Preface
This book is a personal record of some of the events which occurred during the early days of Tungud Estate, one of the first oil palm plantations in Borneo. Tungud was the forerunner of what was eventually to become, over the years, one of the largest and most successful developments in the history of tropical agriculture. However the book does not set out to be an official history. It has been written more as an affectionate tribute to some of my old friends who were involved in the Tungud project from its commencement.
Foremost amongst these was my Labuk neighbour and mentor, Ibrahim b. Sulong, blacksmith, medicine-man, and sturdy individualist. His name, and the names of all our other friends in the Labuk Valley, like Kong Miew, Tumpeh, Tasman, Rangga, Tundah, Mandore Dick, Geck Moi, and Kenganathen, will not be found in any official history books. These are the people whom Rudyard Kipling calls:
Not the great nor well-bespoke, But the mere uncounted folk, Of whose life and death is none Report or lamentation.
Nevertheless in one way and another they all played their parts, sometimes in dangerous and difficult conditions, in the pioneering days of the Sabah oil palm industry.
Two of the stories in this book were published thirty or forty years ago in the Planter magazine and in the Sabah Society Journal, and I am grateful to the Incorporated Society of Planters and the Sabah Society for their permission to include them here. I would also like to acknowledge Mr. J. K. Money, copyright owner of Planting Tales of Joy and Sorrow, in which certain of the line drawings first appeared, and Mr. Teh Yew Kiang, who drew all the illustrations except the D.I.Y. Camel. I also acknowledge with thanks the work of Miss S. Lee, who helped see the book through press in short order.
When I returned to London in 1974, to become in due course the Chairman of Unilever Plantations International, I found amongst the dusty files, every monthly report which I had ever sent from Tungud Estate, from the date it started in October 1960 until the departure of myself and the family from the Labuk in October 1969. I also found copies of every letter exchanged between myself and London Office over the same period. They provide a remarkably comprehensive history of the development of Tungud Estate, and I am grateful to Unilever for permission to make use of them freely in writing this book.
1 May 2007 Leslie Davidson
Foremost amongst these was my Labuk neighbour and mentor, Ibrahim b. Sulong, blacksmith, medicine-man, and sturdy individualist. His name, and the names of all our other friends in the Labuk Valley, like Kong Miew, Tumpeh, Tasman, Rangga, Tundah, Mandore Dick, Geck Moi, and Kenganathen, will not be found in any official history books. These are the people whom Rudyard Kipling calls:
Not the great nor well-bespoke, But the mere uncounted folk, Of whose life and death is none Report or lamentation.
Nevertheless in one way and another they all played their parts, sometimes in dangerous and difficult conditions, in the pioneering days of the Sabah oil palm industry.
Two of the stories in this book were published thirty or forty years ago in the Planter magazine and in the Sabah Society Journal, and I am grateful to the Incorporated Society of Planters and the Sabah Society for their permission to include them here. I would also like to acknowledge Mr. J. K. Money, copyright owner of Planting Tales of Joy and Sorrow, in which certain of the line drawings first appeared, and Mr. Teh Yew Kiang, who drew all the illustrations except the D.I.Y. Camel. I also acknowledge with thanks the work of Miss S. Lee, who helped see the book through press in short order.
When I returned to London in 1974, to become in due course the Chairman of Unilever Plantations International, I found amongst the dusty files, every monthly report which I had ever sent from Tungud Estate, from the date it started in October 1960 until the departure of myself and the family from the Labuk in October 1969. I also found copies of every letter exchanged between myself and London Office over the same period. They provide a remarkably comprehensive history of the development of Tungud Estate, and I am grateful to Unilever for permission to make use of them freely in writing this book.
1 May 2007 Leslie Davidson
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