party.
