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m 



HuTdny 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY 




► 



LIBRARY 

OFTHX 

PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN 
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY 

BOUGHT FROM 
ROLAND BUBRAGE DIXON FUND 

Received 






FEAT '■ . 'MM 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS.,, 

{_Puhlished.bf direction of the Government of the Federated Malay Staten,'] 



R. J. WILKINSON, P.M.8, Civa. Service, 
Oenerai EdUor, 



^HISTORY^ 

PART I. 

EVENTS PRIOR 
TO BRITISH ASCENDANCY. 



PART II. 
NOTES ON PERAK HISTORY. 



BY 
E. J. WILKINSON, FJf.S. Civil Service. 

PRICE: ONE DOLLAR. 



KUALA LUMPUE: 
PRINTED BT J. BUSSBLL AT THE F.M.S. GOYEBNMENT PRESS. 



1908. 



600-3/08. 



^2. P 197 (f^'-s) 

Ts^y^^r r? 1^> "'^. i> i-xmt 



PREFACE. 



As explained in the preface to the '* Minutes of the Perak 
State Council, 1877-1879," it was my original intention to 
give in the first pamphlet of this " History " series some 
account of events in Malaya prior to British ascendancy, and in 
the second pamphlet to deal with the coming of the English to 
Perak. This intention has been abandoned. The story of 
British intervention in Perak has been the subject of bitter 
controversy. A narrative giving the whole truth might terminate 
the controversy, but it would arouse further bitterness ; and, in 
any case, this little series of educational pamphlets is not the 
place for the publication of matter to which any exception might 
reasonably be taken. 

Under the circumstances I am only publishing those portions 
of Part II which deal with the condition of Perak at the time of 
British intervention — the legendary history of the country, the 
government by chiefs, the position of the Mantri in Larut, and 
the Chinese disturbances that forced the hand of the Colonial 
Office. I have used these fragments of Part II as a sort of 
appendix to the first part — Early History — ^which is being 
published in full. 

Part I was placed at the disposal of the Editors of 
" Twentieth (Century Impressions of the Straits Settlements and 
Federated Malay States." It is being published by them with 
the advantage of illustrations, but students may prefer to have it 
in a smaller, handier and cheaper form. 

R. J. W. 



A 



HISTORY. 

PART I. 
EVENTS PRIOR TO BRITISH ASCENDANCY. 



WILD ABORIGINAL TRIBES IN THE PENINSULA. 

IT is a matter of common knowledge that the Malays were 
not the first inhabitants of the Peninsula. Although they 
intermarried with the aborigines, and although they show many 
traces of mixed blood, they failed to absorb completely the 
races that they supplanted. The new settlers kept to the nvers ; 
the older races lived on the mountains or among the swamps. 
Some of the old tribes died out, some adopted the ways of the 
Malays, but others retained their own language and their 
primitive culture, and are still to be found in many parts of 
critish Malaya. 

TTie Negrito aborigines, collectively known as Semang, are 
usually believed to have been the first race to occupy the 
Peninsula. As they are closely akin to the Aetas of the 
Philippines and the Mincopies of the Andamans they must at 
one time have covered large tracts of country from which they 
have since completely disappeared, but at the present day they 
are mere survivals and play no part whatever in civilised life. 
Slowly but surely they are dying out. Even within the last 
century they occupied the swampy coast-districts from Trang 
in the north to the borders of Larut in the south, but at the 
census of 1891 only one Negrito — who, as the enumerator said, 
" twittered like a bird," — was recorded from Province Wellesley, 
and in 1901 not one single survivor was found. Although 
present-day students, who naturally prefer the evidence of 
their own eyes to the records of past observers, are inclined to 
regard the Semang as a mountain-people it is quite possible 
that their more natural haunt was the swamp-country from 
which they have been expelled. Whether this be so or not, the 
Negritoes of British Malaya are usually divided up by the Malays 
into three: the Semang Paya or swamp-Semang (now almost 
extinct); the Semang Bukit or mountain-Semang who inhabit 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



the mountains of Upper Perak, and the Pangan who are 
occasionally found in some of the hills between Pahang and 
Kelantan. 

The culture of some of these Negrito tribes is very primitive. 
The wilder Semang are extremely nomadic ; they are not 
acquainted with any form of agriculture ; they use bows and 
arrows ; they live in mere leaf-shelters with floors that are not 
raised above the ground ; their quivers and other bamboo utensils 
are very roughly made and adorned. Such statements would 
not, however, be true of the whole Semang race : a few tribes 
have learnt to plant ; others to use the blowpipe ; others have 
quivers of very beautiful workmanship; some go so far (if 
Mr. Skeat is to be relied upon) as to include the *' theft of a 
blunderbuss *' in their little catalogues of crime — but, unless we 
are prepared to believe that they invented such things as 
blunderbusses, we are forced to the conclusion that they must 
have borrowed some of their neighbours' culture. 

A few Semang are still to be found in the mountains between 
Selama and the Perak valleys; others doubtless exist in the 
little-known country that lies between Temengor and the river 
Plus ; but south of the Plus we come to a fairer race, the northern ] 
division of the numerous tribes that are often grouped together i 
as *' Sakai.*' ' 

If identity of language is any criterion of common origin the 
northern Sakai racial division includes the tribes known as the 
*' Sakai of Korbu,'' the '' Sakai of the Plus," the '' Sakai of 
Tanjong Rambutan " and the *' Tembe " who inhabit the 
Pahang side of the great Kinta mountains. As these northern 
Sakai are rather darker than the Sakai of Batang Padang and 
not quite as dark as the Semang, they hav^ sometimes been 
classed as a mere mixed race, a cross between their northern 
and southern neighbours. This is not necessarily the case. 
Their rather serious appearance, for one thing, does not suggest 
an admixture of the infantile physiognomy of the Semang and 
the gay boyish looks of the Sakai of Slim and Bidor. Moreover, 
their industrial art (to judge by blowpipes and quivers) is 
higher than that of their neighbours either to the north or to the 
south. They practise agriculture and live in small houses raised 
above the ground — the commonest type of house throughout 
Indo-China. 

The expression '^ Central Sakai " has been used to cover a 
group of tribes who live in the Batang Padang mountains and 



HISTORY : WILD ABORIGINAL TRIBES, 



speak what is practically a common language, though there are 
a few dialectic differences in the different parts of this' district. 
Mr. Hugh Clifford was the first to point out the curiously abrupt 
linguistic and racial frontier between the " Tembe " to the north 
and the "Senoi" (his name for the Central Sakai) to the south. 
But all the secrets of this racial frontier have not yet been re- 
vealed. Although the Sakai who live in the valleys above Gopeng 
speak a language that very closely resembles the language of 
the Sakai of Bidor, Sungkai and Slim, they seem still closer 
akin — racially — to their neighbours in the north. Moreover, if 
we look up from Gopeng to the far mountains lying just to the 
north of Gunong Berembun we can see clearings made by 
another tribe — the Mai Luk, or men of the mountains — of 
whom the Central Sakai stand in deadly fear. These mysterious 
Mai Luk have long communal houses like the Borneo Dyaks, 
they plant vegetables, they paint their foreheads, they are 
credited with great ferocity, and they speak a language of which 
the only thing known is that it is not Central Sakai. 

As we proceed further south the racial type slowly alters 
until — in the mountains behind Tapah, Bidor, Sungkai and 
Slim — we come to a distinct and unmistakable race that is 
comparatively well known to European students.^ These Mat 
Daratf or hill men, are slightly lower in culture than the northern 
Sakai ; they live in shelters rather than huts ; their quivers and 
blowpipes are very much more simply made than those of 
their northern and southern neighbours. Linguistically we are 
still in the "Central Sakai" region. 

Near Tanjong Malim on the boundary between Perak and 
Selangor the type suddenly changes. We come upon fresh 
tribes differinc^ in appearance from the Central Sakai, living (in 
some cases) in lofty tree huts, and speaking varieties of the 
great "Besisi" group of Sakai dialects. The men who speak 
these BesisL dialects seem to be a very mixed race. Some 
dwelling in the Selangor mountains are singularly well-built 
men. Others, who live in the swamps and in the coast districts, 
are a more miserable people of slighter build, and with a certain 
suggestion of Negrito admixture. Their culture is comparatively 
high. They have a more elaborate social system, with triple 
headmen instead of a solitarv village elder to rule the small 
community. This form of tribal organisation — under a bating 
jenang and jekra (or juru kerah) — is common to a very large 

^ This is the tvpe illustrated in Mr. Cemiti's photographs. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBSfECTS. 



number of tribes in the south of the Peninsula and is also found 
among the Orang Laut^ or sea-gypsies. The Besisi tribes 
cultivate the soil, build fair houses, have some artistic sense, are 
fond of music, possess a few primitive songs, and know some- 
thing of the art of navigation. They are found all over Selangor, 
Negri Sembilan and Malacca. 

In the mountains of Jelebu, near the head waters of the 
Kongkoi and Kenaboi rivers, are found the Kenaboi, a shy and 
mysterious people, who speak a language totally unlike either 
Central Sakai, besisi or Malay. So little is known about the 
Kenaboi that it would be dangerous to commit oneself to any 
conjecture regarding their position in the ethnog^raphy of the 
Peninsula, but it is at least probable that they represent a 
distinct and very interesting racial element. 

In the flat country on the border between Negri Sembilan 
and Pahang, we meet the Serting Sakai, an important and rather 
large tribe that seems at one time to have been in contact with 
some early Mon-Annam civilisation. Moreover, it is said that 
there are traces of ancient canal cuttings in the country that 
this tribe occupies. 

Bjr the upper waters of the Rompin river there live many 
Sakai of whom very little is known. They may possibly be either 
" Besisi,'' " Serting Sakai," " Jakun'' or *' Sakai of Kuantan.*' 

The term '* Jakun " is applied to a large number of remnants 
of old Malacca and Johor tribes that have now been so much 
affected by Malay civilisation as to make it impossible to hope 
ever to clear up the mystery of their origin. A few brief Jakun 
vocabularies have been collected in the past; a few customs 
noted. It is perhaps too much to expect that anything more 
will be done. 

The aborigines who inhabit the country near Kuantan (and 
perhaps near Pekan and even further south) speak a language 
of their own, of which no vocabulary, has ever been collected, 
and use curious wooden blowpipes of a very unusual type. 
They may be a distinct race, for they seem to have a primitive 
culture that is quite peculiar to themselves. 

In the mountainous region lying between this Kuantan 
district and the Tembeling nver there is found another tribe of 
Sakai who wear strange rattan girdles like the Borneo Dyaks, and 
speak a language of which one observer, though acquainted with 
Malay, Central Sakai and Northern Sakai, could jnake nothing. 



HISTORY: WILD ABORIGINAL TRIBES, 



In the mountaiD-mass known as Gunong BSnom (in Pahang) 
there are found other tribes of Sakai speaking a language that 
has some kinship with Besisi and Serting Sakai. Very little 
else is known about them. 

We possess fairly good specimen vocabularies of the 
languages of all the better-known Sakai and Semang tribes. 
With the single exception of Kenaboi they possess a very marked 
common element, and may be classed as divisions of the same 
language although the peoples that speak them show such 
differences of race and culture. This language is complicated 
and inflected, and has an elaborate grammar, but so little is 
known of the details of its structure that we dare not generalise 
or point to any one dialect as being probably the purest form 
of Sakai. It is impossible also to say which race first brought 
this form of speech to the Peninsula. It would, however, be rash 
to assume that Sakai and Kenaboi are the only two distinctive 
types of language used by these wild tribes. Nothing sufficient 
is yet known of the speech of the Mai Luk^ of the dialects of 
Kuantan, and of the old Jakun languages. Far too much has 
been inferred from the customs of what one may term the 
" stock " tribes of Sakai, the tribes that are readily accessible 
and therefore easy to study. These Sakai have been visited 
again and again by casual observers, to the neglect of th6 
remoter and lesser-known tribes who may prove to be far more 
interesting in the end. When we consider the physical 
differences between tribe and tribe, the differences of language, 
the differences of culture evinced in types of dwellings, in tribal 
organisation, in weapons, and in mode of life, we may perhaps 
be excused for thinking that the racial elements in the Peninsula 
will prove to be more numerous and important than scientists 
are apt to believe. 

Meanwhile the Peninsula presents us with a curious his* 
torical museum showing every grade of primitive culture. It 
gives us the humble Negrito, who has not learnt to till the 
ground but wanders over the country and lives from hand to 
mouth on the products of the jungle. It gives us the same 
Negrito after he has learnt the rudiments of art and agriculture 
from his Sakai neighbours. It gives us the Sakai who grows 
certain simple fruits and vegetables and is nomadic in a far 
slighter degree than the primitive Semang, for a man who plants 
is a man who lives some time in one place and therefore may 
find it worth his while to build a more substantial dwelling than 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



a mere shelter for a night. Here, however, primitive culture 
stops. Even the man who has learnt to plant a crop in a clear- 
ing must abandon his home when the soil begins to be 
exhausted. The boundary between primitive culture and 
civilisation cannot be said to be reached until habitations 
become really permanent and until a comparatively small area 
can support a large population. That boundary is crossed 
when a people learn to renew the fertility of land by irrigation, 
by manuring, or by a proper system of rotation of crops. The 
Malays with their system of rice-planting — the irrigated rice, 
not hill rice, — have crossed that boundary. But no Sakai tribe 
outside the Negri Sembilan has ever done so. 



EARLY CIVILISATION. 

Although the British possessions in Malaya are not absolutely 
destitute of archaeological remains they are singularly poor in 
relics of antiquity when contrasted with Java and Cambodia, 
or even with the northern part of the Peninsula itself. 

Ancient inscriptions have been found in Kedah, in the 
northern district of Province Wellesley, in the central district 
of Province Wellesley, and in the island of Singapore. That in 
Kedah has been completely deciphered; it is a Buddhist formula 
such as might have been written up in the cell or cave of an 
ascetic. That in the north of Province Wellesley was carved 
on a pillar that seemed to form part of a little temple; it has not 
been completely deciphered, but from the form of the written 
character it is believed to date back to the year 400 A.D., and 
to be the oldest inscription in this part of the world — unless, 
indeed, the Kedah writing is slightly more ancient. The rock 
rarvings at Cheroh Tokun near Bukit Mertajam belong to 
various ages and are too worn away to be read in connected 
sentences; the oldest seems to go back to the fifth century and 
another to the sixth century A.D. As the monument in Singapore 
was blown up by the Public Works Department in order to 
make room for some town improvements it is no longer available 
for study, but from a rough copy made before its destruction it 
appears to have been in the ancient Kawi character of Java or 
Sumatra. It probably dates back to the thirteenth or fourteenth 
century A.D. Another inscription, presumably of the same class, 
is to be seen at Pulau Karimun, near Singapore. 



HISTORY: EARLY CIVILISATION. 



Near Pangkalan Kempas, on the Linggi river, there are a 
number of broken monuments which, though they seem to be of 
comparatively recent date, are of considerable interest. On a 
curious four-sided pillar there are four inscriptions, two in clear- 
cut Arabic and two in the fainter lettering of an unknown script. 
Below these inscriptions there is a circular hole cut right through 
the pillar, and just large enough to permit of the passage of a 
man's arm — it is indeed believed that this pillar (which has been 
much used for oaths and ordeals) will tighten round the arm of 
any man who is rash enough to swear falsely when in its power. 
Near this pillar is another cut stone on which the lettering of 
some old non-Arabic inscription can be dimly seen. As there 
are many other fragments of carved stone that go to make up 
the keramat or holy place of which the inscriptions form part, 
the Malays have invented a legend that these monuments 
represent the petrified property of an ancient saint — his spoon, 
his sword and his buckler. Muhammadan zeal seems also to 
have carved the holy name of Allah on the sword of the saint, 
and to have converted the first line of the inscriptions into the 
well-known formula, " In the Name of God, the Merciful, the 
Compassionate." Fragments of other monuments may be seen 
lying low in the swamp near which this Linggi keramat is 
built up. 

Besides these inscriptions traces of ancient non-Malayan 
civilisations have been found: (i) in some curious old bronzes, 
resembling bells, that have been dug up at Klang in Selangor ; 
(2) in a little bronze image of a walking Buddha that was dis- 
covered in a Tanjong Rambutan mine at a depth of some sixty 
feet below the surface ; (3) in an old Bernam tomb beautifully 
constructed of thin slabs of stone and containing some broken 
pottery and thre^ cornelian beads, and (4) in pottery and iron 
tools that are continually being met with in old mining workings. 
More impressive, however, than any of these small relics are the 

falleries, stopes and shafts of the old mines at Selinsing in 
*ahang — the work of a race that must have possessed no 
small degree of mechanical skill. Who were the men who left 
these remains? If it be true (as the condition of the Selins- 
ing workings seems to suggest) that the mines were suddenly 
abandoned in the very midst of the work that was being done, 
such a fact would lend further support to the natural conjecture 
that the miners were foreign adventurers who exploited the 
wealth of the Peninsula and did not make the country their per- 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



manent home. The Malays say that these alien miners were 
" men of Siam/' Is this true? Students are apt to forget that 
" men of Siam," seven or eight centuries ago, would refer to the 
great and highly civilised Cambodian race who occuj)ied the 
valley of the Menam before the coming of the "Thai" from 
whom the present Siamese are descended. It is therefore 
probable enough that the Malays are right, and that the mining 
shafts of Selinsingare due to the people who built the magnificent 
temples of Angkor. Further evidence, if such evidence is needed, 
mav be found in the fact that the Sakai of certain parts of 
Panang use numerals that are neither Siamese nor Malay nor 
true Sakai, but Mon-Khmer. 

The general conclusion to be drawn from the traces of ancient 
culture in the Peninsula is that the southern portions of the 
country were often visited but never really occupied by any 
civilised race until the Malays came in A.D. 1400. Such a con- 
clusion would not, however, be true of the Northern States, of 
Kedah, Kelantan, Trang and Singgora. There we find undoubt- 
ed evidence of the existence of powerful Buddhist States like 
that of Langkasuka, the kingdom of alang-kah suka or of the 
Golden Age of Kedah, still remembered as a fairyland of Malay 
romance. This Langkasuka was a very ancient State indeed. 
It is mentioned in Chinese records as Langgasu as far back as 
A.D. 500, and was then reputed to be four centuries old ; it appears 
(in Javanese literature) as one of the kingdoms overcome by 
Majapahit in A.D. 1377; its name probably survives to this day 
in the " Langkawi " islands off the Kedah coast. But the 
ancient States of Northern Malaya lie outside the scope of this 
pamphlet ; they are interesting to us because they probably sent 
small mining colonies to the south and thus claimed some sort of 
dominion over the rest of the Peninsula. The great Siamese 
invasion changed all that. By crushing the northern States 
during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries A.D. it ruined their 
little southern colonies and left the territories of Perak, Johor, 
Malacca and Pahang a mere no-man's-land that the Malays from 
Sumatra could occupy without resistance. 



THE COMING OF THE MALAYS. 

According to a tradition that is accepted in almost every 
portion of Malaya the founder of the most famous native 
dynasties was a prince named Sang Sapurba, son of Raja Suran, 
the " Ruler of the East and of the West/' by his marriage with 
a mermaid, the daughter of the Kings of the Sea. This prince 
first revealed himself upon the hill of Siguntang, near Mount 
Mabameru, in the hinterland of Palembang. Two young girls 
who dwelt upon the hill are said to have seen a great light 
shining through the darkness of night. On ascending the hill in 
the morning they found that their rice-crops had been trans- 
formed — the grain into gold, the leaves into silver, the stalks into 
golden brass. Proceeding further they came across three young 
men, the eldest of whom was mounted on a silver-white bull 
and was dressed as a king, while the two younger, his brothers, 
bore the State sword and spear that indicated sovereign power. 
"Who then are you — ^spirits or fairies?" said the astonished 
girls. "Neither spirits nor fairies, but men," said one of the 
brothers ; " we are princes of the race of the Great Alexander ; 
we have his seal, his sword and his spear ; we seek his inheri- 
tance on earth." " And what proof have you of this ? " said the 
girls. " Let the crown I wear bear me witness if necessary," 
replied the eldest prince ; " but what of that ? is it for naught 
that my coming has been marked by this crop of golden grain ? " 
Then out of the mouth of the bull there issued a sweet-voiced 
herald who at once proclaimed the prince to be a king bearing 
the title of Sang Sapurba Trimurti Tribuana. The newly 
installed sovereign afterwards descended from the hill of Sigun- 
tang into the great plain watered by the Palembang river, where 
he married the daughter of the local Chief, Demang Lebar Daun, 
and was everywhere accepted as ruler of the country. At a 
later date he is said to have crossed the great central range of 
Sumatra into the mountains of Menangkabau, where he slew the 
grreat dragon Si-Katimuna and was made the king of a grateful 
people and the founder of the long line of princes of Menangkabau, 
the noblest dynasty of Malaya. Meanwhile, however, his relatives 
in Palembang had crossed the sea, first to the island of Bintang, 
and afterwards from Bintang to the island of Tamasak, on which 
they founded the city of Singapore. "And the city of Singapore 
became mighty, and its fame filled all the earth." Such, at least, 
is the story that is told us in the " Malay Annals."' 



10 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



It IS very easy to criticise this story, to point out that the tale 
of the Macedonian origin of Malay kings is too absurd for 
acceptance, and that the miraculous incidents do not commend 
themselves to the sceptical historians of the present day. It is 
also possible to show that there are two entirely different 
versions of the story in the very manuscripts of the " Malay 
Annals,'' and that both these versions differ from a third version 
given by the annalist himself to his contemporary, the author of 
the Malay book known as the ** Bustanu's-Salatin.*' But no one 
need treat this legend of Sang Sapurba as actual history. The 
ancient kingdoms of Singapore and Palembang are no myth; the 
latter, at least, must have played a great part in history. Nor is 
the legend in any way an invention of the author of the '* Malay 
Annals'*; it occurs in still earlier books and is folklore throughout 
Perak at the present day. The Sultan of Perak claims direct 
descent from Sang Sapurba; one of his chiefs, the Dato' Sri 
Nara Diraja, is the lineal representative of the herald who came 
out of the mouth of the bull. As late as February, 1907, the 
Raja Bendahara was installed (in the High Commissioner's 
presence ) by the Dato' Sri Nara Diraja reciting over him the 
mystic words — in a forgotten tongue — that the latter chiefs 
ancestor is said to have used at the proclamation of Sang 
Sapurba himself. The origin of these ancient legends and old- 
world ceremonies is lost in the dimness of past centuries, but it 
may, to some extent, be explained by the light that Chinese 
records throw upon Malay history. 

We know with absolute certainty from the accounts of 
Chinese trade with Sumatra that the kingdom of Palembang was 
a powerful State, certainly as far back as the year goo A.D., 
perhaps even as far back as the year 450 A.D. We even possess 
the names (often mutilated beyond recognition by Chinese 
transcribers) of a large number of the old kings of Palembang. 
We can see that these ancient rulers bore high-sounding 
Sanskrit titles, almost invariably beginning with the royal 
honorific seri that is still used by great Malay dignitaries. But 
while the Malay annalist allows a single generation to cover 
the whole period from the founding of the State of Palembang 
by Sang Sapurba down to the establishment of the city of 
Singapore, we are in a position to see that the period in question 
must have covered many centuries, and that even a millennium 
may have elapsed between the days of the founder of Palembang 
and those of the coloniser of Tamasak or Singapore. Although 



HISTORY: PALEMBANG. II 



Sang Sapurba may be nothing more than a n^me the ancient 
legend is historical in so far that there must have been a time 
when an Indian or Javanese dynasty with a very high conception 
of kingly power supplanted the unambitious Palembang headmen 
who bore homely titles like Demang Lebar Daun and claimed 
no social superiority over their fellow-villagers. The story 
given us in the "Malay Annals" is only an idealised version of 
what must have really occurred. The most mysterious feature 
in the legend is the reference to Mount Siguntang. Although 
this famous hill (which is believed by all Malays to be the 
cradle of their race) is located with curious definiteness on the 
slopes of the great volcano, Mount Dempo, in the hinterland 
of Palembang, there is no local tradition to guide us to the 
exact spot or to suggest to us why that localitv, above all 
others, should be singled out for special honour. The culture of 
the Malay States that accepted the Hinduised Palembang tra- 
dition differs completely from that of the primitive Sumatran 
communities who have not been affected by foreign influence. 
Such differences could not have been brought about in any 
brief period of time. The history of the State of Palembang 
must go back extremely far into the past; and if only we 
could unearth some real records they might explain why 
the proud rulers of the country thought it an honour to claim 
descent from some still more ancient dynasty associated with 
the name of a hill-district from which all traces of imperial 
power have long since passed away. 



PALEMBANG, a.d. 450— a.d. 1375. 

In the reign of the Chinese Emperor Hsiau Wu (A.D. 454- 
464), a kingdom of **Kandali*' sent articles of gold and silver 
to China. In A.D. 502 a king of this same Kandali sent an 
envoy to China with other valuable gifts. In A.D. 519 and 
again in A.D. 520 similar missions were sent. After this date 
" Kandali *' disappears from history. 

Although Chinese records positively identify this country 
with San-bo-tsai or Palembang, all that contemporary Chinese 
notices tell us about Kandali is that it was a Buddhist kingdom 
on an island in the Southern Sea, that its customs were those of 
Cambodia and Siam, that it produced flowered cloth, cotton and 



I a PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



excellent areca-nuts, and that its kings sent letters to the 
Chinese Emperor congratulating him on his fervent faith in 
Buddha. Still, as one of these kings is reported to have com- 
pared the Chinese Emperor to a mountain covered with snow, 
we may take it that the accuracy of even this meagre account of 
Kandali is not above suspicion. We can perhaps see traces of 
Javanese influence in the reference to " flowered cloth/' as the 
expression suggests the painted floral designs of Java rather 
than the woven plaid-patterns of the Malays. 

In A.D. 905 Palembang reappears in Chinese records under 
the name of San-bo-tsai. In that year the ruler of San-bo-tsai 
"sent tribute" to China, and received from the Emperor the 
proud title of " the General who pacifies distant Countries." In 
A.D. 960 ** tribute'* was again sent — twice. In A.D. 962 the 
same thing occurred. From A.D. 962 onwards we have a con- 
tinuous record of similar tribute-bearing missions until the year 
1 1 78 when the Chinese Emperor found that this "tribute" was 
too expensive a luxury to be kept up, so he "issued an edict 
that they should not come to court any more but make an 
establishment in the Fukien province.'* After this date the 
Palembang merchants ceased to be tribute-bearers and became 
ordinary traders — a change which caused them to disappear 
temporarily from official records. "Tribute" was, of course, 
merely a gift made to the Emperor in order to secure his 
permission to trade ; it flattered his pride and was invariably 
returned to the giver in the form of titles and presents of very 
high value. So much was this the case that Chmese statesmen, 
when economically inclined, were in the habit of protesting 
against the extravagance of accepting tribute. None the less 
the Emperor encouraged these men of Palembang, for in' 
A.D. 1 156 he declared that "when distant people feel them- 
selves attracted by our civilising influence their discernment 
must be praised." One Malay envoy received the title of " the 
General who is attracted by Virtue," a second was called " the 
General who cherishes Civilising Influence," a third was named 
"the General who supports Obedience and cherishes Renova- 
tion." The manners of the men of San-bo-tsai must have been 
as ingratiating as those of their successors, the Malays of the 
present day. 

The kings of San-bo-tsai are said to have used the Sanskrit 
character in their writings, and to have sealed documents with 
their signets instead of signing them with their names. One 



HISTORY: PALEMBANG. 1 3 



king is mentioned (A.D.1017) as having sent among his presents 
"Sanskrit books folded between boards." Their capital was 
a fortified city with a wall of piled bricks several miles in 
circumference, but the people are said to have lived in scattered 
villages outside the town and to have been exempt from direct 
taxation. In case of war " they at once select a chief to lead 
them, every man providing his own arms and provisions." From 
these Chinese records we also learn that in A.D. 1003 the 
Emperor sent a gift of bells to a Buddhist temple in San-bo-tsai. 
As regards trade, the country is recorded as producing rattans, 
lignum-aloes, areca-nuts, coconuts, rice, poultry, ivory, 
rhinoceros-horns^ camphor and cotton-cloth. In the matter of 
luxuries we are told that the people made intoxicating drinks 
out of coconut, areca-nut, and honey, that they used musical 
instruments (a small guitar and small drums), and that they 
possessed imported slaves who made music for them by stamping 
on the ground and singing. In A.D. 992 we hear of a war 
between the Javanese and the people of Palembang. 

It seems therefore quite certain that Palembang — be- 
tween the years 900 and 1360 A.D. — was a country of con- 
siderable civilisation and importance, owing its culture to 
Indian sources, and perhaps possessing very close affinities 
to the powerful States of Java. What then were the events 
that brought about the downfall of this great Malayan 
kingdom ? 

The close of the thirteenth century in China saw the Mongol 
invasion that ended in making Kublai Khan the undisputed 
overlord of the whole country. That restless conqueror was 
not, however, satisfied with his continental dommions; he 
fitted out great fleets to extend his power over the Japanese 
islands in the north and over the island of Java in the south. 
He began a period of war during which we hear nothing of 
the trade with the States in the Southern Seas, but the advent of 
the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368) commenced a new era of peace 
and commerce in which we afi;ain find mention of the State of 
Palembang. Great changes had taken place since the last 
reference to the country in A.D. 1 178. San-bo-tsai had been split 
up into three States. We hear (A.D. 1373) of a King Tan-ma- 
sa-na-ho— probably the King of Tamasak or Singapore. We 
hear also (A.D. 1374) of a King Ma-na-ha-pau-lin-pang — probably 
the King of Palembang. The King Tan-ma-sa-na-ho died in A.D. 
1376, and his successor, Ma-la-cha-wu*U, ordered the usual 



14 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

envoys to go to China, and was sent in return a seal and 
commission as King of San-bo-tsai. The Chinese annalist goes 
on to say : 

** At that time, however, San-bo-tsai had ahtjady been conquered by Java, 
aud the king of this connti'y hearing that the Emperor had appointed a king 
over San-bo-tsai became very angry and sent men who waylaid and killed the 
imperial envoys. The Emperor did not think it right to punish him on this 
account. After this occurrence San-bo-tsai became gradually poorer and no 
tribute was brought from this country any more." 

Chinese, Malay and Javanese historical records all agree in * 
referring to a great war of conquest carried on by the Javanese \ 
Empire of Majapahit and ending in the destruction of Singapore / 
and Palembang as well as in the temporary subjugation of many • 
other Malay States, such as Pasai, Samudra and even Kedah, 
Kelantan, Trengganu and Pahang. The Chinese records j 
enable us to definitely fix the date — A.o. 1377. It is a great; 
landmark in Malay history, for the fugitives driven by the 
Javanese from Palembang and Singapore settled down in the 
Peninsula and founded the famous city of Malacca. 



SINGAPORE: A.D. 1360 (?) TO a.d. 1377. 

Writing in A.D. 18 19 from his newly-founded settlement of 
Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles spoke of it as having been the 
seat of ancient empire, and said that the very lines of the old 
fortifications could be traced. Sir Stamford referred, of course^ 
to the legends of the " Malay Annals," according to which " the 
city of Singapore became mighty and its fame filled all the 
earth." 

The name of Singapura was only an honorific title given tol 
an island that was known, and continued to be known, as Tamasakj 
Of the existence of this old Malay State of Singapore or TamasaK 
there can be no doubt whatever, as Chinese, Siamese, Malay 
and Javanese records agree upon the point. Of the fact that! 
Singapore was a colony from Palembang there can also be noj 
doubt, since both the Chinese and the Malay records bear out • 
this version of the origin of the city. An inscription in the Kawi 
character was found by Raffles at Singapore, but it was blown 
up at a later date by a discreditable act of vandalism, and from 
the fragments left it is impossible to say definitely whether it 
was carved by the Palembang colonists or by the Javanese 



HISTORY: SINGAPORE. 1 5 



conquerors who destroyed the city in A.D. 1377. The ** Malay 
Annals'* tell us a good deal about the place, but give us nothing that 
is really reliable. They say that Sang Nila Utama, the founder 
of the State, was driven to the island by a storm of wind in the 
course of which he lost his royal crown — a story suggesting that 
the founder was not a reigning prince when he came to settle 
in the island, and that his followers had to invent a story to 
explain away his lack of the usual insignia of royalty. He was, 
however, probably of royal blood, since the Chinese envoys were 
afterwards willing to recognise his descendants as rulers of 
Palembang. The Annals also tell us that five kings reigned in 
Singapore, as shown in the following table : 

Raja Suran 
(King of the East and of the West) 



I I I 

Sang Sapurba Nila Pahlawan Kisna Pandita 

(King of Menang- 
kabau) 



Sang Sang Nila Utama (1st 

Maniaka King of Singapore) 



Raja Kechil Besar, Raja Kechil Muda (Tun 

(Paduka Seri Pikrama Parapatih Parmuka 

Wira, 2nd King of Berjajar) 
Singapore) 

Raja Muda Tun Parapatih Tulus 

(Seri Rana Wikrania, 
3rd King of Singapore) 

Paduka Seri Maharaja 
(4th King of Singapore) 

Raja Iskandar Dzu'l- 
karnain (5th and last 

King of Singapore, 

and first Sultan of 
Malacca) 



i6 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



If this pedigree is to be accepted, the old State of Singapore 
must have lasted for several generations, but the annalist who 
drew it up gave another pedigree to his friend, Nuru'ddin Raniri 
al-Hasanji, the author of the " Bustanu's-Salatin." The other 
pedigree is as follows : 

Raja Suran 
(King of the East and West) 



Sang Sapurba 

(King of Menang- 

kabau) 



I 

Sang Baniaka 

(King of Tanjong 

Pura) 



Sang Nila Utania 
(ist King of 
Singapore) 



Raja Kechil Muda 



Raja Kechil BSsar 

(Paduka 
Seri Pekermadiraja, 
2nd King of Singa- 
pore) 

Seri Rana Adikerma 

(Iskandar Shah, 
3rd King of Singa- 
pore and 1st of 
Malacca) 

Sultan Ahmad Shah 

(2nd Sultan of 

Malacca) 

This second pedigree gives a much shorter life to the old State 
of Singapore and (since it came from the same source as the 
first pedigree) shows that neither account can be considered at 
all reliable. It also suggests its own inaccuracy, since ** Iskandar 
Shah" is not a name that any non-Muhammadan prince of 
Singapore would have borne at that period. The probability is 
that the ancient kingdom of Tamasak was a mere offshoot of the,' 
State of Palembang, that it did not last for any length of time, 
and that it came to a sudden and terrible end in the year of the 
great Javanese invasion, A.D. 1377. 

The account of Singapore in the " Malay Annals'* is entirely 
mythical — from the opening tale about the Hon that Sang Nila 
Utama discovered on the island, down to the concjluding stories 



HISTORY: MALACCA. 1 7 



about the attack made by the sword-fish upon the city, and about 
the fate of Sang Ranjuna Tapa, the traitor who betrayed the 
city to the Javanese and was turned into stone as a punishment 
for his sin. Yet in all this mythical account there is a suggestion 
of infinite tragedy. The story of the sword-fish ends with the 
ominous words that the blood of the boy — who saved the city 
and was put to death test his cleverness should prove a public 
danger — rested upon the island as a curse to be wiped out in 
days to come. The story of Tun Jana Khatib is the tale of 
another awful deed of wrong. The last tale in the narrative is 
that of the injury which maddened Sang Ranjuna Tapa into 
treason — the cruel fate of his daughter who was publicly impaled 
on a mere suspicion of infidelity to her lover the king. More 
than once does the annalist seem to suggest the Nemesis that 
waits upon deeds of oppression. In the end the Javanese came ; 
the city was betrayed ; '* blood flowed like, water in full inunda- 
tion, and the plain of Singapore is red as with blood to this 
day." A curse rested on the place. In A.D. 1819, more than 
four centuries later, Colonel Farquhar found that not one of the 
people of the Settlement dared ascend Fort Canning Hill^ the 
" forbidden hilV that was haunted by the ghosts of lonp^ 
forgotten kings and queens. The alien Chinese who now inhabit f 
the town believe to this day that — for some reason unknown to I 
them — a curse laid on the island in times long past makes it ; 
impossible to grow rice on it ; rice being the staple food of the ! 
Malays. All these legends seem to suggest that the fate of the j 
ancient city must have been one of appalling horror. Many 
Malay towns have at different times been captured, many were 
doubtless captured by the Javanese in that very war of A.D. 1377, 
but in no other case has the fall of a city left such awful memories 
as to cause men, four centuries later, to refuse even -to face the 
angry spectres that were believed to haunt so cruelly stricken a 
site. 



MALACCA, A.D. 1400 — A.D. 151 1. 

The fall of Singapore led to the rise of Malacca. A number 
of fugitives, headed ( if the Annals are to be believed ) by their 
king himself, established themselves at the mouth of the Malacca 
river and founded a city that was destined to play a much 



1 8 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



greater part in history than the old unhappy Settlement of 
Singapore from which they came. The Annals, however, are 
not a safe guide. Although it is indeed probable that a party 
of refugees did do something to found the town of Malacca, it is 
extremely doubtful whether they were headed by the fabulous 
*' Iskandar Shah." Be the facts as they may, the new town did 
not delay its rise very long. In A.D. 1403, as Chinese records 
tell us, the ruler ox paramisura of Malacca sent envoys to China; 
in A.D. 1405 he was recognised as king and received a .seal, a 
suit of silk clothes and a yellow umbrella from the Emperor; in 
A.D. 141 1 he travelled himself to China and was most hospitably 
entertained. In the year 1414 the son of this paramisura came 
to China to report his father's death and to apply for recognition 
as his father's successor. This son's name is given in Chinese 
records as Mu-kan-sa-u-tir-sha. He died about the year 1424, 
and was succeeded by his son, who is described in Chinese as 
Sri Mahala. 

At this point it is advisable to say something about Malay 
chronology. The dates given in Sir Frank Swettenham's 
** British Malaya," in the Colonial Office List, in Valentijn's 
" History of Malacca," and in many other works, are all deduced 
from the " MalayAnnals" by thesimpleprocessof addingtogether 
the reputed lengths of the reigns of the various kings. Such a 
system is usually unreliable. In the case of the " Malay Annals" 
the unreliability of the method can be proved by taking the 
history of ministers who served under several kings, and who 
must have attained to impossible ages if the reign-lengths are 
really accurate. The point was brought out clearly for the first 
time by Mr. C. O. Blagden in a paper read before an Oriental 
Congress in Paris. Mr. Blagden began by showing that the 
Malay dates were inaccurate, and then went on fo prove that the 
Chinese records, though meagre and unreliable in many details, 
gave us a real key to the chronology of the period. From these \ 
records it is quite clear that Singapore fell in A.D. 1377, and not \ 
in A.D. 1252 as the '* Malay Annals" would suggest. From the 
same source it may be shown that the various Kings of Malacca 1 
reigned between the year 1400 and the year 151 1. But we are 
not in a position to prove conclusively who all these kings were. / 
The royal names, as given to us by different authorities, arc 
here shown in parallel columns : 



HISTORY: MALACCA. 



»9 



Chinese Records. 


Albuquerque's 
List. 


