North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo was originally established by concessions of the Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu in 1877 and 1878 to a German-born representative of Austria-Hungary, businessman and diplomat, Gustav Overbeck.
Overbeck had recently purchased a small tract of land on the western coast of Borneo in 1876 from American merchant Joseph William Torrey, who had promoted the territory in Hong Kong since 1866. Overbeck then transferred all his rights to Alfred Dent before withdrawing in 1879. In 1881, Dent established the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd to manage the territory, which was granted a royal charter in the same year. The following year, the Provisional Association was replaced by the North Borneo Chartered Company. The granting of a royal charter worried both the neighbouring Spanish and Dutch authorities; as a result, the Spanish began to stake their claim of northern Borneo. A protocol known as the Madrid Protocol was signed in 1885 to recognise Spanish presence in the Philippine archipelago, in return establishing the definite border of Spanish influence beyond northern Borneo. To avoid further claims from other European powers, North Borneo was made a British protectorate in 1888.
As the population was too small to effectively serve the economy, coupled with British administration policy at the time restricting indigenous participation in the economy to maintain their traditional life and concentrate on their own economic endeavours, the British sponsored various migration schemes for Chinese workers from Hong Kong and China to work in the European plantations, Javanese and Buginese from the neighbouring Dutch East Indies, and Japanese immigrants to participate in the economic activities of North Borneo. The start of World War II with the arrival of Japanese forces brought an end to protectorate administration, with the territory placed under a military administration and then designated as a Crown colony.
History
Foundation and early years
North Borneo was founded in 1877–1878 through a series of land concessions in northern Borneo from the Sultanate of Brunei and Sulu to an Austrian-German businessman and diplomat, Gustav Overbeck. A former American Trading Company of Borneo territory on the western coast of northern Borneo had already passed to Overbeck, requiring him to go to Brunei to renew the concession of the land he bought from Joseph William Torrey. William Clark Cowie played an important role as a close friend of the Sultanate of Sulu in helping Overbeck to buy additional land on the eastern coast of Borneo. Meanwhile, the Sultanate of Bulungan's influence also reached Tawau on the south-eastern coast, but came under the influence of the more powerful Sultanate of Sulu.
Following his success in leasing large tracts of land from both the western and eastern parts of northern Borneo, Overbeck went to Europe to promote the territory in Austria-Hungary and Italy as well as in his own country of Germany, but none showed any real interest. Only Great Britain, which had sought to control trade routes in the Far East since the 18th century, responded. The interest of the British was strengthened by their presence in the Crown Colony of Labuan since 1846. As a result, Overbeck received financial support from the British Dent brothers (Alfred Dent and Edward Dent) and diplomatic and military support from the British government. Following the support from Britain, a clause was included in the treaties that the ceded territories could not be sold or given to another party without the permission of the British government.
Unable to attract the interest of the governments of Austria, Italy and Germany, Overbeck withdrew in 1879; all his treaty rights with the Sultanates were transferred to Alfred Dent, who in 1881 formed the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd with the support of countrymen Rutherford Alcock, Admiral Henry Keppel, Richard Biddulph Martin, Admiral Richard Mayne, and William Henry Read. The Provisional Association then applied to Queen Victoria for a royal charter, which was granted on 1 November 1881. William Hood Treacher was appointed as the first governor, and Kudat at the northern tip of Borneo was chosen as the Provisional Association administration capital. The granting of the royal charter had worried both the Dutch and the Spanish, who feared that Britain might threaten the position of their colonies.
In May 1882, the Provisional Association was replaced by the newly formed North Borneo Chartered Company, with Alcock acting as the first President and Dent becoming the company managing director. The administration is not considered a British acquisition of the territory, but rather a private enterprise with government guidelines to protect the territory from being encroached upon by other European powers. Under Governor Treacher, the company gained more territories on the western coast from the Sultanate of Brunei. The company subsequently acquired further sovereign and territorial rights from the Sultan of Brunei, expanding the territory under their control to the Putatan River (May 1884), the Padas district (November 1884), the Kawang River (February 1885), the Mantanani Islands (April 1885) and additional minor Padas territories (March 1898).
At the early stage of the administration, there was a claim in northern Borneo by the Spanish authorities in the Philippines, and an attempt to raise the Spanish flag over Sandakan was met with interference by a British warship. To prevent further conflict and to end the Spanish claim to northern Borneo, in 1885 an agreement known as the Madrid Protocol was signed in Madrid between the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain, recognising the Spanish presence in the Philippine archipelago. As the company did not wish to be involved in further foreign affairs issues, North Borneo was made a British Protectorate on 12 May 1888. In 1890, the Crown Colony of Labuan was incorporated into the administration of North Borneo, before returning to direct British rule in 1904. There were several local insurrections from 1894 to 1900 by Mat Salleh and by Antanum in 1915. The First World War did not greatly affect the territory, and logging business grew during the interwar period.
