Borneo Company Limited

In 1840s, James Brooke formed a relationship with Henry Wise, a merchant from London that sought to exploit the natural resources of Sarawak. In 1850, the British government established a trading company called the Eastern Archipelago Company (EAC) with Henry Wise as its principal shareholder. The company was given Royal Charter in 1851. EAC was given a trade monopoly between Sarawak and Britain. Plans were drawn to export antimony from Sarawak to Britain. Merchant houses in Britain, such as R&J Henderson agreed to finance the operations of EAC.[1]

The Borneo Company Limited (BCL) was registered in London on 6 May 1856 and MacEwan & Co. was appointed as the company's Singapore agent. The MacEwan company was established in 1852 and was managed by John Harvey. BCL London had taken over the MacEwan Company in 1854. By 30 April 1857, the MacEwan Company was dissolved by BCL. BCL Singapore was established on 31 July 1857 and all the assets from MacEwan Company were transferred to BCL, including wharves in Telok Blangah, Singapore, and its branches in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (today Jakarta, Indonesia) and Bangkok, Thailand.[2] The initial capital of the Borneo Company was £60,000 and the office was at 25 Mincing Lane. Its directors, including some close associates of White Rajah James Brooke, were Robert Henderson (of R.& J.Henderson, Glasgow merchants), John Charles Templer (friend of James Brooke), James Dyce Nicol, John Smith, Francis Richardson, and John Harvey (the latter two of MacEwan & Co. in Singapore). The Hendersons had been early backers of the Eastern Archipelago Company but pulled out before its incorporation. The commercial hub of the company was, however, in Singapore, and businesses were soon also opened in Thailand, and then Indonesia and Hong Kong.[3]

In 1855, Mr. George Acland of Borneo Company established a jute mill for spinning jute yarn at Rishra, West Bengal, India. In 1859, weaving machinery and power loom were imported and stationed at Baranagar, West Bengal. These actions forced the traditional jute cottage industry out of business in India.[4][5]

The company was given exclusive rights to all minerals found in Sarawak, including gold, and the rights to operate as a merchant, ship owner, miner, agriculturist, and planter.[6] In Sarawak, its first manager was Ludvig Verner Helms, who had been a MacEwan & Co trading agent in Sarawak since 1852.[2] Helms was tasked to "buy up the antimony ore, and generally to develop the trade of the country", with a Chinese, an Indian, and a Malay as his initial staff. Helms worked for the company for 20 years.[2] Since October 1856, The Borneo Company allocated £200 a year to build an Anglican school in Simunjan District in Sadong area (today part of Samarahan Division).[2] During 1857 Chinese uprising in Bau, BCL employee R Wellington was killed while lodging in police inspector P. Middleton's house. The Sarawak treasury was ransacked, including $6350 belonging to BCL.[2] During the uprising, Helms had ordered arms and supplies from Singapore. The supplies were transported back to Kuching using BCL's schooner named Water Lily. BCL was also instructed to give Rajah an advance payment of £5,000 to repair Rajah's residence, two government houses, and Malays' dwellings that were damaged during the uprising.[2]

By 1859, the company had paid the Brooke government £200,000 in mining royalties. Besides, the company had paid £2 million in wages. The company also requested that the Brooke government return the £5000 advance payment that it gave to Brooke following the 1857 Chinese uprising in Bau, Sarawak. This was because the coal mining venture in Simunjan had failed, the sago trade was disrupted, and there was labour shortage after the 1857 uprising. Thus the company was unable to provide any returns to its investors. The company argued that it is not a "philanthropic society" but a "commercial company". James Brooke then described the company as "discourteous and avaricious".[2] In 1861, after the Bruneian Sultanate ceded the central region of Sarawak (from Samarahan river to Kidurong point in Bintulu) to James Brooke, sago processing and trading restarted in Sarawak. Sago was shipped from growing areas in Mukah for processing in Kuching. Processed sago made up of 68% of total Sarawak exports at this time.[7] In 1923, there was no longer any economic benefit of extracting minerals in Sarawak. The Borneo Company in London was then forced to relinquish its 1857 agreement.[8]

Initially, all the BCL managers and senior employees were European. Only in the 1950s, were local Sarawakians appointed as executives and managers. The company also had branches throughout Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei.[9]

All of the Borneo Company's activities was halted during the Japanese occupation. The Borneo Company's personnel either escaped from Sarawak or interned at Batu Lintang camp.[10]

After the World War II, the company's Bangkok office in Thailand was reopened on 18 October 1945, two months after the Japanese surrender, followed by the Singapore office on 31 December 1945. Borneo Company's Kuching office in Sarawak was only opened in April 1946, followed by Sibu in June, and Miri in August 1946.[11]

The company was the only agent to distribute oil from Shell Oil Company, operating the first Shell petrol kiosk in Kuching. The Sarawak colonial government also mandated the company to import and distribute consumer goods throughout Sarawak.[9]

The Borneo Company offices in Kuching were on the spot now occupied by the Hilton hotel, with the manager's house, 'Aneberg', on the hill above. It also had warehouses located where Grand Margherita and Wisma Bukit Mata today.[9]

The Borneo Company continued its businesses as usual after the formation of Malaysia. At this time, the company was involved in various sectors such as shipping, airline, insurance, forestry, wood processing, and consumer products. The Borneo Company owned three subsidiary shipping companies, namely Borneo Agencies, Rejang Transport, United Agencies, and Rejang Agencies.[12]

In 1967, the company merged with the Inchcape Group headquartered in Singapore.[13] In 1974, the Borneo Company initiated a joint venture with Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) to form Sarawak Sebor Sdn Bhd. In 2007, Sarawak Sebor sold all its shareholdings to a company known as IDS/LF Asia. LF (Lee & Fung) Asia was a global supply chain company headquartered in Hong Kong. In 2016, LF Asia sold its interests to another China based company known as DCH (Dah Chong Hong Holdings Ltd). On 28 September 2018, DCH decided to cease all remaining operations of the Borneo Company.[9]

The Brooke government made monetary transactions through agents in Singapore and London prior to the formation of the Borneo Company (BCL). After that, the Borneo Company became the sole government banker from 1856 to 1912. All government transactions were routed through BCL head office at 28 Fenchurch Street in London. Besides, the company also provided banking services for the public, using Sarawak dollar as the medium of exchange.[2] The Dayak people also accumulated enough cash by selling forest produce during economic boom times and started to provide loans to Chinese traders. To protect the interests of the Dayak people, Rajah Charles Brooke issued an order dated 27 June 1885, stating that all loans should be registered with BCL or otherwise heavy penalties will be instituted.[2]

Later, Sarawak Chinese developed their own financing and credit facilities that linked back to Singapore. In 1905, Cantonese-managed Kwong Lee Mortgage & Remittance Company was formed, ending the dominance of BCL banking businesses in Sarawak. In 1912, the Brooke government also set up Sarawak State Advisory Council in London, taking over some of the government's money remittance functions from BCL.[2] In 1925, Charles Vyner Brooke invited London-based Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China to open a branch in Kuching. BCL later agreed not to open new accounts, while the company continued to provide service to existing customers, mainly consisting of Dayaks, who would sometimes come downriver to the office to see their money.[2] However, the company did not extend its credit facilities to its own employees.[2]