IT WAS daybreak. The ship had touched the wharf. I was dressed up and ready to land, anxiously waiting to see what sort of land I was going to, and with what sort of people I had to intermingle – a strange land and a strange people, I thought.
The passports were checked and passengers allowed to land.
To my pleasant surprise there were two known faces awaiting my arrival to receive me in this new place. The two known were, Mr.T.V.Durai, the office Superintendent at that time designated as Chief Draughtsman, chief of the whole Drawing Office next to Surveyor General, and the other Mr.N.Raghavan a Malayalee who was my co-worker for some time in India.
It was a happy meeting. Soon I began to feel at home. It was already 7.30. Mr. Raghavan took me to his house where he was staying alone.
He had a servant who cooked his food etc. After exchanging pleasantries we had our breakfast. It was just time to go to the office, which we reached at about 9, AM. Mr. Durai took me to the Surveyor-General who greeted me.
I was then taken round the Drawing Office. Mr. Raghavan had been transferred from Field to Office to take charge of the Computing Section. There was a Drafting and a Title Section.
Later a Printing Section was introduced. I was also introduced to various other members of the staff. There were a couple of Sikhs, a few Indians, a few locals and a good number of Chinese.
The Chinese all looked alike to me at that time and it took me a few days to recognize the various faces.
Soon I was able to mix freely with everyone and they all became very friendly and helpful. So my stay in British Borneo started.
Before proceeding further let me give some details of that country. Borneo one of the largest islands in the Malayan Archipelago is situated in between the islands of Sumatra and Java to the south, Celebes to the east, Philippines to the north, and the mainland of Malay Peninsula, and China on the west. The Malayan coast is the nearest to north Borneo, by approximately a thousand miles.
The island’s area is 240,000 square miles, divided into four states namely Dutch Borneo, now called Kalimantan is part of Indonesia, Sarawak ruled by a white Raja, Sir Vyner Brooke, Brunei a Sultanate ruled by a Sultan and North Borneo by a chartered company with a president and board of directors in England just as in the case of India during the early period of British occupation; Sarawak with capital Kuching and North Borneo with capital Jesselton in the West Coast (formerly Sandakan in the East Coast) had become British colonies after the warWorld War II.
Brunei is a British protectorate(now independent). In 1962 after F.M.S(federated Malayan states) became independent, Sarawak and North Borneo also joined the Malaysian federation.
Singapore first joined Malaysia, but later became independent in 1965. Brunei remained as an independent state under British protection