SEJARAH PERIBUMI DI BORNEO UTARA SEMASA ZAMAN KESULTANAN BRUNEI: SATU KAJIAN LITERATUR

NORTH BORNEO HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS DURING THE BRUNEI SULTANATE: A REVIEW FOR THE LITERATURE

Abstract

ABSTRAK Penulisan dari barat dan tempatan yang menyentuh berkenaan sejarah peribumi di Borneo Utara mestilah merujuk kembali kepada sejarah Brunei. Hal ini kerana Kesultanan Brunei merupakan pemerintahan terawal sebelum kedatangan kuasa Barat. Dalam hal ini, terdapat beberapa penulis barat seperti Spenser, Rutter, Leys, Black, Treacher, Tarling, Warren, Evans, Sweeney dan Sather yang melakukan penulisan terawal mengenai sejarah peribumi di Borneo Utara pada zaman kesultanan Brunei. Namun begitu, penulisan mereka hanyalah bersifat deskriptif dan data kajian berat sebelah hanya berdasarkan pemerhatian semata-mata. Walaupun pemikiran mereka tidak bersifat lokal sentrik, ia memberikan hasil dapatan kajian yang sangat berbeza serta tidak patut diketengahkan lagi. Namun, tidak dapat dinafikan bahawa penulis tempatan seperti Hasbol, Ranjit dan Abdul Rahman adalah penting dalam kajian peribumi di Borneo Utara lebih-lebih lagi, pada zaman Kesultanan Brunei mereka cuba mengangkat sejarah tempatan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahawa terdapat perbezaan pandangan mengenai fakta yang boleh diubah mengenai sejarah peribumi mengikut sentrik, fakta luaran, fakta dalaman, kritikan luaran dan kritikan dalaman. Walaupun penulisan barat bersifat berat sebelah, tetapi ia memberi impak kepada penulisan tempatan untuk mencari persoalan tentang sejarah peribumi di Borneo Utara. Dengan itu, maka wujudlah kelompangan penulisan dan pengkaji akan datang dapat menilai dengan lebih kritis. Oleh itu, penulisan tempatan perlulah mengambil peranan dalam mengisi kelompangan akan datang, untuk mencari penemuan baru agar ia dapat mengurangkan perbezaan pandangan di antara penulis dari barat dan tempatan supaya tidak bersifat berat sebelah. Makalah ini bertujuan melihat perbandingan di antara penulisan dari barat dan penulisan tempatan mengenai sejarah peribumi pada zaman Kesultanan Brunei di Borneo Utara.

ABSTRACT Western and local writers who try to touch on the history of the peoples North Borneo must back refer about history of Brunei. The Brunei Sultanate was the earliest government before the western powers came to the North Borneo. Many western writers, such as Spenser, Rutter, Leys, Black, Treacher, Tarling, Warren, Evans, Sweeney and Sather wrote on the earliest records of the peoples’ histories in North Borneo during the Brunei Sultanate period. However, their writings are primarily descriptive and data research is largely based on observations. They are not local centric, producing unusual results and should be used with caution. Local writers who tried for make up for this deficiency of overseas writers by writing about the peoples’ histories from a local perspective are such writers as Hasbol, Ranjit and Abdul Rahman. These writers are very important for local history in North Borneo during the time of the Brunei Sultanate. The even tried to elevate local history. They present a different interpretation based on the facts which is now shown can be viewed from different perspectives according to Western/local centricity, external facts, internal facts, external criticism and internal criticism. Therefore, a number of writings of Western academics are slanted towards a particular viewpoint, and it is incumbent on local writers to find out additional questions about the history of North Borneo. Thus, there is opportunity for future writers to evaluate and be more analytical. Therefore, it is very important for local writers to fill the next gap in research, to make new discoveries, so as to bridge the divide between writers from the west and those who are local. This paper’s purpose to produce a comparison between writers from the west and local writers on the peoples’ histories during the period of the Brunei Sultanate in North Borneo.