Brunei Revolt of 1962

During 1962, Great Britain proposed the formation of the Federation of Malaysia (incorporating Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, Sinapore and Brunei in Borneo). Indonesia and the Philippines opposed the plan. Sultan Omar, the autocratic ruler of the British protectorate of Brunei, favored joining the British sponsored federation. However, there was significant popular hostility to the idea. Leading the opposition was Ahmad M. Azahari, whose left-wing Parti Rakyat Brunei (Partai Ra'ayat or People's Party, PRB) had links with radical peninsular Malays and with the Indonesian Communist Party. The PRB demanded immediate independence for Brunei, with full parliamentary democracy, as part of a federation of the three northern Borneo states, incorporating Sarawak and Sabah (North Borneo) together with Brunei. PRB staged mass rallies and demonstrations, attracting considerable popular support.

In the lead up to amalgamation with the new state of Malaysia, the British pressured the Sultan of Brunei in to holding elections. In August 1962, the PRB, campaigning on an anti-Malaysia platform, swept the polls at the first district board elections, winning 54 out of 55 seats. The voting was supervised by the British. The surprise results, however, were objectionable to the sultan and the senior British civil administrators. Sultan Omar refused to allow the Legislative Council, which would have resulted from the elections, to convene.

With their electoral success denied, Azahari and some of his followers fled Brunei. In the ensuing month, Azahari formed an Anti-Malaysia Alliance with left-wing politicians in Sarawak and North Borneo, and rallied his supporters in the Philippines. Both Indonesia and the Philippines gave a measure of encouragement to Azahari, and there were some officials in the Indonesia who contemplated the possibility of an invasion of Brunei. Indonesia supplied Azahari with arms as well as providing some military training to approximately 400 of his followers who had crossed from Brunei to Indonesian Borneo. Support from the Philippines was less concrete.

Despite the strength of his constitutional position, Azahari chose rebellion and declared himself prime minister of a unitary state of North Kalimantan ( Kalimantan Utara or North Borneo). On December 8, 1962, his supporters in Brunei resorted to armed force. The primary military force behind the revolt was the North Kalimantan National Army (NKNA), trained and equipped by Indonesia, which, at the time denied all involvement. Between 100 and 150 of the men who had earlier crossed into Indonesian Borneo reentered Brunei to take part in the revolt. These events alienated many of the moderate supporters of the PRB.

In response to the insurrection, the Sultan of Brunei proclaimed a state of emergency, outlawed the PRB, imprisoned or drove its leaders into exile, and proceeded to rule by decree. Well aware that Britain had a large force of soldiers stationed in Singapore, the sultan requested British help in putting down the rebellion. Within a week of the arrival of British troops (including Ghurkas), it was mostly over, although a small number of rebels managed to evade capture for a further six months. Approximately 2,500 members of the party and its military wing were imprisoned as a result of the revolt. Twenty years later, nine of the original prisoners were still being held without trial.

Although in the aftermath of the revolt it would have seemed that joining Malaysia would provide the Brunei sultan with some protection against his hostile Indonesian and Philippine neighbors, negotiations between him and Kuala Lumpur foundered in July 1963, and he ultimately decided to opt out of the new federation. Meanwhile, Indonesia used the revolt in the Sultanate of Brunei as a pretext for challenging the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

References

Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: From World War II to the Present, 284; Southeast Asia: A Testament, 161, 319; Secret Operations of the SAS, 55-6; State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another, 81; Oxford History of the Twentieth Century, 233; East Malaysia and Brunei, 157; Lonely Planet Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei, 514; Military History, 1420, 1422; Timelines of War, 475.

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