A ‘White Rajah’ returns to Malaysia’s Sarawak, but this time to serve

The Brookes ruled Sarawak for a century until 1946, and are credited with building it into a modern state with its own government and constitution

Jason Brooke, a sixth-generation descendant of James Brooke, the first Rajah, is looking to preserve the state’s heritage and his family’s identity

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An 1847 portrait of James Brooke, the first Rajah of Sarawak, by Francis Grant. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 1:15pm, 5 Jan 2020Updated: 3:39pm, 5 Jan 2020

More than 70 years after the so-called White Rajahs from England left Sarawak, sixth-generation descendant Jason Brooke is working to revive local interest in the complicated history of his family’s century of rule over what is now a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.

The Brookes are seen as having built Sarawak from a territory of disparate ethnic communities into a modern state, with its own government, constitution, flag and currency. Under their leadership, Sarawak expanded from Kuching, its capital today, to its current shape.

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Jason Brooke

The Brookes’ rule ended after World War II, when the third and last Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke, ceded Sarawak to the British as a colony, before it became part of Malaysia in 1963. The monarchy had ended with some controversy, stoking a family feud as Anthony Brooke, Charles’ nephew and the then Crown Prince, vehemently protested against its handover – to no avail.

With the support of the Sarawak state government, Jason Brooke, Anthony’s grandson, is looking to preserve the state’s heritage, with a focus on educating young people about its history.

His efforts began in 2010 with the archiving and digitisation of records and artefacts from the Brooke era. Then, in 2016, the Brooke Gallery museum opened in the restored Fort Margherita – originally built by the second Rajah, Charles Brooke – followed by another museum about his wife in the Old Courthouse in Kuching.

A ‘White Rajah’ returns to Malaysia’s Sarawak, but this time to serve

The Brookes ruled Sarawak for a century until 1946, and are credited with building it into a modern state with its own government and constitution Jason Brooke, a sixth-generation descendant of James Brooke, the first Rajah, is looking to preserve the state’s heritage and his family’s identity

The Brookes ruled Sarawak for a century until 1946, and are credited with building it into a modern state with its own government and constitution

Jason Brooke, a sixth-generation descendant of James Brooke, the first Rajah, is looking to preserve the state’s heritage and his family’s identity