Sunken Monuments: Notes on Bedil of Resistance
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Sunken Monuments: Notes on Bedil of Resistance |
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Author :
Charles Leary1, Anna Durin and Candida Jau Emang |
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Abstract:
Although the enemy ran off in haste, they had time to hide many things of value: but our Dyaks allowed no leaf to pass unturned; and at a place in the river where I had been sitting and bathing for hours to-day, along with hundreds of Malays, I was surprised to see, towards the evening, a few Dyaks come to take their last luck before retiring after their day’s work: when lo! And behold, they traced a small line to a twig, and brought up a large brass gun. Such is their quickness of vision; only Dyaks can kill Dyaks. - Charles Brooke, Ten Years in Sarawak (1866) The above passage from the diaries of the then Tuan Muda (and later second Rajah of Sarawak), describing an evening repose during his 1856 expedition against the Ibans of Julau, illustrates the aura and allure of the desired object of the cannon for the Iban of Sarawak, in addition to being a significant weapon during the conflicts of this period. At the same time, the Tuan Muda’s remarks reveal a certain tendency of these heavy instruments to find themselves sinking underwater in Sarawak’s rivers - while the scene of uncanny detection also somehow allows Brooke to conclude that indeed, “only Dyaks can kill Dyaks,”as the Rajah James Brooke enlisted Iban tribes in war against those Iban tribes not yet agreeable to his government, expanding the domain of Sarawak and the scope of his rule.
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| DOI: https://doi.org/10.61507/smj22-2014-QH0X-04 |
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How to cite:
Charles Leary et. all (2014). Sunken Monuments: Notes on Bedil of Resistance. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXXIII (94) : 57-72 |
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References
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