In World War II, the Japanese invaders beheaded Sjarif Hamid Al-Kadri, Sultan of West Borneo, and ten of his sons. The Sultan's eleventh son, an officer in the Royal Dutch Indies Army, was imprisoned, but survived. At war's end the eleventh son became Sultan of West Borneo.
The new ruler, who had a blonde Dutch wife, never showed much fondness for his jungle principality. At the parties which took up most of the little time he spent there, he added swing bands and imported whisky for the traditional tomtom beaters and veiled female attendants. His subjects, Chinese, Malays and Dyaks,...
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