ABSTRACT
On 22 July 2013, the residents of Kuching, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, were treated to a strange spectacle. They saw actors performing a re-enactment of the actual ceremony in 1963 when the last British Governor of Sarawak, Governor Sir Alexander Waddell, sailed from the Astana, the ancient seat of government, directly across the Sarawak River to greet and officially hand over his duties to his Sarawakian successor, signalling the end of colonial rule. 1 For this staged re-enactment, the State Government even arranged for Caucasian actors to play the role of Waddell and his entourage as they walked toward the Square Tower at the Kuching Waterfront, where the Union Jack was lowered as the newly independent state’s flag was raised. 2 The event was billed as a celebration of ‘liberation day’ (22 July 1963), and the end of the colonial period in Sarawak.
