Peace-Making, Adat and Tama Bulan Wang

Abstract

Resident Charles Hose was credited with “the true civilization of the Baram people.” However, a careful examination of the role of Penghulu Tama Bulan Wang demonstrates that pacification of the Baram was achieved less by the mediation of Charles Hose and more by the role of local chiefs such as Penghulu Tama Bulan Wang. His source of power was the existing customary institution of chieftainship and the adat or system of customary law, which provided safeguards for preventing conflict, for making peace and creating alliances. The role of this local cultural component in establishment of the state of Sarawak has been underplayed in colonial accounts of peace-making and the contemporary written history of the state.