Coming of Age: Role of State Council in Brunei

Teething Troubles in State Council
By Assoc. Professor Dr Haji B. A. Hussainmiya, Department of History, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Although the first meeting went on smoothly, the matter could not be resolved in the State Council until 1909 before the locals could be pacified to accept fixed forms of land ownership that varied significantly from Brunei customary land rights.

Addressing the Council on that day, for instance, Harvey Chevalier, the acting resident announced that "Up to the present there appears to be no finality to claims to Tulin rights in Brunei territory, and that finality is indispensable."

He also gave an ultimatum for all property owners to file their Tulin claims with supporting documents within three months. In the interim, the Council would consider the validity of claims for compensation by the Resident.

This drastic stand on the traditional land rights spread consternation among the Bruneian land owners. The British move struck at the very heart of the Brunei custom and royal prerogatives.

Until then the laws, polity, bureaucracy if any, power, and territorial administration and so on had been linked inextricably with royal property rights in Brunei. What and how did Royal Brunei manage State property? At this juncture it is important for the readers to understand nuances of Brunei customary rights related to land in the pre-Residential era.

A best description of the traditional Brunei land rights is to be found in the 1881 Will of Sultan Abdul Mumin transmitted to the British Consul General in Labuan. It would be better for clarity's sake if I render below verbatim from the English translation of the original Will published in 1977 by Professor D.E. Brown in the Brunei Museum Journal, Vol.3., No.2 of page 158.

The description of the land rights as explained by the Will is as follows.

[Beginning from Para 3. A] Chief {Pengiran} who inherited property from his ancestors, rivers or men, such property are called 'Sungai Tulin' (private river) and 'Hamba Tulin' (private slaves. The Ruler of Brunei collects no revenue from the said river or men. The owning chief collects the revenue and is at liberty to bequeath them to their heirs.

4. The portion of the country, rivers and men which are crown property are called 'Negri Kerajaan' (crown land) and 'Hamba Kerajaan' (crown slaves). The Ruler may collect revenue therefrom but cannot bequeath them to his heirs

5. The portion of rivers and men belonging to a Minister [Wazir] are called 'Sungei Kuripan'[official river] and 'Hamba Kuripan' [official slaves]. The said Minister collects revenue therefrom and if he dies, the same revert to the Crown until his successor is appointed; such property cannot be bequeathed to the heirs.

As such rivers and men belonging to the upper class Ministers [Kepala Menteri] are called 'Kuripan'. The Minister is at liberty to collect revenue from the river, if he dies they revert to the Crown.

6. As regards 'Sungie Tulin' (private river) the owner can do as they wish, the Rajah can impress the wishes of the Government upon the owner and he will give effect to the Royal command upon his followers.

In the same document Sultan Abdul Mumin underlined the fact that "Since we became Sultan we have observed the custom of former Rulers - after our demise those who succeed us should obey this custom, so that no confusion may happen in the country.

(Readers please note that the rivers mentioned above literally mean LAND as the boundaries of major property ownership by ruling class was determined by the rivers in traditional Brunei.)

Like in many pre-colonial societies Brunei's property rights too were closely linked to custom, and the entire territorial administration deferred to it by having spread the power among the feudal potentates.

But the incoming colonial administration decided to sweep them aside-- perhaps for understandable reasons-- because they were determined to reform Brunei Government which has become so weak on the eve of the British intervention.

The British innovation

Primarily in their bid to earn revenue to meet the expenditure of the State, the Resident's administration needed to take control of all unclaimed lands as State lands. Moreover, when necessary to be parceled out among prospective bidders including the European concerns willing to invest in Brunei in large scale plantations like rubber estates etc;. Already as a sequel to the 1905/1906 Agreement the Sultan and his two principal Wazirs, the Pengiran Bendahara, and Pengiran Pemancha had lost their tenurial legacies for Kerajaan, and Kuripan. They had to surrender also their Tulin rights together with a large part of cession monies and monopolies. In return they received compensation of a fixed sum of annuities much like the other Malayan nobility in the Peninsula did.

In Brunei's case , the Sultan and his Wazirs were paid $12,000, and $6,000 per annum or $1,000 and $500 per month respectively to be revised later when the State enjoy better times. They, however, were allowed to retain some land surrounding their residences for which they were exempt from paying rates, rents or any other charges. Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam was too old then to grasp the significance of his personal loss of lands. In any case he could not override the Resident while the principal Wazirs could scarcely raise a banner of protest having been accused of trying to sell off the country to Rajah Brooke of Sarawak.

The British did not bother to understand or acknowledge the complexities of customary land laws in Brunei. They had one clear and an overriding policy.

From the very outset the British officialdom moved towards the institution of property as they understood it; which meant rights of unqualified possession or freehold rights, permitting the holders to freely transfer and manipulate their properties and to use them according to the European ideology of land as an "estate to be managed".

This required English forms of conveyancing and laws to protect individual rights to land. Without fixity of tenure, according to the rationale of that day, entrepreneurs would not invest in the development of land. Security of tenure was considered a prerequisite for capitalist enterprise, whether by European or native, by plantation-owners or small-holders.

Legalising land ownership on paper as practiced in the advanced societies was not something the Bruneians were accustomed to although their rights received endorsements by tacit understanding and sealed approval from the palace. In the least important Tulin lands, that is private property, as against Kerajaan, or royal

property as well as Kuripan, i.e; property belonging to nobles needed the official seal of the Sultan. The land may have belonged to private individuals but they did so at the pleasure of the Sultan, because in theory the Sultan owned all lands in the Sultanate.

Many in Brunei could not have proper papers to claim their land rights when the residency system was introduced in 1906.

More so were the Kedayans, traditional agriculturalists who customarily enjoyed joint ownership of large tracts of land for cultivation and other activities.

It was almost understood that they owned collectively in perpetuity.

The new requirement passed by the State Council that Tulin holders should prove their rights to lands caused panic and chaos. In fact when Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam was suffering serious illness between March-May in 1906 just before he died, many individuals had forged his seal to claim State lands fraudulently.

Moreover several Chinese traders who obtained lands from Malay debtors had inflated their own claims to Brunei lands mortgaged to them. The incoming British administration came to know about illegal transfers of land and that was nearly nullifying their hope of earning revenue by redistribution of State lands.

As might be expected, the British proposals for new land ownership rules encountered heavy opposition from all parties including the young Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam and his principal Wazirs.