colony · Maritime Southeast Asia
Crown Colony of Sarawak
Origins
After the Japanese occupation of British Borneo, Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke ceded the Raj of Sarawak to the British crown on 1 July 1946, arguing that he could not fund reconstruction. The cession was narrowly approved by the Council Negri but opposed by many Malays and members of the Brooke family.
Rule and society
The colony was run by a governor with an appointed and later partly elected council. The anti-cession movement culminated in the assassination of Governor Duncan Stewart at Sibu by Rosli Dhobi in December 1949. Britain invested in schools, health and roads, and oil, rubber, pepper and timber exports grew. Communist influence spread among Chinese youth.
Decline and legacy
After the Cobbold Commission found majority support, Sarawak joined Malaysia on 16 September 1963 with safeguards on immigration, language and religion. The Indonesian Confrontation followed, and Sarawak remains a state of Malaysia.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (1)
- Crown Colony of Sarawak was a colony of British Empire1946 CE – 1963 CE
More states of Maritime Southeast Asia →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Crown Colony of Sarawak. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/crown-colony-of-sarawak
- MLA
- “Crown Colony of Sarawak.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/crown-colony-of-sarawak. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Crown Colony of Sarawak.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/crown-colony-of-sarawak.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Crown Colony of Sarawak’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/crown-colony-of-sarawak (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