The Boundaries and Rivers of Perak--Tin Mining--Fruits and
Vegetables--The Gomuti Palm--The Trade of Perak--A Future of Coffee--A
Hopeful Lookout--Chinese Difficulties--Chinese Disturbances in
Larut--The "Pangkor Treaty"--A "Little War"--The Settlement of
Perak--The Resident and Assistant-Resident
The "protected" State of Perak (pronounced Payrah) is the richest and
most important of the States of the Peninsula, as well as one of the
largest. Its coast-line, broken into, however, by a bit of British
territory, is about one hundred and twenty-five miles in length. Its
sole southern boundary is the State of Selangor. On the north it has
the British colony of Province Wellesley, and the native States of
Kedah and Patani, tributary to Siam. Its eastern boundary is only an
approximate one, Kelantan joining it in the midst of a vast tract of
unexplored country inhabited solely by the Sakei and Semang aborigines.
The State is about eighty miles wide at its widest part, and thirty at
its narrowest, and is estimated to contain between four and five
thousand square miles. The great artery of the country is the Perak
river, a most serpentine stream. Ships drawing thirteen feet of water
can ascend it as far as Durian Sabatang, fifty miles from its mouth,
and boats can navigate it for one hundred and thirty miles farther.
This river, even one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth at Kwala
Kangsa, is two hundred yards wide, and might easily be ascended by
"stern-wheel" boats drawing a foot of water, such as those which ply on
the upper Mississippi. Next in size to the Perak is the Kinta, which
falls into the Perak, besides which there are the Bernam and Batang
Padang rivers, both navigable for vessels of light draught. Along the
shores of these streams most of the Malay kampongs are built.
The interior of Perak is almost altogether covered with magnificent
forests, out of which rise isolated limestone hills, and mountain
ranges from five thousand to eight thousand feet in height. The scenery
is beautiful. The neighborhood of the mangrove swamps of the coast is
low and swampy, but as the ground rises, the earth which has been
washed down from the hills becomes fertile, and farther inland the
plains are so broken up by natural sand ridges which lighten the soil,
that it is very suitable for rice culture.
Tin is the most abundant of the mineral products of Perak, and, as in
the other States, the supply is apparently inexhaustible. So far it is
obtained in "stream works" only. The export of this metal has risen
from 144,000 pounds in 1876 to 436,000 pounds in 1881. Tin-mining
continues to attract a steady stream of Chinese immigration, and the
Resident believes that the number of Chinamen has increased from twenty
thousand in 1879 to forty thousand in 1881. Wealth is reckoned in slabs
of tin, and lately for an act of piracy a Rajah was fined so many slabs
of tin, instead of so many hogsheads of oil, as he would have been on
the West African coast.
Gold is found in tolerable quantities, even by the Malay easy-going
manner of searching for it, and diamonds and garnets are tolerably
abundant. Gold can be washed with little difficulty from most of the
river beds, and from various alluvial deposits. The metal thus found is
pure, but "rough and shotty." The nearer the mountains the larger the
find. It is of a rich, red color. Iron ore is abundant; but though coal
has been found, it is not of any commercial value. The methods of
mining both for tin and gold are of the most elementary kind, and it is
probable that Perak has still vast metallic treasures to yield up to
scientific exploration and Anglo-Saxon energy.
Rice is the staple food of the inhabitants. Dry rice on the hillsides
was the kind which was formerly exclusively cultivated, but from some
Indians who came from Sumatra to Perak the Malays have learned the mode
of growing the wet variety, and it is now largely practiced. Partly in
consequence of a great lack of agricultural energy, and partly from the
immense quantity of rice required by the non-producing Chinese miners,
Perak imported in 1881 rice to the value of 70,000 pounds.
There is scarcely a tropical product which this magnificent region does
not or may not produce, gutta-percha, india-rubber, sago, tapioca,
palm-oil and fibre, yams, sweet potatoes, cloves, nutmegs, coffee,
tobacco, pepper, gambier, with splendid fruits in perfection--the
banana, bread-fruit, anona, cocoa-nut, mangosteen, durion, jak-fruit,
cashew-nut, guava, bullock's heart, pomegranate, shaddock,
custard-apple, papaya, pine-apple, with countless others. The
indigenous fruits alone are so innumerable, that a description of the
most valuable of them would fill a chapter.
Our homely vegetables do not flourish, but watermelons, cucumbers,
gourds, capsicums, chilies, cocoa-nut cabbage, edible arums, and, where
the Chinese have settled, coarse lettuces, radishes, and pulse, grow
abundantly, with various other not altogether to be despised vegetables
with Malay names.
