Brunei revolt

The rebellion broke out at 2:00 am on 8 December. Signals from Brunei to British Far East Headquarters reported rebel attacks on police stations, the Sultan’s Istana, the Prime Minister’s house and the power station, and that another rebel force was approaching the capital by water. Far East Headquarters ordered ALE YELLOW, which placed a force of two Gurkha infantry companies on 48 hours notice to move.[4]

Most of the attacks in Brunei town were repulsed although the electricity supply was cut off. At this stage it was not known that rebels had attacked police stations throughout Brunei, in the 5th Division of Sarawak and on the western edge of North Borneo. Miri was still in government hands but Limbang had been taken by the rebels. The situation was most serious in Seria where the rebels had captured the police station and were dominating the oilfields.[4]

Nine hours after ALE YELLOW, ALE RED was ordered and two companies of 1st Battalion, 2nd Gurkha Rifles, of 99th Infantry Brigade, moved to the RAF airfields at Changi and Seletar in Singapore to fly to Labuan Island in Brunei Bay. The Gurkhas' embarkation went slowly because the RAF was unprepared and following normal peacetime procedures. The troops were in a Bristol Britannia and three Blackburn Beverleys and the latter were diverted in flight from Labuan to Brunei airfield when it was learned that this was not in rebel hands.[5]

The Beverleys landed at about 10:00 pm and the Gurkhas advanced into Brunei. They fought a series of actions, suffering six casualties, two fatal. A small group of Gurkhas led by Captain Digby Willoughby rescued the Sultan and took him to police headquarters. An advance to Seria met strong opposition and returned to Brunei to counter a rebel threat to its centre and the airfield.[6]

On 9 December, John Fisher called on the Dayak tribes for help by sending a boat with the traditional Red Feather of War up the Baram River. Tom Harrisson, the Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching and leader of resistance to the Japanese in the Second World War also arrived in Brunei. He summoned the Kelabits from the highlands around Bario in the 5th Division, the centre of his wartime resistance. Hundreds of Dayaks responded, and formed into companies led by British civilians all commanded by Harrison. This force reached some 2,000 strong, and with excellent knowledge of the tracks through the interior (there were no roads), helped contain the rebels and cut off their escape route to Indonesia.[6]

Meanwhile, reinforcements flowed into Labuan. The 2nd Gurkhas were brought up to battalion strength. On 10 December, the Far East ‘spearhead battalion’, the Queen’s Own Highlanders began arriving in Brunei. Brigadier Patterson, commander 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade arrived to take overall command from Brigadier Pat Glennie, normally the Brigadier General Staff at Far East HQ. Both reported to Lieutenant General Sir Nigel Poett, the Far East Land Forces Commander in Singapore. Seria and Limbang remained in rebel hands. Further reinforcements arrived in the following days.[7] These enabled Seria and Limbang to be recaptured.

By 17 December, the rebellion had been held and broken. Some 40 rebels were dead and 3,400 captured. The remainder had fled and were assumed to be trying to reach Indonesia. Of the leaders, Azahari was in the Philippines and Yassin Affendi was with the fugitives.

The road route to Seria was judged too vulnerable to ambush and there were no naval resources for a move by sea. Reconnaissance by an Army Air Corps Beaver revealed rebel flags over the Shell complex, and the 6 miles (10 km) of coast seemed in rebel hands. However, there appeared to be a potential landing site for light aircraft west of Seria and east of the town – the runway at Anduki Airfield had been cleared by a small group of western civilians who had managed to escape the rebels. One escapee, Hugh McDonald, a shell contractor and WWII veteran, made contact with Singapore installations to confirm a safe landing.[8] On 10 December, a company of the Queen’s Own Highlanders boarded five Twin Pioneers and a Beverley at Brunei. The Twin Pioneers landed west of Seria and the Beverley at Anduki. A police station 2 miles (3 km) from the western landing was recaptured and so was the Telecommunications Centre after a brief fight. Anduki airfield was quickly recaptured. However, the main Seria police station, with 48 hostages, most Shell expatriates, was not secured until the 12th.[8]

Anduki Airfield is today a grass airstrip with a concrete ramp used almost exclusively by Brunei Shell Petroleum aircraft and helicopters servicing Brunei's extensive offshore petroleum production installations. The Sultan of Brunei and members of the Royal Family sometimes use it in their helicopters when they wish to visit Seria, especially on State occasions. Regarded as strategically important because of its proximity to the oil town of Seria, its history in the Brunei Revolt and the paucity of other Brunei airstrips usable by fixed-wing military aircraft, Anduki and the adjacent highway to Bandar Seri Begawan is one of the first areas to be secured by Gurkha and Brunei Army troops when they deploy on contemporary war exercises.

