Brunei: Traditions of Monarchic Culture and History R. H. Hickling's Memorandum upon the Brunei Constitutional History and Practice (review)

The sultanate of Brunei Darussalamis the only Southeast Asian nation still practising the absolute monarchical system which goes under the modern socio-political label of Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB). Its not-so-distant historic developments include Brunei's last-minute decline to become a part of the enlarged Malay federation—Malaysia—in 1963, opting instead to remain a British protectorate until its independence on 1 January 1984. Some debate concerning Brunei's early history aside, it is safe to state that Brunei's long history goes back beyond the fifteenth century. By the second half of sixteenth century Brunei had become an attractive centre for both trade and Islamic culture to the point that the Spanish colonialist regime found it imperative to be rid of Brunei's socio-political influence over the Muslim rulers in the southern Philippines, the ruler of Sulu included.

With the coming of Western colonization of the Malay archipelago, Brunei continued to suffer a steady decline, especially after the setting up of the White Rajah dynasty in Sarawak in the mid-nineteenth century. In fact Brunei's narrow escape from a total annihilation caused by the expansionist policy of the Brooke rajah of Sarawak on the one hand, and from the grabbing reach of the British North Borneo Chartered Company on the other, was made possible only in 1904 when London decided to accept the recommendation of the McArthur Report to preserve the 'truncated' Brunei as an independent state. Thus Brunei owes its survival to become a modern sovereign nation state to the McArthur Report. It is significant to point out that the report only recommended a colonial regime be properly introduced in Brunei. The McArthur Report wanted as administrative system of the salvaged Brunei the introduction of a British resident who would be instrumental to the administrative reform of Brunei on a similar model to the native Malay states on the Malay Peninsula.

R. H. Hickling's 1955 Memorandum, coming about 50 years after the all-important McArthur Report, was written on the instruction of the Colonial Office with the main objective of introducing a new constitutional status for Brunei. Hickling was at the time a relatively junior CO officer, holding the position of Sarawak's Assistant Attorney-General, yet he appeared familiar with the issue at hand. The Memorandum was completed after Hickling's short stay in Brunei in November-December 1954. Though at the onset of this administrative reform the Ruler was quite receptive to the new constitutional idea, as time went by it became evident that Sultan OmarAli Saifuddin IIIwas becoming increasingly disenchanted with the constitutional recommendations of the Memorandum. It appeared that the principle of 'a popular government of the people, for the people and by the people' was not well received by the influential ruling elite. Even Hickling himself admitted, 'Once set down, the proposition looks, and is, absurd. Yet many of us, I among them, cherished this kind of delusion, and force the pace of democracy' (p. 29).

B. A. Hussainmiya and Professor Nicholas Tarling are no strangers to the Southeast Asian academic circle and require no introduction as to their specializations. The former is presently attached to the University of Brunei Darussalam, while the latter is an Emeritus Professor of History, University of Auckland and a Fellow of the New Zealand Asia Institute. Their combined efforts in the annotation and introduction of Hickling's Memorandum have comprehensively contributed to the Brunei bibliographical largeness. Their joint efforts should and must be commended.

Brunei: Traditions of Monarchic Culture and History consists of three parts. Part 1 successfully introduces readers to the socio-political and historical background of Brunei and thus paves the way for the reader's...