SARAWAK THE RAJAH'S RETURN THE BROOKES OF SARAWAK MIGHT HAVE STEPPED FROM 
THE PAGES OF A CONRAD NOVEL . THE FIRST AND LAST 
ENGLISH FAMILY TO OCCUPY AN ORIENTAL THRONE, THEY FOUGHT PIRATES AND 
HOSTILE SULTANS, PACIFIED HEAD-HUNTERS AND BROUGHT THE WHITE MAN'S LAW TO 
THEIR CRUEL, VIBRANTLY BEAUTIFUL LAND IN NORTHWEST BORNEO . THE BROOKE 
RAJAHS RULED THEIR KENTUCKY-SIZE KINGDOM WITH THE STERN DIGNITY OF A 
VICTORIAN PATERFAMILIAS, BUT WITH HUMANITY AND IMAGINATION AS WELL ; IN 
THE ANNALS OF COLONIALISM, FEW DYNASTIES HAVE BEEN SO SELFLESSLY DEVOTED 
TO THEIR SUBJECTS' WELFARE . THE FIRST BROOKE RAJAH WAS JAMES, 
A WEALTHY, HIGH-MINDED ADVENTURER WHO SAILED OUT FROM ENGLAND TO " 
RID THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO OF BARBARISM . " IN SARAWAK HE 
FOUND HIS OPPORTUNITY . FOR THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI, HE SUBDUED 
A STUBBORN CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND DYAKS . IN 
GRATITUDE FOR HIS SERVICES (PLUS $2,000 OF BROOKE'S CASH), THE OPPRESSIVE 
SULTAN IN 1841 MADE HIM RAJAH OF SARAWAK . INDIFFERENT TO 
CROCODILES, BOA CONSTRICTORS AND POISONED ARROWS, THE WHITE RAJAH LIVED ONLY 
FOR HIS HANDSOME, AMIABLE PEOPLE . IN 1848 HE WAS KNIGHTED 
BY HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY, AND IN 1864 BRITAIN RECOGNIZED HIS RAJ 
. HE DIED A BACHELOR IN 1868 AND WAS SUCCEEDED BY 
HIS NEPHEW CHARLES, WHO RULED FOR 50 YEARS . RANEE PAN 
. THE RAJAH WHO BROUGHT SARAWAK INTO THE MODERN WORLD WAS 
CHARLES BROOKE'S SON, WHO TOOK OVER IN 1917 . IN THE 
MORE HUMDRUM WORLD OF THE 20TH CENTURY, WITTY, CAMBRIDGE-EDUCATED SIR CHARLES 
VYNER BROOKE BECAME EVEN MORE OF A LEGEND THAN HIS PREDECESSORS 
. HE ISSUED HIS OWN STAMPS, FLEW HIS OWN FLAG, MAINTAINED 
HIS OWN ARMY AND POLICE FORCE . HIS RANEE WAS SYLVIA 
BRETT, THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER OF A VISCOUNT WHO, IT WAS SAID, 
HAD BEEN SIR JAMES BARRIE'S INSPIRATION FOR PETER PAN . ANOTHER 
LITERARY ADMIRER WAS GEORGE BERNARD SHAW . WHEN SYLVIA MARRIED THE 
RAJAH IN 1911, HE WROTE : RIDE A COCK HORSE TO 
SARAWAK CROSS TO SEE A YOUNG RANEE CONSUMED WITH REMORSE . 
SHE'LL HAVE BELLS ON HER FINGERS, AND RINGS THROUGH HER NOSE, 
AND WON'T BE PERMITTED TO WEAR ANY CLOTHES . THE BROOKES 
HAD THREE PRETTY DAUGHTERS, WHO GREW UP IN ENGLAND AND WERE 
KNOWN TO EVERY TABLOID READER AS PRINCESS GOLD, PRINCESS BABA AND 
PRINCESS PEARL . AT A GLITTERING SOCIETY WEDDING IN 1933, GOLD 
BECAME LADY INCHCAPE, BUT BABA AND PEARL WERE TOASTED IN EVERY 
PUB WHEN THEY WERE MARRIED : BABA TO A WRESTLER, PEARL 
TO A BANDLEADER . STOCKPILING HEADS . THEIR FATHER HAD LITTLE 
TIME FOR FRIVOLITY . A SHREWD, SELFEFFACING ADMINISTRATOR, SIR CHARLES TRAVELED 
TO THE FAR CORNERS OF HIS LAND PERSUADING TRIBAL CHIEFS TO 
END THEIR WARS AND FORSWEAR HEAD-HUNTING . WHEN THEY PROTESTED THAT 
THEIR ENEMIES' HEADS WERE NEEDED TO PROPITIATE THE GODS, THE RAJAH 
ORDERED HIS ENGLISH CIVIL SERVANTS TO STOCKPILE MUMMIFIED LEFTOVERS FROM PREVIOUS 
WARS AND TO LEND THEM OUT TO THE VILLAGERS AS NEEDED 
. FROM HIS HANDSOME RIVERSIDE FORTRESS IN KUCHING, HE BROUGHT MODEST 
PROSPERITY TO THE KINGDOM BY EXPLOITING ITS OIL AND RUBBER RESOURCES 
AS WELL AS DIAMONDS, BIRDS' NESTS (FOR CHINESE GOURMETS) AND GUTTA-PERCHA 
(FOR GOLF BALLS) . IN 1941, CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF 
THE BROOKE RAJ, SIR CHARLES GAVE HIS PEOPLE A CONSTITUTION AND 
SET THEM ON THE ROAD TO SELF-GOVERNMENT . CONTEMPLATING WAR-RAVAGED SARAWAK 
IN 1946, SIR CHARLES SADLY REALIZED THAT HIS RAJ HAD BECOME 
AN ANACHRONISM IN THE POSTWAR WORLD . CEDING SARAWAK TO BRITAIN, 
HE EXPLAINED THAT HIS PEOPLE WOULD FIND " NEW HOPE IN 
AN ERA OF WIDENING ENLIGHTENMENT, STABILITY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS . " 
ANOTHER CHANCE . WHEN SIR CHARLES RETIRED TO LONDON, WITH A 
$2.8 MILLION TRUST FUND THAT WILL ULTIMATELY REVERT TO SARAWAK, THE 
NATIVES FOUGHT BITTERLY AGAINST BRITISH RULE, EVEN KILLED THE SECOND GOVERNOR, 
WHO OCCUPIED THE BROOKES' OLD PALACE . THE COUNTRY HAS NEVER 
RECOVERED FROM THE LOSS OF ITS LEADER . WHEN THE MALAYSIAN 
FEDERATION (TIME COVER, APRIL 12) COMES INTO EXISTENCE IN AUGUST, STRIFETORN 
SARAWAK WILL BE ONE OF ITS STATES AND WILL HAVE ITS 
BEST OPPORTUNITY YET TO ACHIEVE PROSPERITY AND STABILITY . THE LAST 
WHITE RAJAH DID NOT LIVE TO SEE THAT DAY . LAST 
WEEK, AT 88, SIR CHARLES VYNER BROOKE DIED IN HIS LONDON 
HOME . WHEN THE NEWS REACHED SARAWAK, THE SPIRIT-WORSHIPING DYAKS REJOICED, 
FOR THEY KNEW THAT HIS SOUL WOULD RETURN TO THE STREAM-LACED 
LAND OF HIS FATHERS . NOT TO BE CONFUSED, HOWEVER, WITH 
HEMINGWAY'S FICTIONAL LADY BRETT ASHLEY OR THE REALLIFE SYLVIA ASHLEY . 