World War II and decline
During World War II, the Japanese invasion of Borneo began with the unopposed landing of the Japanese forces at Miri and Seria on 16 December 1941, with the objective of securing oil supplies. On 1 January 1942, the Japanese navy landed unopposed in Labuan. The next day, the Japanese landed at Mempakul in North Borneo. After negotiations with the Officers-in-charge of Jesselton for its surrender, while they were waiting for troop reinforcements, Jesselton was occupied by the Japanese on 8 January. Another Japanese army detachment arrived from Mindanao and began to land on Tarakan Island, before proceeding to Sandakan on 17 January. The Japanese arrival was met with no strong resistance, as the protectorate mainly relied on the Royal Navy for defence. Although North Borneo had a police force –the British North Borneo Constabulary– it never had its own army or navy. The British North Borneo Constabulary, had served these functions as the territory's military and marine patrol. However, they were heavily outnumbered by the Japanese, and most of the constabulary's leadership was captured and imprisoned, leading to those not captured becoming spies for the British. By the end of January, North Borneo was completely occupied by the Japanese. It was administered as part of the Empire of Japan, with the officers of the chartered company being allowed to continued administration under Japanese supervision.
The arrival of the Japanese forces to Borneo and the fall of Anglo-Japanese Alliance had already been predicted by revelation through secret telegrams that Japanese ships docked regularly at Jesselton were engaged in espionage. Many of the British and Australian soldiers captured after the fall of Malaya and Singapore were brought to North Borneo and held as prisoners of wars (POWs) in Sandakan camp where they were then forced to march from Sandakan to Ranau. Other POWs were also sent to Batu Lintang camp in neighbouring Sarawak. The occupation drove residents in the coastal areas to the interior in search of food and to escape the brutality of the war period, which led to the creation of several resistance movements; one of the such movement known as the Kinabalu Guerrillas which was led by Albert Kwok and supported by indigenous groups in North Borneo.
As part of the Allied Campaign to retake their possessions in the East, Allied forces deployed to Borneo under the Borneo campaign to liberate the island. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) played a significant part in the mission, with the force being sent to Tarakan and Labuan islands to secure eastern and western Borneo. The Allied Z Special Unit provided intelligence and other information from the Japanese that facilitated the AIF landings, while US submarines were used to transport Australian commandos to Borneo. Most of the major towns of North Borneo were heavily bombed during this period. The war ended on 15 August 1945 following the Japanese surrender and the administration of North Borneo was undertaken by the British Military Administration (BMA) from September. The company official administration returned to administer the territory but, unable to finance the reconstruction cost after the war, ceded administration of the protectorate to the crown colony government on 15 July 1946.
Government
The Chartered Company's system of administration was based on standard British colonial empire administrative structure, with the land divided into residencies, managed by government officers known as residents, and sub-divided into districts, managed by district officers. Initially, there were only two residencies: East Coast Residency and West Coast Residency, with residents based at Sandakan and Jesselton respectively. Each residency was divided into provinces, later known as districts. By 1922, there were five residencies to accommodate new areas that were opened up for development. These were the West Coast, Kudat, Tawau, Interior and East Coast Residencies. These residencies were in turn divided into 17 districts. Under this system, British held top posts, while native chiefs managed the people at lower levels. This was not a conscious attempt by the British to instill indirect rule but a convenient arrangement for the district officers who were unfamiliar with local customs and politics. The company administration established a foundation for economic growth in North Borneo by restoring peace to a land where piracy and tribal feuds had grown rampant. It abolished slavery and set up transport, health and education services for the people, and allowed indigenous communities to continue their traditional lifestyles.
The first of the company administration capitals was in Kudat, which was established in 1881. In 1884, the administration was moved to Sandakan. At the early stage of the North Borneo administration foundation, there were no Malays in North Borneo; the closest were the Bruneians, with the coastal inhabitants of both Bajau and Sulus being constant lawbreakers with warlike instincts, and the interior inhabitants, such as the Dusuns, being doubted by the British, which caused them not to be recruited as British security members. Due to this, various nationalities from the British Empire were recruited by the authority: the Somalis, Malays from Labuan and the Straits Settlements, and Dayaks from the neighbouring Raj of Sarawak. The British North Borneo Constabulary, the territory's police force, in 1883 comprised 3 Europeans, 50 Indians (Punjabis and Pashtuns), 30 Dayaks, 50 Somalis and 20 Malays. Constables trained at depot an average of three days per week. In 1884 the force had a total of 176 members, which increased to about 510 over three years. While under the protectorate, international relations were managed by the British government, internally North Borneo was governed by the North Borneo Chartered Company as an independent state with British protection. The treaty signed on 12 May 1888 stipulated: