Jati, Bilangan 2, Disember1996

THE SULUSEA(us0-r990):THE REGIONALIZATIONOF

NATIONAL HISTORIES

Mohammad Raduan bin Mohd. Artf

This essay raisesmore questionsthan it can hope to answer. There is a great

tendency for Departmentsof History in national universities of the region to
over concentrateon the teaching of history that is confined within artificially
defined national boundaries. University educationwhich is an extension of the
national educationsystemoften addressesissuesraised within the curriculum
of pre university schools. It is in the universitiesthat researchand teaching of
histories continues to strengthenand consolidatethe set-mind framework of
earlier generationsof national scholars.Thesecustodiansof national histories
dawned the mantle of nationalism and fiercely defended their grounds of
teaching and research.Breakthroughsin researchare long in betweenand the
daily routine that becamethe annual routine is the perpetuationof much the
sameabout nothing new.
It is in the corridors of history departments that generations after
generationsof history school teachersare tutored and nursed to face the front-
lines in the schoolsystem. The samecould be said on the developmentof other
disciplines in departmentsof teaching and researchthat are often associated
with faculties of the humanitiesand social sciences. Disciplinesjealously
protect their disciplinary boundariesand resent intrusions by others and
collectively faculties teach and researchwithin national boundaries. The new
frontier is to situatenational histories in its regional setting.
A quick survey on nineteenthcentury SoutheastAsia will reveal the
growing volume of studieson the agriculturalcolonizationof the region. The
physical taming of vast tracts of land for the market economy has been the
preoccupationof scholarsin recenttimes. They have descendedfrom J.C. van
Leur's decks of European ships, ramparts of cqlonial fortressesand high
galleriesof trading-housesand headedstraightfor the flood-plains.r In a broad
sensethesescholarscan be groupedunder peasantstudies. The Irrawady delta
is the terrain of Cheng Siok-Hwa who pioneeredthe study of the rice export
economy.2Michael Adas pushedthe frontier with his classicTheBurma Delta:
Economic Developmentand Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 1852-
19413and followed this studywith anothervery closely associatedfield to rice
cultivation that of peasantrebellions. The book Prophets of Rebellion:
Millenarian Protest Movements Against the Colonial Order is a standard in
Burmese history.a Rice, peasantsand rebellion are the SoutheastAsianists
rebellionagainstan older generationof colonialhistorians.

The original versionof this paperwas presentedat the l3th IAHA Conference,Tokyo, 1994.
fafi, Bilangan 2, Disember 1996 23

The peasantizationof history is also the phenomenaof the Menam Chao

Phrya. Scholarsmoving out of the gold gilded throne rooms of palaceswent
straight into the padi fields. In the 1950'sJamesIngram set the agendawith his
Economic Clwrge in Thailand Since 1850 that emphasizedthe rice economy.5
The peopling of the Menam Chao Phraya - 'land of one thousand stings' - is
vividly porfiayed in L.J. Sharpe's Bang Chan: Social History of a knal
Commtmity in Thailand.G
The flooding of northern migrating peasantstowards the Mekong delta in
the mid-nineteenthcentury and peaking in the twentieth century is a similar
theme in the writing on Indo-China. Rice was a strategiccommodity in the
economic expansion of colonialism in SoutheastAsia. The peasantswere
mobilized into theseplots of rice fields. Martin J. Murray's The Development
of Capitalism in Colonial Indochina (1870-1940),capturesall the misery of an
encapsulatedpeasantryserving an uncertainmarket economy with violent price
structures,extremeprofit morimization by rice tradersand money lenders,cruel
money lendersand frequentcrop failures.TIn island SoutheastAsia" the islands
of Java and Luzon becamethe twentieth century granary for food cultivation
and baskets of human misery. The classic work of John A. Larkin, The
Pampangans:Colonial Society in a Philippine Province, details the social life
of rural society organising rice production for the markets.t
The islandof Sumatraand the Malay peninsulawere centresof cash crop
productionproducingrubber for the industrialmarketsof Europe. Plantations,
estatesand small holdings hugged the roads and rails that transportedthese
commoditiesto ports. Migrant communitiesfrom Asia were mobilized in large
numbersas the labour force. Huge tractsof virgin tropicaljungle were felled
and replacedby neat rows of artificially planted rubber trees. The indigenous
settlerswere confinedto the coastline in small rubberholdings.e
In all the huge rice granariesof SoutheastAsia the phenomenaof social
movementsexpressedthemselvesin a multitude of forms. There emerged
researchspecialistswho have dedicateda lifetime explaining the historical
meaningof such seeminglyspontaneousoutburstsof angeragainstthe existing
social order. J.C. Scott standsout amongstthe rest with his insights in The
Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistencein SoutheastAsia.to
It provoked a seriousrejoinder in the form of a book by Samuel L. Popkin
entitled The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in
Vietnam.ttThe debatewas setand the list of specialistsgrows as eachadvances
our understandingof social movements. It is 2l years ago that Sartono
Kartodirdjo authored Protest Movement in Rural Java which inspired many
othersto addressthe countryside.12
Standing back from the huge stridesthat have taken researchersaway from
the concernsof colonial historians,severalpatternscan be observed. In the first
instancethe land frontiers of the Irrawady, Menam Chao Phrya and the Mekong
deltasof mainland SoutheastAsia were recentlypopulated. The samecould be
Mohammad Raduon - The Sulu Seo(1750-1990) 24

said of the island of Luzon and the expansion of population in Java. It was in
these densely populated rice fields that most of the peasant movements
occurred. Finally it must be pointed out that the scholarly tradition on rural
society and its rice economy appearedinitially in the 1960'sand took root in
the 1970'sand becamefull-fledged in the next decade. It was precisely in this
period that eachof the decolonizing nations of SoutheastAsia went from land
reforms as was advocated in the 1950's to agricultural development in the
1960's and the 'green revolution' of the 1970's. The research.agenda and
researchfunding and postgraduatetraining was organizedto understandsocial
changein the countryside. It was this very agricultural bound, rural bound and
land bound agendain the post-colonialperiod that invariably shapednational
historical understanding. Historical reality was created by international
agenciesfunding rural changewithin nationally defined boundaries.
Any construction of historical reality will have to be situated in the very
processesthat constnrctedthat historicalrealif. The colonial period produced
its own spokesmen. In the decolonization period the voice of nationalism
permeated through textbooks. The emergence of new nations and their
preoccupationwith nation-buildingby instrumentsof plannedchangeturnedthe
attention to the peasantryas social actors in history. They were the democratic
majority and their votes in the ballot box or their youth in the military barracks
were the concernsof all statesin SoutheastAsia. The realiry of SoutheastAsia
goesbeyondthe nation-state.Its real meaning is in its geopolitical reality that
linked east and west sea-bornetrade.
The lrrawady and Salween rivers flowed into the Andaman Seas and
through it led into the Straits of Malacca. The Straits of Malacca flowed
through many straits into the South China Sea. The Menam Chao Phraya,
Mekong and Red rivers poured into the South China Sea. There are other vital
passagesthat mergedthe Indian oceanwith the other important seasin island
SoutheastAsia. The Sunda Straits, the Lombok Straits, the Banda and the
FloresSfraitscarriedeastboundvesselsinto the Jav4 Sea,the CelebesSea"the
Banda Sea,the Flores Seaand beyond the CelebesSea,the Sulu Sea. It was
theseinterlocking seasand the trade winds that linked the continent of Africa,
the peninsula of West Asia, the subcontinentof South Asia with that of the
continent of East Asia. The strategicgeopolitical location of SoutheastAsia
was, is and will be an important construct in any historical reality.
The kingdomsof island SoutheastAsia'straddledseveralgroups of islands
and strategic straits extracting from its domain economic resources,ruling
peoples and controlling trade that was carried through these passages. The
geographicalspaceof Island kingdoms was never confined to a single island.
Peopleswere often identified with the island or the straits they originated from.
Not only peoplesmoved but whole kingdomsmigratedin the islandworld. The
kingdom of Srivijaya on Sumatrashifted to Malacca on the Malay peninsula
before retreating and regrouping at Johor Lama at the southern end of the
Jati, Bilangan 2, Disember 1996 25

peninsulaand in the early eighteenthcenturyshiftedonceagainto the Riouw

archipelagoand in the twentiethcenturyits successors by male-linedescentare
in Trengganu. The Bugis of Luwu on the eastcoastof the south-westernleg of
the Celebesisland moved and establishedthe kingdom of Selangorin the
eighteenthcenturyon the Malay peninsula.In contemporarySoutheastAsia the
peoplescontinueto migrate and respondto markets. The Malay peninsulain
the nineteenth and twentieth century is the meeting island of diverse
communitiesof islandSoutheastAsia. The Javanesecame,the Bugis arrived,
the Banjarese,the Minangkabau, the Achenese,and others formed the
personalityof modernwest Malaysia.Other islandstoo experienced the same
processes at differentperiodsin history.The modernnation-states are but mere
artificialconstructions betweenEuropeancolonialpowerscuttingacrossancient
poweraxis. The watersthat separated islandscould neverbe permanentlycut.
The Sulu Seais oneof many geographical expressions in islandSoutheast
Asia where the divisionscreatedby the British,DutchandSpanishand laterthe
Americansneverreally succeeded in severingthe blood-tiesof the diverse
groupsof islandcommunities thatpeopledtheseislandsin the sea.13 The Sulu
seais the homeof the Taosug,Bajau,Samal,Magindanao, Maranao,Sangil,
Yakan, Palawani,JamaMapun,Melebuganon and BruneiMalays. Eachof
thesecommunitieshada roughterritorialdivisionover islandsbut they could
be foundscattered in differentpartsof the Sulu seas.The marineresources of
the seaandthe forestproduceof the islands,especiallytheeastcoastof Borneo,
supported the maritimekingdomof Suluruledby TaosugSultans.No serious
effort can be madeto reconstructthe reality of the Sulu seasby containing
history within the boundaries of modernSabah,Brunei,the Philippinesand
Indonesia. The land driven moderneconomieshave shiftedthe focus of
analyticalunits to the island of Manila and Luzon over Jolo and Pulau
Maimbunglto Kota Kinabaluand west coastSabahover Sandakanand east
coastSabah.
It wasonly a little morethana centuryagothatthe islandof Maimbungon
the Sulu archipelagowas the geopoliticalcentrecommandingthe Sulu and
Celebesseassincethe tenthcentury.The TaosugSultansin an unbrokenchain
dominatedall othercommunitiesunrivalledby others. In theseseasmany
islandswere clusteredwith its offshorereefs,channels,rocksand islets. The
marineterrainprovideda rich varietyof marineproducefor the China market.
The mainstayof the maritimekingdomwas its marineand forestproducefor
Asianmarkets.Beche-de-mer, shark'sfin, motherof pearl,coral,tortoiseshells
from the seasand bird's nestand forestproducewere the preciousarticle of
Asiancommercebetweenthe Sulu Sultanate andChina. The dominantethnic
group in the Sulu sea were the Taosug. The nobility were Taosug. They
formedthe Sulu Sultanate.The otherethnicgroupswere subordinatesand on
key islandsestablishedtheir own kingdoms. In 1799 Thomas Forrest
recognizedno lessthan33 smallerSultanates on the SuluSea. However,the
MohammadRaduan- The Sulu Sea(1750-1990) 26

Map 2: Ethnic Distrlbution and The Sultanateon The Sulu Sea(18th and
l9th centuries)
Jati, Bilongan 2, Disember 1996 27

Map l: The Sulu Sultanateend Its Territories (18th and 19th centuries)

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O Faa
Fa....ir
Flala.la,
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CaDJr

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_sB aaaaCa-t-

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Ldalaal '..qo
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Mohammad Raduan - The Sulu Sea (1750-1990) 28

Sultanof sultanswas the Jolo Sultanate.He had his representatives appointed

on each island of his sprawling archipelagicstate. Panglimas and Datus
conductedthe affairsof the stateat the local level. The Sultanwas the Caliph,
the Imam, the leaderin war, the fount of law andjustice and the collector of
zakat. He was the chief trader and the ruling class Taosug were the main
merchant. Affairs of internationaltrade and exchangewere centralized and
conductedat the RumahBichara at Jolo. From the vast territories producewas
collectedand sentto Jolo wherethe Chinese,Bugis and otherscameto trade.
At the end of the eighteenthcentury the Sulu Sultanatehad complete
domination of the north-easterncoast of Borneo. The area of Marudu was
subjugatedby the Sultanfightingmenand it servedas an impoftant resource
basefor trade in the Sultanate.The areacoveredthe importantrivers of the
Paitan,Sugutand Labuk until SandakanBay. Mother of pearl,tortoiseshells
and rattan and otherjungle producewas the main sourceof profits from this
region. Further south on the east coast of Borneo were the territories of
Mangindorawhich was notedfor its bird's nestand forestproduceand mother
of pearlsandtripang from the sea. The largestriver of all Borneo,the Sungai
Kinabatangan, was a vital arteryin linking the inlandareaswith the coastand
'Iaosug
the sea. In neighbouringTirun to the souththe did not completely
dominatethe areapeopledby the Tidungagriculturalists.It was in this areathat
the Bugis tradershad a much freer handto tradedirectly.
The principalitemsof Chinatradein the period1750-1850were pearls,
tortoiseshell,tripang,motherof pearl,shark'sfin, bird'snest,wax, camphor,
cinnamon,pepper,rattanand ebony. The itemswere low in bulk but high in
value and profit marginsfor the merchantswere enormous. Chinesejunks
exportedto the regionChinesemanufacturedproductssuchas porcelain,tiles,
silk and satingarments,white and blackcottoncloth, muslinand chintz piece
goods,brassware,wrought iron, arms and munitionsand rice, sugar,oil and
lard. Thereexisteda tradeaxis betweenChinaand Jolo and built aroundthis
Europeancountrytraderswho wereunableto penetratedirectly into the China
market came to Jolo and purchasedproducethat was favouredin China in
exchangefor opiumandguns. The Suluproducewerethen carriedto China in
exchangefor the much soughtafterChinatea for Europeanmarkets.
The technologyusedin extractingtheseresources for the China marketwas
extremelysimple. Therewas a heavyrelianceon skilledmanpowerto extract
theseresources.Tripangwas found in shallowcoralwatersandtherewereover
30 varieties and three grades for each variety. It was a much desired
commodityin Chinesefood culture.In 1835over 10,000picul of driedtripang
was exportedto China. The task of collectionwas by handand the greaterthe
numberof manpowerinvolvedthe greaterthe output.The tripang was cleaned
and sun-driedor smokedover a fire for export.In the caseof the shark'sfin a
spearwas usedfor spearingthe sharkwhosefins were subsequently removed
and saltedor dried for the China market. The collectionof motherof pearlwas
Jati, Bilangan 2, Disember 1996 29

a much more elaborateand specializedaffair. Pearl divers were known to

commonly reacheight fathomsin depthand the better divers even 20 fathoms.
The pearl diving period was in Decemberand from Februaryto May of each
year. The Chinesehighly favouredpearlsfrom the Sulu seasfor the making of
headornaments,jewellery and cutlery. The Chinesehad acquireda tastefor
bird's nests in their food culture. There were two varietiesof swallow nests.
The most expensivewere white birds' nestswhile the black bird's nestfetched
only one-tenthof the former.
The exportproducesof the Sulu Sultanatefor the China market was found
in virtually everypart of theseseasand islands. The expertsfor the collection
of theseproducewas identified in a given territorial space. However, these
expertswould leavetheir temitorialspacein searchof good harvestfrom other
quarters of the Sulu seas.In the collection of mother of pearl the Bajau
specialistswould leave his known waters and travel to other regions where
other ethnic groupsdominated.The movementof diversepeopleswithin the
territorial areaof eachdatu was a commonfeature.The Taosugruling class
dominatedeveryone. This complexstructureof diverseethnic groupsunder
Taosugcontrolcollectingmarineandjungle producesfor the China marketin
the Sulu seawas brokenby the combinedeffortsof the Spanish,British and
Dutch colonialpowers.
The breakupof the Sulu Sultanatewent throughseveralphases.In the early
stagerival ports were establishedto collect produceneededfor the China
market. The next stagewasthe attackon the navalbasesof the Sulu Sultanate.
In 1848the Spanishattackedthe Samalfleetstationedat Balangingi.The third
strategywas to executein 1872a tradeblockadeagainstthe port of Jolo. The
Taosugfleetwas chasedanddestroyed on the high seas.The final assaultwas
made in the later part of that decadewhere the port and foft of the Taosug
Sultanatewere captured. The Sultanatefell and never again regainedits
effectivecontrolover the whole of the Sulu andCelebesseas.The scramblefor
the Sulu and Celebesseaswas for its resources, trpderoutesand manpower.
The Spanish,Dutch and British colonialpowerscarvedout territoriesthat later
wereto form the PhilippinesislandsunderSpanishprotection,Indonesiaunder
Dutch protectionand British North Borneoandthe Kingdom of Brunei under
British protection. The late nineteenthcenturycolonialpowerscreatednew
economiesthatdrasticallyalteredthe earlierAsian basedtradeand commerce
built on the extractionof naturalresourcesin exchangefor manufacturedgoods.
The paradigmshift wastowardsagriculturefor manufacturingrequirements and
food needs.Populationincreased, settlements developedand new urban inland
commercialcentresgrew as geographicalfrontiersexpandedfurther inland and
away from the coast. Thejungleswere no longerthe sourceofjungle produce
feedingexotic tastesbut the sourceof logsand timber for building materials.
By the early twentiethcenturythe patternof the new colonialeconomywas
firmly entrenched.The Sulu and Celebesseashaddried up as resourcecentres
MohammadRaduan- TheSulu Seo(1750-1990) 30

and Manila and the island of Luzon was the centre of power, commerce and
agriculture. The Taosug, Samal, Bajau and others were marginalized in the
transformation. The Dutch concentratedon the islandsof Java as a rice based
economy and Sumatra for its commercial agriculture. The Celebes Sea,the
Flores Sea, the Banda Seaand the Java Sea shrank in importanceas the shift
was made towards the land based economy. The British North Borneo
Companyopened new urban centreson the west coastof Borneo and the vast
territories of Marudu, Mangindoro and Tirun were marginalized. The geo-
polity of SoutheastAsia - its seas,lands and peopleswere reconstitutedto serve
the industrializedeconomiesof Europe,America and Japan.
The British territories on Borneo concentratedon tobacco and rubber
cultivation, mineral exploitationand timber extraction. Asian immigrantsfrom
China were transportedin largenumbersto fill the new towns and urban centres
that developedin the inland areas. A network of roads,bridgesand rails linked
the plantation, mining and timber extraction economiesto ports and seas
designedand defined by colonial powers.
The administration and objectives of British North Borneo Chartered
Companycontrastedwith that of the former Sulu Sultanate.The Caliphate,the
Imam, the leaderof war, the adminisfratorofjustice and law, the collector and
administrator of zakat and chief merchant was replaced by the Chartered
Company. The Companyestablishedthe necessaryhistorical conditions in the
form of infrastructuresto attract othersto develop the land basedresourcesof
its territories which were taxed as profits for its shareholders.The Taosug
merchantsand Datus were replacedChinesetradersand other native chiefs as
the economic and political basesof the Borneo territoriesshifted from seato
land. Capital, technologyand labourwere applied on the natural resourcesfor
the pursuit of profits underBritish administration. Initially the thriving tobacco
growing sectorwas locatedon the eastcoastof Sabah. In 1890there were 6l
tobacco estateson Banggi Island, in Marudu Bay and on the rivers of Labuk,
Kinabatanganand.Segamaat Lahat Datu and at Tawau and Sandakan. Twenty
yearslatertherewere only l2 suchcompaniesand by 1930only one company
bravedon at Kinabatangan.
The fastestgrowing sector in the twentieth century was rubber. In 1902
there were only 100 acresand five years later a total of 3,226 acresofjungle
land was cleared for rubber cultivation. On the eve of World War II over
96,000 acres were cultivated exporting almost 18,000tons of rubber. The
Chineseowned small holdings(lessthan 25 acres),medium-sizedestates(25-
100acres)and estates(more than 100acres)concentratedon the eastcoastof
Sabahwhile westerncapital openedterritorieson the west coast of Borneo
fronting the SouthChina Sea.
It was the jungles of Borneo that was the sourceof immenseprofits and the
mainstayof the colonial economy. The raw materialswere not birds' nests,
rattan,bees-wax,ebony and otherjungle producethat were collected by inland
Jati, Bilangan 2, Disember 1996 3l

communities and exchangedwith produce brought in by river and sea

communities. The new sectorwas on timber that built the urban structures. In
l9l0 the exportvalueof timber was $642,935and reachedthe $2.2 million in
1940.In that year North Borneo was the third largestexpofter of timber in the
whole British Empire and Sandakanwas its main port. The main marketsfor
timber were the urbancentresof Hong Kong, Japan,Britain and Australia.
The pioneering of Borneo land frontiers in the pursuit of profits relied on
manpower drawn from Asian immigrants.North Borneo had a population
densityof only two peopleper squaremile and most of them were engagedin
the former exchangeeconomy between the inland communities,the river
communitiesandthe seacommunitiesruled by the Sulu Sultanate.The Chinese
duringthe Sulu Sultanatewere mainly confinedto tradeat Jolo. Thesetraders
were disallowedto trade directly within the territoriesof the Sulu Sultanate.
Chinesesettlementsin theseislandswas a slow processstretchedover centuries
with a high degreeof integrationand assimilationwith the local communities.
The twentieth century land based economy dramatically changed the
demographicprofile of the islands. In l90l a total of 196 Chinesevia Hong
Kong and a further 193 from Singaporearrived in North Borneo. Ten years
later the numberof Asian immigrantsswelledto 28,000in North Borneo.In
l94l the total populationof Nofth Borneowas309,618 of whom over one-third
were immigrants.The majorityof theseimmigrantswerefrom mainlandChina
and the rest were drawn from the diverseethnic stock of Malays that made
islandSoutheast Asia.
The five l0-yearly CensusReportsof the twentiethcentury graphically
capturesthe changeand different'emphasison the social formation by the
colonialauthorities.In the 1901CensusReporteachof the ethniccommunities
that madethe formermaritimeSulu Sultanatewere painstakinglymappedout.
They were locatedon the seaand its islands,the coastalbelt of North Borneo
and moving inlandup the main riversand into the deepinteriors.Forty years
laterthe focuswas on the inlandcommunitiesand thp Asian immigrants who
weredrawn into the cash-nexusof the land economy.The Kadazanand Murut
of l90l were combinedto form the largestethnicgroup in 1941overshadowing
the diverseethniccommunitiesof the islandswho were furtherreducedby into
smallerethnic units suchas the land Bajauand seaBajau.
The marginalizationof the sea,its islands,its resourcesand its peoplesis
a twentieth century process. The Asian food marketswere swallowed by
Europeanindustrialneeds.The Sulu seaand islandcommunitiesoff Borneo
werereducedto the taskof supplyingfish for the growing inlandurbanmarkets.
The process of change was gradual and the fishing sector was almost
immediatelycapturedand monopolizedby Chinesetraderswho organized
capital,technology,manpowerand resources. The sectorwas administeredby
the colonial authorities.In 1891 only 910 individualswere registeredas
fishermen.In 1902only 35 boatswereregistered as fishingboatsat Samporna
Mohommad Raduan - The Sulu Sea (1750-1990) 32

and fees collected. Three years later the registeredboat numbers increasedto
370 and the Governor reported that the Bajau beganto understandthat trade
must operate under the authority of a licence. The colonial authorities next
moved to regulate,register and licencethe very instrumentsused for catching
fish. The inland and overseasmarketsdemandedsaltedand dried fish for their
urban populations. The fishermen caught the required fish species,cleanedit,
salted the catch with the salt provided by the trader who bought the finished
product. The strategiccommodity in the entire fishing sectorwas salt. The
profit margin was enorrnous. Fresh fish at Beaufort was purchasedfrom the
fishermenat five cents perlcatiand saltedfish was sold to the estatesat22 cents
a lcati. ln l92l British North Borneo exported 17,380piculs of dried and salted
fish and 20 yearslater it had increasedto 31,366piculs valued at $551,528. In
contrasttripang which was oncethe mainstayof the maritime kingdom of Sulu
exportedonly 893 picul valued at a little over $l1,000. The romanticized
picturepaintedof the once powerful islandersundercolonial dominationwas:

All aroundthe coastof Sabahare villageswherethe people live by fishing. The seaswhich wash
the shoresof our land contain many fish. The fish make good food for the people. From Sipatang
to Papar the fishermenare Bruneis. From Paparto Marudu Bay they are Bajaus,and from
Marudu Bay to Tawau the fishing people are Bajaus,Suluk and Tidongs. There are Chinese
fishermenin Sandakan,who own large fishingjunks and work further out into the deepwaters
than the nativefishermen.ro

In the postwarperiod the returningcolonial governmentcontinuedwith

greaterconvictionto establishthe necessaryinfrastructures for an expansionof
the exportagriculturaleconomy.In 1963the timber,rubberand coprasectors
constituted50.6%,32.10o/o and 17.6% of the total exportvaluefor that year.
Dried and saltedfish was only 1.2%of the total exportvalue. In 1960the
populationdataaccordingto occupationsshowedthat80.5o/o of the peoplewere
engagedin the agriculturalsectorof whom the fishermenwere 3.5o/oof that
total. The postwartrendsshoweda preferencein the market for fresh fish and
the strategiccommodity in the industry was ice. The Chinesesalt trader
switched his operationsfrom salt to ice. They continuedto dominateand
monopolize the industry with their capital, credit facilities, technology,
transportation,boatsand manpower.
The integrationof the formerNorth Borneointo the Federationof Malaysia
in 1963continuedthe established trendsof a land basedeconomy. Federal
agenciessuchas LocalGovernmentand Housing,Social,WelfareandNational
Unity, Industrialand RuralDevelopment and PublicWorksandTransportthat
were establishedin the former Federationof Malayawere extendedto Sabah.
In the fishing sector of Sabah,carbon copies of Federal agencieswere
established.The Ko-Nelayanwas adaptedafterthe LembagaKemajuanlkan
Malaysia.It was entrusted to modernizethe fishingsectorwith subsidies and
technologicalchange.The coreprogrammes includedincreasein productivity
Jati, Bilangan 2, Disember 1996 33

by technologicalchange,provision of facilities such as processingplants and

fiansport and establishmentof fishing centresat the local level. The state-led
initiatives in the fishing industry concentratedon fish for the local food market.
The international markets were catered by the private sector whose roots go
back into the pre-independenceperiod. The whole fishing industry was
developed within fixed territorial boundaries. However, the social reality of
the industry revealedthat marine life as a resourceknew no boundaries;that
capital which invested in the industry knew no boundaries;that labour which
earneda living in the industry knew no boundaries.
The markets for the marine resourcesof the Sulu and Celebes seashad
collapsed.It had once supportedthe once omnipotent Sulu Sultanate. These
seaswere now but mere fishing grounds to feed the urban inland markets of
Borneo and other urban complexesin SoutheastAsia. Cheapsalt and dried fish
were staple exports from theseseasin contrastto the expensivepearl, shark's
fin and beche-de-mer. The fishing industry was commercially operatedby
Chinesemerchantswho controlled the salt. After the war the exports of fresh
fish for inland marketsincreasedand the Chinesemerchantsagain dominated
with the ice factories.In recent yearsthe Japaneseand American markets for
prawns and tuna again saw the Chinesemerchantsdominating as they owned
and operatedthe prawn and tuna processingfactories.
At the end of the twentieth century the island economiesexperienced
fundamentaltransformation. The dominant land economy is replacedby a
strongmanufacturingsector;the jungles are no longerthe sourceof timber and
logging rights; the seasare the resourcebaseof oil and gas that supportsthe
economy of the kingdom of Brunei; Sabah, Sarawak and Trengganu in
Malaysia;and Banjarmasinand Sumatrain Indonesia.In 1993the American
SeventhFleet sailedout of Subic Bay and with that it markedthe end of 400
years of foreign presencein the islandsand seasof SoutheastAsia. The last
decadeof the twentieth century finally offers new possibilities freeing the
researcher from captivehistories.ln 1992 A.B. Lapianembodiedthe free spirit
of island SoutheastAsia in his InauguralLecture entitled SejarahNusantara
SejarahBahari at the University of Indonesiawith the following statement:

Pendekatan sejarahmaritim hendaknyamelihatseluruhwilayah perairannyasebagaipermasatu

yang mengintegrasikan ribuan pulau yang terpisah-pisahitu .... bagi sebuahnegarakepulauan,
heartland atau daerah inti bukan suatu pulau, melainkan suatu wilayah maritim yang sentral
letaknya. Jadi dengan pemahamansejarah melalui studi aneka rag.rm satuan maritim, maka
penjelasanprosesintegrasiberbagaiunit ini bisa membukapeluang-peluangbaru untuk membuat
deskripsidan analisissejarahnya.r5

The Sulu seasbuilt a civilizationand no nation-state can hopeto appropriate

that civilizationas their exclusivenationalhistory. The sharedhistory of these
seasand islandsknows no boundaries.
Mohamnod Roduon- TheSulu Sea(1750-1990) 34

Notes:

l. J. C. vanLcur,Indorcsian Tradeand Society:Essaysin Asian Socialand honomic History,

W. vanHocvePublishers Ltd, Thc Haguc,1967,p.261.

2. ChcngSiok-Hwa,The RiceIndutry of Burmai,852-1940.UnivcrsityMalayaPress,Kuala

Lumpur,1968.

3 . Michacl Adas, Tlv BurmaDelta: konomic Developmentard SocialChangeon an Asian

RiceFrontier, 1852-/,911,Tlrc
Univcrsityof WisconsinPress,Wisconsin,1974.

4. Michacl Adas,Propheu of Rebellion: Millenarian ProtestMovementsagainst the European

Colonial Order, CambridgcUnivcnity Prcss,New Yorlc, 1979.

5. JamesC. Ingram, konomic Changein Thailandsince 1850,StanfordUnivcrsity Press,

California,1955.

6. L.l. Sharpc,BangClan: Suial Historyof A RuralCommunityinTluiland, ComellUnivenity

Press,Ithaca,1978.

7. Martin J. Murray, The Developmentof Capitalism in Colonial Indochina (1870-1940),

Univenity of CaliforniaPrcss,London,1980.

8.JohnA. Larkin, Tlu Pampangans:Colonial Societyin a PhilippineProvittce,Universityof

CaliforniaPress,London,1972.

9.SceJ.H.Drabble,Rubberin Malaya18761922:Tlw Genesbof theIndustry,OxfordUnivcnity

Prcss,Kuala Lumpur, 1973and Ann Loura Stolcr,Capitalismand Confrontationin Sumatra's
PlantationBelt 1870-1979,
Yale UniversityPress,New HavcnandLondon,1985.

l0.J.C.ScotqTle Moral konomy of the Peasant:Rebellionand Subsistence

in Southeast
Asia,
YaleUniversityPress,Ncw Haven,1976.

I l.SamuclL. Popkin,Tlv RationalPeasan:ThePoliticalfuonwty of ktral Sxiety in Vietnam,

Univenity of CaliforniaPrcss,Berkcley,1979.

12.SartonoKartodirdjo,ProtestMovementin RuralJanta,Oxford UniversityPress/P.T.Indira,

KualaLumpur,Jakart41973.

13. For the following discussionon thc Sulu scasceMohammadRaduurMohd. Ariff, 'Dari
PemungutanTripang Ke PenundaanUdang: Satu Kajian MengenaiSejarahPerkcmbangan
Perusahaan PcrikananDiBorneo Utara1750-1990', Ph.D.thesis,Departmentof SouthcastAsian
Studies,Universityof Malay4 KualaLumpur,p.36-84.

14.F.G. Whelan,Our Land,BorneoLiteratureBureau,HongKong, 1962,p.50.

15. A. B. Lapian,'SejarahNusantaraSejaratrBahari', SyaratranPerdanaFakulti Sastcra

UniversitasIndonesiaon 4th. March 1992.