" Malay Annals.*' 


Palisura (1403-1414) 


Parmisura 




Mukansautirsha 


Xaquendarsa 


Iskandar Shah 


(1414.1424) 






Seri Mahala (1424) 




Raja Besar Muda 


Sen Mahala (1433) 




Raja Tengah 


Sen Pamisiwartiupasha 




Muhammad Shah 


(1445) 




Abu Shahid 


Sultan Wutafunaslia 


Modafaixa 


Mudzafar Shah 


(1456) 






Sultan Wangsusha 

(1459) 
Mahamusa (undated) 


Marsusa 


Mansur Shah 


Alaodin 


Alaedin Riayat Shah 


Sultan Mamat ( who 


Mahamat 


Mahmud Shah 



fled from the Franks ) 

The great names of Malacca history are common to all three 
lists, but the minor names differ considerably. Those in the 
*• Malay Annals" would naturally have been considered the most 
reliable, were it not that Muhammadan names like Iskandar Shah 
occurring before the Mussulman period show the certainty of 
serious error. If also we take Iskandar Shah to be identical 
with Xaquendarsa and to have come to the throne in A.D. 1414, 
it will be fairly obvious that the Malay version allows too many 
generations between him and Mudzafar Shah, who seems to have 
been reigning in A.D. 1445. 

It IS quite impossible to reconcile the lists, but the truth may 
be inferred from what we know for certain. A Chinese work, 
the "YingYaiShengLan,** dated A.D. 1416, speaks of the Malacca 
Malays as devoted Muhammadans, so that it would seem that the 
conversion to Islam took place as early as the reign of the 
Paramisura and not in the time of his grandson or great- 
grandson, Muhammad Shah. But the explanation that seems to 
clear up the difficulties most readily is the probability that the 
author of the pedigree in the ** Malay Annals" confused two 
princes who bore the name of Raja Kechil Besar, ^ and also 
confused Sultan Ahmad with Sultan Muhammad. If the title 
Muhammad Shah and the conversion to Islam are ascribed to 
the first Raja Kechil Besar instead of to the second, the difficulty 
of explaining the Moslem names of Iskandar Shah and Ahmad 

^ Muhammad Shah was known as Raja Kechil Besar before he came to the 
throne* 



20 Papers on Malay subjects. 

Shah disappears at once and the pedigree is shortened to a 
reasonable length. The amended version would read as follows : 

Raja KSchil BSsar 

(Paramisura, Sultan Muhammad Shah) 

Iskandar Shah 

Raja Besar Muda 
(Ahmad Shah) 

Raja Kasim 
(Mudzafar Shah) 

Raja AoduUah 
(Mansur Shah) 

Raja Husain 
(Alaedin Riayat Shah I) 

Raja Mahmud 
(Sultan Mahmud Shah) 
We can now pass to the reigns of these different kings. 

The Chinese account of Malacca, written in A.D. 1416, gives 1 
us a very convincing picture of the Settlement. It tells us that 
the inhabitants paid very little attention to agriculture, that they 1 
were good fishermen, that they used dug-outs, that they possessed 
a currency of block tin, that they lived in very simple huts raised 
some four feet above the ground, that they traded in resins, tin 
and jungle produce, that they made very gjood mats, and that 
** their language, their books and their marriage ceremonies are 
nearly the same as those of Java.'* The town of Malacca was 
'surrounded by a wall with four gates, and within this fortified 
area there was a second wall or stockade surrounding a store for 
money and provisions. 

This description bears out Albuquerque's statement that the 
town was created by the fusion of fugitives from Singapore with 
a local population of *'Cellates'' or Orang Laut. The men 
from Singapore brought their old Indo- Javanese civilisation, the 
language, the books and the marriage ceremonies that were so 
closely akin to those of Java; the Orang Laut were simply 



HISTORY: MALACCA, 



21 



fishermeiii living by the sea and using the rude dug-outs that 
impressed the Chinese historian. But there was a third element. 
The Chinese account tells us that the tin industry, both in trade 
and actual mining, was important. As this industry would be 
quite unknown to the Orang Laut and could hardly have been 
introduced from Singapore we are left to infer that traders in 
tin had visited the country before the advent of the Malays 
and had taught the aborigines the value of the metal and the 
proper means of procuring it. These early traders were, in all 
probability, the Cambodian colonists whose homes in the north 
had just been conquered by the Siamese, but who^up to the 
fourteenth century — appear to have exercised some sort of 
dominion over the southern half of the Peninsula. 

According to both Chinese and Portuguese records the first 
ruler of Malacca was a certain " Palisura " or " Paramisura,'* but 
unfortunately this word only means king and gives us no clue 
either to the Hindu or to the Muhammadan name of the prince 
in question. It would seem waste of time to discuss points 
relating to mere names were it not that these issues help 
us to unravel the complex chronology of the period. Every 
king — at this time of conversion — must have had a Hindu title 
before taking an Arabic name, so that serious errors may have 
been imported into genealogies by kings being counted twice 
over. Omitting the mythical elements let us collate the first 
names of the four lists that we possess : 

** Malay " Bustanu's- 

Annals.*' Salatin." Chinese. Portuguese. 

(I) (I) (I) (0 

Raja K5chil Raja KSchil Palisura Paramisura 



Bgsar,Paduka 
S€ri PSkSrma 
Wiraja 

(2) 

Raja Muda, 
Seri Rana 
Wikrama 

(3) 
Paduka Seri 
Maharaja 



B^sar, Paduka 
SSri PSkgrma 
Diraja 

(2) 

SSriRanaAdik- 
Srma, Sultan 
Iskandar Shah 

.(3) 
Raja B^sar 
Muda, Sultan 
Ahmad Shah 



(2) 



(2) 



Mukansautirsha Xaquendarsa 



. (3) 
S6ri Mahala 



The only point that we have to suggest is that these lists 
refer to the same men in the same order. If this is admitted, 



22 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



there is no difficulty in giving the pedigree of the Kings of 
Malacca; but the acceptance of this view disposes at once 
of the theory that the line of the Malacca Kings covers the 
earlier dynasty of Singapore. The truth seems to be that the 
author of the "Malay Annals" had only the Malacca pedigree 
to work upon, but by attaching Singapore legends to the names 
of Malacca Kings he represented the genealogy as one which 
descended from the mythical Sang Sapurba of Palembang 
through the Kings of Singapore (whose very names he did not 
know) down to the family with which he was really acquainted. 

As Malay tradition seems to insist that the first Moslem 
sovereign took the name of Muhammad Shah, and as the 
Paramisura of Albuquerque was undoubtedly the first Moslem 
sovereign, we are justified in believing that the King Paduka 
Sri PSkSrma Diraja took the name Sultan Muhammad Shah on 
his conversion. He ascended the throne before the year 
A.D. 1403, but was first recognised by the Chinese Emperor in 
A.D. 1405. He visited China in A.D. 141 1. The following is 
the account given of this visit in the records of the Ming 
Dynasty : 

''In 1411 tho King came with his wife, son and ministerfl — 540 persons 
in all. On bis arrival the Emperor sent officers to receive him. He was 
lodged in the building of the Board of Bites; and was received in audience 
by the Emperor who entertained him in person whilst his wife and the 
others were entertained in another place. Every day, bullocks, goats and wine 
were sent him from the imperial buttery. The Emperor gave the King two 
suits of clothes embroidered with golden dragons and one suit with unicorns ; 
furthermore, gold and silver articles, curtains, coverlets, mattresses — everything 
complete. His wife and his suite also g^t presents. 

" When they were going away the King was presented with a girdle adorned 
with precious stones and with horses and saddles. His wife got a cap and 
dresses. 

*' At the moment of starting he was entertained by the Emperor and again 
got a girdle with precious stones, saddled horses, 100 ounces of gold, 40,000 
dollars {hwan) in paper money, 2,600 strings of cash, 300 pieces of silk gauze, 
1,000 pieces of plain silk, and two pieces of Rilk with golden flowers.** 

It is not surprising that kings were willing to " pay tribute '* 
to China. 

The policy of Muhammad Shah seems to have been to ally 
himself with the Muhammadan States and with the Chinese, and 
to resist the Siamese who were at that time laying claim to the 
southern part of the Peninsula. As the Siamese had conquered 
the Cambodian principalities that had sent mining colonies to the 
Southern States the King of Siam had a certain claim to 
consider himself the suzerain of Malacca. But the claim was a 



HISTORY: MALACCA. 23 



very shadowy one. The fall of the Cambodian kingdoms in the 
north seems to have killed the Cambodian colonies in the south. 
The Siamese themselves had never exercised any authority over 
Malacca. The very title afterwards assumed by the Siamese 
King — " Ruler of Singapore, Malacca and Malayu " — shows 
how very little he knew about the countries that he claimed 
to own. Nevertheless, Siam was a powerful State, and its 
fleets and armies were a constant menace to the prosperity of 
the growing Settlement of Malacca.^ 

The Paramisura Muhammad Shah died about A.D. 1414. He 
was succeeded by his son, Sri Rana AdikSrma, who took the 
title of Sultan Iskandar Shah — the Xaquendarsa of the Portu- 
guese and the Mukansautirsha of the Chinese records. This 
prince, who reigned ten years, paid two visits to China during 
his reign, one visit in A.D. 1414 and the other in A.D. 1419. 
He pursued his father's defensive policy of alliances against the 
Siamese. 

Sultan Iskandar Shah died in A.D. 1424. He was succeeded 
by his son, Raja Besar Muda, who bore the Hindu title of 
Paduka Sri Maharaja and assumed the Moslem name of Sultan 
Ahmad Shah. This ruler is not mentioned by the Portuguese, 
but he appears in Chinese records as Sri Mahala. 'He seems to 
appear twice — perhaps three times — in the " Malay Annals '' : first 
as Paduka Sri Maharaja, son of Sri Rakna Adikerma (Iskandar 
Shah's Hindu title), and secondly as Raja Besar Muda, son of 
Iskandar Shah. He is also confused with Muhammad Shah, 
whose place he ought to be given in the pedigree. It is there- 
fore difficult to say whether he or the first King of Malacca 
ought to be credited with the numerous rules and regulations 
drawn up for the guidance of Malay countries and given at 
great length in the " Malay Annals" as the work of '^ Muhammad 
Shah." In any case, from this time forward the use of yellow 
was confined to men of royal birth, the most rigid etiquette was 
enforced at all court ceremonies, the relative precedence of 
officers was fixed, and other rules were made regarding the 

' The Siamese oconpied inland territories aboat Chieng-mai till the four- 
teenth oentorj when thej advanced to the coast, fonnded Ayuthia (a.d. 13&C0 
and overthrew tho Cambodian empire by capturing Angkor (a. d. 1373). Col. 
Gerini's belief that the Siamese had penetrated '* far into the Malay Peninsula" 
before A.D. 1141 seems to be based {see " In Lotus Land/' p. 11) upon the 
** Mala J Annals " and not on Siamese sources But, as we have seen, the chrono- 
logy of the ** Malay Annals " is hopelessly at fault ; and the revised chronology 
which brings the Siamese to the Peninsula at about 1400 a.d. is far more reconciU 
able with events in Siam proper. 



24 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



proper attire and privileges of courtiers. The author of the 
'' Malay Annals '^ discusses all these points at great length, but 
European students are not likely to take much interest in them. 
Happy is the country that has no more serious troubles than 
disputes about etiquette ! The first three Sultans of Malacca 
must have governed well to bring about such a result as this. 

Sultan Ahmad Shah (Paduka Sri Maharaja) died about the 
year 1444 A.d. His death was followed by a sort of interreg- 
num, during which the reins of power were nominally held by 
his son, Raja Ibrahim or Raja Itam, afterwards known as Abu 
Shahid, because of his unhappy death. This interregnum ended 
in a sudden revolution in which Raja Ibrahim lost his life 
and Raja Kasim, his brother, came to the throne under the name 
of Sultan Mudzafar Shah — the Modafaixa of the Portuguese and 
the Sultan Wu-ta-fu-na-sha of Chinese records. The new ruler 
began his reign in the usual manner by sending envoys to China, 
but he did not go himself to pay his respects to the Emperor. 
He had to wage war against the Siamese, who seem at last to 
have made some sort of effort to enforce their claim to suzerainty 
over the south of the Peninsula. Malay records are not very 
trustworthy and we need not believe all that they tell us about 
victories over the Siamese, but we can see from the change in 
the policy of the State of Malacca that it must have been 
successful in its campaigns against its northern foes, since the 
Malays, suddenly becoming aggressive, carried the war into the 
enemy's country. From this time onwards the town of Malacca 
became a capital instead of being an entire State in itself. 

Mudzafar Shah died about the year 1459 A.D. According to 
Portuguese authorities he conquered Pahang, Kampar and 
Indragiri ; but, if the ** Malay Annals '* are to be believed, the 
honour of these conquests rests with his son and successor, 
Mansur Shah. Sultan Mansur Shah, we are told, began his reign 
by sending an expedition to attack Pahang. After giving a 
good descriptive account of this country, with its broad and 
shallow river, its splendid sandy beaches, its alluvial* gold 
workings, and its huge wild cattle, the *^ Malay Annals " go on to 
say that the ruler of Pahang was a certain Maharaja Dewa Sura, 
a relative of the King of Siam. Chinese records also say that 
the country was ruled by princes who bore Sanskrit titles and 
who must have been either Buddhist or Hindu by religion, but 
they add that the people were in the habit — otherwise unknown 
in Malaya — of offering up human sacrifices to their idols of fragrant 



HISTORY: MALACCA, 2$ 



wood. Tbeir language also does not seem to have been Malayan. 
Pahang was conquered after very little resistance, and its prince, 
Maharaja Dewa Sura, was brought captive to Malacca. Of the 
expeditions against Kampar and Indragiri we know nothing 
except that they were successful. 

Sultan Mansur Shah married five wives. By a daughter of 
the conquered Maharaja Dewa Sura he had two sons, one of 
whom he designated as heir to the throne, but a murder com- 
mitted by the prince in a moment of passion led to his being 
banished from the court and sent to rule over Pahang under the 
title of Sultan Muhammad Shah. By a Japanese wife the Sultan 
had one son, Radin Geglang, who succeeded his step-brother as 
heir to the throne and was afterwards killed while trying to stop 
a man who ran amuck. By a daughter of his chief minister, the 
Bendahara, the Sultan left a son, Raja Husain, who ultimately 
succeeded him. By a Chinese wife the Sultan left descendants 
who established themselves as independent princes at Jeram in 
Selangor. By his fifth wife, the daughter of a chief (Sri Nara 
Diraja), the Sultan only had two daughters. The following 
table shows how the kingdom of Malacca was divided up : 

Raja Kasim 
(Sultan Mudzafar Shah) 



Raja Abdullah 
(Sultan Mansur Shah) 



Raja Ahmad Paduka Mimat Raja Husain 

(Sultan Muhammad (whose family ruled (Sultan Alaedin 
Shah of Pahang) in Jeram) Riayat Shah I of 

Malacca) 



I I 

Raja Menawar Raja Muhammad 
(Sultan Me nawar (Sultan Mahmud 
Shah of Kampar) Shah of Malacca) 

The policy of war and conquest initiated by Mudzafar Shah 
and Mansur Shah was a fatal one to a trading port like 
Malacca; it turned the Malays into a sort of military 
aristocracy living on the trade of the foreign settlers in their 
city. Trade is not, however, killed in a day. The foreign 



26 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



merchants from India and China, though they continued to 
frequent the harbour of Malacca, began to look upon the 
Sultan and his people as a mere burden on the town — as indeed 
they were. The Sultan needed money for his pleasures, his 
followers, and his wars; he increased his exactions from year to 
year. But for the coming of the Portuguese the fate of 
Malacca would ultimately have been the same as that of Pasai, 
Samudra, Perlak and the other trading ports that enjoyed at 
various times a temporary spell of prosperity as emporia in the 
eastern seas. Even as it was, Albuquerque found the foreign 
settlers in the city perfectly willing to rise in revolt against 
their Malay masters. 

Mansur Shah was succeeded by his son. Raja Husain, who 
took the name of Alaedin Riayat Shah. This prince is said 
by the Portuguese to have been poisoned at the instigation 
of the rulers of Pahang and Indragiri. He was succeeded by 
his son, Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last of the Kings of Malacca. 
Sultan Mahmud Shah seems to have been a weak ruler, who 
gave himself up to his pleasures and ultimately delegated all 
his powers to his son, the Prince Alaedin, whom he raised 
to sovereign rank under the name of Ahmad Shah. The most 
important event in his reign — apart from the Portuguese 
conquest — was the mysterious revolution of A.D. 1510, in 
which the most powerful chief in Malacca, the Bendahara Sri 
Maharaja, lost his life. This event is mentioned by Albu- 
querque and is described with great vividness by the author of 
the *' Malay Annals,*' who, being a member of the Bendahara^s 
family, was extremely anxious to represent his great ancestor's 
case in the best possible light. According to his story,i 
one of the great ministers of State was induced by a very 
heavy bribe to bring a false charge of treason against the 
Bendahara — ^* for there is truth in the saying ^ Gold, thou are not 
God, yet art thou the Almighty/ " — and the Sultan was tempted 
by an illicit passion for the Bendahara's daughter into consenting 
to his minister's death : " Love knows no limitations and Passion 
no considerations." It is probable that the great minister was 
only overthrown after a severe conflict in which most of his 
relatives were slain. But that is not the account given us in the 
'• Malay Annals." The proud chief is said to have consented to 
die rather than lift a finger in opposition to the king : ** It is the 
glory of the Malay that he is ever faithful to his ruler." The 

» See *' Malay Literature, I," pp. 86-88. 



HISTORY: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 27 



Sultan's messenger approached and presented him with a silver 
platter on which rested the sword of execution. " God calls you 
to his presence/' said the messenger. " I bow to the Divine Will," 
said the Bendahara. Such was said to have been his end, but 
there is a curious epilogue to this tale of loyalty. In A.D. 1699 
the last prince of the royal line of Malacca was slain by his 
Bendahara, the lineal representative of the murdered minister 
of A.D. 1510, and of his successor and champion, the courtly 
author of the ** Malay Annals." It is therefore quite possible that 
the Bendahara of A.D. 1510 was only conspiring to do what the 
Bendahara of A.D. 1699 eventually succeeded in doing. 



THE PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 

The celebrated expedition of Vasco da Gama, the first 
European navigator to appear in the eastern seas, took place 
in 1498. Within ten years Da Gama had been followed to the 
East by many other famous adventurers: Francisco de Albu- 

auerque, Alfonso de Albuquerque, Francisco de Almeida, Tristano 
'Acunha, Jorge de Mello and Jorge de Aguyar. In 1508 the 
whole of the Portuguese *'empire" in the East was divided into 
two viceroyalties, one stretching from Mozambique to Diu in 
India, the other from Diu to Cape Comorin. Francisco de 
Almeida was appointed Viceroy of Africa, Arabia and Persia; 
Alfonso de Albuquerque was Viceroy of India. Two other 
admirals were also sent out in that year to carve out viceroyalties 
for themselves. Of these two, one — Diego Lopez de Sequeira — 
was destined for Malaya. He left the Tagus with four ships on 
the 5th April, 1508, sailed to Cochin (the head-quarters of the 
Indian viceroy), borrowed a ship from the Portuguese fleet at 
that port, and finally in August, 1509, sailed to Malacca. 

As soon as Sequeira cast anchor in the harbour a boat put 
off from the shore to ask him, in the name of the Bendahara, 
who he was and why he came. The Portuguese admiral 
answered that he was an envoy from the King of Portugal with 
gifts for the Sultan of Malacca. Messages then seem to have 
been interchanged for several days, and ultimately a Portuguese 
of good position, one Teixeira, was sent ashore and conducted 
to the palace on an elephant. He handed the Sultan an Arabic 
letter signed by Dom Manuel, King of Portugal ; he also gave 



28 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



the Malay ruler some presents. This interview was followed 
by the usual interchange of compliments and friendly assurances; 
permission to trade was given, and, finally, Teixeira was 
conducted in honour back to his ship. 

But in the town of Malacca all was excitement. The 
wealthy Indian merchants could hardly have viewed with 
equanimity the presence of strangers who threatened them with 
the loss of their trade. The suspicious rulers of the city feared 
the powerful fleet of Sequeira. The Bendahara wished to attack 
the Portuguese at once ; the Laksamana and the Temenggong 
hesitated. The Sultan invited the strangers to a feast — perhaps 
with the intention of murdering them ; Sequeira, with a rudeness 
that may have been wise, refused the dangerous invitation. 
Meanwhile the Bendahara*s party had begun to collect a small 
flotilla behind Cape Rachado so as to be ready for all 
emergencies. The position was one of great tension. The 
Portuguese who landed at Malacca do not seem to have been 
molested, but they could hardly have failed to notice the nervous 
hostility of the populace. The "Malay Annals" — written a cen- 
tury later — contain echoes of this old feeling of fear and dislike of 
the strangers, the popular wonder at these "white-skinned 
Bengalis," the astonishment at the blunt bullet that pierced so 
sharply, the horror at the blunders in etiquette committed by 
the well-meaning Portuguese. " Let them alone, they know no 
manners," said the Sultan, when his followers wished to cut 
down a Portuguese who had laid hands on the sacred person of 
the king in placing a collar round his neck. At such a time very 
little provocation would have started a conflict, and a misunder- 
standing probably brought it about. A sentry suspected the 
crews of the Malay boats of wishing to board the Portuguese 
vessels. He gave an alarm. A panic at once arose: the 
Malays on deck sprang overboard ; the Portuguese fired their 
guns. Sequeira avoided any further actign in the hope of 
saving those of his men who were on shore at the time, but the 
sudden appearance of the Malay flotilla from behind Cape 
Rachado forced his hand. The Portuguese sailed out to meet 
this new enemy and so lost the chance of rescuing the stragglers. 
When they returned it was too late. The city was now openly 
hostile ; the Europeans on shore had been taken ; the fleet was 
not strong enough to capture the town unaided. After wasting 
some days in useless negotiations, Sequeira had to sail away. 
His expedition had been an utter failure. After plundering a few 



hIStORV: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 2g 

native ships he sent two of his own fleet to Cochin and returned 
to Portugal without making any attempt to redeem his mis- 
takes. 

King Emmanuel of Portugal was not the man to submit 
tamely to a disaster of this sort. Fitting out three more ships 
under Diego Mendez de Vasconcellos he sent them — in March, 
1510 — to organise a fresh attack on Malacca. This fleet was 
diverted by Albuquerque to assist him in his Indian wars, but in 
May, 151 1, the great Viceroy himself set out to attack Malacca, 
taking nineteen ships, 800 European troops and 600 Malabar 
sepoys. He first sailed to Pedir in Sumatra. There he found a 
Portuguese named Viegas, one of Sequeira's men, who had 
escaped from captivity in Malacca and who reported that there 
were other Portuguese fugitives at Pasai. The Viceroy sailed to 
Pasai and picked them up. He was well received by the people 
of Pasai, but he sailed on at once in order to overtake a native 
ship that was bearing the news of his approach to Malacca. He 
caught this vessel and slew its captain. Still sailing on, he 
captured a large Indian trading ship from which he learnt that 
the rest of Sequeira's men were still alive and in bondage to the 
Malays, the leading man among them being one Ruy d'Aranjo, 
a personal friend of the Viceroy. On the ist July, 151 1, 
Albuquerque and his fleet of nineteen ships sailed into the road- 
stead at Malacca with trumpets sounding, banners waving, guns 
firing, and with every demonstration that might be expected to 
overawe the junks in the harbour and the warriors in the town. 

At the sight of the powerful Portuguese fleet the native 
vessels in the roadstead attempted to flee, but the Viceroy who 
feared that any precipitate action on his part might lead to the 
murder of his fellow-countrymen in the town ordered the ships 
to stay where they were and assured them that he had no pirati- 
cal intentions. The captains of three large Chinese junks in 
the harbour then visited the Portuguese admiral and offered to 
assist him in attacking the town ; they, too, had grievances 
against the port authorities. The captain of a Gujerat trading 
ship also brought a similar tale. Early on the following day, 
there came envoys from the Sultan to say that the Malay ruler 
had always been friendly to the King of Portugal, and that his 
wicked Bendahara — w^ho had recently been put to death — was 
entirely responsible for the attack on Sequeira. Albuquerque 
made every effort to impress the envoys with a sense of nis 
power, but he replied with the simple answer that no arrange- 



30 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 



ment was possible until the prisoners had been released. The 
prisoners were, indeed, the key of the situation. The admiral 
was sure that any attack on the town would be the signal for 
their massacre ; the Sultan vaguely felt that to give them up 
would be to surrender a powerful weapon of defence. So the 
days passed ; the Malays were arming, the Portuguese were 
examining the roadstead with a view to devising a good plan of 
attack, but neither side was guilly of any overt act of hostility. 
At the Malacca court itself the usual divided counsels prevailed, 
the war party being led by the Sultan's eldest son and by the 
Sultan's son-in-law, the Prince of Pahang. After seven days of 
futile negotiations a man from the town slipped on board the 
admiral's ship with a letter from Ruy d'Aranjo, the most 
important of the prisoners, strongly advising Albuquerque to 
abandon all idea of rescuing them and to begin the attack with- 
out further delay. Although the Viceroy was not prepared to 
take advantage of this heroic offer of self-sacrifice on the 
prisoners' part, he felt that his present policy could lead to no- 
thing. By way of a demonstration he burnt some of the Malay 
shipping in the harbour and bombarded a few of the finer 
residences on the seaside. The demonstration produced an 
unexpected result : Ruy d'Aranjo was at once released. He 
brought with him the news that many of the townspeople were 
hostile to the Sulcan and would be prepared to turn against the 
Malays should the opportunity present itself. This information 
probably settled the fate of the city. 

More negotiations followed. Albuquerque asked for per- 
mission to build a fortified factory in the town of Malacca so 
that Portuguese merchants might be able to trade there in peace 
and safety ; he also asked for the return of the booty taken from 
Sequeira and for an indemnity of 300,000 cruzados (about 
;{^33,50o). He found that the Sultan was not indisposed to make 
concessions, but that the younger chiefs were clamorous for war. 
Ultimately, as often happens in Malay councils, the Sultan 
decided to stand aside and to let the opposing parties — the 
Portuguese and the princes — fight it out. He himself kept to 
the defensive and refused either to make concessions or to lead 
an attack. As soon as this decision was arrived at, the Prince 
Alaedin and the Sultan of Pahang set about the defence of the 
town, while the Javanese chiefs seem to have assured the 
admiral that the coming conflict was no concern of theirs and 
that they were, if anything, well disposed to the Portuguese. 



HISTORY: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY, 3 1 



In order to understand the plan of attack it is necessary to 
appreciate the difference between the Malacca of 1511 and the 
Malacca of the present time. It is often supposed that the 
harbour has silted up and that the conditions cannot be repro- 
duced, but it should be remembered that the Portuguese ships 
were small vessels of light draught and could lie much closer to 
the shore than the deep-draughted steamers of to-day. The 
great change that has come over the harbour is due to the shift- 
ing of the river-channel after it enters the sea. The old maps 
of Malacca show that the Malacca river on reaching its mouth 
turned sharply to the right and had scooped out a comparatively 
deep channel very close to the northern shore where the 
houses — then as now — were thickly clustered. This channel 
was the old harbour of Malacca ; it enabled light-draughted 
ships to anchor very near the land, and it explains how the 
Portuguese with their guns of little range could succeed in bom- 
barding the houses on the shore. Landing was, however, 
another matter. The deep mud-banks made it extremely difficult 
to land under cover of the guns of the fleet ; the true landing 
place — then as now — lay just inside the river itself. Above 
the landing place — then as now — there was a bridge, though the 
old Malay bridee was a little further up the river than the present 
structure. This bridge, since it commanded the landing place 
and maintained communications between the two sections of 
the town, was the key of the whole situation. Both sides 
realised how matters stood. The Malays strongly fortified the 
bridge and stationed upon it a force of picked men under an 
Indian mercenary named Tuan Bandam. The high ground 
immediately to the south of the river — St. Paul's Hill, as it is 
now called — was the true Malay citadel. It was covered with 
the houses of the principal adherents of the Sultan and was the 
site of the Sultan's palace ilself. It protected the bridge and 
tvas garrisoned by the followers of the war-party, the Prince 
Alaedin and the Sultan of Pahang. It was felt by all that the 
landing places and the bridge would be the centre of the coming 
struggle. 

Behind all this show of Malay strength there was, however, 
very little true power. The Malays themselves were nothing 
more than a military garrison living on the resources of an alien 
community. The trading town of Malacca was divided up into 
quarters under foreign headmen. The Javanese of Gersek held 
Bandar Hilir to the south of the river ; the Javanese and 



32 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Sundanese from Japara and Tuban held Kampong Upeh to the 
north of the river. The Indian merchants also possessed a 
quarter of their own. These alien merchants did not love the 
Malays. All they wanted was to trade in peace ; at the first 
sign of a struggle they began to remove their goods to places of 
safety and had to be forcibly prevented from fleeing inland. 
The Sultan of Pahang with his fire-eating followers was not a 
very reliable ally ; he had no real interest in the war. The con- 
flict ultimately resolved itself into a trial of strength between 
the personal retainers of the Sultan and the 1,400 soldiers of 
Albuquerque, but the advantage of position was all on the side 
of the Malays. 

The Viceroy's preparations for attack lasted several days. He 
spent that time in tampering with the loyalty of the Javanese and 
other foreign communities, and in constructing a floating battery 
of very light draught to enter the river and bombard the bridge. 
The battery was not altogether a success. It grounded at the 
very mouth of the river and was exposed for nine days and 
nights to incessant bombardment from both banks. Its com- 
mander, Antonio d'Abreu, had his teeth shot away at the very 
first attack, but he stuck doggedly to his post and saved the bat- 
tery from capture. At last Albuquerque landed a strong force, 
obtained temporary possession of both banks and forced the 
floating battery up to a more commanding position whence it 
made short work of the bridge itself. The battery bad now 
served its purpose and had made communication between the 
two banks of the river less ready than it had previously 
been, but the fight was by no means over. The Prince Alaedin 
and his men furiously attacked the landing party and were only 
beaten off after the Portuguese had lost 80 men in killed and 
wounded. The Viceroy tried to follow up his success by attack- 
ing the mosques and palace on what is now St. Paul's Hill. 
Bewildered in a maze of buildings the Portuguese again suffered 
heavy loss and had to beat a confused retreat to their landing 
place. There they entrenched themselves and were able to 
hold their own. Their only substantial success had been the 
capture of the outworks built by the Malays to protect the 
landing places ; the fortifications of the bridge itself were still 
uncaptured. 

The next attack took place on St. James' Day, the 24th July, 
151 1. The Viceroy landed bodies of men on both banks of 
the river and advanced again upon the bridge. The Portuguese 



HISTORY: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 33 



on the south bank were furiously attacked by a Malay force of 
about 700 men headed by the Sultan in person. The battle 
seems to have been a very terrible one and to have ra^ed 
principally about the south end of the bridge where the high 
ground of the hill approaches nearest to the river. From their 
place of vantage on the slopes and under cover of their build- 
ings the Malays poured an incessant stream of poisoned darts 
upon the Portuguese who replied by burning the houses and 
endeavouring to drive the Malays out of their cover. Encum- 
bered with armour and weapons the Portuguese found that the 
heat of the fire was more than thev could resist. To add to their 
troubles, the Laksamana Hang Tuah brought down a flotilla of 
boats and fireships that harassed the flanks and threatened 
the communications of the Vicerov's forces. Albuquerque 
decided to retreat. He retired to his ships, taking with him 
seventy of his men who had been struck down with poisoned 
darts. Of these seventy men, twelve afterwards died and the rest 
suffered from constantly recurring pains for a long period of 
time.^ The Malay losses will never be known. The Sultan of 
Pahang, whose houses had been burnt and whose property had 
been plundered, left his father-in-law in the lurch and returned 
to his own country. The fire-eating youths of Malacca, who 
had egged on their Sultan to war, haa now had enough of the 
fighting. The foreign merchants had learnt that their Malay 
masters were not omnipotent. Although the Viceroy had been 
consistently repulsed, his very pertinacity had practically 
secured the victory. When he landed again on the following 
day all organised resistance was over. The foreign subjects 
of the Sultan refused to expose their lives in a hopeless cause that 
was not their own. The Sultan's retainers found that the profit 
of war was not worth its risks. The Sultan himself fled. A 
few untameable spirits like the Laksamana continued to carry on 
a guerilla warfare against the Portuguese, but with no real nope 
of success. The foreigners all submitted — first the Peguans, then 
the various sections of the Javanese community. They even 
joined the Portuguese under the brothers Andrade in an expedi- 
tion to destroy the stockades of the Prince Alaedin. After this 
defection the Malay prince saw the futility of further resistance ; 
he followed his father in his flight to the interior. A few scattered 
bands of outlaws represented all that was left of the famous 
Malay Kingdom of Malacca. 

1 One aocoont says that they all died except one man who cauterised hia 
wound. 



34 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The spoils taken by the Portuguese are not exactly known. 
According to some authorities, the value of the plunder was 
50,000 cruzados, or about ;£6,ooo; others say that this only 
represented the King's share of the spoil. It was also said that 
several thousand cannon — either 3,000 or 8,000 — were captured. 
This expression may refer to mere firearms, but it must be 
enormously exaggerated even with this limitation. The Malay 
forces were very small and they inflicted most damage with 
poisoned darts. Moreover, we are specially told that Albu- 
querque sent home as his only important trophies one or two 
cannon of Indian make and some Chinese images of lions. 
Had it not been for the foreign elements in the population of 
the town of Malacca the capture of the city would have been an 
act of useless folly ; as it was, the victory was a valuable one. 
It substituted a Portuguese for a Malay ruling class without 
destroying the trade-tradition of the place, and it gave the Por- 
tuguese a naval base, a trading centre and a citadel that they 
could easily hold against any attacks that the Malays might 
organise. 

The Viceroy could not aiford to garrison Malacca with the 
force that had sufficed to take it. He had captured it with the 
whole of the available forces of Portuguese India — 19 ships, 800 
European soldiers, and 600 sepoys ; he left a small company 
under a captain. If anything were needed to show the 
unreality of the wealth and power ascribed by some imagi- 
native writers to these old Malayan ** empires" or "kingdoms" 
it would be the insignificance of the Portugfuese garrisons that 
held their own against all attacks and even organised small 
punitive expeditions in reply. The loss of ten or twelve Por- 
tuguese was a disaster of the first magnitude to the captain 
in charge of the town and fort of Malacca. A small Portuguese 
reverse on the Muar river — when the gallant Ruy d'Aranjo 
was killed — enabled the Laksamana Hang Tuah to entrench 
himself on the Malacca river and to "besiege" the town. 
This famous Malay chief, whose name still lives in the memory 
of his countrymen, was a man of extraordinary energy and 
resource. He fought the. Portuguese by sea in the narrows 
of the Singapore Straits; he surprised them off Cape Racbado; 
he harassed the town of Malacca from the upper reaches of its 
own river; he intrigued with the allies of the Portuguese; he 
even induced a Javanese fleet to threaten Malacca. This 
indefatigable fighter died as he had lived, desperately warring 



HISTORY: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 35 



against the enemies of his race. With his death and with the 
destruction in 1526 of the Sultan's new stronghold on the 
island of Bintang, the Malay power was utterly destroyed. 
From 151 1 to 1605 the Portuguese were the real masters of the 
Straits. 

The history of Malacca from the date of Sequeira's expedition 
(A.D. 1509) to the time when it was captured by the Dutch 
(A.D. 1641) reads like a romance. It is associated with great 
names like those of Camoens and St. Francis Xavier ; it is the 
story of desperate sieges and of the most eallant feats of arms. 
Tradition has it that once when the garnson had fired away 
their last ounce of powder in the course of a desperate battle 
against the Achehnese the suspicious-seeming silence of the 
grim fortress was enough to terrify the enemy into flight. We 
are not, however, concerned with the romance of its history so 
much as with its political aspect. There is something significant 
in the very titles of the officials of Malacca. The Ponuguese 
Governor of Malacca was its "captain,*' the head^ of the native 
communities were " captains '' too. Indeed, Albuquerque went 
so far as to appoint the Javanese headman, Utimuti Raja, his 
Bendahara. The officials of the Dutch bore trading names such 
as "supercargoes," "merchants" or *' storekeepers" ; the civil 
servants of our own East India Company were " writers." 
There is no arrogance about any of these descriptions ; they only 
showed what their bearers really were. What, then, are we to 
make of titles such as those of the "Viceroy of Africa, Arabia 
and Persia" and the "Viceroy of India"? They hardly repre- 
sented realities; did they symbolise any national policy or 
ambition ? 

The aim of all the European powers in the Far East — 
whether Portuguese or Dutch or English — was to capture the 
rich trade of these countries. Sequeira asked for permission to 
trade; Albuquerque asked for permission to build a fortified 
factory at Malacca ; the East India Companies of the Dutch and 
English were merely trading concerns. Yet there was this 
difference. The imperial idea — which in the case of the Dutch 
and English took centuries to develop — seems to have existed 
from the very first in the minds of the Portuguese. It was not 
the imperialism of the present day. Albuquerque did not seek 
to administer even when he claimed suzerainty ; he allowed his 
Asiatic subjects a wide measure of self-government under their 
own "captains" in the very town of Malacca itself. Although 



36 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



he did not indeed try to administer, he tried to dominate. The 
Portuguese power would brook no rival. The garrisons were 
small — they were not sufficient to hold any tract of country — but 
the striking force of the Viceroyalty was sufficient to destroy 
any trading port that refused to bow to the wishes of the 
Portuguese or that set itself in irreconcilable hostility against 
them. Again and again, at Kampar, in the island of Bintang, and 
on the shores of the Johor river, did the Portuguese expedi- 
tions harry the fugitives of the old Malaj^ kingdom and destroy 
the chance of any native community rising to menace their 
fortified base at Malacca. What they did in these Straits they 
also did on the shores of India and Africa. The titles of the old 
Portuguese Viceroys were not misnomers, though they did not 
bear the administrative significance that we should now attach 
to them. The Portuguese fleet did really dominate the East. 
The weakness of this old Portuguese " empire " lay in the fact 
that it could not possibly survive the loss of sea-power. It 
consisted — territorially — of a few naval bases that became a 
useless burden when the command of the sea passed into the 
hands of the English and Dutch. The fall of Malacca may be 
truly said to date from A.D. 1606, when the Dutch Admiral 
Cornelis Matelief gained a decisive victory over the Portuguese 
fleet in the Straits of Malacca. From that time forward the 
doom of the town was sealed. Trade went with the command 
of the sea; apart from its trade, Malacca had no sufficient 
revenue and became a useless burden to the Viceroys of Goa. 
Portugese pride did indeed induce the Viceroys at first to send 
expeditions to the relief of their beleaguered countrymen in the 
famous fortress, but as siege succeedea siege it became obvious 
that the fate of the city was only a question of time. It fell 
in 1641. 

