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Brunei Darussalam 1944 - 1962: Constitutional and Political BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 1944 - 1962: CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN A MALAY-MUSLIM SULTANATE A thesis submitted to Department of History The School of Oriental and African Studies University of London in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by AWANG MOHAMAD YUSOP DAMIT October 1995 ProQuest Number: 11010310 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010310 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT This is a study of constitutional and political development in Brunei Darussalam between 1944 and 1962. Responding to new forces unleashed by World War II, British planners in the Colonial Office embarked on a policy of promoting political progress in Brunei Darussalam with the aim of eventually introducing self- government, with the widest possible participation of the people of all communities. The thesis traces the origins of the Colonial Office's plan to introduce constitutional V government in Brunei Darussalam; examines the evolution of the plan taking particular account of the obstructive intrusion of certain post-war developments which inevitably delayed the fruition of a full political advancement; and analyses the interaction between the local ruling elite, the British Colonial administration, and the Partai Rakyat Brunei (People's Party of Brunei). In the event the Brunei Darussalam Constitution, promulgated on 29 September 1959, failed to give full satisfaction to a large section of the people, causing in the end a rebellion which broke out on 8 December 1962. It also analyses the British plan to bring Brunei Darussalam in closer association with its neighbours in a loose federation. When this plan failed, the British put pressure oh Brunei Darussalam to enter the Malaysia Federation, which inevitably gave impetus to the rebellion. In the end, Brunei Darussalam not only did not join the Malaysia Federation, it also chose not to adopt a democratic form of government. Instead, when it resumed its full independence on 1 January 1984, Brunei chose to be governed by a Sultan under the concept of Malay Islamic Monarchy. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the Government of Brunei Darussalam for granting me with scholarship under the scheme of "In-Service Training", for which I am grateful. I would like to acknowledge also my thanks to the staff of the Public Record Office at Kew, Arkib Negara (Kuala Lumpur), Sarawak Museum, Brunei Museum, Brunei History Centre; the librarians of The British Newspaper Library, Rhodes House, School of Oriental and African Studies, the Royal Commonwealth Society, Institute of Historical Research, and Universiti Brunei Darussalam. I would also gratefully acknowledge the generous cooperation of my interviewees whose names are listed in the bibliography at the end of this thesis and those who wish to remain anonymous. I owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Ralph B. Smith, who guided my research and writing with much patience and diligence. His breath of perception, valuable comments and suggestions contributed greatly to ensuring the coherence of this thesis. For their unfailing love, sacrifice, tolerance, patience and prayers, I wish to convey my sincerest appreciation to my wife, Patimah, and my children, Termizi, Ewana and Nabil. Awang Mohamad Yusop Damit. October 1995. 3 V i In Memory of my late parents 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgement 3 Lists of Tables and Appendices 7 Abbreviations 8 Map of Brunei 10 Map of Southeast Asia 11 Introduction 12 Chapter 1 Plans for Constitutional Change 1944 - 1948 28 Chapter 2 The Constitutional Proposal 1948 - 1955 68 Chapter 3 The Partai Rakyat and the Constitutional Proposal 1956 - 1957 122 Chapter 4 Brunei and the Closer Association of Borneo Territories 1953 - 1958 168 Chapter 5 Constitutional Negotiations 1958 -1959 207 Chapter 6 The Promulgation of the 1959 Constitution 248 5 Chapter 7 The Malaysia Plan and the First Brunei Elections 1960 - November 1962 279 Chapter 8 The Rebellion, Pacification and Normalisation December 1962 343 Conclusion 390 Appendices 397 Bibliography 422 6 k LIST OF TABLES 1 Brunei: Revenue per head, 1911-196 22 2 Brunei: Population by Ethinic Grouping 1911-1960 23 3 Brunei: Expansion of Education 25 4 Membership of District Advisory Councils 103 5 Members of State Council December 1954 111 6 Membership of District Advisory Council 149 LIST OF APPENDICES 1 Biographical Notes on Selected Personalities 397 2 List of Members of Executive Council October 1959 413 3 List of Members of Legislative Council November 1959 415 4. List of MembeVs of Executive Council after 1962 Elections 417 5 List of Members of Legislative Council after 1962 Elections 419 7 ABBREVIATIONS BA Brunei (Museum) Archive BAKER Barisan Kemerdekaan Rakyat BBCAU British Borneo Civil Affairs Unit BMA British Military Administration BMPC British Malayan Petroleum Company BNO Brunei National Organisation BPU Borneo Planning Unit BRO British Resident's Office BSPC Brunei Shell Petroleum Company BULF Brunei United Labour Front BUP Brunei United Party CAB Cabinet Series CCAO Chief Civil Affairs Officer CO Colonial Office DO Dominion Office FO Foreign Office MCS Malayan Civil Service PRB Partai Rakyat Brunei PRM Partai Rakyat Malaya MTA Malay Teachers' Association PGGMB Persatuan Guru-Guru Melayu Brunei RHO Rhodes House, Oxford 8 SACSEA Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia SITC Sultan Idris Teachers' College SUK Setiausaha Kerajaan SUPP Sarawak United People's Party TNKU Tentera Nasional Kalimantan Utara UMNO United Malay National Organisation WO War Office CO O 70 < $ < □C < CD BRUNEI BRUNEI AND THE ADJACENT AREAS 10 ; INTRODUCTION The recent history of Brunei, in particular the post-war period, is relatively underdeveloped area of research. To date there are only a handful of works of serious scholarship on this period. Among the more prominent works are those by Saunders, Ranjit Singh and Horton.1 Saunders, being the most recent, provides a useful account of the political development of the Sultanate of Brunei from its origins to the achievement of independence. Based on primary, and secondary sources, his work provides a useful overview of the development of the State. Ranjit Singh's work is also similar in that it traces the development of the State between 1839-1983. Horton, on the other hand, focuses on the social, economic and political development of Brunei in the Residential period between 1906-1959. Other useful published works on the history of Brunei include those of Tarling, Brown, Haji Zaini, and Pehin Haji Jamil.2 The three major works mentioned above cover a wide period of time and hence lack depth in respect of the political and constitutional developments in the period between 1944 and 1962 which marked a turning point in the Sultanate's history. This period is of crucial importance to understanding of modem Brunei as political ’Graham Saunders, A History of Brunei, Kuala Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 1994; D.S.Ranjit Singh, Brunei 1839-1983: The Problems of Political Survival,; Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1984; A.V.M.Horton,The Development o f Brunei During the British Residential Era 1906-1959: A Sultanate Regenerated, Unpublished PhD's Thesis presented to the University of Hull, 1985. 2Nicholas Tarling, Britain, the Brookes and Brunei, Kuala Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 1971; D.E.Brown,Brunei: The Structure and History of A Bornean Malay Sultanate, Monograph of the Brunei Museum Journal, Vol. 2, 1970; Haji Zaini Haji Ahmad, Pertumbuhan Nasionalisme di Brunei (1939-1962), Kuala Lumpur, ZR Publications, 1989; Pehin Haji Mohammad Jamil Al-Sufri, Liku-Liku Perjuangan Pencapaian Kemerdekaan Negara Brunei Darussalam, Brunei, Jabatan Pusat Sejarah, 1992. 12 developments in this period largely determined the shape of the modem political entity and its survival. Thus the main focus of this thesis is the political and constitutional developments during the period 1944 to 1962 which had an immense impact on the course of Brunei's political history. The developments are examined in a chronological sequence so as to provide an adequate basis for the analysis of this transitional period of Brunei's history. The main sources for this study are the Colonial Office documents at the Public Record Office, Kew; official documents at the Museum Archive in Brunei; and personal interviews with some surviving personalities during the period under study. This study begins by examining the formulation of the British wartime policy on the future constitutional and political relations with Brunei in particular, and the Borneo territories in general, and how the policy was implemented. Chapter Two traces the proposals for the Brunei Constitution and the drafting of the Constitutional Enactment. Chapter Three discusses the formation of a political party, the Partai Rakyat Brunei (PRB) or the Brunei Peoples' Party, and its ideas. The PRB demanded a Constitution which provided for a full democratic government and unification of the Borneo territories of Brunei, North Borneo and Sarawak. However the British favoured a gradual transformation to democracy and rejected the PRB's Borneo union proposals and made public their own proposals in 1958. The British proposals for the "closer association" of the Borneo territories are examined in Chapter Four. The British proposals are important because they indirectly influenced the outcome of Brunei's Constitution and later the Malaysia Plan. Chapter Five discusses the constitutional negotiations between the Sultan and the British both in Brunei and in London which ended in an agreement to promulgate Brunei's first written Constitution 13 in September 1959.
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