The Administration of Hajj in Brunei under the British Residency (1906 – 1954): A Historical Perspective

Abstract

This article explores the historical perspective of the administration of hajj in Brunei under the British Residency from 1906 until 1954. The pilgrimage reports were initially issued by the British and the British-Indian Officers. Malaysian pilgrims were previously misclassified as Javanese due to oversimplification of the officers in charge before the 1920s. Nevertheless, Bruneian pilgrims might interrelate with the same problem as they shared the same hajj routes. Eventually in the 1920s, the pilgrimage reports were mainly handled by the Malay Pilgrimage officer who was also known as the Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner in 1948. The Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner was responsible in handling the pilgrims from Brunei, Federation of Malaya, Sarawak, North Borneo, and Singapore during the pilgrimage season in Mecca at the time. Even though the Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner eliminated the misclassification of Malaysian pilgrims, Bruneian pilgrims continued to be enumerated together with pilgrims from Malaysia under the rubric of ‘Malay Pilgrims’. Primary and secondary research method are conducted for this article where various primary and secondary sources related to the administration of hajj in Brunei from 1906 until 1954 are used. This article discusses the roles and duties of the British Residents, local officers, Malayan Pilgrimage Commissioner, Medical Officers, and Sheikh Haji (Hajj Sheikh) in the hajj administration of the pilgrims from Brunei. This article further analyses British interests behind their involvements in the hajj administration.