The Padas Damit War was a war between 1888 and 1889 that began in 1884 when a dispute over Padas Damit area (modern day Beaufort, Sabah) by Pengiran Syahbandar Hassan and the North Borneo Chartered Company.
The issue first started due to the undefined boundary between Padas Besar and Padas Damit. There was an overlapping claim between the two. This could have been due to Sultan Abdul Momin who leased the land in 1884 had died on 30 May 1885. The confusion went on for about two years before the Brunei Government issued a document that stated that everyone staying on the overlapping claim will be compensated. The British compensated the land-owners but Brunei did not do so. The British requested that the boundary markers be placed to indicate the two areas. However, Pengiran Syahbandar and his men refused to do so and rebel against the British North Borneo.[2][3][2]
There was also a misunderstanding between the Heads of the Padas Klias Community when Pengiran Syahbandar came down to interfere in all matters involving the Padas Klias area. The company refused to negotiate with Pengiran Syahbandar and immediately requested the Sultan's intervention to resolve this problem based on the terms of the agreement of 5 November 1884.[4][3]
This misunderstanding continued for 2 years until a document dated 1 February 1887 was issued by the Brunei Government stating that the surrender of the Padas Klias area on 5th November 1884 was valid and stated that several payments to several Pengiran owners, administrators of several Sungai Tulin had not been paid and requested the company's favor to help explain the payments demanded by the owners and administrators of Sungai Tulin.[4][3][2]
Pengiran Syahbandar objected to the Brunei Government's decision and claimed his rights as the administrator of Sungai Tulin Padas Damit. In one incident where three times the head of the Padas Klias community planted boundary marks in the area and three times Pengiran Syahbandar and his people destroyed the boundary marks. Community leaders and Tulin people who transferred their allegiance to the company and moved into the company's borders were constantly attacked and killed by Pengiran Syahbandar's armed men including his personal police force and his followers. The Bisayas who were fiercely loyal to Hassan declared that they would die to defend their home and would support Hassan. They conducted raids at night against people who had pledged their allegiance to BNBC.[5][3] Attacks on disloyal Padas Klias community leaders would be carried out openly in broad daylight until many houses and properties were destroyed. Several attempts to find peace between the community leaders and Pengiran Syahbandar failed.[4][3] With this, Hassan decided to go to war against the BNBC.[5]
The BNBC also implemented laws and levy designed to punish the residents for Pengiran Syahbandar Hassan's defiance. Life became hard and freedom of movement was limited. Seeing the hardship endured by the people in the region, Hassan called for a meeting with the people.
War
On 8th December 1888 Mr. Daly and Captain R. D. Beeston with the police force headed to the house of a criminal named Patek in the Padas Damit area. On the way to Padas Damit, the company police force was ambushed by 150 of Pengiran Syahbandar's warriors with quite difficult conditions, the company police were forced to retreat.[4] The attack by Prince Syahbandar marked the beginning of the Padas Damit war. Which in response the British labelled them pirates to justify their aggression.[2] There were four main forts; Kota Manggalela, the strongest out of the four, Kota Galila, likely owned by Sharif Omar, Kota Makarang, owned by the famous Dang Insum and Kota Padas Damit, the administrative fort.
On 10 December 1888, British forces led by Governor Creagh launched their first major attack. They focused on this central fort, Kota Padas Damit to break the command of Pengiran Syahbandar Hassan. The fort was bombarded and captured early in the campaign, though did not make Pengiran Syahbandar surrender.[6]
In January 1889 After the fall of the main headquarters, the British moved toward Kota Makarang, which was owned and defended by the Bisaya warrior woman Dang Insum, Despite heavy resistance, the fort was destroyed by treachery and artillery fire.[5][6]
On March until April 1889, Kota Galila fell as the British forces systematically cleared the Padas riverbanks in the months following the capture of Makarang.[6]
In May 1889 was the final stronghold. Its strong construction and reputation for having a "magical" white cloth barrier made it the most difficult to take, marking the end of the war and the surrender of the resistance.[5] The next day, the company brought Pengiran Syahbandar to negotiate a peace agreement by setting several conditions, including that a criminal named Patek be handed over to the police and that Sungai Tulin Padas Damit be handed over to the company with an annual payment.[2][4] The Padas Damit War was the company's first war and faced the local leaders of North Borneo, which could have been avoided if the company had taken Prince Syahbandar's request into account from the beginning. For the first time, the company added 300 police officers complete with weapons to land in Labuan.[4][3][4]
Aftermath
The Padas Damit War was the company's way of showing the native community the company's determination to protect its police officers and demand their rights as stipulated in the 1884 agreement. Padas Damit was finally handed over to the company by Pengiran Syahbandar in an agreement dated 1st March 1889 and 2nd March 1889 with Governor Charles Vandelor Creagh for a payment of $330.00 per year including the company's debt to Pengiran Syahbandar for 2 years mixed with interest of $100.00 and 5% per year totaling $733.50.[4][7]
The company also agreed to pay Pengiran Syahbandar a living allowance of $2130.00 per year and if he had no heirs, he would be paid $1065.00 per year. The company agreed to give an advance payment of $2130.00 to Pengiran Syahbandar.[7] This agreement was also signed by the Sultan and Babu Fatimah.[2][4]
Notes
↑There is conflicting accounts whether his name is Bahar or Hassan
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Bruneian Sultanate 
North Borneo Chartered Company 
North Borneo Police Force