Golden Land -- Sarawak , Chapter Eleven , Knowledge is power, gold

Golden Land  --  Sarawak  ;  Chapter  Eleven , knowledge is Gold

( written by Dr. J. Chong --Bed time story, consider fiction )

The Story of Giant Nugget made many people pondered why
the new community could survive at Mau San and Siniawan. That was the largest 'city' north of the mountain range of Borneo. It used to be Gedong town with seven thousand population, Gedong has a long history of link with Brunei and
used to have a sultan king from Brunei, where they sent the prince to Sadong River Basin where they collected lots of Gold Nuggets.

The relatively advance technology used by the leader S P Liew and his people in Mau San ( Bau) and Siniawan
proved that they survived with higher yield of gold, better housing, food production, proper management and fairly good accounting system to keep the area including different races of people living in harmony and peace.

The development of conflict between the Mau-San gold mine settlers( include Siniawan, some early settlers refered as local tribes) and the King James Brooke took months to established.

It is best to quote historian's view of Opium war that definately stirred up the emotional time bomb against the white King Rajah James Brooke). Many records showed that Rajah( king) James Brooke was a gentleman who got injury over leg and pelvic area which rendered him impotence physically but strong in ambition and kindness. He negotiated with the Iban tribes and rescued hundreds of women and children slaves after most of the Bidayuh men were killed at Jagoi in 1839. His portrait revealed every quality of a hero.

It was a different in interest and position that triggered the develpment of war between gold miners and king Brooke.
The second opium war from 1856 ended in 1860 with China defeated to dirt poor. It is easy to understand how the miners, mainly Chinese decendants and some Bidayuh relatives felt about the deterioting living condition.

One historian has a good idea about Opium war,  :

The foreigners were especially irritated by the high customs duties the Chinese forced them to pay and by the attempts of Chinese authorities to stop the growing import trade in opium. The drug had long been used to stop diarrhea, but in the seventeenth and eighteenth century people in all classes began to use it recreationally. Most opium came from Turkey or India, and in 1800 its import was forbidden by the imperial government. Despite this restriction, the opium trade continued to flourish. Privately owned vessels of many countries, including the United States, made huge profits from the growing number of Chinese addicts. The government in Peking noted that the foreigners seemed intent on dragging down the Chinese through the encouragement of opium addiction.

[See Opium Factory: The stacking room at an opium factory in Patna, India. Opium smuggling upset the balance of trade and destroyed China's economy.]

In the meantime, the empire faced other problems. The army became corrupt and the tax farmers defrauded the people. The central bureaucracy declined in efficiency, and the generally weak emperors were unable to meet the challenges of the time. The balance of trade turned against the Chinese in the 1830s, and the British decided to force the issue of increased trade rights. The point of conflict was the opium trade. By the late 1830s more than 30,000 chests, each of which held about 150 pounds of the extract, were being brought in annually by the various foreign powers. Some authorities assert that the trade in opium alone reversed China's formerly favorable balance of trade. In the spring of 1839 Chinese authorities at Canton confiscated and burned the opium. In response, the British occupied positions around Canton.

In the war that followed, the Chinese could not match the technological and tactical superiority of the British forces. In 1842 China agreed to the provisions of the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong was ceded to Great Britain, and other ports, including Canton, were opened to British residence and trade. It would be a mistake to view the conflict between the two countries simply as a matter of drug control; it was instead the acting out of deep cultural conflicts between east and west.

The French and Americans approached the Chinese after the Nanking Treaty's provisions became known, and in 1844 gained the same trading rights as the British. The advantages granted the three nations by the Chinese set a precedent that would dominate China's relations with the world for the next century. The "most favored nation" treatment came to be extended so far that China's right to rule in its own territory was limited. This began the period referred to by the Chinese as the time of unequal treaties - a time of unprecedented degradation for China. The humiliation the Central Kingdom suffered is still remembered and strongly affects important aspects of its foreign policy. Meanwhile, the opium trade continued to thrive.

The British and French again defeated China in a second opium war in 1856.

The miners had sufficient knowledge to find gold and earn a living. They set up schools, employed Bidayuh and tribe to work in the mines and housing construction. There were all sort of people doing various type of trade and took up all sorts of work with back up money from the gold. The community thrived.

Knowledge, skill, initiative and creativity is power, and gold.