The timber is magnificent, and under the unworthy name of "jungle
produce" a large trade is done in it. Perak is the land of palms, and
produces the invaluable cocoa-palm, most parts of which have their
commercial value, the areca palm which produces the betel-nut, the
gomuti palm from whose strong black fibres they make ropes, cordage,
and strands for capturing the alligator; the jaggary-palm, from which
sugar is made, as well as a fermented beverage; the nibong palm, which
grows round the Malay kampong, and is used for their gridiron floors
and for the posts of their houses; the dwarf-palms which serve no other
purpose than to gladden the eyes by their beauty; and the nipah palm
which fringes the rivers, and, under the name of attap, forms the
thatch of both native and foreign houses.
Road-making has not made great strides in Perak, but railroads are
being planned, and a good road extends from the port of Larut to the
great Chinese mining town of Taipeng, and thence to the British
residency at Kwala Kangsa, a distance of over thirty-three miles, the
electric telegraph accompanying the road. Others are in course of
construction, and there are numerous elephant and jungle tracks through
the western parts of the State.
Still, the rivers form the natural highways. Perak has two ports--Teluk
Anson on the Perak river, thirty-four miles from its mouth, and Teluk
Kertang, a few miles up the Larut river, and eight miles from the great
tin mines of Taipeng. The import and export trade is carried on mainly
with Pinang, and at this time one of several small steamers leaves
Larut for that port daily. A steamer calls at Teluk Anson once a
fortnight on her voyage from and to Singapore and Pinang, and another
calls at the same port every fourth day, as well as at the Dindings and
the Bernam river.
Trade is rapidly advancing. The exports of the State, which were valued
at 147,993 pounds in 1876, amounted to 513,317 pounds in 1881; and the
imports which amounted to 166,275 pounds in 1876, had reached 488,706
pounds in 1881, the whole import and export trade of that year
amounting to 1,002,023 pounds. The free population of Perak is now
estimated at
Malays 56,000
Chinese 40,000
Other Asiatics 850
Europeans 90
Aborigines 1,000
------
97,940
To which may be added a slave and bond debtor population of nearly four
thousand souls.
The revenue of Perak has risen from 42,683 pounds in 1876 to 138,572
pounds in 1881; and the expenditure, keeping pace with it, has risen
from 45,277 pounds in 1876 to 130,587 pounds in 1881. The chief sources
of the Perak revenue are customs duties, opium and other farms and
licenses, and land revenue; and the chief items of expenditure are for
civil and police establishments, roads and bridges, and allowances and
pensions to chiefs. It is worthy of remark that the military
establishment--for so the magnificent Sikh armed police force may be
called--costs more than the civil establishment. It may also be
remarked that the revenue of Perak, thanks to the financial sagacity
and wise discrimination of the Resident, is collected with little
difficulty, and without inflicting any real vexations or hardships on
the taxpayers.
Public works, such as the construction of good cart roads and bridges,
the making of canals, the clearing rivers from impediments to
navigation, the enlargement of experimental gardens, the introduction
and breeding of sheep, cattle, and improved breeds of poultry,
surveying wild land, and rebuilding and draining mining towns, are
being carried on energetically. It has been found, after long and
carefully-conducted experiments, that the lower mountains of Perak are
admirably suited for the growth of tea, cinchona, and Arabian coffee,
while Liberian coffee grows equally well on the lower lands. Coffee
appears to be so nearly "played out" in Ceylon, that many
coffee-planters have been "prospecting" in Perak; and now that the
Government of India has consented to the importation of Indian coolie
labor into the State, under certain restrictions, as an experimental
measure, a future of coffee may be predicted with tolerable certainty.
One of the causes for satisfaction in connection with this State is
that the Malays themselves are undoubtedly contented with British rule,
and are prospering under it. Crime of any kind in the Malay districts
is very rare. The "village system" works well, and the courts of law
conduct their business with an efficiency and economy which compare
favorably with the transactions of our colonial courts; English law is
being gradually introduced and gives general satisfaction, and the
native Rajahs are being trained to administer even-handed justice
according to its provisions, and at the same time without trenching
upon Malay religion and custom. Slavery and debt bondage, which, as
hitherto practiced in Perak, have involved evils and cruelties which
are unknown to any but those who have actually lived in the State,
will, it is hoped, be abolished by equitable arrangement in 1883.
Various difficulties remain to be settled; the large Chinese element,
with its criminal tendencies, requires great firmness of dealing, and
the introduction of foreign capital and an additional form of alien
labor may lead to new perplexities; but on the whole the outlook for
Perak and its people is a favorable one, especially if the present
Resident, Mr. Hugh Low, is able to remain to continue his task of
developing the resources, settling the difficulties, and consolidating
the well-being of the State.
