Some small history visits
The Taking of Muka Fort
Mukah was a small town located on the coast between Sibu and Bintulu on Borneo Island in Sarawak. Apparently, in 1869, there was fort located in the town with cells for prisoners. The name was Fort Burdett.
The person in charge of Muka town was Major Rodway who, with Mr. Sinclair, was out shooting during the incident. Mr. Bain was laid up with a fever. There were several sepoys lounging on the front lawn of the fort while only one sepoy stood guard inside the structure.
The custom of the fort was to allow the prisoners half an hour of recreation after the evening meal before being locked up for the night. There were 18 men in the prison, six being hardcore prisoners. The twelve men were in jail for very minor things like debt.
Taking advantage of the near-empty Fort, Ah Keun a Hylam (a hylam is a Chinese person from the union between the Chinese and the Li tribal people of the island of Hainan) and Ganti a Kalaka(a person from the interior of Borneo) overpowered the sentry and killed him with handspikes. A handspike was a metal rod used as a lever similar to a crowbar. It was used aboard ships and by soldiers for artillery purposes.
Then, one man went to close the postern gate while the other closed the main gates of the fort. The postern gate was a secondary gate used to enter and exit the fort. While closing the main gates, a sepoy was killed with a fishing spear to the stomach. Mr Bain, who was in bed recovering from fever was killed with a sword thrust. The fort was then in the hands of the prisoners.
Twelve prisoners who were only accused of minor offences jumped out of one of the portholes. The sepoys, seeing the prisoners jumping out, immediately arrested them.
In the confusion, the seven cannons belonging to the fort began to boom forth, sounding the alarm.
The six prisoners managed to secure some rifles and began shooting at a corporal and his squad of men. They then started shooting the sepoy’s provisions which were inside the fort. On the following morning, the prisoners loaded their guns with copper coins and fired the metal. By 10 p.m. the next night the prisoners all escaped into the jungle taking with them as many silver coins as they could carry.
Three of the prisoners escaped upriver in a small sampan but met with Manai and Orang Sitka Rajah where a conflict erupted and a Nakoda Matsalleh was killed. A Nakoda is a person who transports people around the rivers and/or sells merchandise from the boat. The other two escaped to Oya where they hid in a house owned by Sear. They were eventually killed by the Native officer of Oya.
The other three ran back into the jungle and were killed between the Petian and Judan Rivers.
From:
T.F.L in the Sarawak Gazette reprinted in The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser 1908
Many thanks to Veronica Chang Schmidt
BorneoHistory.Net
