The Rundum Rebellion of 1915 in Sabah
North Borneo was secured via a number of concessions from the Brunei and Sulu Sultanates. To the company, the bottom line was profit driven on how to make North Borneo profitable to its London shareholders. The emphasis on increasing revenue was the full scale planting of tobacco. Another major contributor was timber.
The influx of traders and trading activities was one of the main agenda of the colonial government to further exploit the rich bounties yielded by the forests of North Borneo. It is little wonder then that the trade favoured the traders and not the Muruts. Trading also resulted in the Muruts becoming debt ridden and forced to collect more jungle produce for the traders.
In Murut society, skirmishes between tribes always occurred. When heads were taken from one side, the other side would take a head, keeping the score even. When the British banned headhunting, slaves were used to replace the heads. This still kept balance between the tribes. However, when the British banned slavery, this threw the balance out of kilter. When Murut tribes were raided from across the border and heads were taken, the Muruts were forbidden to retaliate.
To add insult to injury, the Dayak administrators enforced a poll tax established by the British. They used the poll tax to indiscriminately collect taxes.
The 1913 Tax on Liquor to prevent the Muruts from drinking, was an insult to the society. Almost every occasion required alcohol including the birth of a child, people who came to visit, festivals, weddings, house buildings, death etc. Thus, a tax on liquor was seen as an infringement on Murut social life.
Forced labour was also imposed on the Murut. Roads into the interior needed to be built. The Murut were forced to build a road at the rate of 22 meters in length and 1.5 meters in width per person per year with no compensation. Later, compensation came at the rate of 24 cents for three months work. While the men were away, they could not clear the forest for cultivation. This resulted in mass starvation.
The Murut population extended into the river valleys among many other sub tribes. Several times, brides were exchanged to foster closeness while at others, tribal leaders would meet to count up the heads taken because of skirmishes, and slaves exchanged. This weird balance of power allowed for strong kinship ties to be maintained and new ones to develop.
The Dayaks (which Dayaks the author does not name) were used by the British as police and administrators for keeping order. The Dayak were quite cruel in their enforcement, often taking heads and burning Murut longhouses. There was a long animosity between the Muruts and the Dayaks.
In June of 1914, a headman name Baylong refused to construct a path over solid rock. He left the road crew and built a fort in his village. A force of a British officer, his assistant and ten Dayaks went to the fort. The house was defended by sharpened bamboo poles. Shots were fired, the occupants escaped and the British burned down the fort.
It was discovered Baylong had escaped to the home of another Murut chief. The British burned down the entire village as a warning to people not to harbour rebels. Baylong sent his rifle to the British as a sign of acceptance to their rule. The British thought the incident done with and told the Murut to behave themselves.
Thinking the matter settled, the British were quite surprised when a large scale rebellion erupted. Over 60 villages were involved and headmen who were formally friendly became the enemy. A party led by C.H. Pearson and 15 Indian Police combined forces. They were attacked by 600-700 Murut warriors. Better armed, they were able to force the Murut into retreat.
The British gathered more reinforcements in the form of Dayaks and friendly locals. Scouts were sent out to find the Murut. The scouts returned and informed the Muruts had built three forts, the last being the strongest. A second larger force was gathered by the British. The reinforcements included 100 more Indian police and over 300 porters to carry the equipment.
On 13 April 1915, the British launched an attack on one of the forts. The fighting was fierce with the British gaining little ground. The British ordered a blockade blocking water and food from coming to the fort. After three days, the Murut indicated their intention to surrender. The leader of the fort surrendered to the British where he was shot dead on the spot. The Murut, realizing their leader had been slain vowed to fight to the death. That night, the war raged on with many trying to escape the fort. The battle continued for five additional days. The loss of human life was 300-400 Muruts killed. British native troops deaths were not noted. The British forces finally seized the fort and marvelled at the handiwork of the Murut.
The Murut continued their harassment of British installations. In April, eight telegraph linemen were murdered. They attacked a police station and threatened a company trading station. Only on September of 1915 did the first surrenders took place. The Murut were starving as they were not allowed to plant padi because of the road building requirement
From The Rundum Rebellion of 1915 Reconsidered in the Sarawak Museum Journal December 1998
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