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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 September 2014
This article narrates the long-standing diplomatic relationship between Malcolm MacDonald and Brunei. Macdonald played a significant role in safeguarding Brunei's survival as an independent Malay Islamic sultanate during decolonisation. He prevented Brunei from becoming a British crown colony in 1946 unlike the neighbouring states of Sarawak and North Borneo. Having failed to unite the three North Borneo territories into a federation, he may have concurred with Brunei's decision to opt out of the Malaysian Federation in August 1963 and thereafter. Due to his empathy with the Brunei sultans, especially Omar Ali Saifuddin the III, MacDonald's approach for Brunei's future contradicted the vision of his contemporaries for democratising Brunei.
1 Tarling, Nicholas, Britain, Southeast Asia and the onset of the Cold War, 1945–1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)Google Scholar.
2 Reece, Bob, ‘“The Little Sultan”: Ahmad Tajuddin II of Brunei, Gerard MacBryan, and Malcolm Macdonald’, Borneo Research Bulletin 40 (2009): 81–108Google Scholar; Hussainmiya, B.A., Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain: The making of Brunei Darussalam (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.
3 McArthur's ideas on rescuing Brunei are republished in McArthur, M.S.H., Report on Brunei in 1904, introduced and annotated by Horton, A.V.M. (Athens: Monographs in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series no. 74, Center for International Studies, Ohio University, 1987)Google Scholar. See also Hussainmiya, B.A., Brunei: Revival of 1906, a popular history (Bandar Seri Begawan: Brunei Press, 2006)Google Scholar.
4 Reece, R.H.W., The name of Brooke: The end of White Rajah rule in Sarawak (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1982)Google Scholar; Runciman, Steven, The White Rajahs: A history of Sarawak from 1941 to 1946 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960)Google Scholar. See also Hussainmiya, Brunei.
5 See further Stockwell, A.J., ‘Britain and Brunei, 1945–1963: Imperial retreat and royal ascendancy’, Modern Asian Studies 38, 4 (2004): 785–819Google Scholar.
6 For instance, in Kenya, where his skill, charm, and patience helped bring about stable democratic independence in 1963. See Kyle, Keith, The politics of the independence of Kenya (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999)Google Scholar.
7 Malcolm MacDonald was appointed as the Chancellor of Durham University in 1970.
8 Sanger, Clyde, Malcolm MacDonald: Bringing an end to empire (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.
9 ‘Constant surprise’, evidently an early (probably the first) draft, MacDonald Papers, Durham University Library (henceforth ‘MacDonald Papers’), MS 121/6/1-263. Some additional pages have been inserted at various points, presumably intended to be incorporated in a revision, MacDonald Papers, MS 121/20/1-597. There are various drafts of ‘Constant surprise’ with many alterations, repetitions and gaps. For a full list of the MacDonald Papers, see http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ead/pol/macdon.xml (last accessed 13 June 2013).
10 MacDonald, Malcolm, People and places: Random reminiscences, S.I. (London: Collins, 1969)Google Scholar; MacDonald, Malcolm, Titans and others (London: William Collins & Sons, 1972)Google Scholar.
11 Peter Lyon came to know the ageing Macdonald well and, having reviewed Sanger's book, had planned to write another biography. Lyon was the first to see MacDonald's papers before they were officially weeded and dispatched to Durham, but died in 2010 without completing the biography itself (pers. comm. from A.J. Stockwell, June 2013). Lyon also wrote the entry on MacDonald in the Oxford dictionary of national biography (http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/31/101031388; last accessed 30 July 2014) and ‘Clyde on Malcolm MacDonald: The public and private lives of a British envoy’, Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 86, 341 (1997): 109–17CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The late historian Mary Turnbull never completed her planned biography of MacDonald (pers. comm., 2 Feb. 2006, Langham Hotel, Auckland). Other sources include: Garner, Joe, The Commonwealth Office 1925–68 (London: Heinemann, 1978)Google Scholar; Morgan, D.J., The official history of colonial development, 1924–1945 (London: Macmillan, 1980)Google Scholar; Constantine, Stephen, The making of British colonial development policy 1914–40 (London: Cass, 1984)Google Scholar; Stockwell, Anthony J., British policy and Malay politics during the Malayan Union experiment 1942–1948 (Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1979)Google Scholar; Stockwell, Anthony J., ‘British imperial policy and decolonization in Malaya 1942–52’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 13, 1 (1984): 68–87Google Scholar.
