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Brunei: Revival of 1906
Commerce, the Brunei Sultan readily accepted. It provided for the setting
up of an American consulate in Brunei and allowed American warships
to harbour in its ports. This action violated the terms of the Treaty that
Brunei had signed with Britain in 1847. Britain, however, did not raise
immediate objections on diplomatic grounds. It looked as if the Americans
were only looking for commercial opportunities and hardly made use of
the Treaty for political ends, as the British did. Americans themselves
were reticent in acquiring permanent colonies in the Far East.
Three decades later, Britain’s fears of other Western powers did
still persist. Concerned about Brunei’s stand vis-à-vis the United States
and Germany, Britain sought further safeguards to bring not only Brunei,
but also Sarawak and North Borneo, into a more permanent sphere of
influence. Along with Sarawak and North Borneo, Brunei agreed to sign
a Protectorate Agreement with Britain in 1888. This was another
important turning point in Brunei history that effectively placed Brunei’s
foreign policy in the hands of Great Britain.
Due to the Protectorate Agreement, there were two distinct
limitations on Brunei’s ability to recover its lost territories. Firstly, Sarawak
and North Borneo – Brunei’s former dependencies – were included among
the foreign states with which Brunei could deal only through Her Majesty’s
Government. Secondly, if any disputes arose, the decision of the British
Government would be final. This instantly turned out to be a great
disadvantage for Brunei when Charles Brooke annexed Limbang in March
1890, only two years after the Agreement was signed. The British Foreign
Office endorsed the annexation rather unjustly with no concern for
Brunei’s geographical and economic predicament – a decision that
increasingly proved difficult to retract.
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ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION
Brunei trusted that the Agreement would help to prevent the acquisitive
Brooke from further encroaching on its already shrunken territory. In
1887, Lord Salisbury, in a letter to Sultan Hashim, had promised him
protection as a means of reassuring him before he signed the treaty. Earlier
in 1881, spurning Brooke’s offer of more incentives, Sultan Abdul Mumin
wrote to him that “the territory of Brunei was united like unto a man
with all his members complete. At present his arms are lost to him leaving
his head and feet – therefore let it remain so.” So when Brooke aimed at
the heart of Brunei by the forcible annexation of Limbang, thereby cutting
Brunei into two unconnected enclaves, Brunei was left gasping for breath.
Apparently the Protectorate Agreement of 1888 proved inadequate
to safeguard the territorial integrity of Brunei. It was worded in a