Jason Desmond Anthony Brooke FRAS (born 22 April 1985) is the grandson of the last Rajah Muda of

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

, Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, and a prominent representative of the Brooke dynasty in Sarawak, modern-day

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Background

Born in London, Brooke grew up there, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and the east coast of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, reading English Literature at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

, and earning an MPhil International Relations from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, Dublin. A keen

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

, Brooke served as Captain of the Boats, University College Dublin Boat Club, for 2007/2008. In 2011, Brooke sought a formal exoneration for his grandfather from the British Government on behalf of his family, over allegations Anthony Brooke had been complicit in the assassination of Duncan Stewart, the Governor of Sarawak, in 1949. The release of previously missing records clearing Anthony's name led to a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

documentary aired in March 2011, just weeks after Anthony's death. In 2013, Brooke brought his grandfather's ashes to Sarawak for burial following a large public memorial service. The Acting British High Commissioner to Malaysia attended and offered an apology on behalf of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, clearing Anthony's name of any involvement. He is President of the Sarawak Association, founded by his great-grandfather Bertram Brooke, Tuan Muda of Sarawak in 1924. He is a member of the Borneo Research Council and has served on the Council of the British Malaysian Society.

Brooke Trust

In 2010, Jason Brooke set up the Brooke Trust, with encouragement from his grandfather Anthony Brooke to preserve the collections of artefacts and papers related to the Brooke family and its century-long dynasty in Sarawak. Through the Brooke Trust, Jason digitised the Papers of the Brookes of Sarawak in 2012 and made them freely available online. In 2012, Brooke Trust started a project called the "Brooke Gallery" to be housed in

Fort Margherita Fort Margherita is a fort constructed in 1879 by Charles Brooke, the second Rajah of Sarawak, situated in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. The fort is an important landmark and monument in Sarawak's history which goes back to the century-old Brook ...

in Kuching, which was realised on 24 September 2016, the 175th anniversary of the founding of the State of Sarawak. Jason Brooke has been responsible for signing important memoranda with the Sarawak State Library in Kuching, the

Sarawak State Museum The Sarawak State Museum () is the oldest museum in Borneo. It was founded in 1888 and opened in 1891 in a purpose-built building in Kuching, Sarawak. History It has been said that naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace encouraged Charles Brooke, ...

, and local communities. In September 2016 he was appointed a technical advisor on a then-upcoming feature film on the life of his ancestor, Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak. The film, titled '' Edge of the World'', was released in 2021. A letter of agreement was signed by the Trust with

Swinburne University of Technology The Swinburne University of Technology (or simply Swinburne) is a public university, public research university in Melbourne, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the Eastern Suburbs Technical College established in 1908, renamed Swinburne ...

through its Sarawak campus in 2023 to collaborate on historical preservation of kingdom-era documents.

References

External links

Brooke Heritage Trust Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Jason Desmond Anthony 1985 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Jason Brooke Pretenders