Hidden Legal Treasures of Sarawak’s History.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Hidden Legal Treasures of Sarawak’s History. |
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Author :
Alex C. Castles |
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Abstract:
In 1970 a distinguished scholar remarked that ‘the history of the island of Borneo has yet to be written and the author will have a fascinating task’. As he went on, ‘local historical resources are limited and it is necessary to a large extent to make an imaginative reconstruction of past events’1. Given the available historical literature at the time of his remarks were certainly not out of place, not least with respect to Sarawak. Much was centred on the White Rajahs and the coming of Europeans to the region. This was often anecdotal and also frequently very much self-serving. And even if this was unintended, to the world at large such books as the second Rajah’s Ten Years in Sarawak could be read as adventure stories, used to spur on the imaginations of British Empire builders, depicting the bravery and fortitude of Europeans as they battled with the forces of darkness as many readers conceived it. Even well into the twentieth century other distortions and mythswere added to this story, not least by the third Rajah’s wife, Sylvia Brooke. Her best selling Queen of the Headhunters, first published in 1970, and still running through successive editions many years later, is probably still the most read book about Sarawak around the world.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Alex C. Castles. (2001). Hidden Legal Treasures of Sarawak’s History. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LVI (77): 121-138 |
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References
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