Chinese Education In Kuching,sarawak Kingdom During The Brooke Dynasty,its Development And Predicament 1841-1941

In 1841,an English adventurer,James Brooke,(1841-1868)acquired the sovereignty of Sarawak from the sultan of Brunei and proclaimed himself the “Rajah”,thus began the Brooke Dynasty for a century.His rule was focused on consolidating his authority,eliminating those who opposed his rule and providing a safe place for trade and development.The Chinese began to arrive at Sarawak for trade and agricultural activities.His nephew,Charles Brooke(1868-1917)inherited the throne and became the builder of the kingdom.He encouraged more Chinese immigration to Sarawak,giving them incentives to open up land for gambier and pepper planting.The Chinese arrived in big waves.By the time he retired in1917,Sarawak had developed into a modern state and he was known as the “benevolent despot “.His son,Charles Vyner Brooke(1917-1941)continued and became the last Rajah of Sarawak.As a hedonist,he could only live on the legacy and contributed little to the kingdom.However,the influx of Chinese to the kingdom continued until they constituted a quarter of the population.When the Japanese invaded Sarawak in 1941,he took refuge in Australia.After the war he ceded the kingdom to the British for a price.From clogs to clogs is only three generations,the Brooke Dynasty then came to an end.That era coincided with the late Qing Dynasty.Their laissez-faire policy enabled the free development of Chinese education which followed closely with that of the Qing Dynasty.It began with tutors taught at private homes.When the different dialect groups formed their own clan associations in Kuching,tutoring centres were also set up there.Hence,the client’s base had expanded but still confined to within the dialect group.China had standardised the written language since the Qin Dynasty but managed to establish a standard spoken language only after the Qing Dynasty ended.With the establishment of the Republic in 1911,the idea of modern schooling system was also brought to Kuching.Modern schools were founded by the six dialect groups at different times.Teaching materials and most of the teachers were sourced from China.The “divide and rule” policy of the Rajahs created a plural society whereby the peoples did not interact.The same tactic was applied to the Chinese communities.They were organised into six dialect groups and were more like six ethnic groups.Teaching was delivered in dialect according to the dialect group.After the founding of the Republic,“Kuo-Yu”(Mandarin)was gradually introduced to replace dialect in teaching.Due to the fragmentation of the Chinese community,the limited educational resources could not be deployed in a more efficient way.Instead,they were spread thin among the six dialect groups.Consequently,the issues of teaching quality,staffing,teaching resources and finances presented great challenges to the Chinese education.Despite these issues,a complete,independent system of Chinese education,from kindergarten to lower secondary level was established in the kingdom based on self-reliance.Thus,the continuity of the cultural heritage of the community was assured.