Abdul Momin ibni Abdul Wahab (died 1885) was the 24th Sultan of Brunei from 1852 until his death in 1885. Abdul Momin sought British support as he blocked Charles Brooke's attempts to acquire more Bruneian land in 1868. In 1877, Baron von Overbeck secured Sabah’s concession of land from Abdul Momin for an annual payment. Brooke's manipulative tactics ultimately led to British restrictions on his land acquisitions while Overbeck gained control over northern Borneo.
Despite initial resistance from Brooke's land expansion, Abdul Momin was forced to negotiate, Brooke eventually obtained land from Kidurong Bay to Baram in 1882, providing an annual payment for the latter. Facing continued losses, Abdul Momin restructured Brunei’s government and eliminated certain taxes in 1884. In 1885, he issued the Amanat, prohibiting further land concessions to foreigners, but it lacked enforcement power. Shortly after, Brunei lost Trusan, exposing the Amanat’s weakness. The British, uninterested in investing in Brunei, allowed Brooke and the British North Borneo Company to dominate, accelerating Brunei’s decline. His efforts ultimately failed, and he died in the same year.
Early life Prior to taking the throne, he was born Pengiran Anak Abdul Momin, son of Pengiran Shahbandar Maulana Pengiran Anak Abdul Wahab ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin I. He was a son-in-law of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II, due to his marriage to Pengiran Anak Zubaidah, who became his Raja Isteri (Queen Consort). Acknowledged for his sway over the royal family and populace, he worked as Omar Ali Saifuddin II's advisor during his lifetime before ascending to the throne in 1852. Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin was his brother-in-law.
Reign
Accession and territorial decline Abdul Momin succeeded his father-in-law Omar 'Ali Saifuddin II as sultan upon the latter's death in 1852, having previously served as regent for him during his ill health. However, Abdul Momin was not the first choice for the Throne. The Brunei Royal Council first offered the Throne to Pengiran Anak Muhammad Tajuddin ibnu Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam I because it was felt generally that he was the best qualified to be the next Sultan. However, Tajuddin turned it down due to his age.
During his reign, many territories were surrendered to James Brooke of Sarawak (White Rajahs). Upon Abdul Momin's accession to the Throne, James Brooke not only force Abdul Momin to confirm his position as an independent Raja, but also force the Sultan to cede the Batang Lupar area. In 1855, James Brooke force Abdul Momin to give up seven districts stretching from Samarahan to Rajang. On 26 November 1856, the British signed a treaty with Sultan Abdul Momin to reconfirm the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce signed in 1847. In 1861, Brooke backed by the British government, visited Brunei to discuss the annexation of Mukah with the Sultan.
In 1865, Charles Lee Moses, an American Consul General, signed an agreement with Abdul Momin and obtained twenty one districts. The 1847 Treaty was breached although no protests were made from the Sultan.
Charles Brooke and Brunei land dispute Charles Brooke tried to persuade Abdul Momin to cede Brunei's territory from Kidurong Bay to the Baram River at the beginning of 1868, but the Sultan declined and went to the Governor of Labuan, John Pope Hennessy, for support. In support of Brunei, the Governor claimed that Brunei was entitled to British protection under the terms of the 1847 Brunei–British Friendship and Trade Treaty. The Governor also offered to arbitrate a dispute between Brunei and Brooke, an offer that Brooke turned down. Brooke thought the land dispute was insignificant and that two sovereign countries could settle their differences without the help of a third party; he later protested to the British Foreign Office, charging the Sultan of deceit and having secret plans.
In an attempt to forward his own goal, Brooke purposefully stopped paying the Sultan cession money for lands he had already given up. When this incident was brought to the attention of the British Foreign Department in April 1868 by Governor Pope-Hennessy, Brooke fined Abdul Momin $4,000 for defamation. Although Brooke saw royal insignia as a show of respect, he stated that the Sultan's letters were often marked with them. When he later got letters missing of these insignia, he perceived this as a deliberate insult. This strategy not only forced the Sultan to comply with the terms of the lost territory but also exposed Brooke's plot to evade the yearly cession payments. Brooke's action caused the British government to ban Charles from gaining any territories for the next ten years. That same year, the Sultan introduced a new type of tin Pitis coinage, also known as the umbrella coins.
In his articles for the Sarawak Gazette and Brooke Journal, Brooke frequently showed rivalry and painted the Sultanate in an unfavourable light, emphasising the poverty that Bruneians faced, according to a report by Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer, the Consular-General in Borneo. This was his first ruse to take control of more territory in Brunei as a colonist. To depict Abdul Momin and his aristocracy as unfit to lead, Brooke deliberately highlighted Bruneian poverty while also quietly hinting that the Sultan need to seize control of Brunei's lands.
In the 1870s, Brooke traveled to Brunei Town to negotiate trading rights for Sarawak traders within Brunei's borders with Abdul Momin and the nobility. The traders had complained to Brooke about trade barriers imposed by the Bruneian government, hindering their business. During that period, Brunei's territory included three rivers – Kerajaan, Kuripan, and Tulin – controlled by the Sultan and designated nobles. The Sultan directly controlled the Kerajaan River, while the Kuripan River was awarded to viziers by the Sultan and did not pass through inheritance.
