THE MALAY PENINSULA BY ARNOLD WRIGHT AND THOMAS H. REID '.•:Liv^h^. rr;-?^ . .. I < jj / w ., '*" i CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023134376 THE MALAY PENINSULA Cornell University Library DS 592.W94M2 The Malay Peninsula :a record of British 3 1924 023 134 376 [;.,.;„(,., HIS I'XCEI.I.HXCY SIR AK'THUk YOI'XG, K.C.M.G., GOVIiRXdl; OF THK STRAITS SHTTLHMENTS AMI HIl.H CciMMISSK INKK To THE MALAY STATES. Froiilispiet THE MALAY PENINSULA A RECORD OF BRITISH PROGRESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST BY ARNOLD WRIGHT AND THOMAS H. REID WITH A MAP AND FIFTV-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS T. FISHER UNWIN LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE LEIPSIC: INSELSTRASSE 20 First Edition, igi2. Second Impression, igJS- /o/a / X (All rights reserved.) /f PREFACE Changes in British Malaya have been so numerous and so wide-reaching in recent years that the authors feel that little need be said by way of justification of the production of this volume. The aim which they have kept steadily before them in their work has been the compilation of a comprehensive account of the development of British influence in the Middle East from the earliest times to the present day. On the one hand, they have sought to trace through their interesting windings the various movements, commercial and political, which led to the permanent planting of the Union Jack at both ends of the Straits of Malacca ; on the other, they have attempted to sketch the modern influences which have firmly established British power on the mainland, and created there a centre of commercial activity of unrivalled importance amongst the tropical dependencies of the Crown. In dealing with the earlier episodes which figure in the story, the authors have relied very largely upon the records of the East India Company's operations in the Malayan sphere, which are a mine of information upon the social and political condi- tions that obtained in the latter part of the seventeenth, the whole of the eighteenth, and the first half of the nineteenth centuries. On some phases of Straits history, more especially in regard to the events which immediately preceded the occupation of Penang, it has been possible to throw quite new light, with the aid of documents which have escaped attention hitherto. 6 PREFACE Not the least interesting and valuable feature of this new material is the addition it makes to our knowledge of Captain Francis Light, the founder of Penang, who shares with Sir Stamford Raffles the honour of establishing British power in Malaya. In the later chapters of the book will be found, following upon a description of the Feder- ated Malay States, an account of the non-federated States, including Trengganu, Kelantan, Kedah, and Ferlis, which were brought within the British sphere of influence in Malaya by the Anglo-Siamese Agreement of 1909. This territory, parts of which are little known, presents charac- teristics of peculiar interest from the social and political standpoint. It also has, undoubtedly, a great commercial future, as it provides a wide field for planting and mining enterprise. The new East Coast Railway, which, when completed, will link up the British Malayan railway system with the Siamese lines, and ultimately, doubtless, with the Indian and Chinese railways, is to be carried through the centre of Pahang and Kelantan, and in all probability the ruler of Trengganu, when he recognises the beneficial eflects of the railway on neighbouring territories, will seek the co-operation of the Federated Malay States authorities in extending the line to Trengganu. Generally speaking, close attention has been given to the purely modern aspects of Malayan development. The remarkable tin mines of the Federated Malay States, which supply the world with half the tin it consumes, are fully described, as well as the equally striking rubber industry, which seems destined in the near future to contribute almost as large a proportion of the rubber used by civilisation. Incident- ally, glimpses will be caught of the changes which are converting this No-Man's-Land of a few decades since into the home of one of the most thriving and contented communities owning the British sway. PREFACE 7 Grateful acknowledgments have to be made by the authors of the valuable assistance rendered in the prepara- tion of the volume, either by the loan of photographs or by the supply of information, by Government officials and others. To the ready disposition shown to place personal photographic collections at the authors' disposal is to be attributed the remarkably complete series of illustrations which accompanies the letterpress, and in this connection they would especially mention Mr. J. B. Scrivenor, of the Federated Malay States Civil Service, whose assistance has been invaluable, and the Malay States Information Agency. Acknowledgment is also gratefully made to the Editors of the Colonial Office List for permission to use the map of the Malay Peninsula which appears in that publication. A. W. T. H. R. CONTENTS HAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTORY . -15 II. THE DAWN OF BRITISH POWER ... 