12 In the 1930s he had been secretary of state for both the Dominions and the Colonies.
13 Sanger, Malcolm MacDonald, p. 376.
14 Ibid., p. 439.
15 Savage, Donald C., ‘Jomo Kenyatta, Malcolm MacDonald and the Colonial Office 1938–39: Some documents from the P.R.O.’, Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines 3, 3 (1969): 615–32Google Scholar.
16 He was especially fond of the indigenous people of Borneo such as Ibans, Kayans, and Kenyahs and remarked jocularly: ‘I liked the wild men of Borneo a great deal, no doubt, I am a bit [of a] wild man myself, simply in habits and under developed in my intellectual capabilities.’ ‘Constant surprise’, p. 325, MS 121/6/1-263, MacDonald Papers.
17 The description of Brunei as ‘the Mother State of Borneo’ was repeated by Sir John Martin at a Colonial Office meeting with H.H. the Sultan of Brunei in 1957. Note of a meeting with H.H. the Sultan of Brunei, 11 Sept. 1957, the United Kingdom National Archives, Colonial Office (CO) 1030/460.
18 Tarling, Nicholas, ‘Sir Cecil Clementi and the Federation of British Borneo’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS) 44, 2 (1971): 1–34Google Scholar. Cecil Clementi became Governor of the Straits Settlements (including Labuan), High Commissioner for the Malay States and for Brunei, and British Agent for Sarawak and North Borneo.
19 See Lau, Albert, Malayan Union controversy: 1942–1948 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991)Google Scholar; Stockwell, British policy and Malayan politics. MacDonald had supported the governor of the Malayan Union Edward Gent's call to abandon the scheme. Hack, Karl, Defence and decolonisation in Southeast Asia 1941–1960 (Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001), p. 15Google Scholar.
20 Tarling, ‘Sir Cecil Clementi’.
21 J.M. Martin, Memorandum, 14 Feb. 1940, CO 531/29 (File 17).
22 Macaskie to Wodeman, (Secret) Memorandum, 4 Dec. 1944, CO 825/42, File 55104/3/1943–44, Item 37. See also Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, ch. 8.
23 Telegram, Secret, Governor General to Colonial Office, 16 May 1947, Item 5, and Telegram, Secret, Governor General to Colonial Office, 23 Oct. 1947, Item 14, para 2, CO 537/2244.
24 Secret, Governor-General to Colonial Office, 16 May 1947, CO 537/2244, Item 5.
25 Minute by Shenton Thomas to R. Irvine, 27 May 1938 and J.G. Black to R. Irvine, Secretary to High Commissioner for the Malay States, Confidential, 10 May 1938. Item 6, para 4. Brunei Archives (BA) 12010/1978 Setia Usaha Kerajaan (SUK Series, Box 4) (Previously BRO No. 25/1938). See further B.A. Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, ch. 2.
26 Reece, ‘The Little Sultan’. See further MacDonald Papers, MS 79/8/15-21.
27 Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin (born on 2 Sept. 1913) was the eldest son of Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam (r.1906–24). He ascended the throne in 1924 at a tender age of eleven, after his father died of malaria. A minor until 1931, he served under a regency run by his uncles, Pengiran Bendahara Pengiran Anak Abdul Rahman and Pengiran Pemancha Pengiran Anak Muhammad Yassin together with his mother, Paduka Sri Isteri Pengiran Anak Fatimah. In 1934 the Sultan married Tengku Rohani alias Roihani, daughter of the Sultan of Selangor Aliuddin Sulaiman Shah. Given the change in fortunes witnessed by the Sultanate in the 1930s, perhaps it was inevitable that the British administration would face a direct challenge from the Sultan with respect to sharing the country's wealth. The Sultan harboured many grouses against the British administration. Since the inception of the residency, only junior officers had been appointed to serve as resident-advisor to the Sultan. The Sultan was incensed by the British residents, who not only admonished him, but also complained to the Colonial Office about his failings. See Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, ch. 2. Also for a brief study of the Sultan in Malay, see Haji Muhaimin Haji Mohamed, Pemerintahan Sultan Ahman Tajuddin 1924–1950: Kerajaan, mesyarakat dan perubahan (Bandar Seri Begawan: Pusat Sejarah Brunei, 2011)Google Scholar.