The ownership of Brunei territories was structured around distinct rivers: the Kerajaan and Kuripan Rivers were owned by sultans and viziers, while the Tulin River lands belonged to the royal family (Sultan, viziers, cheteria, and Pengirans) and could be inherited and administered autonomously. Sarawak traders faced challenges due to these varied ownership structures and administrative approaches. Abdul Momin allowed varying degrees of trading access to Sarawak traders during negotiations with Brooke, who was primarily focused on expanding Sarawak's colonies from Datu Bay to Kidurong Bay and eventually to the Baram River, reflecting his persistent ambitions since the late 1860s to subjugate Brunei's territories.
In 1870, Abdul Momin planned a tour to Baram but withdrew due to hostility from the local population. Without permission from the Sultan or the Consul General, Brooke and his wife toured Baram in 1872 and were warmly welcomed by the locals. The local Kayans were fined for murdering several Sarawak traders after the Sultan struggled to identify the offending tribe. However, in 1874, the Kayan of Baram revolted against Brunei after learning from Sarawak traders that more was demanded of them than what the Sultan had requested.
Charles Lee Moses transferred his rights to the lease to Joseph William Torrey who sold it to Baron von Overbeck for $15,000 in January 1876. Brooke presented Abdul Momin with a plan on 9 March, asking for the ceding of areas from Kidurong Bay to Baram River in exchange for a yearly payment of $1,200. The Sultan would get $600 of this total, with Pengiran Muhammad Alam, Pengiran Pemancha, and Pengiran Anak Chuchu sharing the remaining $600 evenly. As per the agreement, the Sultan would lose all jurisdiction and power over the lands upon their submission. Additionally, Brooke pledged to support the Bruneian government with any upcoming issues in an effort to deepen his relationship and friendship with the Sultan. In Brunei Town, the Sultan was provided with this draft plan by Datu Syahbandar, but he refused to give up or rent the areas in question.
Abdul Momin refused, so Brooke purposefully cut the cession amounts paid out year once again. Brooke gave the Sultan $6,695 in silver and $1,500 in bronze Sarawak money in 1876; however, he withheld $6449.00 from this sum. Due to allegations that Bruneian traders, namely Captain Salam, Nakhoda Badar, Awang Sani, Awang Tengah, and Awang Badrudin, had appropriated properties from Sarawak traders conducting business in the Miri River, this deduction was made. Niah locals also took possession of a boat and other belongings that belonged to a trader named Mas Omar from Sarawak. Brooke withdrew $360.00 from the Sultan's yearly payment as a result of these incidences. The acts of Brooke and his statement claiming that the Sultan had not taken any action against the wrongdoers that Brooke had implicated horrified Abdul Momin. In actuality, Brooke personally observed these acts on his visit to Brunei Town, and the Sultan had already filed charges against the violators.
It is true that Brooke used the widespread deductions as a ploy to coerce the Sultan into ceding the lands he had been pursuing for some time, all the while avoiding making the required payments. False charges was one of Brooke's strategies to put further pressure on the Sultan. The treaty agreement on Brunei territory transfers and surrenders, which required Brooke to pay yearly fees for the ceded regions, was obviously violated by these acts.
Overbeck traveled to Brunei in 1877 to discuss a new lease with Abdul Momin. In the same year that the latter consented, the Concession of Sabah was signed. On 19 December, Overbeck was appointed Maharaja of Sabah, Rajah of Gaya and Sandakan and receive control over all territory in northern Borneo after the signing of an agreement with Abdul Momin. In exchange, the Baron would provide the Sultan receiving an annual payment of $12,000, while the Pengiran Temenggong Pengiran Anak Hashim received a sum of $3,000. Overbeck went to Brunei and met the Pengiran Temenggong to renew the concession.
Baram River attack and compensation A party of Kayans was said to have assaulted a British commercial ship that was anchored near the Baram River on 20 May 1880, during the night. The ship was inhabited by indigenous Kenyah and Kayan tribes. This river faces the South China Sea and is the biggest after the Rejang River. Five crew members lost their lives in the attack, and more than two were injured. The ship, which was worth $2,660, was confiscated. The thieves most likely retreated upstream, thus even though the Tulina River within Abdul Momin's realm, he was unable to bring them to justice. Peter Leys requested payment from Abdul Momin on behalf of the ship owner's family, offering 100 bundles of jungle rubber worth between $4,000 and $6,000 as reparations. As per the rules pertaining to territorial ownership in Brunei, the Sultan was responsible for both owning the land and exercising ultimate power over Brunei. Jungle rubber, although difficult to get its counterpart in cash, was an important product in Baram River, vital to commerce and the local economy.
Abdul Momin pledged in a meeting on 15 January 1882, to quickly settle the $2,660 in damages resulting from the ship seizure. The Sultan was reminded many times, but the damages were never paid. The Sultan eventually paid the sum out of his own pocket with some reluctance. On behalf of the ship owner, Peter Leys declined this payment, stating that it did not satisfy their demands. Leys appeared to be using this rejection to further his own goal of pressuring Abdul Momin to grant Brooke's request for Brunei territory extending from Kidurong Bay to the Baram River. Leys, anticipating the Sultan's incapacity to pay so much, further complicated matters with what seemed to be a private agreement between the two of them.