"In all criticisms in Press and Parliament," he says. "I looked vainly for a single constructive suggestion which would contribute towards a happier future for the natives. All that is urged is a return to the good old days which were good only for British residents and not for the native"
The Rajah then elaborates the argument by revealing what he calls "stark truth" about Sarawak of the past when he says that his father's policy was to support the virile Sea Dayak types against all other tribes, which led to indiscriminate slaughter.
There were also no free Press, no opportunity for the natives to ventilate their numerous grievances, and no adequate educational and medical facilities. State revenues were derived from opium, gambling, pawn and spirit farms, mineral wealth and State-monopolized rubber small holdings established by extinguishing thousands of acres of rice lands, and as a result poverty was rife whenever the rubber price fell.
The Sunday Times comments that the mission of Capt. L.D. Gammans, and Lieut. Col. D.R. Rees Williams will constitute a new stage in the Sarawak controversy, the mission being, no doubt, an attempt to pacify Parliamentary opinion now deeply disturbed by the revelations of the official handling of the Sarawak and Malayan problems.
But it will be hard to believe that the issues will be put fairly to the Sarawak Council until the Tuan Muda, Mr. Bertram Willes Brooke, or any other member of the ruling house, who does not support the Rajah's intention to bring the State under Colonial Office rule, is given an opportunity to go to Kuching for stating his case.
The Sunday Times adds that the Tuan Muda has received a telegram from the hereditary Malay chief of Sarawak proper, Dato Patinggi, pleading that he or his son, the Rajah Muda, Mr. Anthony Brooke, should come out with the Rajah on Mar.28
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