28 Reece, ‘The Little Sultan’, pp. 82–4.
29 Coincidentally, this was on the day current Sultan H.M. Haji Hassanal Bolkiah was born.
30 The Sultan's participation in BARIP's first anniversary on 12 Apr. 1947 and the hoisting of the BARIP flag at the Malay school in Jalan Pemancha, Bandar Brunei, raised many questions. See Mohd. Jamil al Sufri (Pehin), Liku-liku perjuangan, pencapaian kemerdekaan Negara Brunei Darussalam (Bandar Seri Begawan: Pusat Sejarah Brunei, 1992)Google Scholar, ch. 1 and 2.
31 Brunei: Visit of Malcolm MacDonald (Commissioner-General for the UK in South East Asia) and others to Brunei on occasion of HH The Sultan's Silver Jubilee, Sept. 1949, 1 Jan.–31 Dec. 1949. FCO 141/1558.
32 On Sultan's Silver Jubilee, ch. 15, MS, MacDonald Papers, 37/6/1.
33 On Sultan of Brunei, ch. 16, MS, MacDonald Papers, 37/6/62.
34 The first cinema in Brunei Town was named after Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin; in 1953 the Brunei People's Party launched its nationalist struggle by forming a film company called ‘Brufico’. Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, pp. 101–4.
35 Commissioner-General for the UK in South East Asia to British Resident, Brunei, Telegram No. 14, 5 June 1950, MS, MacDonald Papers 19/11/13–15.
36 Minutes of the Brunei State Council Minutes, 7 Aug. 1947, BA FC/RBM/57; Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, p. 59.
37 MacBryan's career began with a decade in the Straits Civil Service (1920–30). In the late 1920s, he was the private secretary to Rajah Vyner Brooke, but was thereafter banned from Sarawak for almost a decade for misdemeanours. In 1940, however, he became the temporary curator of the Sarawak Museum and was later reappointed as Brooke's private secretary. MacBryan played a role in the prelude to Sarawak's cession to the British Crown in 1945–46. He then moved to Johannesburg in South Africa, but later returned to Sarawak and Brunei in 1949–50. He became a confidante of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin (whom he had earlier befriended in Kuching through Inche Hassan bin Kulap Mohamed, the Sultan's private secretary). See Reece, ‘The Little Sultan’, pp. 82–8.
38 Correspondence related to this episode was forwarded to the United States State Department. Sydney B. Redecker, American Consul General (Johannesburg) to the U.S. Department of State, No. 297, 25 Apr. 1951, ANA/RG 59/746H.00/4-255, U.S. National Archives, National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
39 Brunei High Commissioner to Colonial Office, No. 35, 15 June 1950 and the UK Commissioner General in S.E. Asia to the Secretary of State, Confidential Telegram, No. 141, 10 June 1950, CO 943/2 (59726).
40 Speech by His Excellency Right Honourable Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, May 1951, Appendix 1. CO 943/2 (59726), Item 34.
41 Memorandum by L.H.N. Davis, ‘Tour of Brunei to announce the administrative change’, 9 Mar. 1948, para 2, CO 943/1(59706).
42 One of the young firebrand Bruneians, Mohammed Jamil al Sufri (who later became Ydm Pehin, a respected Brunei historian), who was at the time in his late twenties, is said to have openly questioned the British Resident during one of the explanatory sessions and enquired as to how the British could carry out this merger against the wishes of the Brunei people.
43 Singh, D.S. Ranjit, Brunei, 1839–1983: The problems of political survival (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991)Google Scholar.
