Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brunei's colonial status in the 19th century paved the way for its transformation into
Borneo's only independent country a century later.
The Dutch in Kalimantan
The British presence along Borneo's northern coast spurred the Dutch to beef up their
presence in Kalimantan. Dutch commercial exploitation, begun in the very late 1500s,
reached its peak at the end of the 19th century with thriving rubber, pepper, copra, tin,
coal and coffee exports, plus oil drilling in East Kalimantan. This assertiveness sparked
disputes with indigenous groups, culminating in 1859 in a four-year war between the
Dutch and the Banjarmasin sultanate; resistance continued until 1905.
World War II
Imperial Japan, in need of Borneo's natural resources to power its war machine, seized
Sarawak's Miri oilfields on 16 December 1941; other targets in the poorly defended re-
gion quickly fell. The retreating British sabotaged oil rigs and other key petroleum install-
ations but the Japanese soon had the oil flowing again.
As elsewhere in Asia, the Japanese occupa-
tion of Borneo unleashed local nationalist sen-
timents, but at the same time Japanese forces
acquired a reputation for brutality. At Mandor
(about 90km north of Pontianak in West Kali-
mantan), 21,037 people - sultans, intellectuals
and common people, all accused of plotting
against Japanese rule - were murdered. In Sa-
bah, the infamous labour camp at Sandakan's Agricultural Experimental Station housed
Allied captives from across Southeast Asia. Of the 2434 Australian and British POWs in-
carcerated there, only six survived the war.
In 1944 a primarily British and Australian force parachuted into Bario in the Kelabit
Highlands and allied with indigenous Kelabits against the Japanese. In 1945, Australian
troops landed in East Kalimantan, fighting bloody battles in Tarakan and Balikpapan. But
Japanese forces in Borneo surrendered only after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
As part of the resistance to Japan's occupation,
Australian commandos encouraged a headhunting
revival, offering 'ten bob a nob' for Japanese heads.
Many of the skulls now displayed in Dayak long-
houses are thought to be Japanese.
