A few North Borneo plantation tokens

Collecting these tokens is an expensive hobby. They represent a very important part of North Borneo history which was much neglected by the governing administration. I have no qualms in describing these artefacts as slavery tokens as they were one of the means of controlling indentured workers and were often treated like slaves who were mostly neglected and sometimes punished harshly resulting in many injuries and deaths which were basically pushed under the carpet by the government in charge.

Currency shortage was the main excuse used in allowing plantation to issue their own monetary tokens. The reality was that it was a means of labour control. Workers were very often paid entirely with these tokens instead of the official currency or Mexican dollars which can only be used at the shops within the estate. These tokens were completely worthless outside which means there was little chance of the workers running away to seek alternate lives and work. They were trapped and these estates were little more than workhouses and vast prisons.  In 1920 a law for gradual abolition was introduced and the plantation token system was officially abolished in 1924 after many years of widespread exploitation, systemic abuse and mounting criticism.

These are some examples from Tenom Rubber, Labuk Planting Company and Pitas Estate respectively.  The introduction of a large population of Chinese and Javanese workers for the Tenom plantation as well as the nearby large Sapong and Melalap estates led to much resentment in the local Murut population. Vast areas of native lands were also requisitioned and cleared. This resulted in the Rundum Rebellion of 1915. And of course we were told the official side of the story and not how much humiliation and hardship the local Muruts had to endure. However, the rubber industry laid the infrastructure for the modern day diversification of various agricultural products that Tenom is well known for especially the coffee. The denominations for the Tenom tokens were 10c, 50c and $1. 

The Labuk Planting Company operated on the fertile banks of the Labuk River north of Sandakan on the east coast. Instead of the usual tobacco, this company specialised in planting Manila Hemp or abaca which were useful for the world strongest natural fibre for making heavy duty marine ropes and fishing nets. This company tokens came in denominations of 10c, 20c, 50c and $1. 

The Pitas and Nicolina Estates were privately owned by a well known German agriculturist, H C Eduard Meyer. He was responsible for breeding and introducing varieties of common European staple crops such as wheat, potatoes, barley and oats in Europe. The estate employed a mixture of Javanese and Chinese indentured workers. The Pitas and Nicolina Estates token is very rarely seen. The tokens came in 50c and $1.

This is a well written synopsis that I found on the internet. It was probably written many years ago and was part of the Lam Research Archives but the original internet links no longer exist.

For hobbyists who are seriously collecting North Borneo plantation tokens, this book by A J Lansen might be worth buying but it is only 58 pages long which may reflect the sparse information that is available on this subject.