44 Hussainmiya, Brunei.
45 UK Commissioner General in Southeast to Governor Sarawak, Telegram No. 245, 24 Sept. 1951, CO 943/2 (59726).
46 Tarling, Britain, Southeast Asia and the onset of the Cold War, p. 47.
47 Secretary of State for Colonies to Governor General, 12 Nov. 1949. Reported in Straits Times, 28 Nov. 1949. MacDonald's views on his ultimate mission to form a Greater Malaysia Federation are documented also in: Malcolm MacDonald to Secretary of State, Confidential, No. 6, 24 Nov. 1948, Item 1, para 5, BA 0132/83 (SUK Series 4, Box 11).
48 The UK Commissioner-General in S.E. Asia to Colonial Office, 10 June 1952, CO 1022/63.
49 Straits Times, 24 Apr. 1953.
50 Simandjuntak, B., Malayan federalism, 1945–1963: A study of federal problems in a plural society (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 119Google Scholar.
51 Sunday Mail, 18 May 1953.
52 Secret, No. 77, Alan Lennox Boyd (The Secretary of State for Colonies) to the Commissioner-General for the UK in S.E. Asia, 25 Mar. 1955, para 2, CO 1030/164.
53 J.O. Gilbert to H.H. the Sultan of Brunei, 13 Aug. 1955, BA 0475/83 (SUK Series 4, Box 27), Annex in Item 46.
54 Hack, Defence and decolonisation in Southeast Asia, p. 15.
55 ‘Constant surprise’, p. 345, MacDonald Papers 121/6/1-263.
56 Ibid., p. 338.
57 Tarling, ‘Sir Cecil Clementi and the Federation of British Borneo’, p. 33.
58 Minute by Ian Watt, 5 June 1956, CO 1030/164.
59 By 1959 the North Borneo government needed to borrow a development loan of $8 million from Brunei, which the Sultan turned down. The loan was to be raised by the North Borneo government and was underwritten by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Minute by H.H. the Sultan of Brunei to the Private Secretary to the Sultan, 30 Dec. 1959, BA 2102/1983 (SUK Series 3, Box 165).
60 Malcolm MacDonald's note of conversation with H.H. the Sultan of Brunei, 30 Sept. 1958, CO 1030/608.
61 D.C. White to Hector Jacks, Headmaster, Bedales School, 23 Dec. 1958, BA 1617/1983 (SUK Series 4) Part 3, Item 6. However, the Principal of Bedales School was unable to admit the daughters of the Sultan as they were too young; Hector Jacks to D.C. White, 22 Sept. 1959, ibid., Item 12. D.C. White to Hector Jacks, 2 Nov. 1959, ibid., Item 14.
62 The Raja Isteri was behind the Sultan's decision to cancel plans for the children's schooling in England. D.C. White to Hector Jacks, 2 Nov. 1959, BA 1617/1983 (SUK Series 4), Item 14. Hence, the princes were admitted to the Jalan Gurney School in Kuala Lumpur. Tun Abdul Razak to Wan Ahmad (State Secretary, Brunei), 4 Dec. 1959, ibid., Item 20.
63 See Secret, Telegram Nos. 210 and 237, 2 Feb. 1959, Secretary of State to the Governors of North Borneo and Sarawak, CO 1030/608, for a Colonial Office understanding of the controversial conversation between the Tunku and MacDonald.
64 For literature on the Malaysia Federation proposals and Brunei's rejection, see Stockwell, A.J., ed., Malaya: British documents on the end of empire (London: HMSO, 2004)Google Scholar; Muhammad Hadi Abdullah, ‘Brunei's political development and the formation of Malaysia: 1961–1967’ (Ph.D. diss., University of Hull, 2002); Sopiee, Mohamed Noordin, From Malayan Union to Singapore separation: Political unification in the Malaysian region, 1945–1965 (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya, 1974)Google Scholar; Poulgrain, Greg, The genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945–1965 (Bathurst: Crawford House, 1998)Google Scholar; Shafie, Ghazali, Memoir on the formation of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1998)Google Scholar.