On 8 December 1962, from two till five in the morning, shots could be heard near police stations all over Brunei. According to news received from Temburong, the District Officer Pengiran Haji Besar bin Pengiran Haji Kula and a few others from Brunei security forces and a number of civilians were executed for refusing to join in the rebellion.

By five in the morning, TNKU controlled Pekan Besar. News came that a number of civil servants at Pekan Besar had managed to escape capture. Around an hour later at downtown, the Deputy Chief Minister was granted an audience by the Sultan. After the meeting, the Sultan made a radio declaration condemning TNKU, the armed wing of the Brunei People's Party, for treason.

In Limbang, rebels attacked the local police station, killing five local policemen. The rebels then obtained the surrender of British official R.H. Morris, his wife, four other Europeans and an American Peace Corps worker, and took the remaining police officers hostage. On the first night of their captivity, they were crowded into the police cells, the second night they were moved to the local hospital where they overheard the rebels planning their hangings the following day.

Eighty-nine Marines of 42 Commando had arrived in Brunei on 11 December, led by Captain Jeremy Moore (who later commanded the British Forces during the Falklands War). After acquiring two landing craft, the Marines were transported to Limbang by Royal Navy crews led by Captain Black (who later commanded HMS Invincible during the Falklands War) and staged their arrival at dawn, 13 December. The landing craft had manually operated ramps which took too long to lower and the senior officer took the decision that the Marines would vault over the sides or over the ramps under covering fire from Vickers machine guns mounted on the bridges. One landing craft's bridge was raked with Bren gun fire, disabling the crew, and the craft rammed into the river bank and quay.

The only map they had was 10 years old at the time. The Marines lost the element of surprise due to the loud noise of their boats, but succeeded nevertheless in suppressing the rebels' machine guns and landed.

The attackers started their search for the hostages who, on hearing shots, began singing the American song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", allowing the first rescue party to quickly locate them. The first rescue party was attacked and two of the three Marines were killed. A second rescue party fought off the rebels from around the hospital and freed the hostages. About 200 rebels, who had little if any military training and a paltry assortment of weapons (about a dozen Bren guns and Lee–Enfield rifles, but mainly shotguns, muskets and daggers), tried to resist, but were beaten back.

Five Marines were killed and eight wounded in the attack. British sources do not list rebel losses in this incident, but Clodfelter estimates losses in the Brunei Rebellion as 40 rebels and six Marines.

There is a memorial to all the dead in Limbang. The leader of the Limbang rebels was caught and tried and received an eleven-year prison sentence. He lives (2007) on the outskirts of Limbang.[9]

By 17 December 42 Commando was complete in Brunei and 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) had landed from the cruiser HMS Tiger in Miri. 40 Commando aboard the commando carrier HMS Albion was diverted from Miri to Kuching. On 14 December, most of the unit reinforced the artillery battery sent there as infantry on 12 December to pre-empt trouble from the Chinese of the Clandestine Communist Organisation (CCO) who were openly sympathetic to the Brunei rebels. The last company of 40 Commando landed near Seria. Albion also provided helicopters from the embarked Naval Air Commando squadrons.[10]

Major General Walter Walker took over as COMBRITBOR and Director of Operations (DOBOPS) on 19 December with command of all land, sea and air forces assigned to Borneo and reporting directly to the Commander-in-Chief Far East Forces, Admiral Sir David Luce. Three weeks after the rebellion started, 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade had 5 infantry battalions and HQ 3rd Command Brigade was in Kuching. This force was supported by the Brunei Malay Regiment, the Sarawak Rangers, police of the three territories including paramilitary Police Field Force, and Harrison’s force of now 4,000 Dayaks. Suitable coastal patrol naval vessels were lacking (the Royal Navy didn’t have any) so minesweepers were used. The RAF had medium and short range transport aircraft. In January, the Queen's Own Highlanders and 1/2 Gurkhas were replaced by the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and 1/7 Gurkhas and special forces troops had also arrived.

Mopping up operations, by this time including a commando artillery battery with their guns, continued until May 1963. On 18 May, a patrol of 1/7 Gurkhas were guided by an informer to a camp in the mangrove. They flushed a party of rebels towards an ambush. Ten rebels were killed or captured. They were the remnants of TNKU headquarters and one of the wounded, shot in the hip, was Yassin Affendi.[11]

However, on 12 April, the police station at Tebedu in the 1st Division of Sarawak was attacked and captured. The attackers had come from Kalimantan. This marked the beginning of Confrontation.[12]

The following units, or significant elements of them, deployed to Borneo in response to the rebellion before May 1963:

• 40 Commando Royal Marines
• 42 Commando Royal Marines
• Queen's Royal Irish Hussars
• 29th Commando Light Regiment Royal Artillery
• Queen's Own Highlanders
• King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
• 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd)
• 22 Special Air Service
• 1st/2nd Gurkhas
• 1st/7th Gurkhas