The Sarawak Gazette

On the morning of the 16th September, 1963, the Central Padang in Kuching, the Capital of Sarawak was suitably decorated for the celebration of the greatest of all occasions, Malaysia Day, and the proclamation of the transformation of Sarawak from a British Colony to a State within the new nation of Malaysia.

Aspecial arch was erected on the south side of the Padang opposite the War Memorial on Mosque Road. The arch was artistically designed and well proportioned, with the new national crest of Malaysia and the words Merdeka Malaysia below it. On the western side of the Padang, facing the Kuching Municipal Council Building, a dais was erected together with the two grandstands for distinguished guests, local dignitaries and other visiting persons of distinction. The grandstands and dais were tastefully and appropriately designed to mark this important occasion with native designs, lanterns, State and Malaysia flags.

At about a quarter to eight in the morning the sky was rather overcast. The first unit to arrive on the padang was a detachment of 200 members from the 5th Royal Malay Regiment clad in white baju and plaided green sarongs and wearing green and gold songkok led by its own Pipe and Drum Band. Then accompanied by the Sarawak Constabulary Band came men of 42 Commando, Royal Marines; the Regular Police and Field Forces; the Ex-Services Association, followed by contingents from the Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, Boy’ Brigade and the Red Cross.

In the grandstands were seen many senior Government Officers in neat white uniforms, swords and helmets. Others wore the customary lounge suits, and yet others turned out in the traditional costumes. The Malayan representatives wore traditional costume and songkok. There were representatives of eight Commonwealth countries and Malayan States, including the British Commonwealth and Colonial Secretary, Mr. Duncan Sandys,

Malaya’s representative, Inche Khir Johari, took his place on the dais. He was wearing a minister’s uniform, being the Minister for Agriculture and Co-operatives. On the dais also were the Chief Justice, Sir Campbell Wylie, in his scarlet robes and wig; the Chief Minister, Mr. Stephen Kalong Ningkan, in light blue morning suit; the Commissioner of Sarawak Constabulary, Mr. P. E. Turnbull, in ceremonial uniform, and the Commander of the British forces in West Sarawak, Brigadier F. C. Barton.

As the new Head of State, Datu Abang Haji Openg bin Abang Sapi’ee, left the Astana for the celebration, a twenty-one gun salute boomed out at about eight o’clock. He arrived a few minutes later at the entrance to the Padang, and proceeded to the dais where he took a State salute from the Parade, and his personal Standard was broken at the masthead by a Royal Navy sailor.

Inche Khir Johari then read the Proclamation of Malaysia followed by the raising of the National Flag of Malaysia and the playing of the National Anthem, Negara Ku by the Constabulary Band. The Chief Minister of Sarawak, Mr. Ningkan, then read the Proclamation of attainment by Sarawak of Independence as a State of Malaysia. The state flag of Sarawak was broken and the state anthem played by the Sarawak Constabulary Band.

The new Head of State, Datu Abang Haji Openg, was sworn in as Governor accompanied by the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Inche Khir Johari and Brigadier F.C. Barton and the Commissioner of Sarawak Constabulary inspected the parade. Then came the march past of all units, and the Governor took the salute from the dais. He looked extremely impressive and dignified in a magnificent Malay traditional costume-the Baju Telok Blangah, a costume of silk sheathed in a short sarong of gold and maroon known as Kain Songkit and with a silk woven songkok.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the march past the Governor suddenly felt faint and had to be seated. Two doctors, Dr. Chong Chung Hian and Dr. Daniel Kok, who were among the guests, immediately went to attend him, and when the march past of all the units were over, he was taken to the General Hospital, but later in the day he was discharged.

Thus concluded this most colourful and significant ceremony on the Padang.

The road from the town to the Third Mile Bazaar was almost deserted as I drove down to town. This was caused by the grenade-throwing incident in the open air market, and also by the rumours circulating among the ignorant that there would be trouble during the celebration. Extra precautions were taken by the police, of course to prevent any untoward incident happening and, for the first time in the history of Sarawak, the police on duty who lined the streets of the padang to keep the crowds in check, had to face the crowd. This called to mind the Japanese Imperial Army troops, who lined both side of the streets facing the crowd with rifles with fixed bayonets. One lady guest remarked that it made her feel very sad, and another local man though that the spectacle of the police having to face the crowd made his blood boil.

Before the parade started I looked across the Padang at the St. Thomas’s Cathedral steps, which are the usual vantage point from which to watch parades, and there was a only thin layer of people lining the lowers part of the Cathedral frontage. As the ceremony progressed, more and more people came, and towards the end the whole hill-side facing the Padang was full of people of all types, so much had the crowds increased all around.

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At the conclusion of this great occasion marking the beginning of a great era, my mind wandered back to other great occasions in the past. When the birthday of the late Rajah Sir Charles Vyner Brooke was celebrated on 26th September, 1928, a parade and march past was held in the Rangers’ Ground across the river. The occasion was celebrated with exceptional brilliance according to some observers, it being the first time His Highness had been in Kuching on this significant date since his accession in 1917.

With my other playmates, we crossed the Sarawak River by sampan and stood in awe watching the Sarawak Rangers in their very smart light khaki uniform, the police force in their dark blue uniform, and the many turbaned Sikhs among the rank and file, marching past the specially erected pavilion in which His Highness took the salute, supported by the Rangers’ own band under the direction of Mr. Pedro Solosa. An interesting point that occurred to me then, was the fact that the Sarawak Rangers were marching in perfect order, but all seemed to be barefooted, for to my boyish mind a soldier was not complete without his heavy tramping boots.

In the afternoon a Sports Meeting was held on St. Thomas’s School ground, the school was then known variously as “the Big School” in Chinese, and the S.P.G. Boys’ School or the Church of England’s English School. There were many items on the programme, but the Obstacle Race was the most popular. After racing through tracks, scaling up fences, wading through a pool of water, and crawling through bushes, the competitors emerged from gunny sacks generously filled with blue powder. The crowds cheered and roared with laughter to see the winners arriving at the winning post looking like comical characters. Later on in the night there were fireworks, with Chinese and Malay processions in town.

In a proclamation ceremony in the Astana Grounds on the 31st March, 1941, as a special commemoration of the Centenary Year of Sarawak’s rule by the white Rajahs, His Highness the Rajah declared the termination of the era of absolute rule by the Rajahs of Sarawak, and the instituting of measures designed to divest himself of the absolute legislative power. The Committee of Administration was to be entrusted with the duty of forming a Constitution, which would provide for a future legislature, and for adequate representation in that Legislature of all natives and other people who dwelt in Sarawak. The Pacific War broke out towards the end of the year, and the Committee of Administration never had a chance of carrying out its special duty.

On the 13th August, 1941, a Recruiting Parade was organised in Kuching. I never understood the reason behind it, but presumably it was held mainly to boost up the morale of the local populace, as the war clouds were thick on the horizon, and also to step up the recruitment campaign for more people to join either the Passive Defence Corps or the Sarawak Volunteers.

In the late afternoon, units of the 2/15 Punjab Regiment, who were billeted in the Batu Lintang camp, assembled in the Central Padang. They had their own Pipe and Drum Band. Then came the Sarawak Constabulary with its own Band, and the Field Force members, who looked very impressive with the equipment on the backs in Dayak style, and their jungle green uniforms; the Sarawak Volunteer Force; the Sarawak Coastal Marine Force; the Kuching Fire Brigade, the Air Raid Wardens, Voluntary Aid Detachment and Boy Scouts. It was during the summer school holidays, and I found myself the only Scoutmaster available for St. Thomas’s Troop, known officially as the 4th Kuching Troop. There were about ten troops in all Kuching, and at very short notice, the District Commissioner was not available. I found myself given the task of taking charge of all the Kuching Boy Scouts for the Parade.

After a brief address by the then Chief Secretary, Mr. C. D. Legros Clarke, the assembly in the Padang marched off with the Imperial Forces leading the parade with the Pipes and Drums, 2/15 Punjab Regiment and a few tractor-type Bren Gun carriers. The parade wound through Khoo Hun Yeang Street, Gambier Road to the clock tower, where at the base of the Brooke Memorial stood His Highness the Rajah in lounge suit taking the salute. He looked a dignified and benign figure, with silky grey hair and hat in hand, acknowledging the salute from the march past. The various units then went on to the Main Bazaar, Temple Street, Ewe Hai Street, Carpenter Street and back to the Padang where we dispersed. The streets were lined with spectators and the Boy Scout Troops brought up the rear.

To commemorate the 100 years of Brooke Rule, celebrations were planned on a lavish scale from 20th September to 29th September, 1941, with a Regatta on the first day, a salute of 101 guns fired from Fort Margherita, the inspection by His Highness of the Guard of Honour formed in front of the Clock Tower by Units of His Majesty’s Forces and Rajah’s Sarawak Forces. Special seats were arranged on the verandahs under the Clock Tower for the members of the Committee of Administration, the various Datus, community leaders, Church dignitaries and Government Officers.

His Highness the Rajah then received addresses of loyalty from the Datus and various community leaders. In the evening there was a torchlight procession. On the Rajah’s Birthday on the 26th September, Long Service decorations were presented to recipients and His Highness visited the Centenary Agricultural Show and Bazaar in the Museum Grounds. There were tea gardens, stalls, concerts, baby shows, and even a beauty contest for local belles. The festival was appropriately brought to a close by a two-day Sarawak Turf Club Meeting and church and mosque prayers. The role of the Kuching Boy Scouts was mainly confined to keeping the crowds in check, collecting admission tickets and sundry chores.

Then came the bombing of Kuching, followed closely by the occupation of Kuching by the Japanese Imperial Forces on Christmas Eve, 1941. Now began the years of “Resplendent Peace” – Showa – under our new masters. There were celebrations on a minor scale of the founding of the Japanese nation, the birthday of the Heavenly Emperor, the visits of various military chiefs and the war-time Prime Minister – Hidek; Tojo, whose name in Chinese characters could be translated to mean “British Aircraft”. Arches were put up in the town on several occasions at the suggestion of the Japanese.

The Liberation of Kuching by Allied Forces found me in Saratok, and by the time I came back to Kuching by bandong, it was again the Rajah’s birthday, September 26th 1945. There was a parade of the Australian Imperial Force and a live shell was fired into the swamps opposite Pending. As we came upriver it was quite alarming to hear the sharp sound of gun fire again. However, we soon settled down to resume our daily life in Kuching under the British Military Administration.

His Highness the Rajah returned to Sarawak and arrived in Kuching on 15th April, 1946 and arches were again put up to welcome him. On the next day the Civil Authorities took over from the British Military Administration. The issue of the Cession of Sarawak to the British Crown caused much friction between the Malays, and on 1st July, 1946, Cession Day was proclaimed in a ceremony attended by the Governor General, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald. Mr. C. W. Dawson was appointed Chief Secretary of Sarawak, and on 29th October, 1946 Sarawak’s first Governor, Sir Charles Noble Arden Clarke was installed. On his arrival in Kuching, he inspected a guard of honour mounted by the members of Sarawak Constabulary with the band in attendance. While he was inspecting those on parade standing stiffly to attension, we were pressing forward among the crowd in the garden opposite the Pangkalan Batu Guardhouse trying to catch a glimpse of this new tuan, to see if we could discern from his features signs of personality and kindness, which would augur well for the country.

Then came the time at short notice for the First Governor to leave these shores in July, 1949. The Second Governor, Mr. Duncan Stewart, was installed on 1st October, 1949, was murderously attacked in Sibu and died in Singapore on 10th December, 1949. The Third Governor, Sir Anthony Foster Abell, was installed on 4th of April, 1950 and he stayed on for three tours of service he left Sarawak on 14th November, 1959 on retirement after a most impressive farewell ceremony. The last Governor arrived and was installed on 23rd February, 1960. There were of course events such as the celebration of the marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip on 20th November, 1047, the Coronation of Her Majesty the Queen in June, 1953, the visit of Her Royal Highness Duchess of Kent and her son, the young Duke of Kent, and of course, the colourful annual celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday.

The last Governor of Sarawak, in an impressive farewell ceremony, took leave of the people of Sarawak on the eve of Malaysia Day, and sailed down the Sarawak River in H.M.S. Loch Killisport on his way to the United Kingdom, thus bringing to an impressive close British Rule in Sarawak. So has Sarawak progressed from being a province of the old Sultanate of Brunei to the benign rule of the White Rajahs, interrupted by three years of Japanese military rule. No sooner had the country been liberated and placed on British Military Administration than plans were made by the Rajah to cede it to the British Crown. After almost seventeen years of British colonial government Sarawak emerged as an independent state of Malaysia. One would like to pause and look back over the years, but merdeka is now with us and no longer a catch word on our lips. We should set our shoulders to the wheel, and exert our humble and tiny contribution to the all important task of nation building in the new Malaysia. A new era as started and we can only look to the future with resolution and confidence.