The White Rajah by Nigel Barley This is a biography of Sir James Brooke who became the first white rajah of Sarawak. Sarawak was ceded to Brooke by its ruler, the Sultan of Brunei, in return for Brooke’s part in putting down an insurrection against the Sultan’s rule. It seems that the Sultan may have mistakenly believed Brooke to be acting for the British government (or the East India Company) when he was in fact acting in the capacity of a private person. Brooke was the founder of a dynasty of three white rajahs who ruled Sarawak until the Japanese invaded in 1941. His successors were his nephew, Charles Brooke and Vyner Brooke.