65 Governor of Sarawak to John Martin, Colonial Office, 6 Apr. 1956, CO 1030/164, 59/5/01.
66 See Stockwell, ‘Britain and Brunei’.
67 On Brunei politics after the 1962 rebellion, see Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, ch. 9–11.
68 The White Paper came in for detailed discussion in the Brunei Legislative Council, Majlis Meshyuarat Negeri Brunei, Penyata Rasmi (Hansard), vol. 12, 22 Dec. 1965: 95–113.
69 Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, vol. 735, 8 Nov. 1966, p. 1150.
70 Tel. No. 6, 13 Jan. 1968, Malcolm MacDonald to Commonwealth Office, para. 1 (b), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) 24/215.
71 Details of correspondence can be found in N. Pritchard to Bowden, 31 Aug. 1967, FCO 24/206. See also Commonwealth Office to Brunei, 18 Sept. 1967, FCO 24/206; Webber to Commonwealth Office, 19 Mar. 1968, FCO 032/21069. See also Internal Security Situation, Letter from R.M. Hunt, High Commissioner, Brunei to R.A. Hibbert, Office of the Political Adviser to the C-in-C, Far East, Singapore, 2 Nov. 1967, FCO 24/212; Secretary of State to Sultan, 2 Aug. 1967, FCO 24/206; Webber to Commonwealth Office, 12 Feb. 1968, FCO 24/206.
72 Saunders, Graham, A history of Brunei (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 160Google Scholar.
73 Ibid.
74 George Thomson to the Prime Minister, 7 Mar. 1968, Prime Minister's Office Files (PREM) 13/3181, 84393.
75 Ibid.
76 On Abell's long struggle to introduce a democratic and liberal Constitution for Brunei see Hussainmiya, B.A., The Brunei Constitution: An inside history (Bandar Seri Begawan: Brunei Press, 2000)Google Scholar.
77 Anthony Abell to W.I.J. Wallace (CO), 15 Apr. 1958, CO 1030/461.
78 MacDonald to George Thomson, 14 Mar. 1968, FCO 24/236.
79 Ibid.; George Thomson to PM, 7 Mar. 1968, PREM 13/1381, 84394.
80 Hussainmiya, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin and Britain, p. 376.
81 See Nani Suriyani Haji Abu Bakar, Brunei's political development between 1906–1984: Challenges and difficulties over its security and survival (Ph.D. diss., University of Leeds, 2006), ch. 5–7.
82 Haji Zaini Hj Ahmad, The People's Party of Brunei: Selected documents (Kuala Lumpur: INSAN, 1987)Google Scholar.
83 MacDonald to Thomson, 14 Mar. 1968, FCO 24/236.
84 See Poulgrain, The genesis of Konfrontasi.
85 Record of meeting between Lord Goronwy-Roberts and Malcolm MacDonald in the House of Lords, 16 July 1974, FCO24/1962.
86 Hickman to Galsworthy, 18 July 1974, FCO 24/1962.
87 Gordon to Hickman, 9 Aug. 1974, FCO 24/1962.
88 Cited by Wilford to Lord Goronwy-Roberts, 27 July 1974, FCO 24/1962.
89 MacDonald to Thomson, 14 Mar. 1968, FCO 24/236; A.R. Adair to J. Johnston, 11 Mar. 1968, FCO 24/236; Adair to Robin, 29 Feb. 1968, FCO 24/222.
90 Draft letter from MacDonald to Sultan of Brunei, MacDonald Papers, 40/6/43.
91 Alec Dickson founded VSO in 1958. Dickson's brother was director of education in Sarawak, one of the first territories to which volunteers were sent.
92 Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddin to Malcolm MacDonald, 19 Nov. 1979, MacDonald Papers, 40/6/47.
93 Sanger, Malcolm MacDonald. p. 442.
94 Quoted from Lyon, ‘The public and private lives of a British envoy’: 109–17.
95 Speech by His Excellency Right Honourable Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, May 1951, CO 943/2, (59726), Item 34. A copy is also in MacDonald Papers 37/2/7 (v).