Baram Tales : Government Boats and Native Officers

Photo from  The History of Sarawak. Gutenberg Project. THE "GAZELLE." 
(One of the small Government steamers for river work).

Government steamers used to sail up the Baram, 100 km of water way to come up to Marudi for official businesses. The steamers used coals in the earlier days and much later in the 1930's diesel. The steamers were called Kapal Api, and the Chinese called them Hui Soon, as a direct translation.

These steamers would transport jungle products like rattan from Marudi to Kuching, besides government officers and Native Officers and their families. The Adeh must have been fairly big for in 1890 Charles Hose wrote that the jetty of Marudi was enlarged to accomodate p.s.Adeh.

 Native Officers of Marudi were appointed by  the Rajahs to carry out specific duties very much like information officers of modern days. The Sarawak Administrative Officers were based loosely on the Native Officers' Service.

Datu Sharip Abdul Hamid was of Arab descent. He was born in Simanggang in 1864. In fact his father, Sayyid or Syed Agil was a Native officer too until he passed away in 1916. Datu Sharip Abdul Hamid succeeded his father as Native Officer in the Baram, as requested by the Rajah. Datu Sharip Abdul Hamid had been serving as native Officer in Kuching, Paku and Mukah. He was conferred the title of Datu in 1916 and he retired in 1921. He passed away in 1929.

Besides the famous Datu Sharip Abdul Hamid was Datu Haji Tuanku Abdulrahman  (born 1870 in Simanggang) who was assistant of Datu Sharip Hamid and his business partner.

Datu HajiTuanku Abdulrahman was made Government Agent in 1902 after Datu Sharip Hamid was appointed as Native Officer. He held the post until 1917 when he took over from his mentor Datu Sharip as Senior Native Officer.

He was a brave man who repelled  two Dayak attacks, once in  the Silat and once in the Tinjar in t he "absence of any white officers". He knew the people of the Tinjar well, was knowledgeable about their customs. He had served the government well, with a great of bravery and initiative. 

In 1926 Datu Haji Tuanku Abdulrahman went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and in 1928 he was made a member of the Council Negri. He passed away on 8th June 1932.

(Ref: Sarawak GAzette, Issues 1920-1930, A History of Sarawak, Gutenberg Project)