Mat Salleh Rebellion
Malacca Sarawak Negeri Sembilan Perak Pahang Sabah Kelantan Terengganu The Mat Salleh Rebellion was a series of major armed disturbances against the British North Borneo Chartered Company administration in North Borneo, now the Malaysian state of Sabah.
[note 1][4]: p.54 [5]: p.863 His revolts were widely supported by the local communities and affected a large geographical area from Sandakan, across Gaya Island, including the interior, especially Tambunan.
[3]: p.190 His most notable uprising occurred at midnight on 9 July 1897, when he led his followers to successfully attack a major colonial settlement on Gaya Island.
[7] The family moved to Sugut, which unlike Inanam, was in the North Borneo Chartered Company's concession but since the abandonment of its tobacco estates, it had reportedly been "left largely to its own devices",[8]: p.47 and enjoyed relative autonomy.
There, Datu Bulu assumed a local leadership position along part of the Sugut River on the eastern coast of North Borneo.
He later inherited his father's local leadership position as the village chieftain in the Lingkabau district and Sungei Sugut.
[5]: p.862 His mixed parentage and role as a traditional local leader which he had inherited from his father contributed to his significant Bajau and Suluk following.
[5]: p.862 For example, some accounts claim that he used and married various symbols of authority and mysticism that the different communities could relate with to attest to his leadership position and military prowess.
This also implied that he and his army had ample mobility between forts and bases, which explains their repeated evasion of the company's troops.
The whole square was 22 yards by 20 and the fact that over 200 shell burst inside will give some idea of its strength, the enemy still remaining in possession.
There was neither exit nor entrance to the buildings and had an attacking force, no matter how strong, succeeded in reaching the middle of the square they would have been no nearer capturing the place than if they had stayed away, and they would have been shot down ... without the possibility of returning fire.
[5]: p.47 [11]: p.4–7 The company had set up its initial administrative centres on the west coast of North Borneo in Papar and Tempassuk.
[1] : p.1–5 [2]: p.34 After the station in Gaya was raided and torched by Mat Salleh and his followers in July 1897,[note 5][2]: p.35 the British relocated to the mainland, in Gantian.
[citation needed] In August 1895, in an attempt to have their grievances addressed through the colonial institution, Mat Salleh, his followers and traditional chiefs from Sugut went to Sandakan, then the seat of the government of North Borneo, to present a petition against the collection of poll-tax and the imposition of passes on boats by government chiefs to governor L. P. Beaufort and his representatives.
In response, on 29 August 1895, representatives from the company arrived at Mat Salleh's home in Jambongan to arrest him and four of his followers on the grounds of disturbing the peace at Sandakan and involvement with the murders of the two Ibans in 1894.
[3]: p.194 [10]: p.407–410 At midnight on 9 July 1897, Mat Salleh successfully led his followers to attack the company's settlement on Gaya Island.
The negotiations brought the Mengkabong, Manggatal and Api-Api districts (opposite Gaya Island) under the company's administration.
Simultaneously, the Sultan of Sulu wrote a letter to Dayang Bandung, Mat Salleh's wife, urging a peace settlement with Cowie.
Cowie verbally promised amnesty and to allow Mat Salleh to settle in the Tambunan Valley, pledging noninterference from the government.
Terms) met with Mat Salleh again and this time, he was allowed "to live in the interior and take charge of the Tambunan district".
This was also, apparently, a strategic move by the company[note 10][3]: p.198 to pursue its plans to establish an administrative centre in Tambunan.
[note 11][3]: p.201–202 [13]: p.194 [11]: p.30 [14]: p.35 A chance shot from a Maxim Gun had hit Mat Salleh in the left temple, killing him instantly.
[4]: p.54 [note 12][15] Also killed in the battle were about 1,000 of Mat Salleh's followers who fought from the neighbouring villages of Lotud Tondulu, Piasau, Kitutud, Kepayan and Sunsuron.
[12][13]: p.194 It was, however, another five years before the remnants of Mat Salleh's men surrendered, were killed or captured by the company, resulting in the end of the rebellion in 1905.
During this engagement, Mat Salleh, who for six years led a rebellion against the British Charted Company administration, met his death.After the memorial was opened, an article published in The New Straits Times on 9 March 2000 reported Sabah museum director and Tambunan local, Joseph Pounis Guntavid, as suggesting that "a search and study on Mat Salleh's actions strongly indicated that he was not a rebel but a warrior who went against foreign rule, fighting for North Borneo 'self-government'...Mat Salleh initiated patriotism that led the people to fight for self-rule until Sabah gained her independence through Malaysia on 16 September 1963".
Many writers of this rebellion see Mat Salleh as a lone crusader or an opportunist solely interested in restoring his precolonial social position of power.
To the British North Borneo Chartered Company, he was a rebel and troublemaker, while to his supporters, he was a fierce and skilled warrior, a reputation which remains today.