Nothing is known of the early settlement of Perak. It was formerly
tributary to the Malay sovereigns of Malacca, and afterward to those of
Acheen, to whom the Perak Sultans sent gold and silver flowers as
tribute. Siam has also at different times asserted sovereign rights and
demanded tribute, but the Siamese were expelled in 1822 with the help
of Rajah Ibrahim, the warlike chief of the neighboring State of
Selangor. The Government was a despotism, administered during the last
three centuries by Sultans who were connected with the ruling dynasties
of Johore and Acheen.
Our connection with Perak began in 1818 by a commercial treaty between
the East India Company and the Sultan, the chief object of which was to
circumvent the Dutch on the subject of tin. By another treaty, in 1826,
it was agreed that the Sultan should govern his country according to
his own will; that no force should be sent either by Siam to "molest,
attack, or disturb" Perak; and while it was stipulated that the Siamese
should not attack or disturb Selangor, the English engaged not to allow
Selangor to attack or disturb Perak.
So things jogged along till 1871, when the Sultan died, and the Rajahs,
passing over two men who by blood were nearest to the throne, elected
Ismail, an old and somewhat inoffensive man. Three years of intrigue
followed, and many singular complications, which would be quite
uninteresting to the general reader, and they furnished no excuse for
English interference.
It is singular that the fall of Perak as an independent State was
brought about by what may be called a civil war among the Chinese, who
in 1871 were estimated at thirty thousand, and were principally engaged
in tin-mining in Larut. These Chinamen were divided into two
sections--the Go Kwans and the Si Kwans; and a few months after Sultan
Ismail was elected, a dispute arose between the factions. Both parties
flew to arms, and were aided with guns, ammunition, military stores,
and food from Pinang, Pinang Chinese having previously supplied the
capital needed for working the mines. The settlement was kept in
perpetual hot water, its trade languished, and in return for military
equipments the Chinese of Larut sent over two thousand wounded and
starving men. The Mentri, the Malay "Governor" of Larut, although aided
by Captain Speedy and a force of well-drilled troops recruited by him
in India, and possessing four Krupp guns, was powerless to restore
order, and Larut was destroyed, being absolutely turned into a
wilderness, in which all but three houses had been burned, and, while
the Malays had fled, the surviving Si Kwans were living behind
stockades, while those of the faction opposed to that with which the
Mentri and his Commander-in-Chief, Captain Speedy, had allied
themselves, were living on the products of orchards from which their
owners had been driven, and on booty, won by a wholesale system of
piracy and murder, practiced not only on the Perak waters but on the
high seas.
The war waged between the two parties threatened to become a war of
extermination; horrible atrocities were perpetrated on both sides; and
it is said and believed that as many as three thousand belligerents
were slain on one day early in the disturbances. If the course of
prohibiting the export of munitions of war had been persevered the
strife would have died a natural death; but the Mentri made
representations which induced the authorities of the Straits to accord
a certain degree of support to himself and the Si Kwans, by limiting
the prohibition to his enemies the Go Kwans. Things at last became so
intolerable in Larut, and as a consequence in Pinang, that the Governor
of the Straits Settlements, Sir A. Clarke, thought it was time to
interfere. During these disturbances in Larut, Lower Perak and the
Malays generally were living peaceably under Ismail, their elected
Sultan. Abdullah, who was regarded as his rival, was a fugitive, with
neither followers, money, nor credit. He had, however, friends in
Singapore, to one of whom, Kim Cheng, a well-known Chinaman, he had
promised a lucrative appointment if he would prevail on the Straits
authorities to recognize him as Sultan. Lord Kimberley had previously
instructed the Governor to consider the expediency of introducing the
"Residential system" into "any of the Malay States," and the occasion
soon presented itself.
An English merchant in Singapore and Kim Cheng drafted a letter to the
Governor, which Abdullah signed, in which this chief expressed his
desire to place Perak under British protection,* and "to have a man of
sufficient abilities to show him a good system of government." Sir A.
