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The Papar Land Protest, 1910–11

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2012

Abstract

One of the recurring problems that emerged during the height of European expansion into Southeast Asia was the encroachment of European enterprises into indigenous lands. In most cases, problems existed especially in the manner that landholdings were understood by the natives vis-à-vis the new land laws introduced by the colonial powers. This often led to disputes which resulted in the natives being deprived of their rights. This paper looks into a case where the Dusun in Papar, North Borneo — an indigenous people — took the European colonial government to court over land rights which involved land encroachments by European enterprises and railways. The event took place barely 30 years after the first contact with European civilisation took place. The paper will examine the nature of the case and also investigate the role played by the Dusun and their fight against the government. The paper will also investigate the role of an English lawyer retained by the Dusun for the case, and that of the Roman Catholic Mission in championing the affairs of the indigenous people.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2012

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References

1 In 1878, the first European Resident, H.L. Leicester, was appointed to administer Papar and the adjacent area. He was replaced by A.H. Everett in 1879.

2 Rutter, Owen, The pagans of North Borneo (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1985 [1929]), pp. 30–1Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., p. 39.

4 British North Borneo Herald, 16 Dec. 1897.

5 See Handbook of British North Borneo, 1890 (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1890), pp. 143–54Google Scholar; Handbook of British North Borneo, 1934 (London: British North Borneo [Chartered] Company, 1934), pp. 91–3Google Scholar.

6 See North Borneo Land Proclamation II, 1885 and Tregonning, K.G., A history of modern Sabah (Singapore: University of Malaya Press, 1965), p. 120Google Scholar.

7 Clause 4 (i) and (ii) of the North Borneo Proclamation IX of 1902.

8 Clause 17 of North Borneo Proclamation XXIII of 1903.

9 See Clause 24 of North Borneo Proclamation XXIII of 1903.

10 Clauses 26 and 27 of North Borneo Proclamation XXIII of 1903.

11 See North Borneo Proclamation XXIII of 1903; and Tregonning, A History of Modern Sabah, p. 120.

12 Tregonning, A History of Modern Sabah, p. 121.

13 ‘Commissioner of Land's Inspection Report (West Coast) by Henry Walker’, British North Borneo Herald, 16 Feb. 1907.

14 G.C. Woolley joined the Chartered Company as a cadet in 1901 and rose through the ranks to become the Land Commissioner in 1911. See ‘Service Record of G.C. Woolley’, The National Archives, London (hereafter TNA), CO 874/201. (Woolley was the elder brother of Sir Leonard Woolley, the archaeologist who discovered the City of Ur.) Upon retiring in 1932, he returned to spend the remaining years of his life in Sabah. Woolley was interned during the war; he died in 1947. A keen observer of native customs, Woolley was the author of several volumes on the peoples of Sabah, including: Dusun adat: Some customs of the Dusuns of Tambunan and Ranau, West Coast Residency (Sandakan: Government Printers, 1939)Google Scholar; Kwijau adat: Customs regulating inheritance amongst the Kwijau tribe of the interior (Sandakan: Government Printers, 1939)Google Scholar; Murut adat: Customs regulating inheritance amongst the Nabai tribe of Keningau and the Timogun of Tenom (Jesselton: Government Printers, 1939)Google Scholar.

15 ‘The Diary of G.C. Woolley’ is deposited at the Sabah State Museum, 19 Apr. 1910.

16 Rutter joined the Chartered Company in 1910 as a cadet, and was Assistant District Officer in Putatan during the course of the case. He resigned in 1914 to serve in the army during the First World War and rose to the rank of major. Rutter was a prolific writer; among his more important works on Sabah are: British North Borneo: An account of its history, resources and native tribes (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1922)Google Scholar; and The pagans of North Borneo (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1929)Google Scholar.

17 ‘Sir John Anderson to the Earl of Crewe, Colonial Office’, 4 Oct. 1910, TNA, CO 531/2/33213.

18 ‘Petition from Simon to Sir John Anderson’, Labuan, 20 July 1910, TNA, CO 531/2/33213.

19 Ibid. For a study on Simon, see Wong Tze Ken, Danny, ‘In search of Simon [Sindurang Bulakang]: A pioneer defender of Kadazan rights in colonial North Borneo’, Borneo Research Bulletin, 39 (2008): 5370Google Scholar.

20 Singh, D.S. Ranjit, The making of Sabah (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 2000), p. 240Google Scholar.

21 ‘Commissioner of Land's Inspection Report (West Coast) by Henry Walker’, North Borneo Herald, 16 Feb. 1907.

23 ‘Governor to President, Court of Directors’, 19 Aug. 1911, TNA, CO 874/475.

25 Tregonning, History of modern Sabah, p. 122.

26 ‘Governor, North Borneo to Sir John Anderson’, 13 Sept. 1910, TNA, CO 531/2/33213.

