The Golden Legacy
THE BRITISH RESIDENTS OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
1The Achievements of the Residents
Rozan Yunos2
IN 1906, as part of the 1906 Supplementary Agreement with the British, Brunei Darussalam began accepting her first British Resident. The Resident s primary role was to provide advice but under the terms of the Agreement, Brunei is obliged to ensure that such advice had to be acted upon on all questions in Brunei other
than those affecting the Muhammadan religion.
The residency system lasted from 1906 under Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin to 1959 when Brunei regained its internal autonomy under Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Saadul Khairi Waddien, a period stretching under four different Sultans of Brunei.
With the exception of the 1942 to 1946 interwar years, when the Japanese govern Brunei as the Brunei Prefecture under Masao Baba, a Japanese Commander and the post war years under KEH Keay, an Allied Forces Commander as part of the British Military Administration, it was the British Residents who administered the modern Brunei government.
Who were these British Residents and how did their advices contribute towards the development of Brunei Darussalam?
AVM Horton in a paper entitled ǮThe British Residency in Brunei 1906-1959ǯ described that the Residents controlled the whole administration of Brunei. A British official in the Commonwealth Office even described that the Resident was the Sultan s Prime Minister and Chief Justice combined.
The British Residents sent to Brunei were in the beginning not even senior officials. In the Malaya Civil Service, he was pretty much a junior officer of Class IV. But the most important criteria seemed to be that he must be young and fit to
1 This newspaper article was published in The Brunei Times on 25 January 2009.
2 Haji Mohd Rozan bin Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Yunos was the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
cope with the health conditions in Brunei at that time. There was no hospital in Brunei and the nearest modern medical facility was in Labuan.
There was also no transportation in Brunei other than small rowing and sailing boats. Cars were not seen in Brunei until 1924. Whichever officer that was chosen to the Resident had to be pretty much fit and resourceful.
Until oil was discovered in Brunei in 9 9, Brunei s government was also run pretty much on a shoe string budget. The government negotiated for loans from the Federated Malay States government of almost $500,000 during the years 1906 to 1911. The whole amount was paid back in 1936.
The Residents were generally from the top echelon of the British Society, Oxbridge scholars but despite their youthfulness can be considered to be generally widely experienced. The first Resident MSH McArthur was 34 when he became the British Resident in Brunei. He was the son of a General. He was educated in Queen s College, Oxford. (e joined the Straits Settlement Civil Service and held various positions in Singapore and Penang before becoming the Resident. He was obviously a high flyer. When he left Brunei, he was appointed as the Under Secretary of the Federated Malay States.
It was when oil was discovered and became a major export item for Brunei did the British send more senior Class II officials to become Residents in Brunei.
In the earlier days the Residents spent a great deal of their time based in Labuan rather than stay in Brunei. Labuan had better facilities inherited from the time when Labuan had her own Governor. So, it was the Assistant Residents which actually stayed in Brunei. One in particular was B.O. Stoney who was Assistant Resident from 1908 to 1910 and until today is still remembered with his own street as Jalan Stoney in Bandar Seri Begawan.
The Residents in their efforts to set up agriculture in Brunei were responsible for giving away vast tracts of land in Brunei to companies willing to invest in Brunei such as in rubber plantations.
Many of the developments they did in the first 30 years were very basic – earth roads, bridle paths and basic medical and education facilities. One major success was in health. The government conducted vaccination campaigns and prevented the disastrous Cholera and Smallpox epidemics from repeating which had killed many Bruneians in 1902 and 1904.
With the discovery of oil in 1929, the government was able to push for more developments. In Kuala Belait and Seria, it was the British Malaya Petroleum Company the predecessor to today s Brunei Shell Petroleum which was responsible for the development there. The Resident concentrated on development in Brunei Town and the rest of Brunei.
The government tried to advance agriculture but by 1930s, more than a third of Bruneians were still in Kampong Ayer and there was a lack of population that settled on land. However, generally, modernization was beginning to take root in Brunei. Modern shop houses were being built in Bandar Brunei.
Before the Second World War, Brunei was described as an inoffensive land
of peace and comparative plenty with none but insignificant crime, no
unemployment and no serious epidemic of sickness. After the end of the second world war, most of these were destroyed.
Immediately after the war, there was an opportunity to plan for both Brunei s future politically and economically. Sir Anthony Abel, the British (igh Commissioner in the 1950s wished to see Brunei develop, firstly as a Muslim Malay State; secondly that its best friends were the British Commonwealth and thirdly in close cooperation with neighbours in British Borneo.
However, with the ascent of Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Saadul Khairi Waddien as the 28th Sultan of Brunei in 1950, Brunei was able to develop without much help from the Residents. Until today, Sultan Omar Ali was known as 'the Architect of Modern Brunei'.
facilities including more schools were being built as well as an imposing mosque in Bandar Brunei.
The 1959 Constitution gave Brunei internal self-government and changed the post of British Residents to High Commissioner. Their roles changed from governing the country to advising the Sultan on state matters. Bruneians were at last able to govern their own country.
Appendix
The List of British Residents in Brunei:
Malcolm Stewart Hannibal McArthur (Jan 1906 – May 1907, Dec 1907 – Apr 1908)
Harvey Chevallier (May 1907 – Dec 1907, Nov 1909 – Nov 1913) John Fortescue Owen (Apr 1908 – Sep 1909)
Datuk Francis William Douglas (Acting Nov 1913 – Jan 1915) Ernest Barton Maundrell (Acting Feb 1915 – May 1916) Sir Geoffrey Edmund Cator (1916 – 1921)
Lucien Arthur Allen (1921 – 1923)
Dato Eric Ernest Falk Pretty (1923 – 1926, 1927 – 1928, 1948 – 1951) Oswald Eric Venables (1926 – 1927)
Sir Patrick Alexander Bruce McKerron (1928 – 1931) Thomas Falkland Carey (1931 – 1934)
Sir Roland Evelyn Turnbull (1934 – 1937) John Graham Black (1937 – 1940)
Ernest Edgar Pengilly (1940 – 1941) Dato William John Peel (1946 – 1948)
John Coleraine Hanbury Barcroft (1951 – 1954) John Orman Gilbert (1954 – 1958)