28 III. LIFE IN AN EAKLY EASTERN SETTLEMENT . 43 IV. THE SEARCH FOR A NEW SETTLEMENT . 49 V. OCCUPATION OF PENANG . -67 VI. PENANG ATTAINS ITS MAJORITY ... 84 VII. BRITISH AND DUTCH IN THE STRAITS . 95 VIII. OCCUPATION OF SINGAPORE . 106 IX. BRITISH DEVELOPMENT IN THE PENINSULA . I20 X. WIDENING THE AREA OF BRITISH INFLUENCE . 14I (/XI. THE NON-FEDERATED STATES . l66 t/XII. LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATION . 1 98 XIII. SINGAPORE: THE GATE OF THE FAR EAST . .217 XIV. MEANS OF COMMUNICATION . 237 9 10 CONTENTS CHAPTER _ PAGE XV. MINING ...... 258 XVI. RUBBER AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS . 280 / XVII. THE people: their manners, customs, and OCCUPATIONS ..... 306 XVIII. COMMERCE AND SHIPPING . 328 XIX. THE future of malava .... 343 INDEX ....•• 353 ILLUSTRATIONS HIS EXCELLENCY SIR ARTHUR YOUNG, K.C.M.G. Frontispiece FACING PAGE THE SULTAN OF PERAK 20 SUNLIGHT IN THE JUNGLE, KLANG RIVER 32 MALAY HOUSE, NEGRI SEMBILAN 44 MALAY TOMBS, JUGRA .... 44 THE SULTAN OF KEDAH 56 THE SULTAN OF TRENGGANU • 70 THE OLD FORT, MALACCA 80 ROADSIDE SCENE, SELANGOR . 80 GATEWAY, OLD FORT, MALACCA 98 STADT HOUSE AND CLOCK TOWER, MALACCA . 98 PADI FIELDS, BENTONG. 112 SUGAR MILL, PERAK .... 112 THE SULTAN OF SELANGOR 128 THE SULTAN OF PAHANG .... • 144 THE SULTAN OF KELANTAN 154 HIGH COMMISSIONER'S VISIT TO KELANTAN, 1909 . 162 W.4TER-WHEEL FOR PADI IRRIGATION, JELEBU 170 . 170 THE SETTLEMENT, KUALA LEBIR . TRENGGANU RIVER, FROM BUKIT PETRI 182 MANAI FRUIT MARKET, TRENGGANU . 182 . 192 THE RAJA OF PERLIS . 196 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE . 11 12 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE E. L. BROCKMAN, C.M.G., CHIEF SECRETARY, F.M.S. • 200 SINGAPORE RIVER ..... 2l6 TELOK AVER STREET, SINGAPORE .... 2l6 . 236 MALAY FISHERMEN, STRAITS OF JOHORE . COCONUT PLANTATION, KUANTAN ..... 236 . • 242 GOVERNMENT OFFICES, KUALA LUMPUR . THE BALEI EESAR, ALOR STAR . 242 THE LAKE, KUALA LUMPUR ..... 252 OPEN-CAST TIN MINE, TAMBUN ..... 260 . 260 THE STEEP FACE, TIN MINE, TRONOH . GOLD DREDGER, KELANTAN RIVER .... 264 • . GOLD-MINING, SOKOR, KELANTAN . 264 SUCTION DREDGE, TIN MINE, RAMBUTAN . • 2/4 OPEN-CAST TIN MINE, SUNGEI BESI .... 274 WEEDING YOUNG RUBBER ...... 282 PLOUGHING NEAR MALACCA FOR RUBBER ESTATE . 282 RUBBER ESTATE, MANAGER'S BUNGALOW .... 29O PARA RUBBER TREES, CAREY'S ISLAND . 290 TAMIL COOLIES TAPPING RUBBER TREES . 298 YOUNG RUBBER TREES, CAREY'S ISLAND . 298 WINNOWING PADI ....... 304 PLOUGHING RICEFIELDS, ALOR STAR . 304 MALAYS, TIUMAN ISLAND . .312 ABORIGINES (SENOI MEN), BATANG PADANG . .312 BULLOCK CARTS AT A CHINESE VILLAGE . 324 MALAY VILLAGE, ULU GOMBOK .... 324 RAUB, PAHANG ....... 338 ON THE PAHANG RIVER ..... 338 RULERS OF THE NATIVE STATES, MALAY PENINSULA Perak. H.H. Sir Idris Mersid-el-Aazam Shah, G.C.M.G., Sultan. Selangor. H.H. Sir Suleiman bin Almerhum Raja Musa, K.C.M.G., Sultan Negri Sembilan. H.H. Tungku Mohamed, C.M.G., Yang di Pertuan of Negri Sembilan, and Chiefs. Pahang. H.H. Sir Ahmad Maatham Shah bin Almerhum Ali, K.C.M.G., Sultan. JOHORE. H.H. Sir Ibrahim, K.C.M.G., Sultan. Kedah. H.H. Sir Abdul Hamid Halimshah ibni Ahmat Tajudin, K.C.M.G., Sultan. Perlis. H.H. Raja Syed Alwi. Kelantan. H.H. Tuan Long Snik bin Almerhum Sultan Muhammed, Sultan. Trengganu. H.H. Sir Zainal Abdin ibni Almerhum Ahmad, K.C.M.G., Sultan. 13 The Malay Peninsula CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The Malay Peninsula is one of the most interesting and delectable regions of the tropical world. A rainfall which is distributed throughout the year clothes the landscape with verdure, and tempers the fierce heat of the sun to an extent remarkable in a country which is situated entirely within the first and seventh parallels of latitude. There are no great expanses of sterile plains and gaunt and inhospitable rocky wastes to subtract from the sum of its physical attractions. From a deeply indented coast- line washed by a placid sea of azure hue rise lofty uplands which are carried in a series of ridges until they finally merge in a mountain range whose summit is lost in the clouds. Numerous streams intersect the land, winding through tangled forests and cultivated clearings, bearing with them to the sea the rich detritus torn from the mountain-side in the remote interior. Islands of emerald hue bestud the ocean in sufficient proximity to the mainland to add to the infinite variety and charm of a scene which never surfeits the eye. The points of human interest in the region are many, but for the Briton they are to be found in four clearly defined centres.