28 Father Aloysius Goossens, d. 1935, was a Dutchman who was for a time professor of science and mathematics at St Joseph's College, Mill Hill. He arrived in Sarawak in 1881, and was recalled to teach at St Joseph's in 1883. After returning to Borneo in 1888, he served primarily with the Dusun at Papar-Limbawang, and was instrumental in compiling an extensive grammar and dictionary of the Limbahau Dusun language which was published in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1924. He was also known to be constantly in disagreement with the officials of the North Borneo Company, particularly over the issue of the Company's policy in appointing Muslim headmen to administer places such as Putatan, Bundu and Papar. See Rooney, John, Khabar gembira: A history of the Catholic Church in East Malaysia and Brunei, 1880–1976 (London and Kota Kinabalu: Burns and Oates Ltd and Mill Hill Missionaries, 1981), pp. 27–8Google Scholar, 140, 144 and 177–8.

29 ‘Governor, North Borneo to Sir John Anderson’, 13 Sept. 1910, TNA, CO 531/2/33213.

30 ‘Acting Governor A.C. Pearson to Sir J. West Ridgeway, Chairman North Borneo Company’, 6 Feb. 1911, TNA, CO 531/4/34569.

32 ‘Diary of G.C. Woolley’, 26 May 1910.

33 ‘Diary of G.C. Woolley’, 29 Aug. 1910. It is also from Woolley's diary that we learned about his role in drafting the 1913 Land Ordinance. Work had started even in 1910.

34 Rutter, The pagans of North Borneo, p. 216.

35 ‘Report by G.C. Woolley regarding Complaints about Mambakut, Kimanis and Papar Estates’, 11 Feb. 1911, TNA, CO 531/4/34569.

38 Rooney, Khabar gembira, pp. 27–8, 140, 144, 177–8.

39 Ranjit Singh, The making of Sabah, p. 256.

40 Tregonning, A history of modern Sabah, p. 60.

41 Rooney, Khabar gembira, p. 184.

42 British Parliamentary Papers, 33 (1920), pp. 681–705 as cited in Rooney, Khabar gembira, p. 184, fn. 35. According to Rooney, ‘The matter of the Putatan/Papar Land cases is dealt with in conjunction with other more serious accusations against the Chartered Company. The evidence against the Company is in three affidavits by G. de la Mothe, R.B. Turner and Dr J. Pryce Williams. Lord Milner, on behalf of the British Government, states simply that the Company has met its accusers satisfactorily, but does not specifically exonerate it. The documents do not mention or allude to the Catholic mission or its personnel.’

43 Rutter, The pagans of North Borneo, p. 60. Rutter was probably one of the Chartered Company's foremost apologists. On his role in the case, see Judgement of Civil Suit 7/11: Simon, Si Banjar and Others versus Collector of Land Revenue and the British North Borneo Government, 8 June 1911. Rutter devoted some pages absolving the Company from all wrongdoing vis-à-vis the Dusun claims. Rutter, British North Borneo, pp. 61–2.

44 ‘Governor Secretary, North Borneo to Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office’, 31 Oct. 1912, TNA, CO 531/4/34569.

46 ‘Turner to Goossens’, 24 June 1914 C4.2 Box C, No. 2 (b), Parishes/Priests/Religious Orders: Correspondences of Father Aloysius Goossens, 1929–1939, Roman Catholic Church, Kota Kinabalu Diocese Archives. I am grateful to Rt Rev. Bishop John Lee (now Archbishop) and Father Cosmas Lee of St Simon's Church, Likas, for allowing me access to the archives.

47 Sawrey-Cookson joined the Chartered Company in August 1910 to replace Turner. He was made an official member of the State Legislative Council in 1912. See ‘Service Record of S. Sawrey-Cookson’, TNA, CO 874/201.

48 Barraut was found not guilty and was granted 14 months’ leave after the case in Aug. 1911; see ‘Service Record of E.H. Barraut’, TNA, CO 874/200.

49 Sagit is a form of compensation demanded by customary laws. See ‘Judgement by S. Sawrey-Cookson, Judicial Commissioner’, 8 June 1911, TNA, CO 531/4/34569.

50 ‘Rider to Judgement by S. Sawrey-Cookson’, 18 Aug. 1911, TNA, CO 531/4/34569.

51 ‘Governor to President, Court of Directors’, 19 Aug. 1911, TNA, CO 874/475.

53 See ‘Various petitions by Dusun inhabitants to the Colonial Office’, 19 July 1911, TNA, CO 531/4/39938.

54 ‘Sir John Anderson, Minutes’, 9 Nov. 1912, TNA, CO 531/4/34569. See also ‘Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office to Secretary, North Borneo Company’, 12 Dec. 1912, TNA, CO 531/4/39938.

55 ‘Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office to Secretary, North Borneo Company’, 12 Dec. 1912, TNA, CO 531/4/39938.

56 ‘Arthur Young to Lewis Harcourt, Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office’, 20 Nov. 1913, TNA, CO 531/4/39938.

57 British Parliamentary Papers, V. 33 (1920), pp. 681–705 as cited in Rooney, Khabar gembira, p. 184, fn. 35. See also North Borneo: Correspondence on the subject of allegations against the Administration of the British North Borneo Company, presented to Parliament by command of His Majesty, December 1920 (London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1920)Google Scholar.

58 Rutter, British North Borneo, p. 60.

59 See, for instance, cases in the ground-breaking work on native land rights by Doolittle, Amity A., Property and politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native struggles over land rights, 1881–1996 (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2005)Google Scholar.