Clarke, thus appealed to, went to Pulo Pangkor, off the Perak coast,
summoned the Chinese head men and the Malay chiefs to meet him there,
and so effectively reconciled the former, who were bound over to keep
the peace, that they were not again heard of. The Governor stated to
the Malay chief and Abdullah that it was the duty of England to take
care that the proper person in the line of succession was chosen for
the throne. He inquired if there were any objection to Abdullah, and on
none being made, the chiefs signed a paper dictated by Sir A. Clarke,
since known as the "Pangkor Treaty." Its articles deposed Ismail,
created Abdullah Sultan, ceded two tracts of territory to England, and
provided that the new ruler should receive an English Resident and
Assistant Resident, whose salaries and expenses should be the first
charge on the revenue of the country, whose counsel must be asked and
"acted upon" on all questions other than those of religion and custom,
and under whose advice the collection and control of all revenues and
the general administration should be regulated. After the signing of
this treaty piracy ceased in the Perak waters, and Larut was repeopled
and became settled and prosperous.
[*Abdullah informs "our friend" Sir W. Jervois, that his position and
that of Perak are "in a most deplorable state," that there are two
Sultans between whom no arrangement can be made, that the revenues are
badly raised, and the laws are not executed with justice. "For these
reasons," he says, "we see that Perak is in very great distress, and, in
our opinion, the affairs of Perak cannot be settled except with strong,
active assurance from our friend the representative of Queen Victoria,
the greatest and most noble....We earnestly beg our friend to give
complete assistance to Perak, and govern it, in order that this country
may obtain safety and happiness, and that proper revenues may be raised,
and the laws administered with justice, and all the inhabitants of the
country may live in comfort."]
So far, as regards the Sultanate, I have followed the account given by
Sir Benson Maxwell. Mr. Swettenham, however, writes that Abdullah
failed to obtain complete recognition of himself as Sultan, and instead
of fulfilling the duties of his position, devoted himself to opium-
smoking, cock-fighting, and other vices, estranging, by his overbearing
manner and pride of position, those who only needed forbearance to make
them his supporters. It may be remarked that Abdullah was not as
yielding as had been expected to his English advisers.
The Pangkor Treaty was signed in January, 1874. On November 2d, 1875,
Mr. Birch, the British Resident, who had arrived the evening before at
the village of Passir Salah to post up orders and proclamations
announcing that the whole kingdom of Perak was henceforth to be
governed by English officers, was murdered as he was preparing for the
bath.
On this provocation we entered upon a "little war," Perak became known
in England, and the London press began to ask how it was that colonial
officers were suffered to make conquests and increase Imperial
responsibilities without the sanction of Parliament. Lord Carnarvon
telegraphed to Singapore that he could not sanction the use of troops
"for annexation or any other large political aims," supplementing his
telegram by a despatch stating that the residential system had been
only sanctioned provisionally, as an experiment, and declaring that the
Government would not keep troops in a country "continuing to possess an
independent jurisdiction, for the purpose of enforcing measures which
the natives did not cheerfully accept."
As the sequel to the war and Mr. Birch's murder, Ismail, who had
retained authority over a part of Perak, was banished to Johore;
Abdullah, the Sultan, and the Mentri of Larut, who was designated as an
"intriguing character," were exiled to the Seychelles, and the Rajah
Muda Yusuf, a prince who, by all accounts, was regarded as exceedingly
obnoxious, was elevated to the regency, Perak at the same time passing
virtually under our rule.
A great mist of passion and prejudice envelops our dealings with the
chiefs and people of this State, both before and after the war. Sir
Benson Maxwell in "Our Malay Conquests," presents a formidable
arraignment against the Colonial authorities, and Major M'Nair, in his
book on Perak, justifies all their proceedings. If I may venture to
give an opinion upon so controverted a subject, it is, that all
Colonial authorities in their dealings with native races, all Residents
and their subordinates, and all transactions between ourselves and the
weak peoples of the Far East, would be better for having something of
"the fierce light which beats upon a throne" turned upon them. The good
have nothing to fear, the bad would be revealed in their badness, and
hasty counsels and ambitious designs would be held in check. Public
opinion never reaches these equatorial jungles; we are grossly ignorant
of their inhabitants and their rights, of the manner in which our
interference originated, and how it has been exercised; and unless some
fresh disturbance and another "little war" should concentrate our
attention for a moment on these distant States, we are likely to remain
so, to their great detriment, and not a little, in one respect of the
case at least, to our own.
When the changes in Perak were completed, Mr. Hugh Low, formerly
administrator of the Government of Labuan, was appointed Resident, and
Mr. W. E. Maxwell, who had had considerable experience in Malay
affairs, Assistant Resident. Both these gentlemen speak the Malay
tongue readily and idiomatically, and Mr. Maxwell is an accomplished
Malay scholar. Of both the superior and subordinate it may truly be
said that, by tact, firmness, patience, and a uniformly just regard for
both Malay and Chinese interests, they have not only pacified the
State, but have conciliated the Rajahs, and in the main have reconciled
the people to the new order of things.