After Sultan Mahmud had been driven out of Malacca he 
fled to Batu Hampar, while his son, the Prince Alaedin, built a 
stockade at Pagoh. Pagoh was soon taken by the Portuguese, 
The Malay princes then took refuge for a time in Pahang, after 
which they established themselves far up the Johor river where 
they were relatively safe from attack. Settlements far up a river 
are, however, of very little use either for trade or piracy, so — as 
the Malays regained confidence — they moved southwards and 
established themselves on the island of Bintang, Sultan Mahmud 
at Tebing Tinggi and the Prince Alaedin at Batu Pelabohan. 
This Prince Alaedin had been raised to sovereign rank and bore 



HISTORY: PORTUGUESE ASCENDANCY. 37 



the title of Sultan Ahmad Shah, to the neat confusion of 
historical records, which confuse him both with his father, Sultan 
Mahmud, and with his brother who afterwards bore the name of 
Sultan Alaedin. In any case, this Sultan Ahmad died at Batu 
Pelabohan and was buried at Bukit Batu at Bintang ; if Malay 
rumour is to be believed, he was poisoned by his father. Sultan 
Mahmud then installed his younger son as Raja Muda, but did 
not confer on him the sovereign dignity borne by the murdered 
Ahmad Shah. After this the Sultan moved his head-quarters to 
Kopak. There another son was bom to him — this time by his 
favourite wife. Tun Fatimah, the daughter of the famous Benda- 
hara who had so bitterly opposed Sequeira. The child was 
given the title of Raja Kechil Besar and was afterwards allowed 
(through his mother's influence) to take precedence of his elder 
brother the Raja Muda and to be raised to sovereign rank as 
the Sultan Muda or Sultan Alaedin Riayat Shah II. Meanwhile 
the Malay settlement of Kopak had increased sufficiently in 
importance to attract the notice of the Portuguese. In 1526 it 
was surprised by the Viceroy Mascarenhas, who utterly destroyed 
it. Sultan Mahmud, again a fugitive, took refuge at Kampar 
in Sumatra. As the Portuguese had just abducted the ruler of 
Kampar and had incurred the deadly hostility of the inhabitants 
of that Sumatran port, the aged Sultan Mahmud was welcomed 
and was recognised as sovereign in the absence of the lost chief. 
He died shortly afterwards, leaving the throne to his son Alaedin 
Riayat Shah II. The new Sultan was not left in peace by the 
Portuguese. Driven by them out of Kampar he ultimately settled 
at a place on the Johor river where he died and was succeeded 
by his son, the Raja Muda Perdana, who took the title of Sultan 
Mudzafar Shah II. This Mudzafar Shah established his capital 
at Seluyut (Johor Lama), but he had outlying stations on the 
trade routes. At a later date these stations were destined to 
become important. 

The Sultans of Perak claim descent from a ** Sultan Mudzafar 
Shah," an elder son of the Sultan Mahmud who was driven 
from Malacca by the Portuguese. The present Sultan of Perak 
has himself said that this Sultan Mudzafar Shah went to Perak 
because he had been passed over for the succession by his 
younger brother. If this tradition is correct the "Sultan 
Mudzafar Shah" of Perak would not be the poisoned Alaedin 
(Sultan Ahmad Shah) but the young Raja Muda, v:\iO was set 
aside by his father in favour of the Raja Kechil Besar, after- 



38 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



wards Alaedin Riayat Shah II. All that we know about this 
disinherited member of the royal line is that he married Tun 
Trang, a daughter of Tun Fatimah by her first husband. Tun 
Ali, and that he had a son, Raja Mansur. This accords with the 
Perak story that Sultan Mudzafar Shah was succeeded by his son, 
a Sultan Mansur Shah. The following table shows the line of 
descent : 

Sultan Mahmud Shah 

(of Malacca and Johor) 



! I I 

Raja Alaedin '*RajaMuda" Raja KSchil Besar 

{Sultan Ahmad Shah) {Sultan Mudzafar {Sultan Alaedin 

Shah A of Perak) Riayat Shah II, of 
Johor) 

I I 

Raja Mansur Raja Muda Perdana 
{Sultan Mansur {Sultan Mudzafar 
Shah /, ot Perak) Shah II, of Johor) 

This pedigree would go to prove not only that the Sultan of 
Perak represents the senior line of the oldest Malay dynasty, 
but also that he is directly descended from the famous line 
of Bendaharas whose glories are the subject of the " S^jarah 
Melayu." 

Sultan Mudzafar Shah II seems to have reigned in compara- 
tive peace at Johor. The only incident of any importance 
recorded about him was his secret marriage under rather sus- 
picious circumstances to a Pahang lady, the divorced or abducted 
wife of one Raja Omar of Pahang. Sultan Mudzafar Shah did 
not live long. When he died the chiefs placed his son Abdul 
Jalil on the throne. The new sovereign, Abdul Jalil Shah, 
suffered great tribulations at the hands of the Portuguese, who 
burnt Johor Lama and drove him to the upper reaches of the 
river where no ships could follow him. He settled ultimately at 
Batu Sawar, which he named Makam Tauhid. He died at this 
place, leaving two sons (Raja Mansur and Raja Abdullah) by his 
principal wife, and three sons (Raja Hasan, Raja Husain and 
Kaja Mahmud) by secondary wives. It is said that the last 
three became rulers of Siak, Kelantan and Kampar, respectively, 
while Raja Mansur succeeded to the throne of Johor under the 
title of Alaedin Riavat Shah III. It was in the reign of this Alaedin 
Riayat Shah that the Dutch and English first came to Johor. 



EARLY BRITISH TRADE WITH EASTERN ASIA. 

In October, A.D. 1589, less than one year after the defeat 
of the Armada, a body of English merchants memorialised 
Queen Elizabeth for permission to send ships to trade with 
India. The memorialists, after discussing the Portuguese 
settlements in the East and the occupation of Malacca and the 
Moluccas, drew attention to the many places that might still be 
profitably visited. The Queen gave the desired permission. 
In A.D. 1 59 1 an expedition of three ships was sent out by the 
merchants, but only one ship, under Captain James Lancaster, 
succeeded in reaching the East Indies. A second expedition 
under Captain Wood in A.D. 1596 proved a failure. Three 
years later an association was formed with a capital of 
jC3<^»I33 Sj'. 8d. ; and a charter was petitioned for on the ground 
that "the trade of the Indies being so far remote from hence 
cannot be traded but in a joint and united stock." This resulted 
in the grant, on the 31st December, A.D. 1600, of a "Charter 
of Incorporation of the East India Company by the name of the 
Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading in the 
East Indies." The charter was to run for fifteen years. 

The first expedition sent out by the newly created Company 
was commanded by Captain Sir James Lancaster, who had 
visited the Eastern seas in the previous expedition of A.D 1591, 
and who now received from the Queen a circular letter to "the 
Kings of Sumatra and other places in the East Indies." Sir 
James Lancaster established trading stations at Acheen and 
Bantam. He brought back merchandise on which ;{^ 1,000 was 
paid in customs duties and he was also the bearer of a letter 
and gifts from the Sultan of Acheen to Queen Elizabeth. The 
gifts consisted of a ruby ring and two "gold embroidered 
vestures" in a china casket; the letter assented to an alliance 
against the Spaniards and Portuguese of Malacca " whose king 
and his subjects are our enemies in this world and the world to 
come." Invaluable experience of the conditions of trade was 
also gained, with the result that the East India Company's 
second expedition (under Sir Henry Middleton) paid 95 per cent, 
profit on the capital subscribed, and the third expedition paid 
234 per cent, profit and ;C4,5oo in customs dues. Sir Henry 
Middleton also brought back friendly letters from Acheen and 
Bantam, the latter going so far as to say that "England and 
Bantam are now one." The fourth expedition was a disastrous 
failure ; one ship never returned to Europe and the other, 



40 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



when near safety, was lured to its destruction by wreckers 
on the Breton coast. The loss of ship and cargo was estimated 
at ;f^70,ooo, and ;C7,ooo more was wasted in seeking redress 
from the French Government. Other ships continued, however, 
to be sent out. In a.d. 1613 the customs dues paid by the East 
India Company amounted to ;{^i3,ooo. In A.D. 1615 two ships 
actually paid ;tM»ooo between them; in A.D. 1616 the cargo of 
a single ship was valued at ;£i4o,ooo. 

In order to appreciate the sigfnificance of these figures, it b 
necessary to bear in mind the fact that the entire customs 
revenue of England was being farmed out in the last years of 
Queen Elizabeth's reign for ;^i 2,000 annually. The results of 
this Eastern trade were quite sensational ; they practically 
doubled the value of the country's imports and held out the 
prospect of extraordinary wealth to the merchants who took 
part in it. The Government of James I., delighted at this new 
source of profit, confirmed the East India Company's charter 
in perpetuity and even extended its scope. There were, how- 
ever, unpromising features in the situation. The English had 
no monopoly^ the Portuguese and the Dutch were already 
established in the Eastern islands. Any competition between 
rival purchasers would inevitably force up prices and reduce the 
profits of the European trader. Any attempt to secure a mono- 
poly by force of arms would dissipate in the cost of armaments 
the profits that the trade could bring in. Accordingly, in A.D. 
1615, the Dutch East India Company proposed an amalgamation 
with the English, the two associations to subscribe ;{^i,2oo,ooo 
between them. At that time the Dutch had invested £900,000 in 
the trade. 

The position in the Indian Archipelago at that time was 
a peculiar one. The Dutch had, at their own expense, broken 
down the Portuguese monopoly of commerce in the Far East. 
In A.D. 1606 Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge, with eleven 
ships, some slight help from Johor and four Sumatran junks, 
had attacked Malacca and nearly captured it. The town 
was relieved, after heavy fighting, by a Portuguese fleet of 
twenty-six sail under Don Louis de Lobato ; but the undaunted 
Dutch Admiral, after replenishing his supply of ammunition 
at Johor, returned to the attack and succeeded in defeating 
the Portuguese fleet and capturing its leader. The Dutch 
in the meanwhile had lost heavily, two of their ships 
had been sunk and 600 of their European soldiers and 



HISTORY: EAULY BRITISH TRADE, 4 1 



sailors had been killed. They were not in a position to 
renew the attack on the town and had to continue to maintain 
a lai^e fleet and army to secure their trade against molestation 
by the Portuguese. In a.d. 16 18 the British East India 
Company was informed by its agents that the Dutch 
maintained 22 forts, 4,000 troops, and 30 large ships in 
the Indies, and that the cost of this establishment (which 
would be shared by the British in the event of the amalgama- 
tion of the Companies) caused a most serious reduction 
of their profits. The London Company temporised; it had 
profited by the Dutch armaments without contributing to 
their cost, and it desired so satisfactory a state of 
affairs to continue as long as possible. The Dutch became 
exasperated ; those in Europe pressed for a speedy decision, 
while those in the Indies did not hesitate to attack the 
British ships that interfered with their trade. The agents 
of the London Company then wrote to their employers that 
although a refusal to amalgamate would probably end in the 
English being ousted from the Indian Archipelago, the English 
factories on the mainland of India were strong enough to drive 
out the Dutch and secure a monopoly of the profitable trade of 
Hindustan. These counsels agamst amalfi^amation prevailed. 
In A.D. 1624 the exasperated Dutch attacked the British factory 
at Amboyna and massacred its occupants. This massacre 
naturally roused great indignation among the people of England, 
but it is evident from the correspondence of the British East 
India Company that the Company deliberately imperilled the 
safety of its factors rather than come to a fair agreement with 
the Dutch. In any case, the results of the Company's policy 
were exactly what had been anticipated : the British flag began 
to disappear from the waters of the Eastern Archipelago while 
the factories in Hindustan ultimately made England the 
predominant power in India. 

The system followed by the East India Companies seems to 
have been that of stationing one or more European " factors '* 
or agents at the principal ports to buy and sell goods on behalf 
of their employers. A great deal turned upon the character of 
these men. The London Company impressed upon its repre- 
sentatives in India that "the glory of a factor is the gain of his 
employers and the contrary his discredit** ; it supplied them with 
profitable reading, " books of divinity for the sou! and of history 
to instruct the mind"; it admonished them "to be the more 



42 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



respective and shun all sin and evil behaviour that the heathen 
may take no advantage to blaspheme our religion by the abuses 
ana ungodly behaviour of our men." In spite of all this good 
advice many of the factors turned out to be unprofitable 
servants. They made up for their insufficient pay by trading on 
their own behalf ; in fact, to use the forcible language of the 
contemporary comments on their behaviour, they "sheared 
sheep" and only allowed the parent Company to "shear hogs." 
The moral lessons seem to have been equally wasted. At 
Acheen twenty-four men from one expedition are reported to 
have died through drinking arrack ; others died through " the 
inordinate drinkmg of a wine called tadie distilled from the 
palmetto-trees " ; others were severely censured for immorality ; 
one "very dissolute scapethrift " went so far as to "capitulate 
his soul to the devil by turning accursed Mahometan." 

We know a good deal about the nature of the old East Indian 
trade. Sumatra sold pepper, gold, camphor, wax and benzoin ; 
it bought Cambaya and Masulipatam commodities. The Java 
factories at Bantam, Gersek, Jacatra and Japara did a great 
trade in pepper ; Bantam produced from 60,000 to 150,000 sacks 
of pepper a year. The Borneo factories at Sukadana, Landak, 
Sambas and Banjermasin did business in diamonds, bezoars, 
gold and wax. Patani was a profitable market for the sale of 
Coromandel and Surat cloths. India exported pearls, rubies, 
emeralds, rich velvets, cloth of gold, tapestry, satins and damasks. 
The trading-ships also purchased cloves, mace, nutmegs, gumlac, 
diamonds, and ambergris wherever they could get them. Only 
the more precious spices and commodities were worth the cost 
of transport to Europe, so that the nature of the cargoes of the 
East Indiamen gave an entirely false impression of the Indies as 
a place 

" Where the goi^eoas East with richest hand 
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold." 

Locally, however, the ships did a profitable trade by buying 
"coast-cloths" in India and selling them in the Eastern Archi- 
pelago. The cargoes from Europe included gloves, embroidered 
caps, purses, mirrors, glass-ware, knives, pictures, striking- 
clocks, coloured beaver hats and silk stockings. The London 
merchants even went so far as to send the Great Mogrul a 
portrait of himself, painted from imagination by an artist in 
England, but " it was nothing like him and served no use at all." 
In some places trade was impossible. At Macassar no business 



HISTORY: EARLY BRITISH TRADE. 43 



could be done because the Hollanders had ** murdered the king's 
most dearly loved nephew, more like cannibals than Christians," 
and in Cochin-China all strangers were upset into the water and 
harpooned " like fishes *' "because Dutch traders had palmed off 
false dollars on the king. 

Of the social and political conditions prevailing in the islands 
we learn very little from the Company's records. Neither the 
London merchants nor their agents in the East were at all 
interested in the peoples with whom they had trade relations, 
unless, perhaps, we have to except the ** dissolute scapethrift " 
who seems to have made some enquiries into the religion of the 
country. We have also a severe criticism of a factor for 
arrogance; the Company is advised to employ men of "good 
carnage with a humble spirit" for ** these men (the Achehnesc) 
are desirous of honour and to have good words." Incidentally 
we also learn that customs duties were levied in Java — 
5} per cent, ad valorem at Bantam, and 3i per cent, ad 
valorem at Jacatra. At Achehnese ports no trade could 
be done without the Sultan's letter of authority, for which 
the factors had to pay heavily ; but the Sultan must have 
also made money in other ways for he closed Tiku to foreign 
commerce in order to make all business pass through his own 
port at Bandar Acheh. This incident goes to show that the central 
government was powerful enough to enforce its authority at an 
out-port, and it also goes to show that the local authorities could 
not be trusted to collect revenue on behalf of the sovereign. 
Of the Sultan of Acheen, the great Iskandar Muda or *^ Mahkota 
Alam," we have a very gloomy picture ; he is described as very 
cruel, very grasping, base, covetous, delighting in drinking and 
making men drunk. He was boastful and unreliable ; a report 
that he was about to set out with a great fleet of galleys to attack 
Malacca is dismissed byt he Company's agent with the sharp 
criticism, "but their words and deeds seldom agree." Of the 
Sultan of Johor we are told: "The King of Johor is now 
[a.D. 1613] at Acheen, having married that king's sister; they 
often drink drunk together." At Patani, the English were, at 
first, "honourably received by the Queen and country people"; 
later on they were driven away "in respect of great charges, 
taxations and other unkind usage imposed on strangers." The 
letters of the English factors say much that is evil about the 
native chiefs, but make no complaints whatever about the 
people. Even the worst that is said about the Sultan of Acheen 



44 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



falls short of the criminality imputed by the Company's agents 
to their Dutch rivals ; the " charges, taxations and other unkind 
usage'* which the traders had to put up with from the local 
Sultans compare very favourably with Ihe massacre of Amboyna 
and with the treatment generally meted, out by the Dutch to the 
English and by the English to the Dutch. 

It is usual to look upon the time of these early voyages 
as an age of romance. In reality it is a sordid record of 
unprofitable servants who defrauded their employers and 
disgraced their country, and of a sanctimonious Company that 
supplied its employees with devotional literature, underpaid 
them and sacrificed their lives rather than reduce its dividends. 
The story of the beginnings of British trade with the Far East 
is instructive rather than romantic. It explains the " mildness" 
of our subsequent rule. The Dutch and English were essentially 
traders and were quite content to respect the religious ideas and 
racial customs of the people with whom they came in contact; 
the Portuguese and Spaniards, who were missionaries, colonisers 
and conc^uerors, forced their own creed and their own institutions 
upon their subjects. The politic spirit of tolerance which grew 
up along with our Indian Empire was due originally to commercial 
greed and not to any innate spirit of kindliness to the " accursed 
Mahometan,*' as the Company agents described him. Trade 
paid handsomely; territorial acquisitions did not pay. Rather 
than contribute to the cost of the Dutch Company's troops and 
fleets, the British Company deliberately sacrificed its share of the 
trade of the Archipelago. Nevertheless, the Dutch, with a wider 
experience of the Eastern trade than the English then possessed, 
slowly recognised the necessity of territorial acquisitions. They 
saw (as the English in India afterwards saw) that the cheap 
** factory " was loo dependent for its prosperity, and even for 
its security, upon the goodwill of greedy native despots to be 
permanently successful, so they turned it first into an exterri- 
torial concession, then into a fort, and then into a fortified settle- 
ment. These steps were not taken in any spirit of imperialism 
or of land-hunger. In the Peninsula the Dutch held the port of 
Malacca as well as forts at Kuala Linggi, Kuala Selangor and 
the Dindings, but they never attempted to govern the hinterland 
of their possessions. They recognised that administration 
did not pay, and were content, even in the town of Malacca 
itself, to leave the natives a large measure of self-govern- 
ment under their own "captains." In these days of scientific 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 45 



warfare it is hard to realise how difficult and costly it 
was to defend large stretches of territory in days when European 
troops were hard to obtain and had to be highly paid, and 
when matchlocks and flintlocks, slow to load and limited 
in range to about a hundred yards, gave very little advan- 
tage over the primitive weapons of an uncivilised foe. Wars 
in those days were not wars of conquest; they were punitive 
expeditions. By degrees, as the Dutch and English became 
stronger both in war and administrative knowledge, they 
began to consider that the best defence against a harassing 
native enemy was a vigorous offensive, and that complete 
subjugation alone led to permanent peace; then, when the 
dbcoveries of modern science made conquest easier still, wars 
were undertaken simply to prevent native misrule interfering 
with trade. All these changes, however, belong to a later period. 
The early British and Dutch navigators, though they laid the 
foundations of great empires, were themselves averse to terri- 
torial rule. Professor Seeley, in his famous book on "The 
Expansion of England," has paradoxically pointed out that the 
British Empire was acquired *'in a fit of absence of mind." 
He might have gone further and proved that the best feature in 
the theory of British Government — the kindly treatment of 
Asiatic races — was actually due to the absence of the imperial 
spirit. The Spaniards and the Portuguese — not the English 
and the Dutch — were the real imperialists of the sixteenth 
century. The trader treated the natives with a wise consi- 
derateness, while the conqueror, conscious of his strength and 
higher civilisation, behaved to his subjects with a contemptuous 
arrogance which ultimately demoralised both him and them. ^ 



THE DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 

About the end of the year 1602 A.D. a Dutch navigator of 
the name of Jacob van Heemskerck visited Johor and left a 
factor behind, after satisfying himself that the factor's life was 
not likely to be endangered by any peace between the Malays 
and the Portuguese. By doing this he attracted to Johor the 
unwelcome attentions of the Governor of Malacca, who at once 
sent a few small vessels to blockade the river. However, in 

^ The quotations in this chapter are taken from the "Calendar of State 
Papers relating to the East India Company/' vols. I and II. 



46 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



A.D. 1603 two Dutch ships that came to visit the factor drove 
away the Portuguese flotilla and obtained great honour in the 
sight of the Malays. From this time onwards the Dutch came 
constantly to Johor. Their factor, Jacob Buijsen, resided con- 
tinuously at his station and seems to have done a good deal to 
turn an insignificant fishing village into an important centre of 
trade and political influence. In this work of development 
he received every assistance from the Sultan's brother, Raja 
Abdullah, who was anxious to make a definite alliance with 
Holland and to obtain some permanent protection against 
Portuguese attack. A Malay envoy was sent to Holland but died 
on the journey, so that no treaty was actually made till A.D. i6o6 
when Admiral Cornelis Matelief with a powerful fleet arrived in 
the Straits of Malacca. 

The Dutch account of this expedition tells us that the old 
Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah had been a great fighter and had waged 
a long war against the Portuguese. At his deatli he left four 
sons. The eldest, the '* King Yang-di-pertuan " (Alaedin Riayat 
Shah III), was in the habit of getting up at noon and having a 
meal, after which he drank himself drunk and transacted no 
further business. A second son, the King of Siak, was a man 
of weak character who rarely visited Johor. A third, Raja 
Abdullah, is described as a man of about thirty-five years of age, 
fairly intelligent, far-sighted, quiet in disposition and a great 
hand at driving hard bargains. The fourth brother, Raja Laut, 
is depicted as " the greatest drunkard, murderer and scoundrel 

of the whole family All the brothers drink except Raja 

Abdullah ; and, as the rulers are, so are the nobles in their train." 
Such then were the men whom Admiral Cornelis Matelief had 
come to succour. But we must not condemn these men too 
hastily. The Bendahara or prime minister of these princes was 
the author of the Annals, our great source of information on 
Malay history. The royal drunkard, Alaedin Riayat Shah, was 
the man who ordered the Annals to be written. The "great 
hand at driving hard bargains** — Raja Abdullah — is the patron 
of the history : " Sultan Abdullah Maayat Shah, the glory of 
his land and of his time, the chief of the assembly of true 
believers, the ornament of the abodes of the Faithful — may God 
enhance his generosity and his dignities, and perpetuate his just 
government over all his estates." These men must have been 
something more than mere drunkards ; and the historian has 
reason to be grateful to them. 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 47 



On the 14th May, 1606, Admiral Matelief arrived off the 
Johor river and received a friendly letter of greeting from Raja 
Abdullah; on the 17th May he entertained the prince on board 
his flagship. The interview must have been amusing, for it is 
quite clear that the Dutch had come to the Straits with the most 
exaggerated ideas about the greatness of Johor. On boarding 
the Dutch ship Raja Abdullah greeted his host most cordially 
and presented him with a " golden kris studded with stones of 
little value." In welcoming the sailors to Malay waters, the 
Raja prolonged the compliments to such an extent that the 
impatient admiral tried to lead him up to business by a pointed 
enquiry regarding the nature and extent of the help that might 
be expected from Johor if the Dutch attacked Malacca. In this 
matter, however, the prince was anxious not to commit himself. 
He explained that he was an orang jniskitiy a person of little 
wealth and importance, subordinate in all things to the will of 
his royal brother. ** In short," says our angry Dutch chronicler, 
"all the information that we could obtain from this prince 
was that he was a very poor man indeed ; had he been able to 
fight the Portuguese by himself, would he have sent to Holland 
for assistance?" This was unanswerable. The admiral gave 
up all hope of obtaining any real armed assistance from Johor. 

Nevertheless, a treaty was signed. It is the first Dutch 
treaty with Johor and is dated the 17th May, 1606. Its terms 
are interesting. 

The new allies began by agreeing to capture Malacca. 
After capturing it, they were to divide up the spoil — the city 
was to go to the Dutch and the adjoining terntories to the 
Malays, but the Dutch were to possess the right to take timber 
from the nearest Malay jungles for the needs of the town and 
its shipping. The permission of the future Dutch Governor of 
Malacca was to be obtained before any European could be 
permitted to land on Johor territory. 

As this treaty seemed a little premature until the 
capture of Malacca had been effected. Admiral Matelief set 
out at once to carry out that portion of the arrangement. 
He gained a decisive victory over the Portuguese fleet but 
failed to take the town, and ultimately gave up the enterprise as 
impracticable. On the 23rd September, 1606, he made an 
amended treaty under which a small portion of Johor territory 
was ceded to the Dutch as a trading station in lieu of 
the town and fort of Malacca, the rest of the treaty remaining 



48 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



the same as before. After concluding this agreement he 
sailed away and only returned to the Malay Peninsula in 
October, 1607, when he visited the factory at Patani. He 
then found that a complete change had come over the posi- 
tion of affairs at Johor. The Portuguese«*-having lost 
the command of the sea — had reversed their policy of unceasing 
hostility to native powers, and were now prepared to make an 
alliance with the Sultan. The Dutch factor had fled to Java, 
and the admiral summed up the situation in a letter dated the 
4th January, 1608 : *nhe chief king drinks more than ever; the 
chiefs are on the side of the Portuguese ; Raja Abdullah has no 
power/' The Dutch East India Company had invested (10,000 
at Johor and $63,000 at Patani. 

Admiral Matelief could do very little. As he had sent most 
of his ships home in anticipation of the arrival of a fleet under 
Admiral van Caerden he tried to induce Admiral van Caerden 
to change his course and threaten Johor, but he was too late as 
the admiral had sailed already from Java on his way to the 
Moluccas and was too far away to give any assistance. Nothing 
could be done till the autumn. In the end, a Dutch fleet arrived 
under Admiral Verhoeflf to bring the Sultan to reason. Sultan 
Alaedin Riayat Shah seems to have defended himself by the 
very logical argument that he wished to be at peace with every- 
body, and that Dutch friendship, to be of value, should accord 
him permanent protection. This permanent protection was 
promised him by a new treaty under which the Dutch agreed to 
build a fort at Johor and to station two guardships there to 
defend the place against Portuguese attack. Having made this 
arrangement the admiral sailed from Johor with a letter from 
the Sultan begging for Dutch aid to prosecute a personal quarrel 
between himself and the Raja of Patani. In fact, nothingcould 
have been more fatuous than the policy of this Alaedin Riayat 
Shah. Surrounded by powerful enemies he was content to 
think only of the pleasures and passions of the moment, leavipg 
all graver matters to the care of his cautious brother Raja 
Abdullah. 

In A.D. 1 6 10 the marriage of the Sultan's eldest son to his 
cousin, the daughter of the Raja of Siak, led to a complete 
change in the attitude of the fickle Alaedin Riayat Shah towards 
Raja Abdullah and the Dutch. The Raja of Siak, a friend of 
the Portuguese, became the real power behind the throne of 
Johor. Again, as in 1608, the Dutch might well have written ; 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 49 



^' the king drinks more than ever ; the chiefs are on the side of 
the Portuguese ; the Raja Abdullah has no power." But venge- 
ance overtook the treacherous Alaedin from a most unexpected 
quarter. On the 6th June, 161 3, the Achehnese, who were at 
war with Malacca, suddenly made a raid on Johor, captured the 
capital and carried the Sultan off into captivity along with his 
brother Abdullah, the chief Malay court dignitaries and the 
Dutch residents in the factory. The Achehnese did not treat 
their prisoners very harshly. The Sultan of Acheen — ^the famous 
Iskandar Muda or Mahkota Alam — gave his sister in marriage to 
Raja Abdullah and even joined Alaedin in the convivial bouts 
that were so dear to the Johor princes. A reconciliation was 
eflfected. On the 25th August, 16 14, Alaedin Riayat Shah was 
back in his own capital, but he does not seem to have learnt 
much wisdom from his stay in Acheen. Accused of lukewarm- 
ness in helping the Achehnese in their siege of Malacca, he 
brought upon himself for the second time the vengeance of the 
great Mahkota Alam. Johor was again attacked — this time by a 
force which an eye-witness, Admiral Steven van der Haghen, 
estimated at 300 ships and from 30,000 to 40,000 men. Johor 
was taken, but the Sultan himself escaped to Bintang. Bintang 
was next attacked. The unfortunate Sultan received some 
help from Malacca, but only just enough to seal his destruction. 
He was now unable either to repel the attack of his enemies 
or to clear himself of the charge of allying himself .with the 
Portuguese infidel against whom Mahkota Alam was waging 
relieious war. Alaedin Riayat Shah was taken prisoner and 
died very shortly afterwards ; tradition has it that he was put to 
death by his captors. 

Incidentally it may be observed that the " Malay Annals," 
though dated A.D. 1612, refer to "the late Sultan Alaedin Riayat 
Shah who died in Acheen." This reference shows that the 
book though begun in A.D. 161 2 was not actually completed 
till some years later. It is very much to be regretted that 
the Malay historian should have confined his work to the 
records of the past and should have given us no account what- 
ever of the stirring incidents in which he personally, as Benda- 
hara, must have played a most prominent part. 

Sultan Alaedin Riayat Shah III was succeeded by his brother 
Raja Abdullah, who took the title of Sultan Abdullah Maayat 
Shah. The new ruler possessed many good qualities and en- 
joyed the advantage of being marriea to a sister of Mahkota 



50 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



Alam, but he was extremely unfortunate in being forced to 
contend against so jealous a potentate as his brother-in-law. 
He seems to have led the wandering existence of a pretender- 
king. In A.D. 1623 he was certainly driven out of the island of 
Lingga by an Achehnese force. In A.D. 1634 ^^e Dutch records 
speak of Pahang and Johor as being incorporated in the king- 
dom of Acheen. No Dutch ships ever visited Abdullah during 
his sultanate ; no Dutch factors were ever stationed at his court. 
He was deserving but unfortunate — a mere claimant to a throne 
that the Achehnese would not permit him to fill. He died 
in A.D. 1637, 

He was succeeded — if indeed we can speak of succession to 
so barren a title — by his nephew, Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah II, son 
of the Sultan Alaedin Riayat Shah III who died in Acheen. The 
new ruler was more fortunate than his predecessor in that the 
Achehnese power was now on the wane. The mighty Iskandar 
Muda or Mahkota Alam, the most powerful and most ambitious 
of the rulers of Acheen, was dead ; his sceptre had passed into 
the hands of women. These years — from 1637 onwards — may be 
considered years of revival among the Malay States that had 
been reduced to vassalage by Acheen, for they gave a new 
lease of life to the kingdoms of Johor, Pahang and Perak. In 
A.D. 1639 the Dutch, who were anxious to procure native 
assistance for the siege of Malacca, made overtures to the 
Sultan. Possessing the command of the sea they wanted Malay 
auxiliaries to assist them with supplies and transport, and to 
help in hemming in the Portuguese by land. The Dutch 
Admiral van de Veer accordingly entered into an agreement 
with Abdul Jalil Shah and definitely secured him as an ally in 
the war against Malacca. This time the Portuguese stronghold 
was captured (a.d. 1641). 

In spite of the fact that the military commanders at Malacca 
were not altogether satisfied with the help given them by their 
Malay allies, the Dutch civil authorities did their best to show 
gp-atitude to Johor and to restore it as much as possible to its 
old position. They arranged a peace between Johor and 
Acheen, and gave various other assurances of their goodwill to 
the Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah. We hear of various complimentary 
missions being exchanged between Johor and Batavia without 
much practical result. What else, indeed, could we have 
expected? Johor became useless to Holland as soon as the 
capture of Malacca gave the Dutch a better station in the 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY, 5 1 



Straits than the old trading factory of Batu Sawar had ever 
been. Johor had no industries, no trade, no productive hinter- 
land. It was bound to decline. Sultan Abdul Jalil lived long 
enough to see a great calamity overwhelm his country. A 
quarrel w^ith the Sultan of Jambi led in A.D. 1673 to a war in 
which Johor was plundered and burnt and its aged ruler driven 
into exile. The death of the old Sultan — who did not long 
sur\'ive the shock of the destruction of his capital — brought to 
an end the direct line of the Johor dynasty. 

He was succeeded by a cousin, a Pahang prince, who took 
the name of Sultan Ibrahim Shah. The new ruler's energy 
infused fresh life into the State ; he established himself at Riau 
in order to carry on the war against Jambi more effectively 
than from Johor Lama, he allied himself with the Dutch, and in 
time succeeded in regaining what his predecessor had lost. But 
he did not live long. On the i6th February, 1685, he died, 
leaving an only son who was at once placed on the throne under 
the title of Sultan Mahmud Shah. As the new Sultan was a 
mere boy his mother became regent, but she allowed all real 
power to be vested in the Bendahara Paduka Raja, the loyal and 
able minister of her late husband the victorious Sultan Ibrahim. 
She was wisely advised in so doing Peace was assured ; the 
traditional friendship with Holland was loyally kept up by the 
Bendahara ; internal troubles of all kinds were avoided. Unfor- 
tunately the Bendahara died, and his headstrong ward took the 
government of the State into his own hands. In A.D. 1691 we 
hear of him as ruling from Johor. This young Sultan, Mahmud 
Shah II, the last prince of his race — ruler of Pahang and Riau 
as well as of Johor — is the most mysterious and tragic figure in 
Malay history. He was said to be the victim of one of those 
terrible ghostly visitants, a Malay vampire, the spirit of a 
woman dead in childbirth and full of vengeance against the 
cause of her death. He is accused — by Malay traditions from 
all parts of the Peninsula — of having slain in the most fiendish 
manner those of his wives who had the misfortune to become 
pregnant. Probably he was mad ; but no form of madness 
could have been more dangerous to a prince in his position. 
The frail life of this insane and hated Sultan was the only thing 
that stood between any bold conspirator and the thrones of 
Johor, Pahang and Lingga. The end came in A.D. 1699. As 
the young ruler was being carried to mosque at Kota Tinggi on 
the shoulders of one of his retainers he was stabbed to death. 



52 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



All Malay accounts ascribe this assassination to the Sultan's 
minister, the Bendahara Sri Maharaja, head of the great family 
that is described in the " Malay Annals" as glorying in the 
tradition of fidelity to its princes. With the death of the 
Sultan Mahmud Shah II the dynasty of Malacca, Johor and 
Pahang disappears from the page of history. 

In the records of this long line of kings the point that most 
impresses the student is the curiously personal character of 
Malay sovereignty. In Europe, where all the continent is divided 
up under different rulers, there is no place for a fallen king 
except as a subject ; in the thinly populated Malay world the 
position was entirely different. So lon^ as a fugitive prince 
could induce a few followers to share his lot he could always 
find some unoccupied valley or river in which to set up his 
miniature court. The wandering fugitive Raja Abdullah (a.d. 
1615-1637), whose movements cannot be traced and the date 
of whose death is uncertain, was nevertheless a king — " Sultan 
Abdullah Maayat Shah, the glory of his land and of his time." 
He was born in the purple. But to less highly-born adventurers 
the acquisition of royal rank (as distinct from mere power) 
was a very difficult matter. All Malay popular feeling is 
against the *'worm'' that aspires to become a "dragon." 
Should a bad harvest or a murrain or any other misfortune 
overtake the subjects of an upstart ruler all Malaya would have 
explained it as the Nemesis that waits on sacrilege, the result 
of outraging the divine majesty of kings. Royalty was a mere 
matter of caste, but a great Sultan might create minor Sultans 
just as the Emperor of China made a Sultan of the Paramisura 
Muhammad Shah, or as Sultan Mansur Shah divided his 
dominions between his sons, or as Sultan Mahmud Shah gave 
sovereign rank to his son Ahmad Shah, or as the Queen 
may be said to have created the Sultanates of Johore and 
Pahang. Titular dignity was one thing; real authority was 
another. Powerful de facto rulers such as, in recent times, 
the Bendahara of Pahang, the Temenggong of Johor and the 
Dato of Rembau, and great territorial magnates like the 
Maharaja Perba of Jelai were kings in all except the name. 
The glamour of titles and of royal descent is so great that 
it often obscures realities. The Dutch when they negotiated 
their treaty with the Sultan of Acheen found, when too 
late, that he was Sultan in rank only, not] in power. The 
sympathy that has been lavished upon the dispossessed princely 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 53 



house of Singapore is based upon a misconception of the meaning 
of Malay ** royalty." Royal rank meant prestige, position, 
influence — the things that lead to power. Royal rank was a 
great thing in Malay eyes and justified the attention that they 
devoted to pedigrees and to the discussion of the relative 
importance of the articles that made up a king's regalia. But 
the student of Malay things who mistakes mere rank for power 
will constantly be surprised to find — as Admiral Matelief was 
astonished to discover — that a Malay prince is often an orang 
misktny a very poor person indeed. 

Immediately after the death of the unhappy Mahmud Shah, 
his murderer, the Bendahara Sri Maharaja, ascended the throne 
of Johor and Pahang under the title of Sultan Abdul Jalil 
Riayat Shah. Like most princes who obtain a crown by violence 
he found that his position was one of ever-growing danger from 
malcontents at home and enemies abroad. Two new disturbing 
forces had entered the arena of Malajran politics. The first was 
the great Menangkabau immigration; the second was the 
continued presence of Bugis fleets and colonies on the Peninsular 
coast. A constant stream of industrious Sumatran Malays had 
for some time past been pouring into the inland districts now 
known as the Negri Sembilan. These men, being very tenacious 
of their own tribal rights and customs, resented any interference 
from Johor. The Bugis were even more dangerous. They 
were more warlike and more energetic than the Malays ; they 
built bigger ships; they were ambitious, and they seemed 
anxious to get firm footing in the country. In A.D. 1713 Sultan 
Abdul Jalil Riayat Shah tried to strengthen his position by a 
closer alliance with the Dutch ; but such a policy, though it might 
assist him against foreign foes, was of very little use against the 
enemies of his own household. In A.D. 1717 (or a little earlier) 
an incident occurred that may be described as one of the more 
extraordinary events in Malay history. A Menangkabau adven- 
turer calling himself Raja Kechil appeared in Johor, gave 
himself out to be a posthumous son of the murdered Mahmud 
Shah and stirred up a revolution in the capital. But the 
strangest part of the incident was its termination. The upstart 
Sultan Abdul Jalil Riayat Shah consented to revert to his old 
position of Bendahara Sri Maharaja and to serve under the 
impostor. Raja Kechil, whose claims he must have know*n to be 
false. To cement this alliance between murder and fraud the 
ex-Sultan agreed to give his daughter, Tengku Tengah, in 



54 PAPEKs ON Malay sl/bj^ects. 



marriage to the new Sultan, who took the name of Abdul Jalil 
Rahmat Shah. 

It is difficult to trace exactly the course of events after this 
point because we have two Malay partisan histories written from 
opposite points of view. One history accepts this Raja Kechil 
as a true son of the murdered Sultan Mahmud ; the other treats 
him as a scoundrel and an impostor, and makes a martyr of the 
deposed assassin, Sultan Abdul Jalil Riayat Shah. There can 
be no doubt that the Bendahara's relatives conspired with the 
Bugis against their new master, but the details of the plot are 
not very clear. According to one account a woman's jealousy 
provoked the trouble. Raja Kechil jilted Ten^ku Tengah in 
order to marry her younger sister, Tengku Kamariah. This little 
substitution of one sister for another did not injure the Bendahara, 
but it made a great deal of difference to the ambitious Tengku 
Tengah and caused further dissension in a family that was already 
divided by personal jealousies, as the children of the Bendabara 
who were born after his accession to the throne denied that their 
elder brothers — who were born before their father became 
a king — had any right to call themselves princes. It is not 
surprising that intngues and conspiracies should have been 
begun. There was at this time in Johor a Bugis adventurer 
named Daeng Parani. Tengku Sulaiman, eldest son of the 
Bendahara, went to this man and appealed to him for help in 
overthrowing the upstart Raja Kechil. Daeng Parani hesi- 
tated ; the odds against him were too great. Tengku Sulaiman 
then tried to win over the Bugis adventurer by promising him 
the hand of his sister, Tengku Tengah, in marriage. Daeng 
Parani again refused. At this juncture Tengku Tengah herself 
came forward and made a personal appeal to the love and 
chivalry of the Bugis chief. Daeng Parani now consented to 
act. With great boldness — for he had only a handful of men in 
the heart of a hostile capital — he surrounded the Sultan's 
residence and endeavoured to slay Raja Kechil and to abduct 
Tengku Kamariah. He was only partially successful ; the 
Sultan escaped. Daeng Parani fled to Selangor, leaving his 
fellow-conspirators behmd. Tengku Sulaiman and Tengku 
Tengah fled to Pahang. The aged Bendahara, father of 
Tengku Sulaiman and Tengku Tengah, feeling that he would be 
suspected of having taken a part in the conspiracy, followed his 
children in their flight but was overtaken and murdered at Kuala 
Pahang. He is the Sultan known as Marhum Kuala Pahang. 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 55 

Tengku Sulaiman managed, however, to make good his escape 
and ultimately joined his Bugis friends. 

Alter these incidents Raja Kechil — or Abdul Jalil Rahmat 
Shah as he styled himself — abandoned Johor Lama, the scene of 
so many misfortunes to Malay kings, and made a new capital 
for himself at Riau. He carried on with great courage and 
success a desultory war against the Bugis, but was ultimately 
outmanoeuvred and lost his position as Sultan of Johor because 
the Bugis ships, having enticed the Malay fleet to Kuala Linggi, 
doubled back during the night and suddenly appeared before 
Riau. In the absence of its king and his followers, Riau could 
offer no resistance. The Bugis proclaimed Tengku Sulaiman 
Sultan of Johor under the title of Sultan Sulaiman Badru'1-Alam 
Shah. The principal Bugis chief, Daeng Merewah (or Klana 
Jaya Putra) became " Yang-di-pertuan Muda^' of Riau with the 
title of Sultan Alaedin Shah, while another Bugis chief, Daeng 
Manompo, became *'RajaTua" under the title of Sultan Ibrahim 
Shah. This seems to have occurred on the 22nd October, A.D. 
1 721; but the formal investiture only took place on the 4th 
October, 1722. To strengthen their position, the Bugis chiefs 
allied themselves in marriage with the Malays. Daeng 
Manompo married Tun Tepati, aunt of Sultan Sulaiman ; 
Daeng Merewah married Inche' Ayu, daughter of the ex- 
Temenggong Abdul Jalil and widow of the murdered Sultan 
Mahmud ; Daeng Parani had married Tengku Tengah ; and 
Daeng Chelak sought to marry Tengku Kamariah the cap- 
tured wife of Raja Kechil. Other Bugis chiefs — Daeng 
Sasuni and Daeng Mengato — married nieces of Sultan 
Sulaiman. 

As the Bugis accounts of the Raja Kechil incident differ 
very materially from the Malay version, we can hardly hope to 
get a thoroughly reliable history of the events that led to the 
establishment of Bug^s kingdoms in the Straits of Malacca. We 
may, however, consider it certain that Raja Kechil was not a 
posthumous son of Sultan Mahmud Shah. Dutch records 
prove that Raja Kechil was an extremely old man in A.D. 1745 ; 
they even provide strong evidence that he was 53 years of age 
when he seized the throne of Johor; he must, therefore, have 
been an older man than the prince whom he claimed as his 
father. In all probability Raja Kechil won his kingdom by mere 
right of conquest, supplanting a murderer who was quite ready 
to give up an untenable throne and to take a secure position as 



56 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Bendahara under a strong ruler. In later years, when the 
Malays became savagely hostile to their Bugis master, they we'e 
doubtless ready to accept any tale and to follow a MenangkaBau 
ruler, who was at least a Malay, in preference to the Bugis puates 
and their miserable tool, Sultan Sulaiman Shah. But when 
Raja Kechil died the Malays rallied to the side of his younger 
son (who had a royal Malay mother) and treated the elder son as 
a mere alien without any claim to the throne. The murder at 
Kota Tinggi in A.D. 1699 had divided the allegiance of the 
Malay world and contributed greatlv to the success of the 
Bugis; it was only at the close of the eighteenth century 
that the old Johor communities again recognised a common 
ruler. 

The Bugis chiefs at Riau paid very little attention to the 
puppet Sultans that they set up. They so exasperated Sultan 
Sulaiman that he soon left his sultanate and fled to Kampar 
(A.D. 1723). After this incident the Bugis felt that they had 
gone too far and they made a new treaty with their titular 
sovereign and induced him to return to Riau. It should be 
understood that even with Sultan Sulaiman's help the Bugis 
position at Riau was very insecure. Raja Kechil, who had 
established himself at Siak, gained many victories and repeatedly 
attacked his enemies in their very capital. In A.D. 1727 he even 
rescued his wife, Tengku Kamariah, who was held captive at 
Riau itself. In A.D. 1728, with the aid of Palembang troops, 
he laid siege to Riau and was repulsed. In A.D. 1729 the Bugis 
blockaded Siak and were repulsed in their turn. The history 
of the whole of this period of Bugis activity (1721 to 1785) is 
extremely involved, but is fully discussed in Dutch works, 
especially in the 35th volume of the Transactions of the Batavian 
Society. We can only briefly refer to it. 

The policy of the Dutch — so far as their general unwillingness 
to interfere allowed of any policy — was that of supporting the* 
Malays against the restless and piratical Bugis. It was a 
difficult policy, this assistance of the weak against the strong, 
but it proved successful in the end. Looking at it in the light 
of ultimate results we can compare two exactly similar situa- 
tions — one in 1756 and the other in 1784 — and notice the 
difference in treatment. On both occasions Malacca was 
attacked. 

On the first occasion the Dutch, after repelling the attack 



HISTORY: DUTCH ASCENDANCY. 57 



on their fortress, allied themselves with the Malays (Sultan 
Sulaiman, his son the Tengku Besar, and his son-in-law the 
Sultan of Trengganu) and forced the Bugis to come to 
terms (a.d. 1757) and to acknowledge the Sultan of Johor as 
their lawful sovereign. This plan did not work well. Sultan 
Sulaiman had great difficulty in enforcing his authority. To 
make matters worse, his death (20th August, 1760) occurred 
at a time when his eldest son, the Tengku Besar, was on a 
mission to the Bugis princes of Linggi and Selangor. If Malay 
records are to be believed, the Bugis chief Daeng Kamboja 
was not a man to waste an opportunity. He poisoned the 
Tengku Besar and then took his body, with every possible mani- 
festation of grief, back to Riau to be buried. At the burial he 
proclaimed the Tengku Besar's young son Sultan of Johor 
under the title of Sultan Ahmad Riayat Shah, but he also nomi- 
nated himself to be regent. When the unhappy boy-king was 
a little older and seemed likely to take the Government into his 
own hands he, too, was poisoned so as to allow a mere child, 
his brother, to be made Sultan and to prolong the duration 
of the regency. The Dutch plan of securing Malay ascend- 
ancy had completely failed; the Bugis were stronger than 
ever. 

On the second occasion (when Raja Haji attacked Malacca 
in 1784) the Dutch, after repelling the attack and killing the 
Bugis chief, followed up their success by driving the Bugis out 
of Riau and recognising the young Malay Sultan Mahmud 
Riayat Shah as the ruler of Johor. But on this occasion they 
felt that they could not trust any native dynasty to maintain 
permanent peace. They accordingly made a treaty with the 
Sultan and stationed a Resident with a small Dutch garrison 
at Riau. This plan did not work very well at first ; it pleased 
neither the Bugis nor the Malay chiefs. The fifth Bugis 
*' Yamtuan Muda " attacked Riau ; the Malay Sultan fled from 
his capital to get up a coalition against the Dutch ; even the 
Ilanun pirates made an attack upon the place. In time, 
however, when the various chiefs came to recognise that the 
glories of independence were not sufficient compensation for 
losing the creature-comforts of security and peace, both the 
Malay Mahmud Shah and the Bugis Yamtuan Muda settled 
down definitely at Riau and accepted the part of dependent 
princes. 



58 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The following pedigree shows the branches of the Bugis 
family that ruled in the Straits : 

Upu Tanderi Burong 
(a Bugis Chief) 



Daeng Perani 
(died 1723 A.D.) 



Daeng Merewah, 

Klana Jaya Putra, 

Sultan Alaedin Shah I, 

1st Yang-di-pertuan 

Muda of Riau (1721- 

1728) 



Daeng Chelak, 

Sultan Alaedin 

Shah II, 2nd Yang- 

di-pertuan Muda of 

Riau (1728- 1 745) 



Raja Haji, 

4th Yang-di-pSrtuan 

Muda of Riau 

(1777.1784) 



: . . I 

Daeng Kamboja, Raja Lumu, 

Sultan Alaedin Shah Sultan Selaheddin 

III, 3rd Yang-di-per- Shah, ist Sultan of 
tuan Muda (1745- Selangor 

1777) 

Raja AH, 

5th Yang-di-pertuan 

Muda 

Sultan Mahmud Riayat Shah of Johor died in the year 
1812 A.D., leaving two sons, T6ngku Husain andTengku Abdur- 
rahman. The latter was at once proclaimed Sultan by the 
Bugis Yang-di-pertuan Muda of Riau. The elder son, Tengku 
Husain, who was absent in Pahang at the time of his father's 
death, returned to Riau, but appears to have made no effective 
protest against his younger brother's accession. Sultan Abdur- 
rahman was recognised as Sultan of Johor and Pahang by both 
the Dutch and the English until January, 1819, when it suited 
Sir Stamford Raffles to repudiate that recognition and to accord 
to Tengku Husain the title of Sultan of Johor. From this time 
the line of Sultans divides into two, one branch reigning under 
Dutch protection in the island of Lingga, the other living under 
British protection in the town of Singapore itself. 



THE PENINSULAR STATES. 

Perak. — The history of Perak may be divided into four 
periods. Of the first period (during which the seat of Govern- 
ment was at Bruas in the Dindings) we know next to nothing. 
A few carved tombstones represent all that is left of this very 
ancient capital — ^and even these are of late Achehnese make 
and throw no light whatever on the early history of the country. 
If Malay tradition is right in saying that the great arm of the 
sea at the Dindings was once an outlet of the Perak river we 
can easily understand the importance of Bruas, combining as it 
did the advantages of a perfect landlocked harbour with a 
commanding situation at the mouth of the greatest waterway in 
the western half of the Peninsula. Although Bruas was power- 
ful, the " Malay Annals " tell us, before even the mythical ancestors 
of the Malacca dynasty appeared on the famous hill of Siguntang, 
it had begun to dechne as the river silted up. In the days of 
Sultan Mahmud (a.d. 1500) Bruas had so far fallen that its king 
did homage to Malacca in mere gratitude for assistance against 
a petty rival village. After the Achehnese invasion the place 
entirely disappears from history. 

The second period of Perak history stretches from the 
coming of Mudzafar Shah I, the reputed founder of the long 
line of Perak kings, down to the extinction of his direct male 
line in the wars with Acheen. This period covers a century — from 
A.D. 1530 to 1630 — and is marked by the reigns of nine Sultans 

Mudzafar Shah I 
(ist Sultan) 

Mansur Shah I 
(2nd Sultan) 



Man.<^ur Shah 

(Sultan 
of Acheen) 



Tajuddin Shah 
(3rd Sultan) 



Taj-ul-Arifin 

Shah 
(4th Sultan) 



I 
A daughter 



Raja Kechil Mukadam Shah 
j (6th Sultan) 



Mahmud Shah I: 
(8th Sultan) 



Alaedin Shah Mansur Shah II A daughter (m. Selaheddin Shah 
(5th Sultan) (7th Sultan) the loth Sultan) (gth Sultan) 



6o PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Perak tradition (as we have seen) identifies its first Sultan, 
Mudzafar Shah, with a son of Sultan Mahmud I of Malacca, 
who was born about A.D. 1505 and was at one time heir to 
the throne of Johor but was passed over in favour of his 
younger brother, Alaedin Riayat Shah II. It goes on to tell us 
that this disinherited prince after having first settled in 
Selangor was invited to fill the throne of Perak, and that he 
reached his new kingdom after various adventures, such as the 
slaughter of the great serpent Si Katimuna with the sword 
Chura Si Manjakini. In the story of this prince the Perak 
tradition does not hesitate to borrow from the legend of Sang 
Sapurba. Mudzafar Shah was succeeded by his son Mansur Shah. 
After the death of this latter prince his widow and children were 
taken prisoners by Achehnese invaders and carried off to Kota 
Raja where fortune favoured them in that the eldest son — another 
Mansur Shah — succeeded in marrying the Queen of Acheen. 

After restoring his brothers to Perak this Achehnese Mansur 
Shah perished in a revolution in A.D. 1585. Early in the seven- 
teenth century the great Iskandar Muda or Mahkota Alam, 
Sultan of Acheen, conquered Perak, and led ruler after ruler to 
captivity and death until the direct male line of Mudzafar Shah 
had completely died out and Perak had become a mere pro- 
vince of his empire. About the year 1635 Mahkota Alam died, 
and his successor, Sultan Mughal, sent a certain Raja Sulong 
(who had married a Perak princess) to govern Perak as a 
tributary prince under the name of Sultan Mudzafar Shah II. 
This event begins the third period of Perak History. 

There seems very little doubt that there was a Raja 
Mudzafar who was disinherited by Sultan Mahmud Shah in the 
manner described by Perak tradition. It is also true that this 
Raja Mudzafar married a lady named Tun Trang and had a son, 
Raja Mansur, as the Perak tradition tells us. It also seems true 
enough that the Achehnese invaded and conquered Perak. 
The only evidence against the truth of this story is negative 
evidence. The " Malay Annals *' are absolutely silent as to Raja 
Mudzafar having gone to Perak, though they give an account of 
the second Mudzafar Shah, who was unquestionably Sultan of 
Perak and who may possibly have been confused with the first. 

The third period of Perak history begins with the accession 
of Mudzafar Shah II (a.d. 1637) and goes down to the death of 
Mudzafar Shah III (A.D. 1765). The Sultans with which tradi- 
tion fills up this period of 128 years are given in the following 
table ; 



HISTORY: PENINSULA STATES. 6 1 



Mudzafar Shah II 
(loth Sultan) 

Muhammad Iskandar Shah 
(nth Sultan) 

Alaedin Riayat Shah Mudzafar Shah HI Muhammad Shah 
(i2th Sultan) (13th Sultan) (14th Sultan.) 

It should be added that the nth Sultan is said to have reigned 
for III years and that the next three Sultans were his nephews 
by birth and his sons by adoption. 

This period presents great difficulties. Raja Sulong, who 
married a Perak princess and was sent by the King of Acheen 
to rule over Perak, is a real figure in history. His mother was a 
daughter or niece of the author of the ** Malay Annals." But 
(if we are to believe the " Malay Annals ") this Mudzafar Shah II 
was succeeded by Raja Mansur, " who is reigning now." The 
Perak account itself speaks of the 12th, 13th and 14th Sultans 
as grandsons of a certain Mansur Shah, who is not given in the 
pedigree. The Perak account also states that the Bugis chief 
Klana Jaya Putra invaded Perak in the days of Alaedin Riayat 
Shah. As the Klana died in A.D. 1728, the iii-year reign 
seems to need some modification. Again, the Bugis Raja Lumu is 
said to have been created Sultan of Selangor by Sultan Mahmud 
Shah of Perak in A.D. 1743; who is this Mahmud Shah? 

Putting aside these questions of royal descent we know that 
this period (A.D. 1637 — 1765) was one of extreme turbulence, 
and, probably, of civil war. In A.D. 1650 the Dutch opened a 
factory on the Perak river; in A.D. 165 1 the factory was 
destroyed and its inmates massacred. Hamilton, writing m A.D. 
1727, speaks of Perak as "properly a part of the kingdom of 
Johor, but the people are untractable and rebellious and the 
Government anarchical. Their religion is a sort of heterodox 
Muhammadanism. The country produces more tin than any in 
India, but the inhabitants are so treacherous, faithless and bloody 
that no European nation can keep factories there with safety. 
The Dutch tried it once, and the first year had their factory cut 
off. They then settled on Pulau Dinding, but about the year 
1690 that factory was also cut off." The ruins of the blockhouse 
on the island of Pangkor are still to be seen. 

In justice to the Malays it should be added that the Dutch in 



62 



PAPERS OX MALAY SUBJECTS. 



their anxiety to secure a trade-monopoly treated the selling of 
tin to anyone but themselves as a senous offence and even as a 
casus belli. It is not, therefore, surprising that disputes were 
frequent and sanguinary. 

The first half of the eighteenth century in Perak was marked 
by internal anarchy and foreign invasions. 'I'here were three 
kings in the State — the Sultan of Bernam, the Sultan of Perak, 
and the Regent ; the chiefs were at war with each other and the 
Bugis kept raiding the country. About A.D. 1757 things had so 
far settled down that the Dutch were able to establish a factory 
at Tanjong Putus on the Perak river. They subsequently sent a 
mission to Sultan MudzafarShah about A.D. 1764 and concluded 
a treaty with his successor, Muhammad Shah, in A.D. 1765. 

The exact position of the next four Sultans in the Perak 
pedigree is a matter of doubt, but they seem to have been 
either brothers or cousins of one another and to have belonged 
to the generation immediately following Mudzafar Shah III and 
Muhammad Shah. From the i8th Sultan onwards the pedigree 
is officially stated to have been as follows: 

Ahmadin Shah 
(i8th Sultan) 



Abdul Malik Man 
Shah 
(19th Sultan) 


sur 


Raja Inu 

Shahabudin 

(21st 
(Sultan) 

iu 

(24th 

Sultan) 


Raja 
Abdurrah- 
man 

Abdullah 
Muham- 
mad 
(22nd 
Sultan) 

Yusuf 

(27th 

Sultan) 


(daughte 


Abdu lah 

4uadzam 

(20th 

Sultan) 


Ahm 


ad 


Ismail 

(25th 

Sultan) 


Jafar 

{23rd 

Sultan) 


Ra 

Alai 

Iskan 

1 


der 




Abdullah 

(26th 
Sultan) 


Suit 
Idris ( 
reign 


an 
now 









HISTORY: PENINSULA STATES. 63 



The special interest of this table lies in its illustration of the 
curious law of succession under which the three branches of 
the royal house take it in turn to provide the reigning Sultan. 

SelaNGOR. — ^The present reigning dynasty of Selangor 
traces its descent to Raja Lumu, son of Daeng Chelak, one of 
the Bugis chiefs who overthrew the old State of Johor in A.D. 
T722, but it should be added that Raja Lumu appears 
to have become Raja of Selangor through his mother and not 
through his father. In any case, he was recognised as Sultan 
of Selangor in A. D. 1743. He maintained a close alliance with 
his Riau relatives and with the Bugis of Kuala Linggi. In A.D. 
1756 and again in A.D. 1783 the combined Bugis forces attacked 
Malacca but were repulsed with heavy loss. On the second 
occasion the Dutch followed up their success by attacking Kuala 
Selangor and ultimately forcing the Sultan to come to terms. 

There have been five Sultans of Selangor : Sultan Selaheddin 
who founded the dynasty, Sultan Ibrahim who made the treaty 
with the Dutch in A.D. 1786, Sultan Muhammad who reigned 
from A.D. 1826 to A.D. 1856, Sultan Abdul Samad who accepted 
British protection, and Sultan Sulaiman the present ruler. The 
principal events in the history of this State during the last 
centur)'^ were the development of Lukut as a mining centre 
and the civil wars between Raja Mahdi and Tengku Dzia-ud-din. 
The Lukut mining led to a great influx of Chinese immigrants, 
who paid a poll-tax to the Bugis chiefs for their protection and who 
were kept in order by the splendid old fort on the hills near 
Port Dickson. As the Sultan seems to have taken rather 
more of this revenue than the local chiefs would willingly have 

fiven him, Raja Jumaat, the principal Lukut chief, succeeded at 
ultan Muhammad's death in diverting the succession from the 
Sultan's son to a weak nominee of his own who belonged to 
another branch of the family. The new ruler, Sultan Abdul 
Samad, did not interfere with the Lukut princes, but he ultimately 
allowed himself to be influenced by a stronger will than his 
own and surrendered all true power into the hands of his son- 
in-law, the Kedah Prince Tengku Dzia-ud-Din. He thereby 
exasperated many of his subjects, who did not like to see a 
foreigner become the real ruler of the country. Civil war broke 
out and was only terminated by the Bendahara of Pahang 
marching into Selangor and restoring peace by force of arms. 
It was then found out that the Sultan had been quietly giving 
his support to both parties — ^a discovery that led to his famous 



64 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS^ 



defence, "Both parties were right— from their own point of 
view." A bad case of piracy in 1874 brought matters to a crisis 
again and led to British intervention. 

Politically the State of Selangor has not been interesting. 
Piratical and anarchical, it never developed any organised system 
of government nor did the authority of the Bugis chiefs ever 
extend very far beyond their own little settlements on the rivers 
or near the mines. 

Negri Sembilan. — About the middle of the seventeenth 
century — after the decline of Acheen and before the coming of 
the Bugis pirates — a large number of Menangkabau Malays 
migrated in small detachments from Sumatra into the Peninsula, 
where they founded the little confederacy of States now known 
as the Negri Sembilan. Extremely proud of their origin — for 
Menanekabau is the purest-blooded kingdom of Malaya — the 
descendants of these immigrants still speak of themselves as 
" we sons of Menangkabau, who live with the heavens above us 
and the earth beneath our feet, we who once dwelt on the 
slopes of the mighty volcanoes as far as the Great Pass through 
which we came down to the plains of Sumatra in the Isle of 
Andalas.*' The early settlers taught this formula to their 
children so that their history might never be forgotten. 

But they taught more. These sons of Menangkabau were 
passionately devoted to the old legal sayings m which is 
embodied a most extraordinary system of matriarchal law. 
They are the most conservative people in Malaya. To their 
everlasting honour it should be added that they loyally observed 
covenants by which they first obtained possession of their lands, 
and that to this day, although all real power has long since 

Kassed out of the hands of the aborigines, the proud " sons of 
lenangkabau " acknowledge as ruling chiefs in Rembau and 
Johol men who are avowedly the representatives of the humbler 
race. The migrations seem to have been peaceful. The first- 
comers occupied the nearest lands in the district of Naning; 
the next arrivals settled in Rembau ; the latest settlers had to go 
further afield — to Sri Menanti, to Inas, to Sungei Ujong and to 
Jelebu. In the development of their peculiar systems of 
constitutional law and statecraft, treaties or conventions 
(muafakat) probably played a great part. In Naning succession 
to the chieftaincy went by descent in the female line : a Dato' 
Sri Maharaja was succeeded by his eldest sister's son. This 
little State has been absorbed into the Settlement of Malacca, but 



HISTORY: PENINSULAR STATES. 65 



the representatives of the old rulers still receive a great deal of 
popular respect and were even given a small allowance of about 
£40 a year by the British Government up to a few years ago. 

Next in antiquity to Naning comes Rembau. Tradition has 
H that the first settlers in Rembau were headed by two chiefs, 
Dato' Laut Dalam and Dato' Lela Blang. These men, though 
they settled in different localities, made an alliance and arranged 
that their descendants (in the female line) should take it in 
turn to be rulers of the country. With the craving for high- 
iounding names that is so striking a feature of Malay character 
these two chiefs sought and obtained from the then Sultan of 
Johor the titles that their descendants still bear. The present 
fuler is the seventeenth Dato' of Rembau and the ninth '^Dato' 
Lela Maharaja/' the other eight being '* Dato' Sedia Raja." 

The founders of the State of Rembau were followed to the 
Negri Sembilan by the headmen of other immigrant parties, 
until at last a whole aristocracy of petty dignitaries was 
established in the country. Far from their, homes in Sumatra, 
and surrounded by possible foes, the early settlers had looked to 
Johor for protection and recognition, but the last-comers, finding 
themselves strong and Johor weak, began to seek for a prince of 
their own from the royal line of Menangkabau. In their own 
words : 

" The villager owes ubedienoe to the village -eldem. 
The village-eldeni to the tribal chief, 
The tribid chief to the mling chief. 
The rulirg chief to the titular head of the State/' 

This head of the State was the Yang-di-pertuan Besar of Sri 
Menanti. He occupied a position of great dignity but of very 
little real authority over great ruling chiefs like the Dato' 
of Rembau ; but of late years he has had his office strengthened 
by British support. The principal ruling chiefs are : 

The Dato* Klana Petra of Sungei Ujong; 

The Dato* Mendika Mantri Akhirzaman of Jelebu ; 

The Dato* Johan Pahlawan Lela Perkasa Setiawan of Johol ; 

The Dato* of Rembau ; 

The Dato* Bandar of Sungei Ujong; 

The Tengku Besar of Tampin, and 

The Dato* Muda of Linggi. 

Pahang. — The early history of the State of Pahang — as 
usually given — is brief and inaccurate. Even so authoritative a 
work as the present edition of the official ** Handbook of the 



66 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Federated Malay States" sums it up in two statements, both of 
which are incorrect. It says : ** The first ruler of Pahang of 
whom there is any record was a son of the Sultan Mahmud 
who fled to Pahang from Malacca after the capture of that 
town by the Portuguese in A.D. 151 1. A reputed descendant 
of his was Bendahara Ali, who died in the year 1850 or there- 
abouts/' 

We know from Portuguese as well as Malay sources that 
when Albuquerque arrived at Malacca he found the city engaged 
in festivities over the marriage of Sultan Mahmud's daughter to 
a Sultan of Pahang. The statement in the Handbook is there- 
fore singularly unfortunate ; a son of Sultan Mahmud is the only 
person whom that ruler could not have been. There is, however, 
no myster)' about the origin of the old line of Sultans of Pahang. 
The country was conquered by Mansur Shah or Mudzafar Shah, 
and was created a separate sultanate when the former ruler 
bestowed it upon his eldest son. Mansur Shah's descendants 
continued to reign over Pahang till J699 when Mahmud Shah II, 
the latest prince of the line, was murdered by his Bendahara. 
Mahmud Shah II was succeeded as Sultan of Johor and Pahang 
by this Bendahara, who was not a descendant of the old Malacca 
kings and who took the title of Abdul Jalil Riayat Shah. As 
after the Bugis conquest of Lingga the Sultans were practically 
hostages and had to reside at Riau they deputed their principal 
ministers to govern in their name, the Bendahara in Pahang and 
the Temenggong in Johor. These ministers continued, however, 
to visit Riau from time to time and to take part in the decision 
of the important matters such as questions of succession to 
the throne. At the death of Sultan Mahmud Riayat Shah (A.D. 
1812) the Bendahara came up from Pahang and seems to have 
accepted Sultan Abdurrahman as his suzerain, though he must 
have personally favoured the other candidate, Tengku Husain, 
who was his own son-in-law. When the Riau family divided into 
the Singapore branch under British protection and the Lingga 
branch under Dutch control the Bendaharas of Pahang acknow- 
ledged the Lingga rulers while the Temenggongs of Johor threw 
in their lot with the English. In time, however, both of these 
great feudatories began to pay less attention to their titular 
suzerains and to assume the position of independent princes, 
until at last the British Government recognised the real position 
by converting the Bendahara into a Sultan of Pahang and the 
Temenggong into a Sultan of Johore. 



HISTORY: PENINSULAR STATES 67 



Malay history is a record of great vicissitudes of fortune. 
Time after time the connecting link between one period and 
another is a mere band of fugitives, a few score refugees. 
Such was the case in A.D. 151 1, in A.D. 1526, in A.D. i6i5) in A.D. 
1673 and in A.D. 1721. It should not therefore be imagined 
that the new States that were built up after each successive 
disaster were made up entirely — or even largely — of men of 
true Malay blood. The bond connecting the Peninsular States 
is unity of language and religion more than unity of race. 
The northern Malay is physically unlike the southern Malay ; 
the one has been compared to a cart-horse and the other to 
a Batak pony. The Malay population of Perak, Pahang and the 
Negri Sembilan must be largely Sakai, that of Selangor is Sakai 
or Bugis where it is not made up of recent immigrants. More- 
over, the Malays have accepted many of the traditions and 
beliefs of the people who preceded them in the possession of 
the land ; they worship at the holy places of the older races 
of the country and believe in the same spirits of disease. Any 
one who is a Moslem and speaks the Malay tongue is accepted 
as a Malay whatever his ancestry ; there is no real unity about 
Malay tradition. Still there are three systems of government 
that are essentially Malayan. The first is what one may call 
"river'' government. The State was a river valley; the Sultan 
lived near the mouth and levied toll on all the produce that 
travelled up and down the great highway of communication. 
Such a State could be controlled with comparative ease since 
the great feudal chiefs who governed the reaches and the tribu- 
taries of the main stream were dependent for their imports and 
exports on the goodwill of the king. Pahang, Trengganu, 
Kelantan and Perak all furnished good examples of this type of 
feudal government. The second type of Malay kingdom was 
the predatory State — a Malay Sultan with a sort of military 
aristocracy living on the foreign settlers in his own country or 
terrorising smaller Malay communities into paying blackmail or 
tribute. Malacca, Johor Lama, Acheen, Riau and Pasai were 
instances of this type of predatory rule ; the Larut and Lukut 
settlements in the nineteenth century show how it could be 
applied to comparatively modern conditions. The third type is 
represented by the matriarchal communities of Menangkabau or 
Negri Sembilan. Self-sufficing, independent of trade and 
rather averse to war, a Negri Sembilan village might be esta- 
blished at some distance from any navigable river and was not 
usually amenable to the control of central authorities. It led to the 



68 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



evolutton of a most interesting and successful type of a govern* 
ment that one might almost call constitutional. But annalists 
4o not, as a rule, take much interest in the humble politics o£ 
village communities, nor do they care much about the civil wars 
of feudal river-states; it is always the lawless predatory 
government that makes most noise in the world. The great 
names of Malay history are those of men like Mansur Shah of 
Malacca and Mahkota Alam of Acheen. None the less, the 
best political work of the Malay race was done in the little 
villages that have no history — the matriarchal communities in the 
highlands of Sumatra and in the valleys of the Negri Sembilan. 



i 



PART II. 
NOTES ON PERAK. 



LEGENDARY HISTORY, i 

ALL Perak tradition points to Bruas as the original seat of 
Malay rule in the State. Tradition is supported by history 
in so far that the ** Malay Annals*' speak of Bruas as having been a 
powerful kingdom long before the Malays settled in Malacca or 
even in Palembang. Geography also supports legend, for, if 
the great estuary known as the Dindings river was once an 
outlet of the Perak, Bruas must have occupied an ideal situation 
for the capital of the State. But the rivers have silted up, the 
modern villafi[e of Bruas (Pangkalan Baharu) is many miles to 
seaward of the old site, and the fame of the district has long 
since passed away. A few old legends still linger about the 
tombstones that mark the spot where the ancient capital once 
stood. The lost town — so runs the story — was so large that it 
look a cat three months to do the circuit of the roofs. The 
water-jars were so huge that ladders had to be used to get at 
their contents, while, as for the serpents — but even a Bruas 
Malay apologises for the stories about them. These snakes, it 
api>ears, used to stand on their tails and fall with killing 
weight on the unwary passer-by. More interesting, perhaps, 
than these echoes of past glories are the Malay predictions 
about the future of Bruas. It is prophesied that Bruas will be 
the last province of Perak to be developed, but that, when 
developed, it will excel all the rest in its wealth and its pros- 
perity. Anyone who knows the splendid tract of country that 
lies behind the Perak river and the Dindings will see no 
improbability in the old prophesy on which the scattered inhabi- 
tants of Bruas rest their hopes of its future. 

Of the names of the old kings of Bruas and of the deeds that 
they achieved local tradition can tell us nothing. The earliest 
heroes of Perak legend belong to a later period, to the coming of 
the ancestors of the present dynasty of Sultans. There are many 
versions of these stories — ^versions that differ curiously in certain 
details while closely agreeing in others — and tne general 
impression that they leave behind is the belief that courtiers have 
been trying to introduce dynastic questions into the genuine 

> S€C also " Malay Literature, II," pp. 39-42. 



-JO PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



folk-lore of the country. The dynastic features vary ; the folk- 
lore remains the same. 

Once upon a time — so runs one dynastic story — there came 
out of the sea four princes, the sons of a Raja Chulan and of the 
Princess Darustan, daughter of King Fatihu'l-ardzi. These 
princes were descendants of the great Alexander and they bore 
the names of Nila Utama, Nila Pandita, Nila Pendaya, and Nila 
Kechil Bongsu. Nila Utama became Emperor of Rome and of 
China, Nila Pandita became Sultan of Menangkabau, Nila 
P^ndaya became Sultan of Singapore and Malacca, and Nila 
Kechil Bongsu became Sultan of Perak. But he did not become 
Sultan of Perak without difficulty. He it was who in the course 
of his wanderings gave Singapore its name of the " Lion City " 
because of the lion that he saw standing on the shore ; he, too, it 
was who had to face the terrible storm in the Singapore Straits 
that nearly overwhelmed his frail bark and only ceased when the 
prince had changed his name and cast away his crown to appease 
the jealous wrath of the Spirit of the Tempest.^ Thus it comes 
about, the legend tells us, that the Sultans have no crown and 
that all fish nave to rise to the surface in the little Strait of 
Lembajayan because they are dazzled by the splendour of the 
long-lost diadem of Perak. At last the Prince Nila Kechil Bongsu 
(under his new name of Sultan Mudzafar Shah) entered the 
waters of the Perak river, but was brought to a standstill by 
finding that one of the great snakes of the country was stretching 
its huge body from bank to bank over the shoal that bears 
the name of Beting BSras Basah, "What, then, am I to do?" 
said the prince to his saintly counsellor, Demang Lebar Daun. 
"I know not," said the saint; "but there is among your heir- 
looms the sword of your erandsire. King Fatihu1-ardzi, the 
magic sword Chura Si-manjakini that once belonged to the 
kings of the sea; that sword perhaps will help you to hew 
a way to your heritage." So King Mudzafar Shah took the 
sword; then, concentrating his thoughts on his ancestors, he 
cut through the body of the snake with a single blow, but the 
edge of the blade was dented — ^as may be seen to this day by 
those who are privileged to look upon the Sultan's sword of 
State. To this day also the scene of this exploit is a place of 
votive pilgrimage for the rulers of Perak. 

Another story (accepted by His Highness the Sultan himself) 
represents Mudzafar Shah as the Raja Mudzafat who was 

^ These legends are related of Sang Nila Utama in the *' Malay Annals." 



HISTORY: LEGENDARY, 7 1 

disinherited by his father Mahmud Shah (of Malacca) about 
the year 1520 A.D. This version associates Mudzafar Shah 
with the slaughter of the snake and the loss of the Perak 
diadem, but it throws back the tale of Nila Utama and his 
brothers to a much earlier date. Indeed, the old Palembang 
legend of the brothers who appeared on Mount Siguntang 
Mahameru is well known in Perak song and story : 

lAmhayoivg gitah-nya putehy 

Daun-nya jutoh kStSlSntaiiff, 
Turun hSrpayong gajah p^Ueh, 

Turun dart BuJcit Siguntany, 

DaUfH-nya jatoh kitHintamjj 

Biri-hiri dt-jambtUan ; 
Turun dart Bukit Siguntany 

Dapat nigiri di'nohatkan. 

Other Perak legends ascribe the origin of the present 
dynasty to a certain Sultan Ahmad Taju'd-din who was brought 
from Johor Lama to reign over Perak at some period that would 
seem to be about A.D. 1670. This prince is said to have married 
the daughter of a Perak chief, Tan Saban, and to have died leav- 
ing an infant son who was murdered very shortly afterwards by 
the regent, a Johor prince named Malik Shah. This murder led 
to a civil war in which Tan Saban was killed by a warrior named 
Megat Terawis. The story of the lost crown of Perak is asso- 
ciated with Ahmad Taju'd-din as well as with Mudzafar Shah. 

The folk-lore about the prince who came out of the sea, gave 
a name to Singapore, lost his crown in a storm and finally slew 
a great dragon or snake with his sword Chura Si-manjakini is 
not true Perak folk-lore. It is associated with the Johor dynasty 
and was imported into Perak with the kings. It is all related in 
the *' Malay Annals'' and may be read there (except for some 
trifling discrepancies) by anyone who is interested in the 
subject. The real local heroes of Perak are Tan Saban, Megat 
Terawis and the unnamed actors in the tragedy at Tanah Abang. 
Tan Saban was the ruler of Upper Perak when the ancestors of 
the present dynasty first came to the country. He governed the 
whole land from the sources of the great river down to Kuala 
Temong, where he built a fort and defied the forces of Malik 
Shah or Mudzafar Shah. On the watch-tower of this fort he 
used to appear three times a day, clad each time in a garment 
of a different colour — ^green in the morning, white at noon-day, 
and red in the afternoon. Secure in the fact that his skin could 



72 PAPERS Oy MALAY SUDyECTS, 



not be pierced by any bullet, he used to laugh at the efforts made 
to shoot him down. But there was in the army of the invader a 
humble soldier named Megat Terawis, an illegitimate scion of the 
great imperial house of Menangkabau. This Megat Terawis 
was born with a silver bullet in each hand, each bullet bearing 
the inscription " This is the bullet of the prince's son of Pagar 
Ruyong ; wherever this bullet falls its owner will be made a 
chief.** Megat Terawis asked that Tan Saban should be 
pointed out to him. He fired ; the bullet struck Tan Saban, 
but fell to the ground without piercing the skin. Tan Saban 
picked it up, read the inscription and knew that his hour was 
come. He sent for Megat Terawis, named him his heir, 
expressed regret for his past hostility to the Sultan, and died, 
leaving the humble soldier heir to the highest chieftaincy in the 
State. On the day of Tan Saban's death the present dynasty 
began to reign over all Perak, with Megat Terawis and his 
descendants as Bendaharas. There was, however, a curious 
limitation. The Sultans kept to the left bank of the river while 
the family of the Megat lived on the right. The present Sultan 
was the first to depart from this ancient custom and to build 
himself a palace on the right-hand-side of the stream. In course 
of time, however, the family of Megat Terawis lost all its 
importance as well as the high office of Bendahara that it had 
held for about a century. At present the Bendahara is a member 
of the royal house. 

It is difficult to see exactly the relationship between Perak 
legend and true history. Why did the old Sultans shun the 
right bank of the river? Even in the story itself there is 
nothing that would seem to explain it. Whv did the Benda- 
haras assert themselves to be heirs of Tan Saoan when his true 
representatives were the up-country chiefs who bore the title of 
Seri Adika Raja^ who claimed descent from him, and whose 
authority was co-terminous with his own ? What also is the 
real connection between Mudzafar Shah and the legendary 
origin of the name Tanah Abangl As the founder of Perak 
travelled up-river he is said to have met a youth mourning 
over the body of his dead brother. The boy had been asking 
the name of a bamboo, the buloh apa or " which bamboo." 

"What, brother, is the name of this bamboo?" 

'* Which bamboo." 

'' This bamboo." 

" Which bamboo." 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PEkAK, 73 



And the younger slew the elder in a rage before he discovered 
that " which " was the name of the bamboo. 

Then there is the story of the infant princess who was 
discovered in a great mass of cloud-like foam floating down the 
Perak river, and whose romantic origin seems to have led to no 
future of any importance. So, too, there is the tale of the great 
aruan fish that Megat Terawis discovered suckling its young 
with a milk the whiteness of which gave the great river its name 
of the "Silver Stream" (Sungai Perak). Again we have the 
story of the cotton-tree that marked the frontier — the tree that 
bore flowers of white and red, the white towards Perak and the 
red towards the valley of the Patani. These legends are all 
associated with the coming of the p«esent dynasty, but they seem 
properly to belong to a much earlier period. 



THE CHIEFS OF PEKAK. 

ROYALTY. 

The Ruler. — The head of the State was, of course, the 
Sultan (dull yang maha-tnulia Seri Sultan^ yang-di-pertuan 
negeri Perak daruW-ridzwdn), He derived his principal 
revenues from the duty [chukai Kuala Perak) levied on all 
produce entering or leaving the State by the mouth of the Perak 
river. The duty probably varied from time to time, and many cf 
the great chiefs were exempted {bebas) from paying it; but in 
1874 this source of revenue had been let for $12,000 a year, of 
which the Sultan received 1 10,000 and the two great Lower 
Perak chiefs (the Laksamana and the Shahbandar) $1,000 each.i 



' The following were amoug 


the rates charged : 




Rice 


... ... ... 


$ 4 a kouan 


Salt 


... ... 


$16 a koyariy 


Opium 


... 


$50 a chest, 


Ja^-a tobacco ... 


... ... ... 


$ 2 a pikul, 


China tobaooo 


... 


$ 1.50 a box. 


Tin 


... ... ... 


$ 6 a haharuy 


Rattans 


... . . 


$ 2 a hundred bundles*. 


Hides 


... ... ... 


$ 1.25 9k pikul, 


Gntta 


... 


$ 3 a pikul, 


Gums 


... 


$ 2 a pikul, 


Salt fi»h 


... ... ... 


10 per cent, in kind, 


Oil 





10 per cent, in kind. 



74 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

The Sultan's wife, if of royal birth, was styled the Raja 
Perempuan, but if she was only a commoner she bore the lower 
title of Raja Permaisuri. The heir-apparent bore the title 
of Raja Muda, 

Although the Sultan was theoretically absolute, he was 
expected to obtain the consent of his principal chiefs before he 
appointed any high officer of State or took any step of great 
importance to the country. If left unconsulted the chiefs were 
apt to affect ignorance of the decisions arrived at^ to refuse 
to recognise the Sultan's nominees, and even (by questioning the 
authenticity of documents) to decline to obey the Sultan's orders. 
Thus, when the Mantri obtained his concession of Larut he was 
careful to have his charters scaled by many of the leading chiefs, 
and when Sir Andrew Clarke made the treaty of Pangkor he 
insisted on having it agreed to by all the chiefs present at the 
negotiations. So, too, the first object of Mr. J. W. W. Birch was 
to obtain the signatures or seals of the chiefs who had not 
been present at Pangkor. 

It was the rule that a Sultan should be succeeded by his heir- 
presumptive or Raja Muda, but here again the approval of the 
chiefs was necessary. The procedure was as follows. When a 
Sultan died his Bendahara or chief minister would at once 
proceed to take possession of the regalia and to administer the 
government as regent. At the expiration of seven days he 
would send or head a deputation to invite and escort the Raja 
Muda to the palace. On his arrival at the residence of the late 
ruler the Raja Muda would be presented with the regalia and 
would be formally installed as Sultan in the presence and with 
the approval of the assembled chiefs. The most active part at 
a coronation was the part played by the Bendahara : he was the 
interim ruler, he summoned the chiefs to the installation, he 
invited the heir-apparent to attend, he handed over the regalia, 
he conducted the new Sultan to the throne and he bore all the 
expense of the installation-festivities. The new Sultan generally 
replied by conferring upon the Bendahara the vacant position of 
Raja Muda or heir-presumptive. It was also customary to defer 
the obsequies of a deceased ruler until his successor had been 
formally installed. 

In accordance with these customs the Raja Bendahara 
Ismail — at the death of Sultan Ali in 187 1 — proceeded to take 
possession of the regalia and to invite the then Raja Muda 
(Abdullah) to com6 to the palace for the installation. But Raja 



HISTORY: CHIEFS Of PERAK. 75 



Abdullah was a man of unusual timidity ; even the prospect of 
a crown was not sufficient to induce him to take the risks of the 
journey. He feared that he might be ambuscaded by a rival 
prince (Raja Yusuf) on the way ; he feared also that he might 
have a private quarrel to settle with the family of the deceased 
Sullan whose sister he had married and divorced. So he stayed 
away. The disgusted chiefs waited for him for over forty days 
during which time the remains of the late Sultan remained 
unbuned. In the end the Bendahara himself was installed as 
Sultan by the chiefs, the body was interred, and the assembly 
dispersea. 

The new ruler reported his accession at once to the Lieut. - 
Governor, Mr. (afterwards Sir Arthur) Birch, at Penang, and 
received a complimentary reply congratulating him on his in- 
stallation and addressing him as " Paduka Seri Sultan Ismail 
Liadeen Riayet Shah^ the son of the late Shaikh Al-Heyrat Shahy 
who now holds the throne of Perak." This letter was dated the 
30th August, 1871. So, too, on the 8th February, 1872, 
Mr. Arthur Birch again addressed Sultan Ismail by his royal titles 
in a letter applying for the expulsion of certain disturbers of the 
peace who were meditating an attack on Selangor. Even the 
Raja Muda Abdullah who had been passed over for the sultanate 
recognised his rival's title to the throne.* The question of the 
validity of Sultan Ismail's title was not seriously raised till some 
time afterwards. 

A further complication arose out of the fact that Raja Abdullah 
himself owed his position as Raja Muda to election more than 
to descent. There were three branches of the royal house that 
took it in turn to provide the Sultan and the Raja Muda. 
WTien the 23rd Sultan died he should have been succeeded by a 
son of the 21st Sultan; and a son of the 22nd Sultan should 
have been made Raja Muda. But the son of the 22nd Sultan 
was Raja Yusuf, who was unacceptable to the chiefs and whose 
branch of the family thus came to be passed over. Raja Yusuf 
then became a sort of legitimist claimant, though he recognised 
Sultan IsmaiFs title for the time being and only wished to be 
made the next heir to the throne. Meanwhile, however, Ismail 
was Sultan ; he held the regalia and he was the chosen of the 
chiefs and people. 

The Heir-presumptive. — An heir-presumptive to the 
throne of Perak bore the title of Raja Muda (yang teramat- 

^ iSec Appoudix A. 



76 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

mulia tuanku Raja Muda, WaktluS'SuUan) and derived his 
revenues from the contributions of the gambling houses, opium 
saloons and spirit shops. It is difficult to get an exact estimate 
of the total value of this source of income. An opium shop or a 
gambling saloon in a Malay village of some importance was 
found by Mr. J. W. W. Birch in 1874 to let for about $30 a month, 
but the whole of this sum was not likely to come into the Raja 
Muda's **tub" {tong) — as his treasury was called. 

The wife of a Raja Muda when she was of royal birth was 
styled Raja Empuan Besar, but if she was only a commoner 
she bore the inferior title of Raja Dewa Nata. This latter 
designation has now been altered to Che' Puan Muda. 

The Princes of the Blood.— The princes of the blood 
were collectively known as waris negcri and in default of any 
special title were addressed as engku. They were under the 
special control of the Raja Muda who acted as head of the 
princes, while the Bendahara was often supposed to represent 
the chiefs. Princes, as such, were not entitled to any definite 
revenues, though they probably helped themselves in many 
indefinite ways. They were eligible tor offices of State and for 
certain titular dignities carrying high precedence. The most 
important of these honorary distmctions (in order of rank) were : 

Raja di'Hilir, 
Raja Kechil Besar, 
Raja Kechil Muda, 
Raja Kechil Tengahj 
Raja Kechil Bongsu, 

THE FOUR GREAT DIGNITARIES. 

The chiefs of the highest rank were four in number and 
were known as the Orang Besar Empat or Orang Empat 
di'Balai. They were 

The Bendahara^ 
The Orang Kay a Besar ^ 
The Temenggongi 
The Mantri, 

I. The Bendahara. — The premier chief of Perak was the 
Raja Bendahara {yang teramat-mulia tuanku Raja Bendahara, 
wakilu's'Sultan waziru'l-kabir). He was the titular prime 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PERAfC. ^^ 



minister and commander-in-chief. He derived his revenues 
mainly from atoll-station {batang Kuala Kinta) that levied duties 
on all produce entering or leaving the Kinta river.^ It is not 
known what the gross annual revenue from this station 
amounted to. The Bendahara was also entitled once a year to 
send the royal musicians lorang kalur) round the villages to 
bear his sword of oiRce (oaur) and to collect a capitation-tax 
of 50 cents from every household. This revenue was known as 
the beman kalur. 

The wife of a Bindahara when she was of royal birth was 
styled Raja Empuan Kechil^ but if she was a commoner she was 
known as Bendahara Empuan or (popularly), as Che^ Puan 
Bendahara. 

The title of Bendahara up to the days of Sultan Iskandar 
Dzu'l-Karnain (about A.D. 1780) was vested in the family of 
Megat Terawis. Sultan Iskandar suddenly bethought himself — 
so the story goes — ^that it was a great pity that Perak should only 
have a commoner as its prime minister when there were so 
many promising young princes for whom no employment could 
be found. He therefore directed his Bendahara, Megat Pendia, 
to build him a palace at Pulau Indra Sakti, and so worried that 
minister with contradictory instructions and undeserved censures 
that the unfortunate man tendered his resignation in order to 
prove that no other Bendahara could do the work better. But 
the Sultan promptly appointed his brother (or cousin), Raja 
Alaedin, to be Bendahara and expressed himself perfectly satisfied 
with the house that Raja Alaedin built. After that time the 
high office of Bendahara came to be looked upon as an appanage 
of royalty. About the year 1851, however, the holder of this 
position died at a very inconvenient time, there being no prince 
of the royal house who was acceptable to the chiefs. The old 
theory as to the non-royal status of the Bendahara was there- 
upon revived and the office was conferred upon Raja Ismail, 

^ The tolls levied on produce in 1874 were : 

Gntta ... $la|>iXrui, 

Hides 124 cents apfi(rN/« 

Tin ... ... S 4 a IwiTiara, 

Rice $16 a Jtoyaw, 

Tobacco $ 3 a piAn«2, 

Opiom $ 4 a chest, 

Oil 10 per cent, in kind, 

Small articles 1 in 10, taken in kind. 



78 PAPERS ON MALAY SirBS^ECTS. 



whose father was a foreigner though his mother was a Perak 
princess. The theory was that he should be regarded as a 
prime minister or premier chief and not as a prince of the 
blood and ultimate heir to the throne. At the deaths of 
Sultan Shahabudin, Sultan Abdullah II, and Sultan Jafar, the 
Bendahara accepted this view and put forward no claim to the 
position of Raja Muda. Doubtless he would have done the same 
at Sultan Ali's death in 187 1 had not the timidity of Raja 
Abdullah created an intolerable situation. The chiefs then 
revived the more modern Perak practice and treated the Benda- 
hara as an heir to the sultanate. Raja Ismail was a very old 
man and his installation as Sultan promised to be a temporary' 
makeshift for tiding over a serious crisis. 

2. The Orang Kaya Besar. — Immediately after the Raja 
Bendahara came the Orang Kaya Besar Maharaja Diraja 
Penghulu Bendahari. He was the Sultan's Treasurer, Secretary 
and Chamberlain. He collected the Sultan's revenues^ received 
and replied to the Sultan's letters and had charge of the Sultan's 
household. He was always selected from a family of Saiyids 
who resided at Pachat. He is said to have received the revenues 
of Pachat, and perhaps he levied some commission on whatever 
he collected for his master. His wife bore the title of To^ Puan. 
There has been no holder of this office since the English came 
to Perak. 

3. The Temenggong. — The Orang Kaya Temenggong 
Paduka Rajay popularly known as the Tengku Temenggong^ was 
a sort of minister of police. In the homely phraseology of the 
country, he was the Sultan's " dagger " [keris panda k) or police- 
man, as compared with the Bendahara who was the Sultan's 
sword of war. The Temenggong looked after the Sultan's 
forts and stations ; he apprehended, tried and executed criminals ; 
he examined weights and measures and certified to their being 
correct. He derived his revenue from a monopoly of the sale 
of salt and ataps, from fees on weights and measures and from 
the smaller fines that he inflicted. Large fines all went to 
the Sultan. The public executioner was a servant of the 
Temenggong. 

The Temenggong was also a territorial chief. He was lord 
of the mukim of Kota Lama, where he was all-powerful. His 
deputy in charge of his feudal district was himself a minor 
chief, the Dato^ Seri Lela Paduka. The wife of a Temenggong 
was a TV Puan and his heir was a To> Muda. 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PERAK. 79 



4. The Mantri. — The fourth in rank of the great court 
dignitaries was the Tengku Mantri or Orang Kaya Mantri 
Paduka Tuan» The Mantri was an adviser attached to the court; 
he settled disputes between the princes and chiefs and gave his 
opinion on questions of law and custom. He had no special 
revenues attached to his office. The first holder of this dignity 
was an Arab named Saiyid Mahmud in whose family the title 
remained till A.D. 1862, when Sultan Jafar conferred the title 
upon Che' Ngah Ibrahim, ruler of Larut, to give him more 
precedence than he then possessed. But there was no histori- 
cal connection between the title of Mantri and the district of 
Larut. 

The wife of a Mantri was a To^ Puan and his heir was a 
To' Muda. 

THE EIGHT CHIEFS. 

The eight chiefs [Orang Besar Delapan or Hulubalang 
Delapan) took precedence after the four great dignitaries. 
The eight chiefs — in the order assigned to them by the Perak 
State Council in 1905 — are : 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Maharaja Lela Tan Lela Putra^ 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Laksamana Raja Mahkota, 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Seri Adika Raja Shahbandar 
Muda, 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Penglima Kinta Seri A mar 
Bangsa Diraja, 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Penglima Bukit Gantang Seri 
Amar Diraja, 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Shahbandar Paduka Indera, 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Setia Bijaya Diraja (formerly 
SSri Agar Diraja), 

The Orang Kaya-Kaya Imam Paduka Tuan. 

There is no doubt whatever about the composition of this list, 
and there is very little doubt indeed ^ about the accuracy of the 
order of precedence assigned to the various chiefs included in it. 

I. The Maharaja Lela.— This chief ruled the district 
about Pasir Salak. He had the right to stand prominently 
for^'ard with a naked sword at all court ceremonies and to 
behead instantly any unfortunate person who behaved improperly 

' Some lists gire a higher place to the Dato' Sagiir. 



8o PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

or showed contempt for the dignity of the ruler. He was adbove 
the law. His peculiar privilege made a great impression on the 
Malay mind : in Perak he was styled Maharaja Lela panchong 
ta'-bertanya^ " The Maharaja Lela, who cuts oflf heads without 
asking leave/* and in all Malaya the expression bermaharaja 
lela, " to play the Maharaja Lela/' is used to describe a chartered 
libertine. 

The wife of a Maharaja Lela was a To* Puan, The Maharaja 
Lela drew revenue from his own feudal district of Pasir Salak 
and from certain customs dues drawn from the Sungai Dedap. 

The position of Maharaja Lela is now vacant and is never to 
be filled because the last holder of the office instigated the murder 
of Mr. J. W, W. Birch. 

2. The Laksamana. — The Orang Kaya-Kaya Laksamana 
Raja Mahkota ruled in Lower Perak. His jurisdiction extended 
** up-river as far as the tide can reach, down-river to the line 
where the surf breaks on the bar and the grey-mullet come to 
the surface." He had also charge of the whole sea coast 
Whenever the Sultan's boats entered tidal waters the Laksamana 
had the right to place his boat at the head of the fleet and to 
lead the way. At all times he could put up a pole or flagstaff 
{galah) in the bows of his boat and blow the royal trumpet 
{nafiri) as "king of the sea." In the event of war he could 
summon the peasantry to construct the forts and other coast 
defences against an invading foe. 

The Laksamana administered justice in Lower Perak and 
derived a certain revenue from fines; he also levied tolls on the 
river Batang Padang and received a small share of the tolls on 
the Perak river itself. His wife was styled To* Puan ; his heir 
was the Dato* Raja Mahkota, 

3. The Sadika Raja. — The Orang Kaya-Kaya SiriAdika 
Raja Shahhandar Muda^ popularly known as the Sadika Raja, 
held in the upper waters of the Perak river the position that the 
Laksamana occupied near the sea. He too — in his own waters — 
could erect a royal flagstaff and blow the royal trumpet ; he, too, 
was a king in his own place, the anak raja di-hujong karang 
or "prince of the shallows.'* His authority extended from 
Kuala Temong (above Kuala Kangsar) to the " white cotton-tree " 
that marked the watershed between Perak and Patani. He 
enjoyed the ordinary revenues of a feudal chief besides certain 
tolls ($2 a bahara on tin, and $2 a pikul on rambong and gutta- 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PERAK. 8 1 



percha), fines, fees, and a capitation-tax of 70 gantangs of rice 
from every household. His wife also ranked as a To^ Puan. 

4. The Penglima Kinta. — This chief ruled over the valley 
of the Kinta river. He received a royalty of 10 per cent, on all 
tin found in the district, besides the usual fines and fees. He 
hi^l to send 100 baharas of tin annually as a sort of tribute to the 
Sultan and was given in return a complimentary present of $100 
worth of articles for distribution among his ryots. He was 
sometimes described as the peminggang kiri or ruler of the " left 
flank "1 of Perak because his territories guarded the eastern 
frontier of the State. The wife of a Penglima Kinta was a 
To^ Puan ; his heir was a To> Muda, 

5. The PeKGLIMA Bukit Gantang. — The Orang Kaya- 
Kay a Phiglima Bukit Gantang Seri Amar Diraja was the 
feudal warden of the western marches {peminggang kanan). 
He held the pass that led from the Perak river to the plains of 
Lanit. He received some income from the district ; but at a 
later date the Mantri (who was related to the Penglima Bukit 
Gantang) secured all the revenues of Larut for himself. There 
is now no longer a Penglima Bukit Gantang. His wife ranked 
as a To' Puan. 

6. The Dato' Bandar.— The Orang Kaya-Kaya Shah- 
bandar Paduka Indera was a Lower Perak chief who acted 
as a sort of harbour master, customs officer, protector of 
immigrants and superintendent of trade. He received a 
commission on what he collected. It does not appear that his 
wife was a TV* Puan^ nor was he a real territorial chief. 

7. The Dato' Sagur.^— The Orang Kaya-Kaya Seri Agar 
Diraja, popularly known as the To^ Sagur, ruled the banks of 
the Perak river between Kampong Gajah and Pulau Tiga. He 
was also theoretically the controller of the Sultan's household. 
In the metaphorical language of the time the kingdom of Perak 
was a ship ; the Laksamana was officer of the watch, the Sadika 
Raja steered, the Penglima Kinta rowed on the left, the Penglima 
Buicit Gantang rowed on the right, and the Dato* Sagur attended 
to the royal passengers. The wife of a Dato' Sagur was a 
To' Puan. 

* Beally "left gunwale." See the metaphor of the "ship of State" 
further on. 

' He had nothing to do with the king's "dug-outs" {sagur). The word is 
B*agor, a Perak dialectic corruption if sen agar ; cf. sadika for »eri adila. 



82 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

The last Dato' Sagur was executed for complicity in the 
murder of Mr. Birch. The title was abolished and its place in 
the " Eight " was given to the new dignity of Orang Kaya-Kaya 
SHia Bijaya Diraja, a title that does not carry the territorial 
authority of the old Dato* Sagur. 

8. The Imam Paduka Tuan.— The Orang Kaya-Kaya 
Imam Paduka Tuan was an ecclesiastical dignitary. He served 
as a sort of chief kadzi or high priest and derived his income 
from the contributions of the faithful. His wife was not a 
To* Puan nor was the position one that could (strictly speaking) 
be considered hereditary. 

THE SIXTEEN MINOR CHIEFS. 

After the ''Four" and the " Eight'* come the "Sixteen." 
The Dato' Sri Maharaja Lela appears to have been always 
regarded as head of the " Sixteen," but it is by no means certain 
who the other fifteen were. According to the decision of the 
State Council in June, 1905, the list of ** Sixteen " is made up of 
the following chiefs ; 

Dato' Seri Maharaja Lela 
Dato' Seri Lela Paduka 
Dato* Maharaja Indera Muda 
Dato* Maharaja Diraja 
Dato' Paduka Setia 
Da to* Seri Dew a Raja 
Da to* SSrt Amar Diraja 
Dato* Raja Mahkota 

As this list was approved by the State Council it may be taken 
as correct for the present day, even if inaccurate historically. 
But a list supplied me still more recently by the kindness of the 
Secretary to H.H. the Sultan for the purposes of this publi- 
cation does not agree with that approved by the Council in 
1905. Other lists obtained from other sources and at various 
dates differ still more materially ; and Mr. J, W. W. Birch (who 
tried in 1874 to get reliable lists of the Perak chiefs) found that 
it was impossible to get any two people to give the same sixteen 
names. 

Below the " Sixteen" came the "Thirty-two." It will be readily 
understood that if a reliable list of the " Sixteen " is unattainable, 
a table of the " Thirty -two" is not even worth attempting. The 
State Council did not attempt it ; and His Highness's Secretary 



Data* Penglima Teja 
Dato* Shahhandar Muda 
Dato' Setia Maharaja 
Dato* Sa-Indera Bongsu 
Dato' Maharaja Denva 
Dato* Paduka Raja 
Dato^ Amar Dewa Angsa 
Dato* Perdana 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PERAK. 83 



writes that the head of the '* Thirty-two" was Dato' Tan Dewa 
Sakti of Batang Padang and that tne other members were chiefs 
of no importance whatsoever. I have an old list of the " Thirty- 
two/' but it cannot be considered authoritative and it clashes 
with the list of the " Sixteen " approved by the State Council. 

It will be sufficient if the principal titles are given without 
any special reference to such purely artificial questions as the 
classification into "Sixteen" and "Thirty-two" and without 
attempting to fix their precedence relatively to one another. We 
will be^n with the court or official dignitaries as distinct from 
territorial magnates. 

The military titles were as follows : 

Dato^ Pinglima Besar, 

Dato^ Penglima Perang Kanariy 

Dato^ Phiglima Perang Kirt\ 

Dato^ PSnglima Dal am ^ 

Dato^ Penglima Muda. 
These military titles were not included in the " Sixteen " or 
** Thirty-two," they were a class apart. 

The ecclesiastical dignitaries were : 

Imam Siri Raja of Kota lama Kanan, 
Imam Seri Jidin of Sayong, 
Imam Siraja Pakih of Kota Lama Kiri, 
Imam Siraja Mahkota of Bota, 
Imam Afalaikat Amin of Ketior, 
Imam Shaikhu^l-Islam of Pasir Salak, 
Imam Si-Raja Diraja of GSronggong, 
Imam Si-Raja Dalam of the Sultan's Palace. 
These also were a class apart. 
The Sultan's court-heralds are : 

Seri Nara Diraja, principal herald, 

SSri Dewa Maharaja, 

Maharaja Dinda, 

Paduka Sa-Indera, 

Raja Di'Muda, 

SSri Rakna, 

Sandar Maharaja, 

Raja Di'Bongsu. 



84 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



The Raja Muda's heralds are styled : 

Sa-Indera Muda, 
Sa-Indera Jaya. 

The Ladies-in-waiting on the Sultan's wife are entitled : 

Seri Nara Surt^ 
To* Suri, 
Rakna Senari, 
Rakna IVali, 
Kemala Sen', 
To* Kesumba, 
To' Tun J 
To* Mandu, 

The Ladies-in-waiting on the Raja Muda's wife are called : 

Rakna Muda, 
Rakna Jaya, 

The court-writers are styled : 

Pakeh St'Raja Mantn, 
Pakeh Si-Raja Diraja, 
Pakeh Si'Raja Muda. 

The chief court-musicians {Orang Kalur) bear the titles : 

To* Setia Guna, 
Setia Indera. 

It should be explained that the royal drums and trumpets may 
not be handled by the general public ; the theory is that any 
such handling will lead to the death of the sacrilegious person 
at the hands of the ghostly protectors of royal majesty. The 
members of one family alone, the orang kalur ^ are exempt from 
this risk and therefore possess a certain hereditary dignity. 
The heads of the family bear the titles above mentioned. 

Another ancient family is the family of the muntah lembu. 
Its members claim to be descended from the singer who came 
out of the mouth of the white bull that carried Sang Sapurba 
on his first appearance in the world. ^ One version has it that 
the founder of the family was really a step-brother of Sang 

* See page 9. 



HISTORY: CHIEFS OF PEKAK, 85 



Sapurba — the son of Sang Sapurba's mother by ay/V/ whom she 
married as her second husband. The head of this family bears 
the title of Seri Bijaya Indera, and the chief court-herald, 
Data' Seri Nara Diraja, is a member of the same house. He 
is the repository of the installation formula, the wording of 
which is m a language older than Malay — the language of the 
jin according to the Perak Malays, but really Pali or Sanskrit. 

Most of the great chiefs — the '* Four " and the " Eight " — had 
deputies or assistants who helped them in their duties and bore 
special titles. In some cases these assistants (known as tongkat 
ox golok'golok) were heirs to the higher title ; in some cases they 
were paid helpers; and again in some cases they were vassal 
chiefs whose titles were hereditary in their own families. It is, 
however, difficult to speak positively in every single case as 
to the exact relationship between a chief and his tongkat 
or golok'golok. The following are some of these subsidiary 
titles : 

1. The Dato' Seri Lela Paduka was the Temenggong*s 

deputy in his feudal appanage of Kota Lama Kanan ; 

2. The Maharaja Si-Rama and the Maharaja Anakda 

were under the Maharaja Lela ; 

3. The Raja Mahkota was the deputy and heir of the Lak- 

samana in Lower Perak ; 

4. The Shahhandar Muda (or Shahbandar Ulu) was the 

deputy of the Sadika Raja at Pulau Kamiri ; 

5. The Seri Paduka Wangsa was the chief assistant of the 

Penglima Kinta ; 

6. The Paduka Setia was the principal assistant of the 

Penglima Bukit Gantang — it may be added that Che' 
Long Jafar, the ruler of Larut, was the son of a 
Paduka Setia and was not a mere "trader" who had 
settled in the country ; 

7. The Seri Dewa Raja was a chief in Lower Perak sub- 

ordinate either to the Laksamana or Shahbandar; 

8. To^ Raja Duamat and To' Raja Biji Dewa were 

subordinates of the Sri Maharaja Lela at Sayong. 

The above were subordinate chiefs, though important as 
deputies or heirs of very powerful territorial magnates. The 



86 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 

following were also feudal chiefs, but they governed less territory 
(in some cases) and are therefore (in those cases) of minor 
importance : 

1. The Dato* Sen Maharaja Lela of Sayong, 

2. The Datcf Seri Amar Diwangsa of Senggang, 

3. The Dato^ Seri Amar Diraja of Sungai Trap, 

4. The Data' Maharaja Dewa of I^ambor, 

5. The Pengltma Teja of Teja, 

6. 'I'he Raja Indera Lela of Sungai Raya, 

7. The Dato^ Amar of Paching, 

8. The Data' Paduka Raja behind Pulau Tiga, 

9. The To* Setia Kerma of Sungkai, 

10. The To^ Senongsah of Kepayong, 

11. The To' Paduka Sa-Indera of Layang-Layang, 

12. The To' Perdana Mantri oi Bota, 

13. The Tan Dewa Sakti oi Batang Padang, 

14. The Pengltma Kampar of Kampar. 

CONCLUSION. 

Generally speaking, a Malay title consists of a string of high* 
s oundinghonorifics such as raja^ diraja^ maharaja, seriy paduka^ 
lela^ dewa, indera^ wangsa, diwangsa, etc. These honorifics 
give no clue whatever to the position of their possessor — indeed, 
it often happens that the least important nobles possess the 
most sonorous names. The Perak titles are no exception to the 
general rule, but it is possible from some of them to infer a 
good deal as to the former history of the country. 

There are in the above lists traces of two distinct types of 
Government. 

The first type is that of Malacca and Johor. The Sultans of 
Malacca and Johor governed through a number of high court- 
officials {orang di-balai) or ministers: the Bendahara, the 
Temenggong, the Laksamana, the Shahbandar, and the Maharaja 
Lela. These titles all appear in Perak with the same duties 
attached to them and with approximately the same precedence 
as at Malacca and Johor. 

The second type is that of Acheen. The Achehnese system 
was feudal : there was a Sultan, of course, but the real rulers 
were great territorial chiefs who governed provinces and who 



mSTORV: CHiEl^S Ot' F£h'AA\ 87 



bore the title of hulubalang. Below the great chiefs there was 
a hierarchy of minor chiefs, rulers of villages. 

When, therefore, the ancient Perak nomenclature marked the 
difference between the orang dt-balat and the hulubalang it 
really drew a distinction between the court aristocracy of Johor 
and the feudal aristocracy of Acheen. We know from history 
that Perak was an Achehnese province in the days of the great 
Mahkota Alam. About A.D. 1635 Sultan Mughal of Acheen 
sent Raja Sulong (or Mudzafar Shah) of Johor to govern Perak. 
Raja Sulong would naturally introduce his Johor system and 
would give his own chiefs — his Bendahara and his Temenggong — 
precedence at court over the powerful territorial nobles who 
ruled the country before he came. He thus began to create the 
present aristocracy of Perak by the fusion, or confusion, of his 
own Johor-made nobles with the old feudal " hulubalangs " of 
the Achehnese hegemony. 

The division of the chiefs of Perak into the ** Four," the 
"Eight,'' the "Sixteen" and the "Thirty-two" bears every 
mark of artificiality. A more popular, more ancient and more 
reliable description is that which likens Perak to a ship pointing 
southward, with the Sadika Raja at its stern, the Laksamana at 
its prow, the Penglimas of Kinta and Bukit Gantang to its left 
and right, and the Dato' Sagur in the centre. A glance at the map 
of Perak will show how well this description fits it. The 
ancestors of these five chiefs must have divided the country in 
the old Achehnese days; they were the *' hulubalangs " of that 
time. Upon this territorial nobility of five great feudal mag- 
nates Mudzafar Shah would naturally impose his non-territorial 
officers^-the Raja Muda, the Bendahara, the Temenggong, the 
Laksamana, the Shahbandar and the Maharaja Lela. He gave the 
title of Laksamana to the hulubalang who ruled the coa^t ^nd 
was de facto " king of the sea," but he kept the other dignities 
for his own men. The Raja Muda, the Bendahara, the Temeng- 
gong, the Shahbandar and the Maharaja Lela were assigned no 
part whatever in the navigation of the old " ship " of State. 

But two such kinds of aristocracy could not be kept distinct 
for lon^. The court dignitaries would naturally try to acquire 
territonal power and to make their position more permanent 
than that of officers whose existence depended on the caprice of 
the monarch. The Dato' Sagur, in whose territory the court 
was located and whose duty it was to " look after the passengers," 
would be the first to suffer. He had to surrender Kota Lama to 



88 PAPERS ON MaLAY sUsyECTS, 



the Temenggong and Pasir Salak to the Maharaja Leli. Some 
of his vassals seem also to have made themselves independent 
of their weakened lord. But the four other great " hvlubalangs " 
continued to rule over the great 'provinces that they held. 

Another possible alternative, of course, is that che hereditary 
chiefs of Kota Lama and Pasir Salak succeeded in getting 
themselves made Temenggong and Maharaja Lela, respectively. 
The objection to this view is that the real hereditary chief of 
Kota Lama was the Dato' Seri Lela Paduka^ and that there is 
some evidence of Pasir Salak also possessing a local chief. 
The Temenggong's authority over Kota Lama was only that of 
a liege-lord — the sort of authority that a great provincial hulu* 
balang like the Dato' Sagur would possess over the chiefs of 
villages like the Dato^ Seri Lela Paduka, This feudal theory will 
easily explain the curious system by which each great hulubalang 
possessed one or more "assistants" [tongkat ox golok-golok) in 
his district. The chief was the liege-lord ; the tongkat was the 
vassal, though that tongkat might be the chiefs own heir in the 
chiefs own village. 

The original orang di-halai were — we suggest — the Benda- 
hara, the Temenggong, the Shahbandar and the Maharaja Lela ; 
the original hulubalang were the Laksamana, the Sadika Raja, 
the Penglima Kinta, the Penglima Bukit Gantang, and the Dato' 
Sagur. In course of time the position changed. The Perak 
kings had court-favourites, Saiyids, men of intellect and good 
birth but of little wealth or real power, on whom they would 
naturally wish to confer high rank and precedence. The kings 
seem therefore to have created two or three new dignities that 
had no part in the old Johor hierarchy introduced by Mudzafar 
Shah. These were the Orang Kaya Besar, the Oranp Kaya 
Mantriy and the Imam Paduka Tuan. Meanwhile, also, the 
Temenggong and the Maharaja Lela had acquired territorial 
possessions. The old line of demarcation between the orang 
di'balai and the hulubalang had ceased to exist ; some chiefs 
partook of the character of both types of aristocracy. 

The Sultans then created a new order of precedence : the 
*• Four " and the " Eight." The old names of orang duhalai and 
hulubalang were retained for the "Four" and the "Eight," 
respectively, but ceased to bear any real meaning and are now 
being rapidly forgotten. The Dato^ Sagur ^ whose authority over 
the heart of the country had made him a very great hulubalang^ 
sank to a very humble pojfition in the " Eight." Nevertheless, 



kiSTOkV: MANTRI Ob' LARUT. 89 



the list of the " Four" and of the ** Eight*' is a very definite list 
and always limits itself to certain great court dignitaries and to 
the representatives of the five feudal chiefs of the first rank. 
The minor chiefs, the heads of villages, had no part in it ; they 
were only provided for in the *' Sixteen" and the '* Thirty-two." 
But though people spoke of the " Sixteen " and the ** Thirty-two, "* 
no one seems to have seriously attempted to classify the minor 
chiefs of Perak. The expressions ** Sixteen " and " Thirty-two " 
simply^ meant chiefs of the third rank and of the fourth rank 
and did not correspond exactly with their numbers. The 
" Sixteen " included any minor chief who had a title and some 
real territorial power; the ** Thirty-two" included any man 
who bore a title but possessed little else. The "Sixteen" 
were about twenty-five in number,^ and the " Thirty-two " were 
probably more than thirty -two. At the present time the Sultan 
does not readily confer territorial titles upon the heirs of their 
former holders, so that many of the ancient dignities of Perak 
are likely to become extinct. 



THE MANTRI OF LARUT. 

The district of Larut (with its sub-districts of Krian, Matang 
and Selama) lies quite outside the valley of the Perak river. 
A narrow tract of country, lying between the Perak watershed 
and the sea, it may be said to have come within the ** sphere of 
influence" of the old river-State rather than to have formed part 
of the State itself. During the first half of the nineteenth 
century Larut was practically a no-man*s-land, for the Malay, 
who loves the banks of great streams, found very little to attract 
him in the desolate swamp-country of the coast. Of the principal 
Perak territorial chiefs, only one — the Pcnglima Bukit Gantang — 
had any footing in Larut at all, and he was simply a sort of 
warden of the marches guarding the pass that gave access to a 
large and isolated district. Politically speaking, Larut is in 
Perak but not of it; it owes its population and prosperity to 
settlers from beyond the borders of the State. 

The first man who saw the potential wealth of Larut was a 
certain Long Jafar, father of the famous Mantri. This Long 

^ It most also be i*emembored that titles included in the ** Sixteen " might 
bo vacant for long periods and the namber actaally filled would usually be about 
liztaon. To make a list of the ** Sixteen " is like trying to make the peerages of 
Ireland or Scotland tiUly with their representation in the House of Lords. 



90 PAPERS ON MALAY SVByECTS. 



Jafar was not (as is usually believed) a shrewd trader from 
Penang or Province Wellesley, but a Perak-born Malay, son of 
a minor chief, the Dato' Paduka,^ and grandson of another 
petty chief, a Dato' Johan. As his brother had married a daughter 
of the Penglima Bukit Gantang, Long Jafar came to settle 
in the vicinity of the present township of Taipeng, When he 
first arrived he found that there were only three Chinese to be 
exploited in the whole territory of Larut ; but after the discovery 
of some rich mining land he succeeded in attracting many more 
adventurers to the place. His first mines were at Kelian Pauhj 
where the Taipeng gaol now stands. At a later date an elephant 
that was being used by the miners escaped into the Kamunting 
jungles and when recaptured was found to be covered with a 
mud that was very rich in tin. The prospecting done by this 
elephant led to a rush to Kamunting — to the *' new mines/' or 
Kelian Baharu as the place came to be called. 

There is a Malay proverb to the effect that a man need not 
forget his own interests when working for the State. Long 
Jafar acted up to this rule. Beginning as a mere representative 
of the Sultan he seems to have gradually bought — one after 
another — from his master the various sources of revenue in the 
province. In 1850 he obtained his first title to Larut ; he received 
It from the Raja Muda Ngah Ali and the leading chiefs of 
Perak. The document ^ runs : 

" Che' Long Jafar has opened up one of the provinces of Perak called Larut 
and all its rivers to make tin-mines ; this he has done by his own diligence and 
at his own expense. We express our entire approval of the diligence he has 
bestowed and the expense he has incurred in Larut, and his children shall receive 

the district as their own property What is written in this deed can never 

be annulled by anyone." 

^ The full title was DaUy* PodiikcL Bitia, The full pedigree is ; 

Dato' Paduka S^tia, 
Chief of Lubok MSrbau 

Dato' Paduka Setia 
(m. a daughter of a Sumatran Dato' Johan) 

Che' Long Jafar 
(m. Che' Ngah Pura, a grand-daughter of .the Dato' Penglima Kiuta) 

The Mantri Ngah Ibrahim 
(tu. To' Puan Halimah, daughter of the Laksamaua) 

The present Mantri. 

' The translations of the original documents— made in 1873 by Sir F, 
Swettenham— are given in full in Appendix B. 



NlSTOkV: hiANTRt OP LAHt/T. 9t 



In 1856 the then reigning Sultan (Jafar) coniinned the Raja 
Muda's grant. In 1857 Long Jafar died and was succeeded by 
his son, Che' Ngah Ibrahim, who at once applied to the Sultan 
for recognition and was granted powers even fi^reater than those 
that his father had possessed. The new deea — dated the 30th 
November, 1857, and bearing the seals of the Sultan, the Raja 
Muda and the Raja Bendahara— contains the following passages : 

** Be it known that, after due deliberation with our princes and chiefs, we 
bestow a prorince of this oonntry of Perak upon Ngah Ibrahim bin Jafar to be 
goremed by him and to become his property. Moreover, we make known the 
boondaries of that dependency to be as follows : from Larut to Krian and Bagan 
Tiang — these are the bonndartos that make up the province of Larut 

''Now we confirm Long Jafar's son's (Government; and this cannot be 
revoked — whether he (Ngah Ibrahim) does well or wickedly — by anyone who 
may bold the sovereignty of Perak. 

'* Therefore we endow Ngah Ibrahim with the power of legislation and give 
him authority to correspond and to settle matters with other countries and with 
the British Government without reference to us three (the Sultan, Baja Muda 
and Bendahara) or to anyone who may hold sovereignty in Perak." 

The great powers that the Sultan conferred on Che' Neah 
Ibrahim were not merely titular; they were a formal recognition 
of existing facts. When in 1862 the British authorities called on 
the Sultan of Perak to enforce an award of $17,447.04 that had 
been given against Larut, the Sultan could do nothing. He ap- 
pealed to the British to blockade Larut and he begged the ruler 
of Larut to be reasonable. Che' Ngah Ibrahim paid the money 
in May, 1862, but he got another concession from the Sultan. 
From this time forward he was destined to be a Raja in Larut. 

'* The wishes and laws of "Sgah. Ibrahim are our own laws also : ' let evcr^*- 
one understand this and not dispute the laws of Ngah Ibrahim bin Jafar." 

This was in December, 1863. By the end of March, 1864, he 
bad been granted the title of Orang Kaya Mantri — a title 
of the highest rank in Perak — and received a further deed 
recognising him as ruler of the whole country from the Krian 
river in the north to the Bruas river in the south. 

" We g^ve the government of the aforesaid entire country to the Oraog 
Kaya Mantri, whether he acts well or iU, with all its subjects snd its soldiers, 
its lands and its waters, its timber, its plants and rattans, its damar^ its 
shells, its mines, its hiUs and its mountains, and all the immigrants who 
dwell thereon, whether they be Chinese or Dutch — with power to frame 
laws and to admit men to the Muhammadan religion, to kill, to fine and to 

pardon and (as our representative) to give in marriage the guardianless 

If any man makes disturbances or disowns the Mantri's authority, he commits 
a sin against God and against Muhammad and against Us." 

* If, as is possible, the word translated " also '' is inga^ the true meaning 
would be : ''the wishes, etc., of Ngah Ibrahim are equivalent to our own," 



9J PAPEkS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



Such then was the positicn of the Mantri until 1873. To 
the English he was '' the Rajah of Larut" : he corresponded 
direct with the Governor at Singapore and the Lieut.-Governor 
at Penang; he built roads, let revenue-farms, maintained a 
police force and even possessed two small ships of war of his 
own. " He was acknowledged/' said Mr. A. M. Skinner, in an 
official report, *' to be practically the independent ruler of Larut.'* 
** From what Mr. Arthur Birch tells me," wrote Mr. C. J. Irving, 
in another report, " I fancy that Larut is a virtually independent 
State." Its independence was not, however, officially recognised 
till the 3rd September, 1873, when Governor Sir Harry Ord 
wrote : 

*'A8 I am satisfied from tho various docameuts which the Orang Kaja 
Mantri has produced that lie is the la>vf ul ruler of Larut, and as such independent 
of the Sultan or any authority in Perak, he will now be recognised by the 
Government as the independent ruler of Larut." 

This decision was announced in Council and was officially 
conveyed to the Mantri in a letter dated the 5th September, 
1873. 

Four months later Governor Sir Andrew Clarke, in a despatch 
to the Secretary of State, gave a very different account of the 
Mantri's position : 

" It was also made perfectly clear to me that the Mantri was not an inde- 
pendent ruler but simply the Governor of the territory or district of Lamt and, 
on his own admission, ^ an o£Bcer of the Sultan and owing alleg^iance to him ; 
for while he held an undoubted appointment as Governor with full powers from 
the late Sultan, it seems to be perfectly clear that such an appointment terminated 
with the reign of tho Sultan g^ranting it and must, to be valid, be confirmed by 
his successor." 

The contradictory opinions expressed by these two Governors 
will excuse the somewhat lengthy quotations from the documents 
upon which the Mantri relied. The documents are also given 
at full length in an appendix to assist any student who wishes to 
investigate the whole question for himself. They make it quite 
clear that the grant of Larut was not to be revocable by future 
Sultans and that it was not a Governorship tenable for a single 
life or on good behaviour only. On the other hand, they also 
make it evident that the Sultan did not give away his own titular 
dignities. Monarchs rarely do. King James I, when addressing 
the Sultan of Acheen, described himself as King of England, 

^ This is probably a mistake : the Mantri always claimed to be independent 
in Land though he was a vassal in Perak proper. His position of Man|!ri waa 
revocable, but not that of ruler of Larut, 



HISTORY: CHINESE DISTURBANCES, 93 



France and Ireland, and several European rulers at the present 
day claim to be Kings of Cyprus and Jerusalem. A ruler who is 
an absolute monarch in his own dominions and who is not 
restricted in his relations with foreign powers is, however, 
always considered to be independent — and that seems to have 
been Sir Harry Ord's justification for recognising the inde- 
pendence of Larut. 

It was unfortunate for Che* Ngah Ibrahim that he acquired 
the great Perak title of Mantri. That title — as we have seen — 
had nothing to do with his dominion over Larut, but it led 
officials in the Straits to look up the word Mantri in Sanskrit 
dictionaries and to discourse learnedly about the lack of connec- 
tion between a prime ministership and the government of a 
province. If the Mantri had been content to be a humble Dato 
Paduka (Sovereign Lord) like his grandfather, or a Dato^ 
Johan (Lord of the World) like his great-grandfather, he would 
have ranked as a very minor chief in Perak, but he would have 
been a far greater man in the dictionary. The position of Mantri 
also led, curiously enough, to the well-born Che' Ngah Ibrahim 
being considered a parvenu, for he usurped this particular title 
from an ancient family of Saiyids with whom he was in no way 
connected. ** His case," said Sir Andrew Clarke, " was entirely 
different from that of the Maharajah of Johore whose father and 
grandfather had long been in possession of Johore.*' Yet, there 
is much to be said for the Mantri. He and his father had made 
Larut; they took an uninhabited tract of country, opened it up, 
filled it with colonists, administered it and honestly bought up 
any claims that the ruler of Perak might have put forward over 
it. Few Eastern rulers — and certainlv not the Maharajah of 
Johore — could have put forward a fairer title to recognition. 
These points have to be dwelt upon because the politics of Perak 
at the time of the Pangkor treaty cannot be really understood 
without a full explanation of the anomalous position of the 
Mantri of Larut. 



THE CHINESE DISTURBANCES. 

The troubles for which the British Government exacted 
compensation in A.D. 1862 were fights between Larut miners — 
men who were split up into various factions by their secret 
societies and by the strong clannish feeling that exists among 
Chinese coming from one and the same district. In the end, 



94 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

two great secret societies practically absorbed all the rest : the 
Ghi-Hln Society which was patronised by the men of four 
Chinese districts, and the Hai-San Society which drew its sup- 
porters from five other Chinese districts. Both these Societies 
had their head-quarters in Penang. 

In A.D. 1862 the Cheng-Sia Chinese had attacked the 
Wi-Chiu Chinese and had driven them out of Larut. Cheng* 
Sia was one of the '* five districts, " ^ Wi-Chiu was one of the 
" four. " ^ The Mantri is said to have thrown in his lot with the 
victors and to have shared in the spoil ; but this, we imagine, 
only means that he condoned offences and accepted accomplish- 
ed facts. In any case, he did not give the five districts or the 
Hai-San Society any monopoly of the mining, for he allowed 
their rivals to settle at Larut and to become very numerous 
and powerful between the years 1862 and 1871. Throughout 
this period the Mantri ruled Larut in a manner that might be 
criticised in a European, but seemed quite enlightened when 
compared with ancient Perak Governments ; he built a road, 
maintained a small force of police, bought two steamers, kept a 
house in Penang and entertained his own countrymen most 
lavishly at Bukit Gantang, where he usually lived. He received 
a vast revenue — some $200,000 a year or even more — from his 
district. Meanwhile, however, the Chinese were slowly becoming 
too strong for him. The great headmen who controlled the 
mines began to resent any interference with the profits that 
they made out of their truck-systems ; they forced the Mantri to 
forego the gambling farm and the opium farm and to allow 
the mine-owners to pocket the gains from both sources. In 
course of time they would probably have gone further and stopped 
the tin-royalty as well. But before that happened, a trifling 
cause — a gambling dispute or a fight over a woman — led to 
fights that gradually spread to the entire Ghi-Hin faction on 
one side and the entire Hai-San faction on the other. In 
February, 1872, the Mantri reported that he and his police were 
helplessly looking on, while huge gangs of miners were plun- 
dering and burning each other's property. In March, 1872, 
victory had definitely favoured the Ghi-Hin faction. On the 
1 2th March the Ghi-Hin junks fired on anyone who tried to 
enter Larut by way of the sea. By the end of that month 
things had quieted down and mining was resumed, but it was 
confined to the Ghi-Hin men of the four districts. The Mantri 

» Oo'Koaiu » 8i-Koan, 



HISTORY: CHINESE DISTURBANCES. 95 



accepted the position and punished no one for what had 
tx:curred. 

Of course the Hai-San leaders — many of them being wealthy 
Penang merchants — were not likely to continue to tolerate their 
exclusion from the profits of the Larut mines. They began to 
collect arms and ammunition with a view to attacking their old 
enemies; they also intrigued with the Mantri's Msday rivals, 
especially the Raja Muda Abdullah of Perak. In August, 1872, 
the Mantri wrote to the acting Lieut.-Govemor of Penang 
(Mr. G. W. R. Campbell) to complain that a man named Bacon 
was organising disturbances in the Krian district while the 
Chinese Hai-San leaders were using Penang as a base for a 
naval expedition against Larut proper. As to the former, 
Mr. Campbell wrote : 

'* Bacon, as I believe His Excellency knows, is a Eurasian adTentorer aged 
45 or 60, who some time ago was dismissed from his managership of one of 
Mr. Horsman's estates, berime bankrupt, and subsequently stood his trial for 
arson, since which time he has been living chiefly in the Native States and 

advising Abdullah There is no doubt that Abdullah, from antagonism to 

the Lamt chief who wiU not support him, would like Bacon to collect the Larut 
revenue ; but Abdullah cannot assist Bacon, and Bacon unassisted cannot help 
himself. He has therefore got a boy, Junns, from Kedah — partly, I imagine, to 
involve the Kedah people in the matter and partly because Jnnus may have 
influence with the Larut Peng^ilus.' Bacon says he himself is not going to 
collect the revenue or going to Larut at all ; Junus is to go and collect it. The 
revenue is to consist of a tax on rice, one on wood, one on rattans, and a 
capitation-tax of $2^ on married couples and %\\ on single persons for per- 
mission to live in the country When I asked Bacon what he had paid for 

this valuable farm, he said $2,000." 

Mr. Campbell warned Bacon and Junus that their whole 
expedition was merely piratical and that it might bring them 
to a very terrible end. But when it came to dealing with 
the Chinese preparations to attack Larut, the Lieut,- Governor— 
with no department of Chinese affairs and only seven marine 
policemen — ^was as helpless as the Mantri. In October, 1872, a 
number of armed junks and a strong force of Chinese fighting-men 
sailed from Penang to Larut and began a determined attack upon 
the Ghi-Hin miners. The acting Lieut.-Governor and the 
Superintendent of Police went in a ship of war to Larut to 
investigate matters and found that the junks were cleared for 
action and " seemed very determined.*' Mr. Campbell did not 
like to take the responsibility of seizing the junks and returned 
to Penang, where he was severely criticised by Governor Sir 

' The population of Krian was largely of Kedah- Kalay descent. This Bacon 
afterwards became confidential clerk and interpreter to Mr. J. W. W. Birch. 



96 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Harry Ord for his inaction. As for the Mantri's own iship, the 
" B^tara Bayu," it was put out of action by the primitive 
expedient of bringing a bogus case against it and having it 
seized for debt by the Penang Supreme Court : by the time the 
case was over, the fighting at Larut was also over, and the Ghi- 
Hin faction had been defeated with very heavy loss. A hundred 
wounded men found their way overland to British territory ; very 
many more must have perished miserably in the jungles ana 
swamps of the country. 

The victory of the Hai-San Society was not, however, 
decisive. Fighting continued. The great mine-owners began 
to fly flags of their own and became leaders of armed men ; the 
whole of the country became an armed camp. The Mantri was 
powerless and retired to Krian. The Penang authorities prose- 
cuted some of the Chinese leaders and did what they could to 
prohibit the export of arms and ammunition, but they could not 
make their prohibitions eflFective. Fighting still went on. 
When starving and desperate, small defeated bands of Ghi-Hin 
or Hai-San miners would turn and plunder unoffending traders 
and fishermen. Piracy became rife, and fears were entertained 
that the hostility of the great societies would lead to open 
warfare in Penang itself. 

About the middle of the year 1873 it became obvious that the 
British policy of non-interference in the affairs of the Malay 
States would have to be materially modified. The Lieut.- 
Governor of Penang (Colonel Anson) did what he could to put an 
end to the disturbances by arbitration, but he was baulked by the 
unreliability of some of the Chinese leaders and of the Kaja 
Muda Abdullah, who could not be induced to keep to any definite 
iine of policy. Ultimately, Colonel Anson saw that the onlv hope 
of restoring order without actually annexing Larut lay in giving a 
whole-hearted support to the Mantri. On the 29th July, 1873, 
Captain Speedy, Superintendent of Police, resigned the British 
service and went to India lo recruit Sikhs for the Mantri. On the 
2 1st August Colonel Anson advised the Governor to take the strong 
step of recognising the Mantri*s independence. Accordingly, on 
the 3rd September, Sir Harry Ord recognised the independence of 
Larut and on the 9th September he repealed in the Mantri's 
favour the order prohibiting the export of arms and ammunition 
to the disturbed districts. By throwing the full support of the 
English on the side of the newly-recognised ruler it was hoped 
that the country would be pacified and the piracies put an end 



HISTORY: CHINESE DISTURBANCES. 97 



to. But the state of Larut was far more serious than the 
Oovemor had anticipated. A few days after the recognition 
of the Mantri the boats of H.M.S. ** Midge " were fired upon and 
two officers wounded. Retribution followed at once ; the junks 
and the stockades on the Larut river were shelled, captured or 
destroyed by British gun-boats on the 20th September. Among 
the prisoners taken on this occasion was the Raja Muda 
Abdullah. On the 4th November seven Chinese junks were seen 
to fight each other near Fangkor for several hours, but no one 
ever discovered what they were fighting about. Ultimately the 
Chinese seem to have given up their junks and taken to swift 
piratical row-boats that were still more difficult to cope with, 
as the following statement by Sir F, Swettenham will show : 

" In the operations against the Chincso pirates of Lamt in 187^78, when 
H.lf .'s ^n-ressels for months sought and pursued the pirates without securing 
one boat or one man, 1 several times accompanied the men-of-war and joined 
the boat expeditions. 

" Though the pirates were repeatedly seen, sometimes in the act of commit- 
ting a piracy, they were never caught, for they could always get away from a 
man-of-war's boats or from the heavy and. useless steam launches sent against 
them. 

" Without a proper steam launch, one of the fastest and lightest draught 

(say 3 feet) I believe it is impossible for English sailors to act successfully 

against pirates on such a coast as that of the Ifalay Peninsula, a network 
of mangrove swamp and shallow rivers, often dry at low water. A pirate boat 
onoe out of sight in such a maze is as difficult to find as the proverbial needle 
in a haystack." 

These piratical row-boats carried their depredations as far 
north as the Kedah coast and as far south as the Dindings, 
to the intense exasperation of the British authorities. But the 
exploits of these pirates were due to hunger and desperation 
more than to success or courage. The Chinese could not be 
hunted down in their own tidal rivers but they were being 
blockaded and starved. To seaward lay the British gun-boats ; 
to landward were Captain Speedy and his Sikhs as ^yell as the 
Malays of the Mantn and of his friend the new Sultan Ismail. 
Sooner or later the Chinese were bound to give in. It was, 
however, just at this critical juncture that Sir Harry Ord left the 
Colony and Sir Andrew Clarke took his place. 



BRITISH POLICY IN 1873. 

When in A.D. 1868 Sir Harry Ord made a treaty with Kedah, 
the Colonial Office — while not disapproving of the treaty itself — 
laid down decisively for the instruction of its officers that ** it 
would generally be undesirable that a Governor should enter 
into negotiations with native rulers — still less that he should 
conclude any agreement with them — except in pursuance of an 
object or policy considered and approved by Her Majesty's 
Government." These instructions are logical enough. But the 
" policy considered and approved by Her Majesty's Government " 
in the days of Sir Harry Ord was one of the strictest non- 
intervention. When, in July, 1872, a number of Malacca traders 
sent a petition to the Governor about the losses to which they 
were being put by the Selangor disturbances, they received the 
following reply : 

** It 18 the policy of Her Majesty's Govemment not to interfere in the 
affairs of these countries except where it becomes necessary for the suppression 
uf piracy or the pauishmcut of aggression on oar people or territories, and if 
traders, prompted by the prospect of large gains, choose to ran the risk of 
placing their persons and property in the jeopardy that they are aware attends 
them in these countries under present cironmstanoes, it is impossible for the 
Government to be answerable for their protection or that of tlicir property." 

This answer was formally approved by Lord Kimberley in 
December, 1872. The same rule of absolute neutrality was 
i\^\n laid down for the Governor's guidance in a despatch dated 
the 5th Julyi 1873. F^rom that date, however, we seem to get 
indications of a change of policy. Writing to Mr. Seymour 
Clarke on the 5th August, 1873, the Colonial Office qualified its 
assertion of neutrality by stating that it had hitherto been the 
practice of the British Government not to interfere in the internal 
affairs of the Native States. Six weeks later, on the 20th 
September, 1873, the practice of non-intervention was avowedly 
given upi 

** Her Majesty's Government have, it need hardly be said, no desire to 
interfere in the internal affairs of the Malay States; but, looking to the long 

and intimate connection between them and the British Government Her 

Majesty's Government find it incumbent to employ such influence as they 
possess with the native princes to rescue, if possible, these fertile and productive 
countries from the ruin which must befall them if the present disorders oontinuo 
unchecked. 

** I have to request tliat you will carefully ascertain, us far as you are able, 
the actual condition of affairs in each State and that you will report to mo 
whether there are in your opinion any nteps which can properly be ti^en by the 
Colonial Qovemmeut to promote the I'estoration of peaoe and order and to secure 
protection to trade and commerce with the native territories. I should wish you, 



HISTORY: BRITISH POLICY. QQ 



especially, to ocmaider wbeibor it would be advisable to appoint a Britisb officer 
to xeride in any of the States. Sacb an appointment ooold, of course, only be 
made with the foil consent of the native Government, and the expenses 
connected with it would have to be defrayed by the (Government of the Straits 
Bettlementa." 

It seems clear, therefore, that in August, 1873, the Secretary of 
State had been contemplating a change of policy and that 
in September, 1873, that change became an accomplished fact. 
If the abandonment of the old neutral attitude is to be ascribed 
to the representations of any Governor, it must have been due 
to the counsels of Sir Harry Ord. But as Sir Hany Ord was 
on the point of retiring, the orders of the Colonial Office were 
not directed to him (though he was still in office) but to the 
Governor-designate, Sir Andrew Clarke, who happened to be 
in England when this all-important despatch was written. 
Still, it is not likely that the counsels of Governors could have 
been sufficient in themselves to have brought about so great a 
change if they had not been aided by the course of events. In 
the year 1873 Larut was being torn in two by rival secret 
societies; Perak proper was in a state of anarchy; Selangor 
was in the throes of civil war; even in the Negjri Sembilan 
there were serious disturbances. The whole Peninsula, as Sir 
Harry Ord pointed out, was in the hands of the lawless and the 
turbulent. 

The policy of inaction that had been pursued between 1867 
and 1873 must have been very galling to an administrator of the 
masterful temperament of Governor Ord. Local feeling was all 
in favour of intervention. In February, 1869, when Raja Yusuf 
laid his claim to the throne of Perak before the Straits authorities, 
the Colonial Secretary (Colonel Macpherson) openly expressed 
to the Governor his regret that it was not possible to take 
advantage of the opportunity and govern the country through a 
British nominee. In 187 1 a committee (of which Major McNair 
was a member) definitely proposed that Residents should be 
sent to the Native States. In 1872, Mr. G. W. R. Campbell, 
when acting Lieutenant-Governor of Penang, wrote in a similar 
strain : 

"I speak with diffidence, bein^ir so new to this portion of tho Enst, bnt I 
think it is worth consideration whether tho appointment under the nritieh 
€k>Teniinent of a British Resident or Political Agent for certain of the Malay 
States would not, as in India, have a markedly beneficial efiFect. Snch Resident 
or PoHdcal Agent would need to be an officer of some position and standing and 
a man of good jndgment and good personal manner, and he shonld, of conrse, 

hare a thorongh knowledge of the Malay language In India, in many a 

natiTe-mled State, it is manrcllons what work a single well-selected British 



10b PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



officer has effected in fuoh matters as roads, schools, and polioe^^yen within the 
compass of a few years." 

The ideas and wishes of the officials and unofficial of the 
Straits could, however, be of little avail as long as it was the 
declared intention of the Colonial Office to abstain from inter- 
ference in the internal aifairs of the Peninsula. It was only 
when the anarchy of 1873 forced the hand of the authorities at 
home that the Governor had a real chance of effecting any- 
thing of permanent value. That chance fell to the lot of Sir 
Andrew Clarke. 



The preceding chapters will — it is hoped — make it fairly 
clear why the British intervened in Perak affairs and what was 
the political condition of the country at the time of that inter- 
vention. They may also serve to show that the introduction of 
the residential system into the Malay States was not the result 
of any sudden inspiration on the part of a new Governor, but 
was led up to by the course of events and by the advocacy of 
many Colonial officials — Sir Harry Ord, Colonels Anson and 
Macpherson, Major McNair, and Mr. G. W. R. Campbell, among 
others. Sir Andrew Clarke, before leaving England, had been 
told what he was to do. He landed in the Colony in Novem- 
ber, 1873, and signed the Pangkor Treaty in January, 1874. 
His intervention was only one incident in a long series of events 
with most of which he had not been associated. But there were 
many possible ways of intervening in the aifairs of Perak, and 
Sir Andrew Clarke must be judged by the line that he elected to 
take— his recognition of the Raja Muda Abdullah as Sultan, his 
reversal of Sir Harry Ord's policy towards the Mantri, his choice 
of Residents, and his instructions to the Residents that he 
selected. This line, whether right or wrong, led to the Perak 
war and to bitter controversies that make it, even now, 
inexpedient to discuss the historj' of Perak for the years 1874, 
1875 and 1876. 



APPENDICES. 



Appbndix a. 
LKTTEB ACKNOWLEDGING SULTAN ISMAIL. 

From the Raja Muda Abdullah to Sultan Ismail. The wording is literally as 
follo%c$ : 

With all sobmiadon and homility from joar grandson, the Raja Moda* 
who ia at this time residing at Songai Korok, to my grandfather 8)^ri Padnka 
Dnli Yang«di-pSrtuan jang maha-malia. 

After Compliments. — We respeotfoUy inform onr grandfather about all 
matters conoeming as ; for at this time onr thoughts are troubled, for things are 
much altered since former days. 

When our late grandfather ascended the throne ho instructed us in the way 
we should go. When we went wrong he reminded us of what was right. If we 
slept, he watched ; if we tarried, he urged us on ; if we were headstrong, he 
checked us ; if we could not succeed, there was one to help us. 

The Bajas at that time gave us much assistance. Now our grandfather 
holds the sorereignty of Ferak, and we are very glad of it. We beliered that 
increased power would be shown to us. But our faith has not been justified by 
God's grAce, and we, in consequence, are much distressed. But we still rely upon 
our grandfather's assistance in all these matters. 

In the past our good fortune never failed us ; but now, since onr grandfather 
ascended the throne, for the first time we are put to shame in a way never 
previously endured by any Perak Bajas. 

Life has become more burdensome than before and we are resigned to 
God's will. We have received no instructions from any of the chiefs c^ Perak 
as to the position (tanggongan) we occupy, or any advice as to the best course to 
pursue. Now we have erred towards our grandfather ; yet, even in this case, not 
one of them pointed out what was right or what was wrong in our behaviour, 
only OS it seemed to us ourselves. 

Moreover, we settled things (according to our own notions), but none of the 
chiefs took any notice of us. Now, indeed, we ask a thousand pardons and beg 
our grandfather to assign us some responsible position that our mind may be at 
rest. 

14th Shawal, 1289. 
[7th Deccmher, 1872.] 



I02 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

AVPKNDIX B. 

CHABTBRS OP THE MANTRI. 



In the year 12G7 ' of the Mahomedan Erag the year called Jim, on Friday, 
the let day of the month Mohanram,' on that date we. Raja Ngah Ali bin 
Snltan Shahabadin Shah, at present in poMenion of the sopreme power in 
P^rak, give notice by this writing that, acting under the orders of His Highness 
oor father-in«law, the Bri Padnka, who goyems Perak aforesaid, we bestow 
this fayoor upon Cho' Long Jafar bin Abdol Ladf Padnka Sjftia. 

Che' Long Jafar has opened np one of the proyinoes of Perak called Lamt, 
and all its rivers, in order to make tin mines ; this he has done by his own diligence 
and at his own expense. We express our entire approval of the diligence he has 
bestowed and the expense Che' Long Jafto has incurred in the aforesaid place 
(Lamt), and his children shall receive it (Lamt) as their own property at their 
own disposal. This is established and confirmed with the approval of Uie chiefs 
who have affixed their seals to this document, as a sign of each one's approval 
and concurrence, and what is written in this deed can never be annulled by anyone. 

Done this 1st day of the month Mnharram. 

[Realed by the Regent Raja Ngah k\\, by the TJSmenggong, by the P)$nglima 
Bnkit Gantang, by the P^nglima Kinta, by the Shahban&r and by the Sadita 
B»K] 

II. 

This document is given under the seal of His Highness Maulana Padnka 
SSri Sultan Jafar Maatham Shah bin Al-marhum Ahmad Shah Johan Berdaulat 
Khalifatu'llah, who possesses the sovereignty of the countiy of Perak. 

Be it known to all Rajas, and sons of Rajas, and Chiefs, Warriors, Officers, 
Eunuchs, Heralds, Penghnlus, Naibs, Subjects and Soldiers, in our presence and 
at a distance, living beneath the shadow of the €U)vemment of Perak, that we 
make this document sealed with our seal and bestow it upon Che* Long Jafar 
bin Abdul Latif. 

Inasmuch as Che' Long Jafar received a written power from Raja Ngah 
Ali bin Al-marhum Snltan Shahabudin Shah with the sanction of his fi^ther, done; 
in the presence of all his chiefs who affixed their seals to that document which 
was written on the 10th day of the month Rabialawal ' in the year 1267, to the 
effect that the Government of Lamt and its dependencies was bestowed upon 
him (Che* Long Jafar), to be managed by him at his own expense, to be his own 
property, and the inheritance of his children. 

Now we confirm all that is therein written, to the effect, that it (Larut) shall 
become his (Long Jafar's) property and the inheritance of his children. 

This we declare and establish, and we have sealed his docnmcnt with onr 

Done this 10th day of the month Rabialawal in the venr 1273.^ 
[Sealed by the Sultan.] 



* A.D. 1850. 2 28th February. =» Erratum ; it should be the Ui 

Muharram. ♦ 7th May, 18.56. 



APPENDICES, !03 



III. 

ThiB docuiueut is K^^eii under the hand and nva) of uh, Maulaua Paduka 
S^ri Sultan Jafar Maatbam Shah bin Al-marhum Ahmad Shah who liolds the 
sorereigntj of the kingdom of Perak. 

We three, Ounelves, the Baja Mada, and Raja fij^ndabara, our Chief 
Ministers, bestow upon Ngab Ibrahim bin Jafar (this power) : Be it known to 
all Rajas, sons of Rajas, Chiefs, Warriors, Officers, Ennnchs, Ueralds, Penghulus, 
Naibs, Subjects and Soldiers, iu our presence and at a distance, that after due 
delibmtion with our Rajas and Chiefs, we bestow a dependency (province) of 
this coantiy of Perak npon Ngah Ibrahim bin Jafar, to be governed by him and 
to become his property. Moreover, we make known the boundaries of that depen- 
dency to be as follows ; from Larut and Krian and Bagan Tiang, these are the 
boundaries, that is to say, these compose the country of Larut (lit. this is Larut), 
to foDow out the terms of the power by which his father Che' Long Jafar 
managed (governed that country) up to the time of his son Ngah Ibrahim who 
received it from his father by his father^s gpft. 

Now we confirm his (Che' Long's) son's Government and this cannot be 
revoked, whether he (Che' Ibrahim) acts well or wickedly, by anyone who may 
hold the sovereignty of Peralc. 

Therefore we endow Ngah Ibrahim with all power of law, and give 
him power to correspond and settle matters with other (x>untries and with the 
English Government without reference to us three, or to anyone who may hold 
sovereignty in Perak. 

Thus do we confirm that to him as his property and bestow it upon hinn 

Written on the 10th day of the mouth Shawal, 1274.* 

[Scaled by the Sultan, Raja Muda and Uenduhara.] 



IV. 

At Pasir Panjaug, Indira Mulia, in the country of Perak in the year 128U. 

On Monday, the 2l8t day of the month Shawal in the year 1280,^ at the time 
and date aforesaid we Paduka S^ri Sultan Jafar Maatham Shah, a renowned 
sovereign, ruler of the kingdom of Perak, grant this (power) to Ngah Ibrahim 
bin JaftkT in order that it may be known to all Rajas and all sons of Rajas, Chiefs, 
Warriors, Officers, Eunuchs, Heralds, Penghulus, Naibs, Subjects and Soldiers, 
together with aJl in our presence and at a Stance, thus we make known to them 
all : that after due deliberation with our Rajas and Chiefs, we bestow a province 
of the country of Perak upon Ngah Ibrahim bin Jafar to be governed by him. 

Moreover, we make known the boundaries of that province to be as follows : 
from Larut and Krian, Bagan Tiang, these are the boundaries, that is to say, 
these from the country of Larut, as far as Krian. 

And on the sea coast towards the west as far as Taujoug B^lanak, thence 
from Pasir GlklSbu to the mouth of the Krian river; towards the interior all 
which marches with Kedali, and the government of our chief of the interior, 
following the boundaries of Krian as th ey are at present, the total,' one river in 

1 aoth November, 1857. ' 16th December, 1863. » Except? 



104 PAl'ERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Knrau given to an old subject of ours, the PSnglima Bukit Gantang 6^ri Amar 
Diraja, his place will be bounded on the right and left by coontiy under the 
government of his grandson, Ngah Ibrahim, as aforesaid, and thus there will be 
no disputes about cither's boundaries. 

Let no one under the government of Kgah Ibrahim break his laws within 
the aforesaid provinces. Just as we ourselves should g^ve laws to them as 
long as they lived under the Government of Perak, so Kgah Ibrahim can 
govern them as he pleases and make any laws he thinks fit, without committing 
any offence against us, or against our rajas or chiefs in this country of Ferak 
or in any other country. 

Should anyone, whether Malay or Chinese, or of any other itice, wish to 
do anything in the aforesaid jirovinces, such as cutting wood or tin mining, 
he must agree to be faithful to, and receive permission from, Ngah Ibrahim, 
in like manner as he would receive it from us— and (be it known to) our 
rajas and chiefs, that if they do not arrange with Ngali Ibrahim and obtain his 
consent they cannot do (anything in Larut). 

The wishes and laws of Xgoh Ibrahim are our own laws also, let every- 
one remember this and do not dispute the laws of Ngah Ibrahim bin Jafar. 

[Sealed by Sultan Jafar.] 



On Tuesday, the lOth Jimadilawal 1280,^ in the year Wau, in the reign 
of Maulana Sri Sultan Jafar Maatham Shah, at the Palace at Pasir Panjang, 
Indra Mulia, in the presence of the Raja Muda, representative of the Sultan, and 
in the presence of the Raja Bcndahara, also representative of the Sultan, and in 
the presence of the Sultan Muda, and in the presence of all the fiajas and sons of 
Rajas and Chiefs, the head of them being Oraug Kaya Besar Maharaja Diraja, 
and in the presence of all the Temcnggongs and the Temenggong Paduka Raja, 
and in the presence of all the Warriors, Officers, Eunuchs, Heralds, P^nghulus, 
Naibs, Subjects and Soldiers, crowding the Hall of Audience : 

Now, at this time. His Highness the Yang-di-pertuan (i.e., Sultan) bestows 
this (document) given under his seal^ upon the Orang Kaya Mantri. 

Be it known to all Rajas and sons of Rajas, and all Chiefs and Warriors, 
Officers, Eunuchs, Heralds, I'enghulus, Naibs, Subjects and Soldiers, that wo 
inform this Orang Kaya Mantri that wo bestow Larut upon him : westwards as 
far as Kriau, eastwards as far as the mouth of the Bruas river, thence to Bukit 
BSrapit and towards the interior as far ns the interior at the new mines.' 

We give the government of the aforesaid entire countiy to this Orang Kaya 
Mantri, whether he acts well or ill, Mrith all its subjects and soldiers, its lands 
and its waters, its timber and plants and rattans, its damar and shells, its mines, 
its hills and mountains, and the immigrants who are living there, whether they 
be Chinese or Dutch, with'powcr to frame laws, and admit men to the Muham- 
madan religion, and to kill and to fine, and to receive criminals, and to give in 
marriage those who have no guardians, the Orang Kaya Mantri our Wakil 
(representative) can become their guardian. 

Over all the things wliich we have stated in this document, we give notice 
that we have empowered the Orang Kaya Mantri to hold sway. 

* 3l8t Maix'h, 1864. ^ KHhn Baharu : Kamunting, near Tuipcng. 



APPhXD/CES. 105 



If we are id want of anything we shall look to no other source (fiwr assistance), 
bat the Orang Kaya Mantri only. Evcr^'onc who resides in the aforesaid pro- 
rince (i,e , Lamt) nmst follow oat and obey the orders and counsels of the Orang 
Ka^ti Mantri, for whatever the Orang Khvu Muntri does is done (as if) by our 
orders. 

Moreover, be it known that if anyone goes to that country (Larut) wanting 
anything there, we do (or can) not give them permission — we have gjven the 
government of all the aforesaid provinces to the Orang Kaya Mantri : now, the 
Mantri shall rule (lit. give laws to) all the (aforenamed) provinces of Perak, 
inland as far as Baru ^ southwards, northwards, westwards, and eastwards (as 
stated above). Let no one, by God's help, make disturbances or disown the 
Orang Kaya Mantri. If anyone makes distorbances or disowns (him) he com- 
mits a sin against God, and against Muhammad and. against us. 

By the grace of God, with the protection of the Prophet, our revered ances- 
tors (or, perhaps, by the graves of our ancestors) the former Sultans, to the man 
who does that we will mete out a full punishment : if he disown (the Mantri) 
we will seize his property, if he resist him (the Mantri) wo will kill lum, so shall 
it he — we cannot alter what is written in this document sealed with our deal. 



[Sealed by Sultan Jufar.] 



Appendix C. 
LIST OF THE SULTANS OF PBttAK. 

The Sultan of Perak has two well-known pedigrees associated with his name ; 
he accepts one as correct and rejects the other as spurious. The efficially- 
aooepted genealogy gives 28 Sultans while the other only mentions 20. I give 
the two lists in parallel columns to show where they possibly correspond. I 
give the personal names, the royal titles, and the descriptions by which they 
were known after their deaths : 

A. — The Twexty-Eioht. B.— Tub Twenty. 

I. Baja Mudzafar, Sultan Mud- 
zafar Shah /, Marhum 
Tanah Abang ^ 

• 11. Raja Mansur, Sultan lf((>/(iur 
d/ta/i, Marhum Kota Lama 
Kanan' 

111. Kaja Ahmad, Sultan /i/t mar? 1. HulitxnAhmadTajit'd'dinShahf 

Taju*d'din Shah, Marhum Marhum Tanah Abang ^ 



Muda 

IV. Raja Arifin, Sultan Taju*l 
Arifin Shah 



VI. I'engku Tuha, Sultan Muka- 

dam Shah. DicdinAcheen / 



-! 



Raja Ali, Sultan Alacdin I II. Sultan Malik Shahj Marhum 

Shah \ Kota Lama ^ 



» Kalian Baharn ? ' Cf. B I. ' Cf. B II. * Cf, A 1. • Cf. A 2. 



Iu6 



l*APERS ON MALAY SUByECTS, 



A.T— Thk TwtNTT-EiGHT — (cont.) 

Til. Raja MAiisiir, Sultan irafufur ill. 

Shah II. Died at Johor 

VIII. Itaja Yusuf, Saltan Mahmvd 
fif/itt/i, Marhum Pulan Tiga 

IX. llaja Kobat, Sultan 8alihu'd- 
din Shah, Died at Kam- 
par 

X. llaja Sulonjf, Sultan Mud- 
zafar SliaJi 11^ Marhum 
Jamalu*llah 

XI. Raja Mabmud, Sultan Mu- IV. 

hamvuid lekandar Slmh, 
Marhum Bvsar Auliallah 

Xll. Raja Radiu, Sultan Alaedin V. 

Riayat Shah 

XIII. Raja Inu, Sultan Mudzafar VI. 

5/wi/i ///, Murhum Haji 
Allah > 

XIV. Raja Bisnu, Sultan Muham- 

mad Shahy Marhum 
Amiuu'llah 

XV, Raja Iskandar, Sultan J*f- VII. 

kandar Dzu^l-kai'intin, 
Marhum Kahar 

XVL Raja Samsu, SulUn Mah- Vlll. 
mud Shah II y Marhum 
Mudn 

XVIL Raja Alatdin, Sultan Aluc- IX, 

din Mixnsur Iskandai^ 
Mud a Shah 

XVIII. Ha> Chik, Sultan Ahmadm X. 

Shah 

XIX. Raja Abdu'lMalik Sultan XI. 

Abdnl-3ialik Mansur 

Shah, Marhum Jamalu'U 
luh 

XX. Raja Abdullah, Sultan Ah- XII. 

duUah Muadzam flf/icr/*, 
Marhum Khalilu*llah 

XXI. Raja Chulan, Sultan Sha- Xlll. 
habu\l-d%n Shahj Marhum 
Safiu'llah 



B.— Thk TwiKTY— (aw*.) 

Sultan Manmr Shah, Marhum 
Jalilu'lUih 



Sultan MahmudUhaitdar Shaky 
Marhum B^sar Aulia'llah 



Sultan Alaedin Ukandar Shahj 
Marhum Bulong 

Sultan Mudzafar Shah, Mar- 
hum Uaji .illah 



Sultan Jtskaudat- Dzu'l-kai-nain, 
Marhum Kahar 



Sultan Maiimud Shah, Marhum 
Mnda 



Sultan AUiediu Mansur Ukan- 
dar Mnda Shah, Marhum 
Fbduka Marhum 

Sultan Ahmadin Shah, Mar- 
hum BSrisu 

Sultan Ahdun-Malik ShaJt, 
Marhum JamiluMlah 



Sultan Ahdullahy Marhum 
Khalilu'llah 



Sultan Shaliabu'd^din Shah, 
Marhum Safiu'llah 



Died A.D. 1765. 



APPENDICES. 



107 



A. — The Twintt-Eight — (c(nit.) 

XXII. Raja Abdullah, Saltan Ah^ 
diUlah Muhammad Shuh^ 
Markom Itikadu'llah 

XXIII. Raja Ngah Jafar, Sultan 

Jafar Muadzam Shah, 
Marhom Waliu'llali 

XXIV. Raja Ngah Ali, Saltan Alt 

al'hamal Riayat Shah, 
Marhum Nabi Allah 

XXV. Raja IsmaU, Sultan Umail 
MMahidifh Shah^ Marhum 
Mangkat di-SSkudai 

XXVI. Raja Abdullah, Sultan Ah- 
diUUih Muhammcui. Shah 
II, now £x.-Sultan Ab- 
dulUih 

XXVII. Raja Yusuf, Sultan r»t«M/ 

8harifa*d'diii Mufdzal 
Shah, Marhum Ohafi- 
rullah 

XXVIII. Raja Idris, Sulton Sir Idri^f 

Met'BhiduH'Oadxam Shah, 
G.C.X.G., now reigning 



B.— The Twenty— (con^) 

XIV. Sultan Abdullah Muhammad 
Shah, Marhum Itikadu'llah 



XV. Sultan Jufat' Muadzam Shah, 
Marhum Waliu'llah 



XVI. Sultan Ali al-kamal Riuyat 
Shah 



XVII. Sultan Itanail 



XVIll. Su]tau Abdullah Muhammad 
Shah [I 



XIX. Sultan Ymuf Shanfu'd^din 
Mnfdzal Shaht Marhum 
Ghafiru'llah 



XX. Sultun Sir IdrU Merahidul- 
aadzam Shah, o.C.M.G. 



The Hint list, A, is that given by tho Duto' Sclia in connection with the 
renovation of the tombs of the old kings. It lias been officially approved and 
the names in it are being engraved on the new tombstones. 

The second list, li, is an oUI list compiled before Sultan Yusuf camo to tho 
throne. The last two names have therefore been inserted by me. It seems to 
liavo been accepted till comparatively recently and is the one always referred to 
in bluebooks, etc., on Verak affairs. 

A curious feature about the Dato* SJ^tia's list, A, is that in giving relation- 
ships it sometimes refers to names that do not appear in itself but that may 
appear in the rival list (B). Thus, his 18th and 14th Sultans are given as sons of 
" Monsur Shah of Pulau Tiga." This cannot refer to A 7 but might refer to B 2 ; 
for A 7 must have died about a.d. 1610 and A 13 died in a.i>. 1765. 

A£^u, assuming that A is correct, we find that the lengths of tho reigns of 
the first 13 Sultans amounted to about 230 years and the next 13 Sultans to only 
110 years. 

B omits Sultan Muhammad Shah (A 14), who certainly existed and who 
made a treaty with the Dutch in a.d. 1765. 



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PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



LITERATURE. ^ 



PART I. 
ROMANCE, HISTORY AND POETRY. 



PART II. 
LITERATURE OF MALAY FOLK-LORE, BEGINNINGS, 

FABLE, 
FARCICAL TALES AND ROMANCE. 

PART III. 

MALAY PROVERBS ON MALAY CHARACTER 

AND LETTER-WRITING. 



HISTORY. 



PART III. 

COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 1877-1879. 



LAW. 

PART I. 

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH. 



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NOV I 3 1946 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

[^Published by direction of the Oovemment of the Federated Malay States.'] 



R. J. WILKINSON, F.M.8. Civil Sendee, 
General Editor. 



HISTORY, 

PART III. 

COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 

1877-1879. 



EDITED 

BY 
C. \V. HAKRISON, F.M.S. Civil Sen-ice. 

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GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



ALTHOUGH this little book of Council Minutes has been 
sent to the press before any other pamphlet dealing with 
Malay History, it really takes the third place in the proposed 
historical series. The first pamphlet will deal with events in 
Malaya before the period of British ascendancy ; the second 
will give some account of the transition in Perak — from the 
events that first led to British intervention down to the time 
when the present Residential system was firmly established. 
This book of Council Minutes gives us an account of what we 
may call the third period, the laying of the foundations upon 
which the edifice of Federated Malay States administration has 
since been built up. The years 1877, ^^7^ ^"^ ^^79 were very 
important years. In the early Resolutions and Orders in Council 
(here published for the first time) we may trace the introduction 
of the guiding principles that are now commonplaces of Govern- 
ment : the differential treatment of agricultural and mining lands, 
the insistence on labour clauses, the Government reservation of 
water-rights, the method of levying royalties on tin, and other 
decisions that have had far-reaching effects. Of course, there are 
ways of writing history more interesting than the mere publica- 
tion of official minutes, but the plan followed in this pamphlet 
has, at least, the merit of giving history at first hand. It is easy 
to be wise after the event. The discussions recorded in the 
pages of this little book do not possess that kind of wisdom ; 
they simply tell us what the members of Council did, and why 
they did it. It is for the reader, in the light of subsequent events, 
to judge how far the Councillors were right or wrong, and to see 
for himself who really did the pioneer work of building up the 
prosperity of Perak. In the published accounts of British rule 
in Malaya sufficient prominence has not always been given to 
the efforts of these early pioneers ; the reaper, intent on his own 
work, is apt to forget the man who sowed. These Council 
Minutes are the record of the work of the sowers. A study of 
that record will show how much the State owes to Sir Hugh Low 
and to his fellow-Councillors, especially Raja Dris (the present 
Sultan), Sir William Maxwell, and the Chinese Towkays, Ah Kwi 
and Ah Yam. 

R. J. W. 



EDITOR^S NOTE. 



/CONSIDERABLE portions of the Minutes which dealt with 

^^ matters of no importance or interest have been omitted. 

A few minor alterations, in the spelling of native names and in 

the expressions used, have been made. 

C. W. H. 



i 



i 



i 



COUNCIL MINUTES, 1877-1879. 



Monday, loth September, tSyy, 

AT H.B.M. RESIDENCY AT KUALA KANGSAR, PERAK. 

• 

Present : 
H.H. the Raja Muda YUSUF. 
H.B.M's. Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
H.B.M's. Assistant Resident (Capt. Speedy). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
Che Karim of Selama. 

1. His Highness the Raja Muda Yusuf having been received 
at the entrance to the Residency grounds by H.B.M's. Resident, 
Assistant Resident and others, and a Guard of Honour, took his 
seat at half-past one and opened the Council, when a Royal 
Salute was fired to announce the fact to the country. 

2. H.B.M's. Resident, on the part of the Raja Muda, explained 
to the members the objects of instituting the Council of State, 
and stated that it was his intention to submit for their considera- 
tion, and in the hope of receiving their advice and assistance, all 
important subjects concerning the welfare of the State and its 
inhabitants which might present any peculiar difficulties, involve 
extensive modifications of existing laws or customs, or be consid- 
ered of general interest. 

3. The Resident then, on the part of the Raja Muda, informed 
the Council that the points on which he wished on this occasion 
to invite their deliberations were as follows : 

[a) The necessity of providing an increase of the revenue 
of the State which he recommended should be done 
partly by a tax in the nature of "asil klamin," 
but should be imposed as a head tax of $1.50 on 
all males above 15 and under 55, and partly by 
a rent to be levied from the current year on all 



Papers on Malay subsfects. 



lands used for agricultural purposes and which he 
proposed to place at 40 cents an orlong for wet 
padi and 25 cents an orlong for dry padi lands ; 

{b) The tariff of import and export duties ; 

(c) The propriety of granting leases of lands for agri- 
cultural and mining purposes and the terms on 
which this might be done ; 
[d) A modification of the position ajid emoluments of 
the Penghulus and Chiefs throughout the country 
in connection with a proposed reduction in the 
numbers and expense of the Police Force ; 

{e) The propriety of farming the collection of the customs 
duties at the ports of Matang, Durian S'Batan^ 
(including Bernam) and Selama ; 
(/) The exceptional position of the district of Selama in 
regard to the customs tariff. 

4. A draft proclamation, including 10 clauses, proposing the 
establishment of the head tax and the land rent in lieu of all 
forced labour, forced trade and other irregular imposts heretofore 
exacted by the Chiefs of Perak, and providing for the collection of 
these taxes by the Penghulus and for their remuneration and for 
enforcing payment, was then read and the clauses considered 
seriatim^ with a view to their being fully understood, the decision 
upon them being deferred to a future meeting of the Council. 

5. The tariff of import and export duties at present in force 
was taken into consideration. 

6. The Raja Muda said that he should like, if he could see 
his way to it without running too much risk, to abolish the duties 
at present collected on rice, salt, gambier, manufactured goods, 
tea, sugar, coffee and other articles and raise the import revenue 
from three articles only — namely, spirits, opium and tobacco. 

The rates at present charged on these three articles were : 

Spirits, per dozen, case $1 

Opium, per ball 4 

Tobacco, per kati, various ... i to $5 in different 

ports 
He thought that the duty on spirits and tobacco might remain as 
at present at Matang where tobacco is §1 per pikul, but that on 
opium he should like to reduce to one half its present rate to 
bring it into uniformity with a neighbouring State, and so modify 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 



the present loss of revenue which took place from smuggling 
and prevent injurious competition. 

7. The proposition was favourably received by the Council, 
decision upon it agreed to be taken at the next meeting. 

8. The Resident then proposed to the Council that export 
duties should in future be collected only on tin and gutta^.all 
jungle produce paying a royalty of 10 per cent, ad valorem. 

The duty on tin at present is $10 a bhara, which is the lowest 
rate at which duty is collected in the neighbouring State of 
Selangor to which it is considered desirous to approximate the 
duties charged in Perak, while in one district of Klang the rate, 
including royalty and internal impost, is as high as $13.50 
per bhara. 

The present proposition for Perak is that all mines on the 

fmblic lands should pay a royalty of $2 a bhara on the tin raised 
rom them, this being obvjously preferable to an increase of 
dut)' at the port of shipment, as the latter course would place tin 
worked from mines on private property at a disadvantage as 
compared with those belonging to the State, were the proprietors 
of the one to charge a royalty which on tin from the State's 
mines would be included in the duty. 

Such an arrangement would raise the duty paid by the tin to 
$12 a bhara or $4 a pikul, but the State it is calculated would be 
thus enabled to bear the loss of revenue on the opium which 
would be at first about $25,000 per annum and would have the 
great advantage of bringing our duties into a near equality with 
those of Selangor. 

9. That part of the proposition relating to the tin duties was 
much discussed and the decision deferred to the next meeting 
of the Council. 

10. The question of the terms on which lands are to be 
granted was then introduced. 

The Resident explained on the part of the Government that 
the provision contained in the proclamation previously con- 
sidered was only a temporary expedient proposed in order to 
secure the collection of revenue on lands cultivated during this 
year, and that the Government would not be ready to submit 
land rules of general application for all classes of land in the 
State until perhaps well on in the following year. 

In the meantime, a letter which had been written by the 
Resident to Mr. Gray of Penang in answer to an application for 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



land, and a copy of a grant of reserve which had been made in 
favour of the Manila Yengarie Company, were laid on the Council 
table in order to prove that the tendencies of the Government 
were to offer very liberal terms to capitalists with bond fide 
intentions of cultivation, but to discourage the purchase and sale 
of land for merely speculative purposes. The opinions of mem- 
bers of the Council were invited. 

11. The Chinese members immediately demanded the con- 
cession of leases for mining property, saying that the possession 
of such would enable them to raise capital and be a guarantee 
for the security of money which might be expended in plant 
and machinery. 

The Raja Muda said he had no objection to grant leases pro- 
vided he knew exactly what would be acceptable and suitable 
provisions to be included in them, the subject presented difficul- 
ties which although they had received the anxious attention of 
the Government had not yet been quite cleared up. He was 
willing to grant leases for 2 1 years on condition that a royalty of 
$2 a bhara should be paid to Government and that the mine 
should revert if it remained unworked for one year. 

The Chinese members said that the royalty question was a 
difficulty and had been before discussed, they also wished to be 
able to obtain grants of 100 orlongs. 

The Raja Muda said he had no objection to give grants for 
100 orlongs under proper arrangements for securing the working 
of the mines — the $2 a bhara was only a question of whether it 
should be collected as a duty or a royalty, he preferred a royalty 
secured on the lease of the mines, the duty might at any time 
be increased or lowered. Some mines belong^ing to the State at 
Chemorand Batang Padang, w^orked by Chinese, had before, up to 
a few weeks, been paying a royalty of $5 a bhara in addition 
to the duty at the export port. 

12. Capitans Ah Yam and Ah Kwee said they would con- 
sider the subject and discuss it further to-morrow. 

13. The next subject introduced was as to the propriety of 
attempting by securing the services of the best men possible as 
Penghulus, to pay salaries to the most influential of them, and by 
supporting their authority make them in a great measure res- 
ponsible for the peace of the country, and so enable the Govern- 
ment to reduce the Police Force from its present strength of 
600 by perhaps 150 men during next year. Opinions of the 
Council were requested as to whether this would be a safe policy 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 



in the present state of the country and desirable from other points 
of view. 

14. The Council unanimously approved of the suggestion as 
likely to be more efficient and more economical than the main- 
tenance of the present large Police Force, the organisation and 
qualifications of which leave at present much to be desired. 

15. The Raja Muda said there was at present a great and 
increasing falling off in the collection of the customs revenue at 
the mouth of the Perak river, part of which was believed to be 
attributable to the facilities afforded to smugglers by the numer- 
ous creeks and rivers of the coast, the establishment for the 
collection of customs is very costly, and it was thought that the 
State might be relieved of a considerable expenditure on this 
account, both at the Kuala Perak and at Matang, and the 
preventive service be more efficiently performed by a Chinese 
Farmer ; opinions of the Council were requested on the principle 
and also as to whether it should be extended to the revenues of 
all imports and exports or whether it would be desirable to 
except "tin" from the farm. 

16. The Council unanimously affirmed the principle, but did 
not decide as to the question of excluding the collection of the 
customs duty on tin from the farm. 

17. The claims of Che Karim to be treated exceptionally in 
the matter of duties leviable at Selama were discussed, copies of 
grants under which he claims being laid on the table. The 
Council is of opinion that it is impolitic to permit such a wide 
departure as that claimed by Che Karim under the letter of Ex- 
Sultan Abdullah, dated the isth May, 1874, and that a new 
and equitable arrangement with Che Karim should be sought. 
Captain Speedy suggested that the concession of Ex-Sultan 
Abdullah might be liable to the objection that it was granted 
for territories which were included in the grants of former 
Sultans to the Mentri at Larut, and that Che Karim originally 
opened the country for the Mentri and as his Agent, and that 
the Mentri assented to these claims, Ex-Sultan Abdullah also 
wrote a subsequent letter inconsistent with that above referred 
to, and the whole thing was complicated by the action of Sir 
Andrew Clarke, who (under the impression that the territory 
would pass to the British Government) had altogether abrogated 
the concession of Ex-Sultan Abdullah and had contemplated 
and given instructions for another to be entered into, under 
which a considerable sum had been paid into the treasury of 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



the Straits Settlements as duty on tin raised during the three 
years for which Sultan Abdullah's agreement provided that it 
should be exported free of charge. 

It was explained that this money had been since credited to 
the Government of Perak, but that no record was available of 
the reasons which had induced Sir Andrew Clarke to take this 
view nor of those which had brought Krani Karim to accept it, 
the business having been conducted in personal interviews. 



(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



Tuesday, nth September, /<?77. 

Present : 
H.B.M's. Resident (Mr. HUGH Low). 
Assistant Resident (Captain Speedy). 
Raja Dris. 

Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
H.H. Raja Muda YUSUF. 
Che Karim of Selama. 
• •«• .••*• 

2. The first point in the Raja Muda's proposals was con- 
sidered. Capitan Ah Yam explains that it would be very unpopu- 
lar with the Chinese, who at present pay the principal revenues of 
the country, and proposes to substitute a Pork Farm which would 
be more productive, and if properly regulated unobjectionable. 
A proposition was lately made to the Resident in this direction, 
the speculators offering to supply good pork at a cheaper rate 
than it is at present sold : it would bear a rate of 20 cents a kati, 
it is at present for the best pork 22 cents per lb. Capitan Ah 
Kwee strongly recommended the same course and advised 
that buffaloes and other cattle should be included; the farm would 
probably produce $500 a month. 

3. The Council are in favour of this proposition and all agree 
to il in principle, but the Resident states that having recently 
taken off the tax on pork it will require full consideration before 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 



re-establishing it, though the fact of its having been recently 
relieved of the duty without any corresponding reduction in price 
having taken place, and consequently without any advantage to 
the coolies, is in favour of the creation of the farm. The Resident 
agrees with the Council and will support before the Government 
the policy of exempting the Chinese from the head tax. 

The proclamation modified so as to exclude the collection of 
the tax from the Chinese residents was then agreed to. 

4. Customs duties on imports were then discussed. 

It was agreed unanimously to recommend from the ist 
January, 1878, the abolition of all duties on imports except on 
the articles as under : 

Spirits of all kinds ... $1 per dozen bottles 

Tobacco of all kinds ... 1.50 per pikul 

Opium 2 each ball or $80 per chest 

5. The customs duties to be charged on exports for 1878, it 
was unanimously agreed should be as follows: 

Gutta $ 3 per pikul 

Tin ... ... ... ... 10 per bhara 

Perak tin exported from Matang $8.20, all jungle produce or 
metals other than tin and ores of tin to pay a royalty of 10 per cent. 
Tin-ore it is recommended .should "be forbidden to be exported, 
but should be ordered to be smelted in the country. 

6. The subject of leases for agricultural and mining purposes 
was then considered. 

The Council agreed to recommend the adoption of leases on 
a liberal scale to capitalists desirous of making extensive bond 
Jide investments in agricultural operations, and approved of the 
suggestions contained in the Resident's letter to Mr. Gray. 

With regard to padi lands it was agreed that the permanent 
regulations for these could stand over for the present, the rent 
for the current year being collected under the Raja Muda's 
proclamation. 

With regard to mines it was recommended to grant leases 
for 21 years, subject to a royalty of %2 a bhara ** asil tanah," 
and subject to a proviso that Government has the right of 
re-entry on failure for one year to work, or to continue to work^ 
the mines. All mines to be worked under such leases. 

It was unanimously agreed to recommend the adoption of a 
rule by which notice should be given to the persons who claimed 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



to be interested in abandoned mines, to the effect that they 
must re-open them within six months from the date of notice or 
the rights under which they had held them would be forfeited to 
Government, which might then grant the mines to other appli- 
cants free of all claims from former adventurers or advancers. 

7. The decision of yesterday in reference to the principle of 
introducing a system of partly paid Penghulus with a view to the 
reduction of the Police Force was re-affirmed. 

8. The principle of farming the collection of the revenues 
was unanimously re-affirmed and the Chinese members of the 
Council strongly recommended that the export revenue on tin 
should be included, stating that it would probably conduce to the 
advent of large capitalists who would in all probability, invest 
in other enterprises in the country. 

9. The Council had nothing to add on the Selama business 
to what was agreed upon yesterday, that in principle it was 
impolitic to permit the variation of duties at present existing in 
favour of that district, and that an equitable arrangement should 
be endeavoured to be arrived at which would permit of the intro- 
duction of the general Perak tariff into the province of Selama. 



4th February, 18^8. 
The meeting of Council was summoned on the 3rd of January 
for the 1st Saffar (4th February), all the principal men of the 
villages on the Perak river as far as Bota having been requested 
to attend in order that proper persons might be selected for 
appointment as Penghulus over the different districts. 

Present : 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 

H.H. the Raja Muda sent word by Raja Dris to say he was 
indisposed and could not attend. 



The Chinese members were not summoned as it is their 
New Year and as the proceedings concerned only the 
Malay population. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 



The Commission proposed to be used in the appointment of 
the Penghulus by the Raja Muda, with the advice of the Resident, 
is then read and explained to them. 

They were then asked if they agreed to the powers and 
penalties enumerated in these. 

They were then invited to state anything relating to the 
proposed measure which might be in their minds. 

They asked if they were to be charged " asil klamin " 
and were told that it was not intended, at all events at present, 
to collect this tax. 

They were asked if their people would pay a land tax 
or rent of 40 cents per acre for bendang and 25 cents for 
ladang, or whether they would prefer the system of " Krah " 
hitherto in force. 

They all answered that they would pay the land tax, but 
wished the present crop to be free as part of it was already cut ; 
this was agreed to by the Council. 

They asked if they were to collect the tax of one-tenth on 
gutta, rattans, etc., and were told that this would be collected at 
the Kuala. 

The^ asked if they were to pay for gardens of tobacco 
and fruit and other gardens, and were told that they will have to 
pay but the rates were not yet fixed ; these will subsequently be 
made known to them. 

Note, — Here follows a record of various appointments of 
Penghulus, some of whom were asked for by the villagers and 
others confirmed in their existing authority. 



6th February, iSy8. 

Present : 
H.H. the Raja Muda YUSUF. 
H.B.M^s. Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
Note. — This Meeting is entirely concerned with the appoint- 
ment of Penghulus and arrangement of Mukims.^ 

* It is noteworthy that the wishes of the people of the villages were largely 
consulted and that hereditary claims were generally recognised. Some of the 
Penghulns then appointed are in their places to-day (February, 1907). A very 
famous old lady, still alive, Haji Wan Teh Sepiah, was made Penghulu of Ulu 
Knraa. The large mnkim of Saiong, opposite to Kuala Kangsar, was confirmed 
to the family of the Dato Sri Maharaja Lela. — £. W. B. 



10 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

4th May, i8y8. 

Present : 
The Raja Muda YusUF. 
The Resident (Mr. HUGH Low). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong, 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
The Assistant Resident (on duty at Krian). 

The Resident laid upon the Council table two petitions from 
certain Chinese, including Capitan Ah Yam, to His Excellency 
the Governor (Sir W. F. C. Robinson), praying for consideration 
of a claim for $190,000, being half an amount expended by them 
at the request of the Raja Muda Abdullah in Larut during the 
troubles, under an agreement for repayment out of the revenues 
of Larut. 

The above-named petitions were minuted for consideration by 
the Council of State by the Governor on the 22nd April last. 

The Resident, at the desire of the Raja Muda Yusuf, then read 
the whole correspondence in Malay. 

After a full discussion of the matter referred for the opinion 
of the Council, the members. Raja Dris and Chan Ah Yam, having 
special knowledge of the circumstances, the opinion of each 
member, beginning with the youngest, is taken down in writing 
and signed. 

Chan Ah Yam says: that the Raja Abdullah not being Sultan 
at the time this debt was contracted could not bind the rulers of 
the country, and it ought not to be paid from its finances, but 
that the petitioners may justly claim repayment from any private 
property of Sultan Abdullah. 

Capitan Ah Kwee is of the same opinion. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong says: I think that as the 
Towkay Chin Ah Yam is one of the petitioners, and was present 
and knows all the circumstances, we cannot do better than accept 
his opinion in which I concur. 

Raja Dris says: this claim is founded on an agreement 
made while the country was convulsed by civil war, neither the 
Sultan nor the Raja Muda were fully acknowledged, and the 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, II 



Chinese were fighting against each other, and both the Raja 
Abdullah and the Chinese who were parties to the agreement 
were in the wrong; the Sultan himself, if there were a fully 
acknowledged one, could not have bound the country to such an 
agreement except with the consent of his principal Chiefs, there 
is no case for enquiry, though much can be said against the claim 
if necessary. 

The Resident : there is very little before the Council on 
which to form an opinion, but the allegations in the petition 
seem to be sufficient to support the view that there is no case 
for enquiry. At the time the advances are stated to have been 
made, the Mentri of Perak, Che Ngah Ibrahim bin Jaffar, was the 
Governor of Larut, under the fullest powers from former and 
undoubted Sultans, and it was not competent, in view of the 
concessions he held, for the Raja Muda Abdullah legally to 
disturb his authority. 

The Raja Muda Yusuf says it would not be proper to hold 
any enquiry, both parties to the agreement were acting illegally 
and against all Malay notions of right. 

The above opinions were written and signed at the Council 
Board. 

The opinion of the Council is then declared to be that the 
revenues of Perak cannot be rendered liable under such an 
agreement as is described in the petition, the agreement having 
been made by both parties to it without any authority of the 
State and that there is no case for enquiry. 



Wednesday, 26th June, iS/8. 

Present: 
H.H. the Raja Muda YusUF. 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. Maxwell). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Chan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

The Governor's Letters Nos. 2135/78 of 3rd May and 2978/78 
of 14th June were laid upon the table and read to the Council. 



12 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

The Resident explained that he had not previously been able 
to submit these directions in consequence of his absence from 
Kuala Kangsar. 

The Council had some hesitation as to the extent to which its 
opinion' was desired, whether only as to the appointments of the 
Assistant Resident and Raja Dris to sit on the Commission, or 
as to the points for enquiry before the Commissioners. 

The Council discussed the first point and unanimously 
approved of the appointment of the two gentlemen named to sit 
in the proposed Commission to enquire into and report upon the 
debts of the Ex-Mentri of I^rut. 

The Raja Muda Yusuf said that the Mentri's conduct had 
been ruinous to the country, and he professed himself unable to 
understand on what principle his creditors could claim to have 
their debts paid by the State. 

The point was fully discussed, and the Resident gave the three 
following reasons, which in his opinion combine in favour of the 
enquiry into, and settlement of^ such claims as may be found to 
have been contracted by the Mentri in his capacity as Governor 
of Larut : 

(i) The Mentri was justified by his *' Kuasas" in incurring 
liabilities on account of the district ; 

(ii) The Pangkor engagement supports the principle on 
which the Chinese claims are based ; 

(iii) Government has recognised the principle by the 
appointment of a previous Commission. 

The Raja Muda asks how the first of these rules would be 
affected if claims against other Rajas should be brought forward, 
or if one Raja should be found to have granted conflicting 
privileges. The diflRculty suggested, the Resident said, could 
not arise under regular Governments, and the Assistant Resident 
added that this cannot lead to any difficulty as the enquiry now 
under consideration was one which had been guaranteed by the 
British authorities. 

The Raja Muda, Raja Dris and the Orang Kaya Temeng- 
gong state that the Governor's letter defining the duty of the 
Commission as " to enquire and to report," they are of opinion 
that the Commission may be appointed. The other members 
consider that the Commission should proceed in the enquiry 
and report with as little delay as possible. 



COUNCIL MINUTES J PERAK. 13 

The Resident laid before the Council and read the letter of 
His Excellency the Governor directing the question of the Kedah 
boundary to be submitted to the Council. 

The Resident reminded the Raja Muda and informed the 
Council that information had been collected towards the end of 
last year on this subject, which was embodied in the Resident's 
report to His Excellency of the 31st December, 1877. 

The Raja Muda says that there is no doubt that the territory 
between the Selama and Ulu Krian rivers belongs to Perak and has 
been acknowledged as such by Kedah. In all documents the boun- 
dary is stated to be the Krian river, which means the Krian from 
its source to its mouth, and cannot be made to mean the Selama. 

The Assistant Resident produces a letter which he has lately 
received from Krani Karim at Selama, wath a native map of the 
district, in this letter Inche Karim re-asserts that the boundary of 
Perak is the Krian to its source. 

The Raja Muda explains that on a former occasion an officer 
of the Raja of Kedah said to a Penghulu of Perak that the 
Krian only bore that name to its junction with Selama, and that 
the* continuation of the Krian was what Perak calls Selama, and 
that what the Perak people call the Krian is the Dingin, but the 
Panglima Besar knows the country and its history and he can 
be introduced if the Council wish it. 

Panglima Besar and Krani Abdullah, a former officer resident 
in Krian, to be ordered to attend to-morrow. 

The Assistant Resident refers to correspondence in the Blue 
Book, C. 1505, pp. 2 and 4, where this question is referred to, 
Governor Sir William Jervois not supporting the claim of Kedah. 
The Assistant Resident also informs the Council that in 1876 he 
questioned Sultan Abdullah at Kuala Kangsar on the subject of 
this boundary, and that the letter declared the Krian to be the 
boundary, disposing of the Kedah argument (that the Selama 
river is so called because it has been the boundary " dari salama- 
lama," from time immemorial) by saying that Selama ought 
properly to be spelt *' SalamarP 

The Resident read to the Council the paragraph of the 
Governor's letter No. 2595, relating to the permission to grant 
a pension to the widow of Dato Sagor. 

The Raja Muda says he has never been able to understand 
why rebels or their wives should be pensioned, their crimes 
against the State having been proved. 



14 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

The Resident explains that although he has no information 
of the circumstances under which such payments were ordered 
he thinks it possible that it was considered that the interference 
of Europeans in the affairs of Perak may have been somewhat 
misunderstood by the people, and that it was not the custom of 
civilised nations to visit the sins of the husbands and fathers upon 
their wives and children. 

The Raja Muda said that if it was the opinion of the Govern- 
ment that something ought to be done he would not object. 

Raja Dris proposes $15 a month, assented to by the Dato 
Temenggong, Raja Muda says give her $20, agreed to. 

A letter from Raja Perempuan, the mother of the late 
Sultan Ali and the late Raja Tipah, dated 6th May, 1878, asks 
that part of the monthly allowance of $25 formerly paid to Raja 
Tipah may be granted for the support of her infant grand- 
daughter. 

The Council agrees to increase the Raja Perempuan's 
allowance of $25 to $30 in consideration of her taking care of 
the child of Raja Tipah. 

The Resident then placed before the Council the minute of 
the Colonial Secretary, dated the 2nd May, 1878, desiring the 
Resident to authenticate the signature of the Raja Muda to 
the concession of land to Mr. Tooth. 

The Resident explains that the Raja Muda never having 
previous to this occasion been called upon to sign his name to 
any document within the Resident's knowledge, the latter is 
unfamiliar with the signature. 

The Raja Muda says it is not usual with him to sign his 
name, all documents according to the law of the country being 
sufficiently authenticated if stamped by his chop, but as he was 
told that a signature was required to this document he touched 
the pen while the Raja Dris wrote the name as it now appears 
on the document and he can do no more. 



2jth June, 1878. 

Present : 
H.B.M's. Resident (Mr. HUGH Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. Maxwell), 
Raja Dris. 
The*Orang Kaya Temenggong, 



council minutes, pbrak. 1 5 

Absent : 
H.H. the Raja MUDA. 
Capitan Chan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam and Che Karim. 
• •■•••••• 

2. The Council met to take the evidence of the Datoh 
Panglima Besar in reference to the claims of the Raja of Kedah 
to the land lying between the rivers Ulu Krian and Selama. 

3. The Datoh is called in and his statement taken down by 
Mr. Maxwell. 

4. Krani Abdullah, who was also in attendance, was called in 
and the statement he formerly made to the Resident read over 
in his presence, he said that the information contained in it was 
correct and that he had nothing to add to it ; this statement the 
Resident said had been forwarded to His Excellency the 
Governor in his report on the subject of the claims of the Rajas 
of Kedah, dated the 31st December, 1877. 

Evidence of the Panglima Besar (Mahomed Kas-Asi) — 
In the time of Sultan Jafar I lived in Krian by his order. That 
was about 17 years ago, more or less. Wan Yed came from 
Kedah in those days. He had many followers and a large 
boat. At Bagan Samah he despatched Penghulu Yen and 
Kwi Dorahman to Teloh Ipil (where I then resided) to call 
me. I went up the river with Penghulu Budi, Ngah Gunny, 
Penghulu Ahab and others; at Bagan Samah we went to the 
"balai*' of Penghulu Yen and had there an interview with 
Wan Yed. He said that he was commanded by the Yang Di 
Per Tuan of Kedah to ascertain the boundary at Ulu Krian. 
I then replied, " As to ascending the river, Wan Yed. it is difficult 
for me to do so, as I have no command from the Yang Di Per 
Tuan of Perak." He replied, " Well, if you cannot go, I must go 
alone, " and I said, " Pray do so, Wan,'* I returned to my place and 
he went up the river. Six days afterwards he came down the river 
in the same large boat in which he had come from Kedah. There 
was then an English guard-boat lying off ** Kapala Datas " (the 
end of the old road which used to come down to the river-bank 
below Victoria Estate). She had two masts and eight or nine 
oars on each side. She w^as called ** Fire." Wan Yed's boat 
went alongside and moored there. He then sent two men in a 
small boat to summon me, saying that he was on his return 
to Kedah. 1 went across the river and found hin^ on board 
the " Fire.'* Mr. Robertson was there and so were Inspectors 



1 6 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



Phillip Jeremiah and Magness. I sat there and conversed. 
Wan Yed pulled out a paper and said, " I have been up the 
river and have measured the rivers at the place where they 
divide. One is called * Selama ' and the other is called * DinginJ " 
He pointed them out on the paper, which was a plan that he had 
made up the river. I said, " How is it, Wan, that this river is 
called by three names ? On the lower part of it it is called Krian : 
why should the Krian be known by another name?" He 
answered, " Selama is a Semang not a Malay word and it 
signifies * boundary.'*' I said, " If that is so, Wan, why does not 
the name extend to the sea seeing that the river is the boundary 
in its whole length?" Mr. Robertson said, ** What the Panglima 
Besar says is extremely just." After that we returned to Kedah. 
Before this I had been in charge of the Krian district by 
Sultan Jaffar's orders, and both before and after Wan Yed's visit 
received from a Penang Chinaman called Koon Chee and his son, 
Choo Ah Soo, who lived in a street called " Pintu Sapuloh." near 
the Malay mosque, sums of money amounting in all to $800 or 
thereabouts. This I remitted from time to time to Sultan JaflFar 
as the revenue of the country lying between the Krian and 
Selama. The Chinese paid it on account of timber for sawing 
into planks, I collected the duty at Teloh Ipil and charged 40 or 
50 cents per log if squared. If not squared the duty was 25 cents. 
I'here was a certain Haji Dutam, a Kedah raiat, who came to the 
Panglima Bukit Gantang at Sungei Limau about 20 years 
ago and asked permission to settle at Selama to establish mines, 
etc. The Datoh gave the required permission. He gave 
a written paper. Haji Dutam settled at Selama, and it was never 
said by people that he lived in a Kedah district or was under 
Kedah authority. _^ 

Thursday, jfk September, iS'jS, 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja Yusuf). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
Raja Dris. 
The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 

Absent : 
The Assistant Resident (on duty in Province Wellesfley). 

Capitan Chang Ah Kwee 1 ^ . • j 
Chan Ah Yam | not yet arrived. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 1 7 

1. The Resident laid upon the table and read a letter from the 
Colonial Secretary, enclosing by direction of H.E. the Governor 
a letter from Mr. A. G. Studer, United States Consul at 
Singapore, containing information relative to the cultivation and 
preparation as food of indian corn. 

The thanks of the Council were ordered to be returned to 
His Excellency the Governor and to Mr- Studer for this interest- 
ing and valuable communication. 

The Council unanimously formed a resolution that His Excel- 
lency should be requested further to aid the State by asking 
Mr. Studer to order for it from America an iron mill for grinding 
indian corn of such a size as could be worked by a buffalo, 
together with sieves, corn sheller, etc., quite complete, and 2 or 3 
pikuls of the seeds of each kind of corn, etc., recommended by 
him for cultivation in this State. 

2. The attention of the Council having been directed to the 
frequency of night robberies in the various kampongs and to the 
recent desecration of a grave a>^Bandar Bahru, and to the fact 
that many Penghulus had askj^thata measure might be passed 
ordering all persons out af night to carry a light after nine 
o'clock, the following notice, which is in accordance with Malay 
law, is unanimously adopted : 

** It is hereby notified that any person who may have occasion 
to move about in villages or kampongs at night after nine 
o'clock must carry a torch or other light, failing to do so they 
may be arrested and taken before the Penghulu or chief of the 
village or district, and be fined any. amount not exceeding 
§6.25. 

*' A gun will be fired at nine o'clock at such stations as are 
provided with artillery,- and the Penghulus of villages are directed 
at nine o'clock to make known the time by beat of gong or 
taboh. 

" Persons attempting to enter houses at night for unlawful pur- 
poses should, if possible, be arrested, and should they be wounded, 
or even killed in default of arrest being possible, the persons 
defending their houses will be held blameless, but a report of the 
attempt and its consequences must immediately be made to the 
Chief Officer of the district, who will cause an enquiry into the 
circumstances to be made.'' 

3. The Resident brought to the notice of the Council an 
application which had been made by Che Karim of Selama for 



1 8 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

money to purchase an engine to help him to drain his mines, his 
water-course having been destroyed by the heavy rains. 

As Mr. Maxwell is expected to visit Selama before he 
returns from the duty on which he is now engaged, this matter is 
ordered to stand over till he is able to be present in Council. 

4. The question of secret societies, and the course it will be 
proper to take in regard to them, is also ordered to stand over, 
the letter of his Excellency the Governor having been sent to 
Krian for Mr. Denison's information and not yet returned. 

5. The conduct of Raja Mahomed Ali, in oppressing the 
Sakais of his district at Chendariang, is brought before the 
Council by the Resident. 

The Raja Muda says his son Raja Mahomed Jam has just 
returned from there and says the chief people of the place have 
some difficulties amongst themselves which they are coming to 
Kuala Kangsar to have settled, and the treatment of the Sakais 
can then be regulated and a notice published. 



Friday, 6th September, j8y8. 

Present : 
The Regent (Raja Yusuf). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent: 
The Assistant Resident (on duty in Trans-Krian, Province 

Wellesley). 
The Resident laid upon the table a letter lately received from 
the Colonial Secretary containing remarks by the Attorney- 
General of the Straits Settlements on the ** Kuasa" in use for 
the guidance of Penghulus. 

The " Kuasa *' is read over by the Resident in Malay, para- 
graph by paragraph, as also the learned Attorney-Generars 
remarks, and the Council are of opinion that the state of society 
in Perak has not yet reached the point at which it would be 
advisable to define more particularly the offences which may 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 19 



arise under the " Kuasa *' as recommended by the Attorney- 
General, and that the form of " Kuasa *' be continued for the 
present. 

The chief court of Kuala Kangsar administers, as far as it 
will go, the law of the country, and this law, though unwritten, 
is very generally understood and appears to differ little from the 
Code of Laws formerly in force in great Malay Kingdoms. 

The Raja Muda Yusuf suggests that it will be a good plan 
to appoint one or two Chief Officers whose duty it will be to visit 
the different districts of the country and ascertain and report to 
Government the manner in which the Penghulus are performing 
their duties, which view is unanimously concurred in by the 
Council. 

A good deal must, in the opinion of the Council, for the next 
few years, be left to the Judges of the High Court which has 
power to revise all sentences and judgments. 

A memorandum for the guidance of Penghulus, drawn up by 
the Resident and dated 5th September, 1878, is adopted by the 
Council and ordered to be brought into use. 



*' Regulations by h.h. the regent in council for the 

GUIDANCE of PENGHULUS AND OFFICERS IN CHARGE OF 
THE COLLECTION OF CUSTOMS AND OTHERS AS TO THE 
MANNER IN WHICH THE PERCENTAGE DUE TO THE CHIEFS 
OF DISTRICTS ON REVENUES DERIVED THEREFROM MAY 
BE COLLECTED AND RECOVERED. 

"i. Tin produced from all lands belonging to the Govern- 
ment will pay duty in accordance with the rates in force at the 
customs house of the district. 

*' 2. Owners of mines which are private property shall be 
entitled to a drawback of $2 per bhara as ' asil tanah' or royalty on 
the tin produced from such mines, but the tin must pay at the cus- 
toms house the full export duty and royalty chargeable at the time. 

** 3. The Penghulus will be entitled to receive from the custom 
house or treasury of the district 10 per cent, on the amount 
of ducy collected on tin from their district, except that which 
being derived from private property is charged with $2 as * asil 
tanah ' to the owners ; on the tin from such mines the Penghulu 
will derive no profit except in cases where he is also the owner, 
when he will be entitled to his $2 a bhara royalty. 



20 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

*' 4. In order to enable the Penghulus' percentage and the 'asil 
tanah' of owners to be easily recovered from the custom house 
collecting it, it will be necessary for every consignment sent down 
the river to be accompanied by a certificate of its origin and of 
the quantity sent down, and the name of the person to whom the 
royalty or percentage may be due. 

** 5. This certificate must be signed and chopped by the 
Penghulu of the district, who must keep a copy of it, and when it 
arrives at the port of shipment the same particulars must be 
entered in a Book of Account to be kept there, and the certi- 
ficates retained as vouchers. The account may be adjusted in 
any way or at any time that may be most convenient to the 
Penghulu or exporter by the officer of customs, under the written 
order of the Chief Officer of the district paying over the amount 
to which either may be entitled. 

"6. Any responsible person may open a new mine after 
having got the permission of the Chief Officer of his district 
by whom the particulars must be registered in a book to be kept 
for the purpose, and a lease or license will be granted, the 
Penghulu's written notice being kept as a supporting voucher. 

"7. Salaried Penghulus will also be entitled to recover 10 
per cent, on all other revenue produced by their districts, and 
unsalaried Penghulus will be allowed 20 per cent, on all revenue 
collected by their means, but the gross collections must in all 
cases be paid into the treasury of the district from which the 
commission due to the Penghulus will be afterwards issued. 

** 8. Any person attempting to commit fraud upon the 
revenue by passing, or attemptmg to pass, tin or other articles 
under a chop other than that of the mine or district from which 
the tin or other articles have been produced, or under a false certi- 
ficate of origin, shall be subject to a penalty not exceeding $1,000, 
and all articles so attempted to be fraudulently passed shall be 
forfeited, and in default of payment of the penalty the person 
convicted may be sentenced to three years* imprisonment with 
hard labour. 

** 9. Any portion of fines recovered under this Regulation not 
exceeding one half may be given to the informer." 



In reference to the letter from the Colonial Secretary of the 
2 1 st June, 3 1 74/78, enclosing correspondence between the Colonial 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAIC, 2l 



Office and some gentlemen in London relative to a proposed 
mission by Mr. T. N. Christie to proceed to Perak with a view 
to ascertain the capability of the country for agricultural industry, 
and to the two letters from Mr. T. N. Christie of the 31st 
August, 1878, now laid on the table by the Resident, asking for 
a grant of 10,000 acres of forest land for the purposes of coffee 
and other cultivation on certain terms, and the second asking 
for a grant of 1,000 acres of similar land for Mr. Christie himself, 
H.H. the Raja Muda and the Council unanimously are of 
opinion that the terms offered may be accepted and the con- 
cession granted on the proposed terms, with the additional 
proviso that all expenses of survey and demarcation be defrayed 
by Mr. Christie. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



24th October, 1878. 
Present : 



Raja Dris, President, 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
TTie Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan China Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan China CHAN Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
The Raja Muda YusUF, Regent, from sickness in his family. 

1. The Resident states that His Highness the Recent and 
himself having been engaged for several days in the trial of six 
Malays for the murder of two Chinese charcoal burners at 
Sungei Cheh, on Gunong Bubu, on the ist June last, and having 
considered the three persons named Che Mat, Ubah and Mahasih 
to have been guilty with others in the murder, sentenced them 
to death in the Court at Taiping on the 14th day of October, 
1878, but have suspended the execution of the sentence in order 
that the evidence might be submitted to the Council for confir- 
mation. 

2. The voluminous evidence taken in the Court is then laid 
on the table, and chief points in the statement of each witness 
is considered and explained where necessary by the Resident. 



2i PApEki ON Malay subjects. 



3. The judgment of the Court is confirmed and ordered to 
be carried out. 

4. The execution to take place in the neighbourhood of Bukit 
Gantang. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 
Clerk of CounctL 

25th October, 1878. 

Present : 
Raja Dris, President. 
The Resident (Mr. HUGH Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. MAXWELL). 
The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan China Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan China Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent: 
The Raja Muda YUSUF, Regent, from sickness in his family. 

3. The Resident laid on the table the letter of the Colonial 
Secretary, dated the 4th September, 1878, No. 4,979/78, contain- 
ing the opinions and advice of His Excellency the Governor and 
the Council of the, Straits Settlements as to the propriety of 
re-considering whether some limit of time ought not to be insisted 
on even in ** pioneer" grants of land within w^hich a bond Jide 
commencement of operations should take place. 

4. The Resident laid on the table an application dated i8th 
September, from William Handyside, Jr., Esq., for 5,000 acres of 
waste land in the Kinta coffee districts to be granted on the 
same terms as contained in the application of Mr. Christie. 

5. The Resident also laid on the table an application dated 
24th October for 10,000 acres of land in three blocks suitable for 
the cultivation of sugar, tea, coffee and other products, from 
Leonard Wray, Esq., as attorney for the Penang Plantations 
Company, also an application from the son of the same gentle- 
man, Mr. Cecil Wray, for 10,000 acres for similar purposes. 

6. The Council are unanimously of opinion that the reply to 
the applicants for waste land should include a proviso that the 
bond fide commencement of cultivation should take place within 
18 months from the dale of notification to the applicants that 
the concession will be granted. 



Council h^wVTBSj P^kAk. 2^ 

7. The Council are of opinion that 4,000 acres of land may 
be granted to Mr. Handyside ; 6,000 acres to the Penang 
Plantations Company and 6,000 acres to Mr. Cecil Wray, and 
that the question of the reserve of half a mile round expensive 
sugar factories and machinery must be considered by the 
Government when the position of the lands selected is decided 
upon, and will be granted for such term as the machinery may be 
in use when such selection is not known to contain metalliferous 
deposits. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

C/erk of Council. 

Wednesday, i8th December , 187S, 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja YUSUF). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. MAXWELL). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 

Absent : 
Capitan Ah Yam, detained by business. 

2. The Resident laid on the table the statements of the wit- 
nesses and record of the trial before Raja Dris, the Assistant 
Resident and the Orang Kaya Temenggong of (i) Megat Hitam, 
(2) Ismail, (3) Alang Adam and (4) Khatib AH, for the murder 
of one Alang Sahat at Kuala Dal, on the night of the 15th 
October, 1878. 

3. The Council carefully considered the evidence against 
Alang Adam, who had been sentenced to death by the Court, and 
the members of the Council gave their opinions as follows : 

Capitan Ah Kwee and the Orang Kaya Temenggong for 
confirmation of the sentence. 

Raja Dris said that though there was no doubt in his mind 
that the convict was guilty of instigating the murder, he should 
be glad if imprisonment for life should be thought appropriate, 
as in that case the whole truth might subsequently come out. 



24 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 

The Assistant Resident said that the conviction was in his 
opinion justified by the evidence, but as this was not of a direct 
character, though he was prepared to sanction the punishment 
of death, he should be glad if the Council would adopt some 
punishment which came short of it. The Assistant Resident 
mentioned, which does not appear in the evidence, that the hands 
of the convict are maimed, which may further account for his 
having procured others to commit the crime. 

The Resident said he thought that there being no witnesses 
to the fact of the convict having ordered the murder wqs of 
little consequence. The prisoner must be either guilty or not 
guilty, and no one doubted that Alang Adam had instigated the 
crime. The case was strong, and he thought in the present 
circumstances of Perak that the sentence against Alang Adam 
should be carried out. 

The Raja Muda agreed with the Resident, but he thinks that 
proceedings ought to be taken against Toh Lenggang as an 
accessory before the fact. 

The sentence of the Court is then confirmed and ordered to 
be carried out. 

The Resident submitted to the Council a letter from Mr. 
Handyside remonstrating against his application for 5,000 
acres of land being reduced to 4,000 acres. H.H. the President 
and Council agreed to let Mr. Handyside as a first explorer have 
the full quantity of 5,000 acres for which he had applied. 

A letter was read, dated the 15th Shawal, from Wan Hitam, 
the Governor of Tarum and Bitong, under Raja Reman of Petani, 
asking if the duties on tin and opium could be somewhat 
reduced from what they were in former times under the Malay 
Raja and below those charged on exports through Kedah, as in 
that case he would send all his tin and other produce down the 
Perak river. 

The Regent and Council agree that an answer shall be sent 
to the letter offering to let Petani tin pass at $4 a bhara duty, the 
charge on opium remaining as at present. It is thought that 
although it may not be quite true that the former charge under 
the Malay Rajas in Perak, namely $6 a bhara, is heavier than by 
the Kuala Muda route, it will be good policy by liberality to 
foster intercourse with Petani. 

The Resident lays upon the table a letter from the Resident 
of Selangor, in which that officer notifies the seizure in the Ulu 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 25 

Bernam of 20 balls of opium from Perak, which were about 
to be smuggled by one Haji Majid into Pahang, and asks the 
support of the Government of Perak to prevent smuggling into 
Pahang. The Resident asks for the opinion of Council in this 
matter. 

H.H. the Regent says that a trade in opium has always existed 
between Perak and Ulu Pahang, and the Council are of opinion 
that it is highly proper by all reasonable means to cultivate 
friendly relations with H.H. the Raja Bendahara of Pahang, but 
as the Government of Perak has had no communication from the 
Raja Bendahara of Pahang on the subject, and are quite unaware 
of any restrictions being desired to be placed on the trade between 
the Ulu Pahang and Perak, they do not see that at present they 
can take any steps in the matter. 

The Resident of Selangor has not stated by what route the 
opium confiscated passed through Perak, nor whether it bore the 
stamp certifying that duty had been paid in Perak. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



Thursday, igth December , 18^8. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja YusUF). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. MAXWELL). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan CHANG Ah Kwee. 

Absent : 
Capitan Ah Yam, detained by business. 

A petition is read from the inhabitants of Bandar and that 
neighbourhood to have the acting Penghulu, Mahomed Yassim, 
removed. The Raja Muda strongly supports him, and says that 
the petitioners do not allege that he has done any wrong and that 
the petition is got up by a party, at the head of which is a stranger 
named Haji Ismail, that is dividing villages on a religious 
question of the number of times for public prayer in the mosque, 
and wishes to introduce customs unknown formerly in Perak 
against the will of the principal head and religious men in the 



26 PAPEkS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



State. The matter was ordered to be forwarded to the Superin- 
tendent of Lower Perak for report. 



Thursday, 2yth February, i8jg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Raja Muda YusuF, Regent. 
H.B.M^s. Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

1. The Council met pursuant to notice. 

2. The Regent opened the sessions with the following 
remarks : 

'*The Council has been called together on this occasion to 
consider and advise on important business of the State. 

** The first subject for consideration will be the report of the 
Commissioners who in accordance with a resolution of the 
Council lately enquired into the liabilities of the State incurred 
by the former Mentri of Perak in connection with the disturb- 
ances in Larut in 1872 and 1873. 

" The Council is invited to deliberate upon, and advise as to, 
the best methods of dealing with the awards made by the 
Commissioners. 

**The lands of the State have lately attracted considerable 
attention amongst European capitalists and planters, and compe- 
tent opinions have been given as to the suitability of various parts 
of Perak for the cultivation of every description of tropical agricul- 
tural products ; coffee, cinchona and tea it is confidently believed 
may be successfully planted on the higher ranges of mountains ; 
rice, sugar, tapioca and other valuable products on the plains. 

*' Many applications for the terms on which land will be granted 
to persons willing to introduce these industries have been 
received, and it is highly desirable that no further delay in pub- 
lishing them should take place. 

" Special regulations having the encouragement of such under- 
takings in view have been prepared by the Government and will 
be submitted to the Council. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 27 

" General regulations for the grant of State lands and foi 
the registration of titles and security of property in land are 
also much needed, and such will be submitted for the con- 
sideration and advice of the Council. 

"The accounts of revenue and expenditure of the State 
during the past year have now been made up and an abstract 
of them will be laid upon the table for the mformation of the 
Council. 

" It has been considered advisable that in accordance with the 
usual practice in other countries a flag for the State should be 
decided upon and the Council will be asked to decide upon and 
sanction the adoption of a suitable one. 

** The circumstances of the district of Selama have on former 
occasions been under the consideration of the Council of State, 
and the Resident having lately in Krian had interviews on the 
subject with Che Karim, with my sanction an arrangement has 
been come to which it is hoped will encourage the development 
of the resources of the province, and this will be submitted for 
the approval of the Council. 

" Several other points of business of interest and importance 
will be submitted for your consideration and advice. 

" The arrangements for paying salaries to the Chiefs of districts 
and villages, sanctioned by the Council in its session on the 5th 
September last, have been completely carried out, and have 
given rise to feelings of great satisfaction throughout the country 
and to hopes of important results. 

" The harvest now being gathered in is generally of a favour- 
able character, and in some districts the yield is exceptionally 
abundant. 

" The peace of the country has remained undisturbed during 
the whole of last year and the prospects for the future are 
encouraging.*' 

3. The Resident, by desire of the Regent, laid upon the table 
the following papers : 

{a) Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire 
into the liabilitiesof the State of Perak in connection 
with the troubles in Larut ; 
(b) Report by H.B.M's. Asst. Resident of Perak of two 
criminal prosecutions undertaken in Penang at 
the instance of the Government in pursuance of 
the recommendations of the Commissioners; 



28 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



{c) Proposed "Special Regulations" for leasing waste 
land; and correspondence with the Government of 
the Straits Settlements on the subject ; 

[d) Proposed " General Regulations" for demising and 

registering lands in Perak ; 

[e) Abstract of revenue and expenditure of the State 

for the year 1878 ; 
(/) Letter of the Honorable the Colonial Secretary ot the 
Straits Settlements, No. 790/79, containing the 
directions of His Excellency the Governor as to 
the flags of Native States, and as to the distinguish- 
ing flags to be used by Residents when afloat. 

4. The report of the Commissioners was then taken into 
consideration and the various awards examined seriatim, 

5. The resolution, as follows, is then put to the Council by the 
Resident, on the part of His Highness the President, and is 
unanimously agreed to : 

" The Regent in Council is of opinion that the examination of 
the claims has been conducted by the Commissioners in a very 
able, careful and exhaustive manner, that the conclusions arrived 
at amount to a fair and just decision on the difficult points 
referred to their consideration, and adopts the awards made by 
the Commissioners in each instance, except that of Claim XVII, 
which His Highness in Council is of opinion should be thrown 
out. 

** The Regent in Council also agrees with the conclusion of 
the Commissioners that the payment of interest cannot be 
allowed on any of the claims. 

" The Regent in Council also adopts the suggestion of the 
Commissioners that the awards to certain persons for arrears of 
wages — namely, Mr. James Irving, $868 ; Haji Abdul Mutalib, 
$482 ; and Kulup Wahab, §550, should be speedily settled. The 
Regent in Council also authorises the payment of the amount 
awarded to Messrs, Lorrain, Gillespie & Co., $76.50, as being of 
.small amount. 

" The Regent in Council authorises the payment by instal- 
ments from surplus revenues of the balance remaining of the 
sum awarded, in such proportions as may be convenient, and 
directs that after the payments mentioned above, amounting to 
§1,976.50, are disbursed, that an instalment equal to 20 per 
cent, of the remainder be paid during the current year, either at 



COUNCIU MINUTES, PERAK. 2g 

one time or in two equal payments, as in the opinion of the 
Resident the state of the public finances may justify. 

" The Regent in Council entrusts the Resident with the execu- 
tion of this duty, who will present an account in Council showing 
the amounts which may be paid and the balance which may 
remain due at the end of the year 1879. 

" The duty of determining the amounts to be paid under the 
recommendation contained in the remarks on Claim No. VI 
and of paying the same is also put upon the Resident or such 
person as he may think proper to appoint. 

" A written acknowledgment of the amount awarded and due 
to each individual under the hand and seal of the Raja Muda, 
countersigned by the Resident, will be given to each of the State 
creditors, who will only receive payments on account of the 
amount due on production of the document, and payments made 
must be accompanied by an endorsement by the financial officer 
making them." 

6. The Resident remarked that the total amount awarded, as 
stated in the schedule of the report, is $166,753. 88^, but $4,000 
were paid to Chang Ah Kwce (Claim XXI), before the award 
was known, by the Treasury in addition to the $10,000 for which 
the Commissioners have given credit, the total of the schedule 
must therefore be reduced by the amount of $1,969.05 disallowed 
on Claim XVII, when the total due on the whole of the claims 
will be $160,784,834, so that to carry out the resolution a sum of 
$32,738. i6i will be required as under: 

Claims for wages and small claims ... $1,976.50 
Twenty per cent, on $158,808.33^, being 
the balance after deducting small claims 
as above, payment of $4,000 to claim 
XXI and the disallowed amount on 
Claim XVII of $1,969.05 ... ... 30,761. 66^ 



$32,738. i6i 



Exclusive of any payments which may he made under the 
recommendations in the cases under Claim VI. 



(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



30 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

Friday, 28th February, iSyg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Raja Muda YUSUF, Regent. 
H.B.M's. Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

2. The Resident lays on the table a letter from the Colonial 
Secretary, S.S., recommending the payment of $500 to Mr. 
Logan, Solicitor-General, S.S., for his services on the Mentri's 
Debts Commission — agreed to. 

3. The Resident calls attention to the report of the Assistant 
Resident upon the prosecution recently undertaken against one 
Ho Ghi Siew, in the Penang Police Court, and to a letter from the 
Assistant Resident reporting that actions have been commenced 
against him in the Supreme Court, Penang, at the suit of Ho 
Ghi Siew, to recover $15,000 damages for malicious prosecution, 
etc. 

The voluminous documents and evidence bearing upon this 
subject having been carefully considered, the Resident made 
the following remarks : 

" The prosecution was undertaken in pursuance of the recom- 
mendation in Claim II of the Mentri's Debts Commission, and 
after consultation between the Resident and the Solicitor- 
General of the Straits Settlements, who expressed the opinion 
that Ho Ghi Siew could not escape conviction. 

'^ Under these circumstances, and being of opinion that the 
prosecution of some of the principal persons who had attempted 
by false and forged documents to defraud the State, was a just and 
politic act, I, when at Matang, authorised the Assistant Resident 
to go on with two prosecutions, and on my return to Kuala 
Kangsar reported what I had done to H.H. the Regent, who con- 
curred in the propriety of the measures taken. 

" Having since read the report of Mr. Maxwell and the evi- 
dence adduced before the Magistrate I am forced to the conclu- 
sion that the latter ought to have sent up the case for trial. 



COUNCIL U/NUTES, PERAK, 31 

" Mr. Maxwell could not secure the services of any Barrister 
of consideration. The onus of conducting the whole case, 
examining witnesses and arguing points of law fell entirely upon 
him, and it was fortunate that, being a member of the Straits 
Settlements Bar, he was in a position to conduct the case. 

*' It was ably managed by the Assistant Resident, and to the 
last moment it was believed, even by the Counsel for the prisoner, 
that Ho Ghi Siew would be committed for trial. 

" The Government of Perak is under great obligations to the 
Assistant Resident for the zealous, fearless and able manner in 
which he exposed this attempt at criminal fraud." 

4. H.H. the Regent and Council unanimously resolved that 
the prosecution of Ho Ghi Siew and others was highly expedient, 
that the thanks of the Government are due to Mr. Maxwell for 
undertaking it, and that the defence of the actions shall be carried 
on at the expense of the State. 

5. The Resident submits for the 'consideration of H.H. the 
Regent and Council the conditions on which it is proposed that 
State lands in Perak shall be demised to persons desirous of 
commencing agriculture on an extensive scale in the State. Also 
certain correspondence which has passed between H.E. the 
Governor and himself on the subject. 

6. The following Regulations are discussed seriatim and 
unanimously.* 

7. A General Code of Regulations regarding land is then 
read and discussed by the Council and passed with amendments. 



GENERAL REGULATIONS. 

Perak. 
The lands of the State are divided into four classes : 

I. — Waste land (/>., uncleared or abandoned land) avail- 
able for agricultural purposes ; 

II. — Land in the occupation of natives under Malay tenure ; 

III. — Building allotments in towns or villages or on the sides 
of roads, rivers or canals ; 

IV. — Mining reserves. 

* These Begolations are published in the *' Land Laws of Perak " (Maxwell). 



32 papers on malay subjects. 

Class L 

waste land available for agricultural purposes. 

1. The tenure on which lands in Class I may be held is a 
lease for 999 years. 

2. Premium will be payable on the issue of such a lease and 
a quit-rent will be reserved in it, according to the rates in opera- 
tion at the time of issue, which rates will be settled from time to 
time by the Council of State and duly notified to the public. 

3. In all such leases there will be covenants reserving to 
Government : 

(a) The right to all minerals contained within the land 

demised and all necessary facilities for working 
such right ; 

(b) The right to resume for public purposes, such as 

roads, canals, telegraphs, bridges, police and 
revenue stations, etc., such portions of the land as 
may be necessary, on payment of compensation 
for actual damage, the amount of which shall be 
fixed by the Chief Officer in charge of the district, 
subject to appeal to the Council of State ; 

(r) The right to dispose of all timber and other natural 
produce standing on the land ; 

{d) The right to take earth, sand, or stone, or other mater- 
ials for road-making or other public purposes on 
the same terms as in (d) ; 

(e) The right to control all water-courses for irrigation, 
navigation and mining purposes, and for all pur- 
poses of general utility ; 
(/) The right to resume the whole or any part of any 
land held under lease should one-quarter of the 
total area be allowed to remain uncultivated for 
six consecutive years or should the whole of it be 
abandoned for three consecutive years. 

4. Application for a lease of land must be made personally at 
the Land Office or else in writing addressed to the Chief Officer 
in charge of the district. 

5. As soon as the land is allotted, good and permanent land- 
marks, to the satisfaction of the Chief Officer of the district, shall 
be put up and shall be kept in repair at the expense of the 
lessee. 



COUNCIL MJSUTES, PERAlC. 33 



6. The applicant must pay the fees and charges (according 
lo the scale annexed) incidental to the survey of the lands 
demised to or applied for by him ; he must also pay the expenses 
of marking the boundaries and cutting lines and clearing for 
survey. 

7. The quit-rent reserved in such a lease shall be payable 
annually in advance at the Land Office without demand. 

8. In cases where, in consequence of the land not having 
been surveyed or for other reasons, it may be inadvisable to 
issue at once a lease for lands in Class I, a permit for the 
clearing and occupation of such land for one year may issue (to 
be renewed from year to year) on the understanding that the 
permit holder will hold the land subject to the terms and con- 
ditions of the covenants above set out and which will ultimately 
be included in his lease. 

9. Quit-rent at the rate prescribed for the district shall be 
payable by the holder of such permit as if the land were held 
under a lease, but in special cases where it may seem desirable 
to offer peculiar inducements to cultivators, the Chief Officer of 
the district, on the approval of the Government having first 
been obtained, may direct that no quit-rent shall be payable on 
such permit for the first three years. 

10. The foregoing rules are subject to modifications in the 
cases of the first bond Jide introducers of agricultural industries 
into Perak who may obtain special terms from the Government. 

Class II. 

LAND IN THE OCCUPATION OF NATIVES UNDER 
MALAY TENURE. 

11. Every holder of land must take out from the Land Office 
of his district a certificate of his title (Form No. VI.) 

12. All land already occupied must be registered in the Land 
Office where all particulars required in Form No. IX (Register of 
Occupied Lands) must be correctly entered. 

13. Upon the registration of any such holding should the 
claim of the occupant be undisputed, a certificate will be issued 
to him confirmatory of his title to the same. (Form No. VI.) 

Disputes will be dealt with as laid down in Rule No. 27. 

14. The certificate must state the annual payment lo be made 
to Government in respect of quit-rent. 



34 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

15. The certificate shall be in force until the land described 
in it has been surveyed, when a lease for 999 years will be issued 
(Form No. I) in exchange for the certificate, the quit-rent reserved 
therein being the same as that provided by the certificate. The 
lease will be subject to a registration fee of §2. 

Class III. 

BUILDING ALLOTMENTS IN TOWNS, ETC. 

16. The Chief Officer of a district will be empowered from 
time to time to sell building lots in towns or villages or on fore- 
shores or on the sides of roads, rivers, or canals or other lots 
which it may be expedient to reserve from the operation of the 
rules relating to waste lands. 

17. Building lots will be laid out as far as may be practicable 
in lots of 20 feet frontage and 120 feet depth, and the roadway 
reserved will be not less than 40 feet in width, such allotments 
and other reserved lots will be sold at auction, the purchaser on 
payment of the premium bid receiving a lease for 999 years 
subject to annual quit-rent. 

18. As the value of land varies in different districts the upset 
premium and the rate of quit-rent will be fixed by the Council of 
State for each district, from time to time, and will be duly notified 
to the public. 

19. The lease shall be in the annexed form (Form No. II) for 
payment of quit-rent and for recovery of arrears of rent by seizure 
and sale of the demised premises after notice. 

Class IV. 

MINING reserves. 

20. Tracts known to contain metalliferous deposits for which 
no lease or other sufficient title shall have been issued at the 
date on which these rules. shall come into operation shall be 
considered as Government reserves and shall be so defined on 
the maps of the country in the Survey Office. 

21. A license to dig for tin or other metals on land so 
reserved will be granted to any applicant on payment of a fee of 
$2. This license is not transferable and must be renewed annually. 

22. Such license will convey no property in the land, but 
merely permission to remove the metal on payment of a royalty 
of $2 per bhara for tin, or, in the case of any other metal, of 
one-tenth of the produce. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 35 

If the land to which the license is applicable should remain 
unworked for six months in succession it will revert to the State. 

23. Works such as dams, water-courses, conduits, etc., under- 
taken for the purpose of supplying a mine with water power 
will not give the person at whose expense they are constructed 
any right of ownership inconsistent with the foregoing rule. 

24. Such works can be undertaken only with the permission 
of the Government of the country, and the right to the use of 
water so brought down at the miner's expense ceases with the 
abandonment of his mine or mines. 

25. Lots included in mining reserves may be leased under 
the direction of the Council of State for a term of 21 years, 
subject to the conditions stated in the mining lease (Form 
No. XIV) annexed. 

26. Special leases on exceptionally favourable terms may also 
be granted, under the direction of the Council, to persons or 
companies who may undertake to introduce improved systems 
of working mines by the agency of European machinery under 
skilled European superintendence. 

GENERAL REGULATIONS. 

27. A complaint book shall be kept at the office of every 
Collector of Land Revenue, in which, in case of any dispute as 
to the ownership of land, the clerk appointed for the purpose 
will enter the names of the parties and the nature of the com- 
plaint. The Chief Officer of the district will then hear and 
decide the dispute and his decision shall be final. This is 
applicable to agricultural districts only and shall not affect the 
right of any one to proceed in the local Courts instead of by 
complaint in the Land Office. 

28. No assignment, deed of transfer, bill of sale, or other 
document purporting to transfer the property in any land held 
under a title issued by the authority of the Government of the 
State shall have any effect unless it shall have been prepared 
and registered in the manner hereinafter specified. 

29. The party claiming the right of transfer or succession 
shall attend at the Collector's office either in person or by his 
constituted agent and shall make application for registering the 
mutation, producing the original lease, certificate, or permit ; a 
deed of transfer shall then be made out in the Collector's office 
in the prescribed form (Form No X), or, if the party making the 
application shall prefer it, the original lease, certificate, or permit 



36 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

shall be surrendered to Government. The Collector shall be 
authorised to accept such surrender on the part of the Government 
of the country and to re-lease the land to the person or persons 
in whose favour the transfer is to be made. 

30. When any rent due to Government has become due and 
is unpaid the Collector may demand payment of it by a notice in 
writing (Form No. Ill), and if the same be not paid within 15 
days thereafter he may issue an attachment (Form No. IV) and 
seize and sell by virtue thereof any property or effects of the 
occupier which may be found upon the land in respect of which 
rent is due, or the land itself. 

31. When application is made for the sub-division of a grant 
the Collector may accept the surrender of the original grant 
and issue new leases for the required sub-divisions, provided 
that proper landmarks, showing the boundaries of them, shall 
have been first put up, that all fees of survey and registration 
shall have been paid, all arrears of quit-rent paid up, and that 
the quit-rent to be collected on each sub-division shall in no 
case be less than 40 cents. 

32. No instrument of transfer shall be entitled to any official 
recognition of its validity or received in evidence as a legal instru- 
ment in the Courts of the State unless it has been registered. 

33. For registering any lease, transfer, mutation of title, or 
sub-division of land, inspection of register, copy of last title, the 
fees mentioned in the Appendix shall be chargeable by the 
Collector and paid into the treasury to the credit of the State. 

Passed the Council of State this 28th day of Februar)% 
1879. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



Saturday, ist March, i8fg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja YusuF), President. 
H.B.M's. Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. MAXWELL). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan CHANG Ah KwEE. 
Capitan CHAN Ah Yam. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 37 



2. The question of a flag for the State was then taken into con- 
sideration in connection with His Excellency the Governor*s letter 
No. 790, dated 31st January, 1879. After discussion, it was re- 
solved that the flag of the State should be formed of three hori- 
zontal bands of equal size, of the colours white, yellow and black ; 
white being the uppermost and black the lowest; these three 
colours being those of the three great officers of State : the Yang 
Di Per Tuan, the Raja Muda and the Bandahara, respectively. . 

The presence of the Yang Di Per Tuan on board any Govern- 
ment vessel will be denoted by a white flag at the main, that 
of the Raja Muda by a yellow flag at the main, and that of the 
Raja Bandahara by a black (or dark blue) flag at the main. 

The presence of H.B.M's. Resident on board any Govern- 
ment vessel will be denoted by a burgee at the main in imita- 
tion of the flag of the State, with a small ''Union'* in the 
upper canton — that of the Assistant Resident by a similar flag 
flown at the fore. 

3. The Resident referring to a matter which was before the 
Council on the 5th September, 1878, addresses the Council on the 
subject of the Selama mines, the rights of Che Karim, the steps 
proposed to be taken to encourage mining enterprise, and the 
assistance to be given to Che Abdul Karim towards the purchase 
of an engine as arranged under an agreement dated the 12th 
February, 1879, which was read to the Council. 

The measures taken by the Resident are approved and 
confirmed by the Council. 

4. The Resident then lays on the table a set of regulations 
for the more effectual control of the Chinese on the coast south 
of Larut, and for the repression of crime and violence in that 
district, several instances of which have lately been reported. 

" I. No Chinese shall live in the district between the Larut and 
Bruas rivers who has not complied with the following regulations : 

*' 2. Every woodcutter's, sawyer's or fisherman's ' Kongsi ' or 
other establishment of any kind shall be registered. 

" 3. A register book shall be kept at the office of the Com- 
missioner of Police and the following particulars shall be 
recorded in it: name of owner, name of advancer, name of 
surety, number and names of coolies, nationality of all persons 
living in the house, number of boats employed, nature of work 
carried on, and any other particulars of interest. 



38 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

"4, .The headman of every house, 'Kon^sl' house or other 
establishment in the said district must register all the above 
particulars annually, and must also report from time to time any 
changes that take place. 

" 5. A license will be issued to every person whose name is 
entered in the register book. 

" 6. A fee of $1 will be charged for every such license. 

" 7. Any Chinese found living in the said district whose name 
is not entered in the register book, and who cannot produce his 
license, may be summarily arrested by the authority of any 
Penghulu or by any JPolice Officer and shall be liable, on convic- 
tion before a Magistrate, to a fine not exceeding $100 or to 
imprisonment with hard labour not exceeding six months. 

" 8. No license will be granted to any Chinese who cannot, or 
whose employer cannot for him, give security for his good and 
peaceable behaviour during his residence in the district. 

" 9. No Chinese will be permitted to reside at any place which 
cannot be easily reached either by land or else by water at all 
states of the tide. 

" 10. Existing houses, the situation of which is not in conform- 
ity with the preceding rule, must be removed, and no new building 
shall be erected in the district by Chinese except on the approval 
of the Commissioner of Police being first obtained. 

"11. If any buildings shall be erected in breach of the two 
preceding rules, the same may be destroyed by the police, and 
the owners or occupiers thereof shall be liable, on conviction 
before a Magistrate, to a fine not exceeding $100 or to imprison- 
ment with hard labour for a period not exceeding six months. 

" 12. These regulations shall come into force on the ist July, 
1879, and in the meantime shall be published in the native 
languages throughout the district. 

'* 13. Returns will be called for from the district in question 
and the number of houses and persons affected by them will be 
ascertained." 

Passed unanimously. 

The Resident lays on the table a letter from H.E. the 
Governor, dated ^th February, notifying that the names of 
Tuan Sheik Mohamed Taib and Datoh Panglima Besar, proposed 
as Members of the State Council of Perak, have been forwarded 
to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for his approval. 



. COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 39 

5. The Resident lays on the table a letter from the Colonial 
Secretary dated the 19th November, enclosing a letter from 
Major Studer relative to the measures taken to procure a supply 
of corn-seed and a corn mill for the Government of Perak. 

6. On the subject of a certain letter from the Resident of 
Selangor, laid on the Council table at a meeting held on the i8th 
December, regarding the seizure of opium in the Bernam river, 
the Resident now lays on the table and reads a letter from the 
Colonial Secretary, No. 477, dated the 4th February, 1879. 

7. The Resident submits for the consideration of the Council 
a letter received from Mr. P. L. Smith, of Kinta, dated the 
16th February, 1879, on the subject of the rates payable for 
land. Resolved that for the present there shall be no difference 
between the rates payable for mountain land and for land at a 
lower elevation ; and that if at any future time a distinction be 
made it will probably take the form of an advance in the price 
of mountain land, the price of land on the plains not being 
decreased. * 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council, 

Monday, 3rd March, iSyg. 

Present: 
H.H. the Regent, President, 
H.B.M's. Resident. 
H.B.M's. Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
Capitan CHANG Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

2. The Council resumes consideration of the disputes relating 
to mines in the Kinta district, the subject of which was intro- 
duced yesterday but not fully discussed. 

3. The Resident says that when he first visited Kinta in 
1877 he saw that there was likely to be great difficulty in 
reference to the claims of individuals for tin-bearing lands. 

Very few of these claimants can show any grants or 
documentary evidence of title, yet the right to the land is 
generally acknowledged by the Penghulus and the people of the 
district, and in some cases the boundaries are very well known. 



40 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

A similar state of things exists in Kampar. 

Several* cases have been brought before the Courts in which 
private claims clashed and were decided on the principles 
applicable to private property. 

At an assembly of the principal people in Kinta, in the house 
of Che AndaTejah, in 1877, the Resident informed the owners 
of mines, many of whom were present, that no person the owner 
of a mine would be entitled to prevent another person from 
'working it on his agreeing to pay a fair royalty to the proprietor 
unless the owner preferred to work it himself, this royalty has 
subsequently been fixed by the Council at $2 a bhara. 

The Resident on the same occasion gave orders to the officer 
of the district, Mr. Bruce, to endeavour to get a list of all the 
mines in Kinta considered to be private property, and the people 
were told that the claims to them would be strictly investigated 
before royalty could be charged. 

Nothing was done in this direction by Mr. Bruce, but Mr. 
Leech is endeavouring to make out a register. 

When this register is made the lands ought to be laid down 
on a map on a large scale, the claims investigated, and the 
register of ascertained claims established and correctly kept. 

Surveying is so expensive, and there is so much of it to be 
done, and there are so many charges upon the public purse that 
it is impossible to say when such a survey can be carried out. 

It was then resolved by the Council that the principle on 
which all claims to mining land must be decided was all that 
could be settled in Council. 

The measures passed in the present session of Council 
provide that all lands of this description are State reserves subject 
of course to any bond fide rights which may be capable of 
reasonable proof. 

It is also the opinion of the Council that it is expedient as far 
as possible to keep the ownership of the mines in the hands of 
Government. 

In cases of dispute each must stand upon its own merits and 
be decided by the Government after careful enquiry. 

In such a case as that of " Klian Piah " it might be advisable 
to resume the land. Government paying as compensation the 
amount for which the present claimants say their father bought it. 

In "Toh Along/' which His Highness the President remembers 
as the property of the State, the Chinese might either pay the 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 41 



chabut for which they have given an acknowledgment or it might 
be bought up by Government making a monthly payment to the 
claimant and charging royalty to the Chinese. 

4. The Council considers that these claims can only be settled 
by either the Resident or Assistant Resident, properly authorised, 
visiting, enquiring and deciding on the spot. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of CounciL 



Tuesday, 4th March, i8yg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent, President. 
H.B.M's. Resident. 
H.B.M's. Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Dato Temenggong. 

Absent : 
The two Chinese Members, having returned to Larut. 

4. The Resident states to the Council that repeated applica- 
tions have been made to him by Toh Puan Halima to declare the 
Mentri's house at Permatang to be her property; also that 
Chan Ah Yam applied to Government for satisfaction of a claim 
which he has for repairs done to the house in question. 

The Resident reads the following minute by Mr. Maxwell 
reporting the result of enquiries he has made on the subject by 
direction of Government : 

" Memo : on the application of toh puan halima for a 
title for the house at permatang, formerly 
occupied by the mentri. 

. "The Resident requested Raja Dris and the Assistant Resident 
to report on this subject some time ago, but this could not be 
done at the time as no evidence of any kind was forthcoming at 
Larut to show that there is any ground for supposing that the 
house in question is other than private property. 

" It is customary among Malays of rank or position for a 
husband to appropriate a particular house to the use of his wife 
at the time of the marriage. She is entitled to live there during 



42 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBS^ECTS. 

coverture, and if she is divorced by the husband the house is 
regarded as hers and is assigned to her for her use during her life. 

" The Mentri, it is stated, built the large brick house at 
Permatang in view of his approaching marriage with the daughter 
of the Laksamana, and after the marriage took her to live there. 

" According to Che Long Jaffar's disposition of his property, 
the Kampong at Bukit Gantang went, not to the Mentri, but to 
his sister, Che Allang Sepiah, the mother of Che Puteh Hawiah. 
The principal house was Allang Sepiah's, a smaller one belonged 
to Inche Ngah Pura and the Mentri had a third. The latter, 
however, was not regarded as the residence of his principal wife, 
Toh Puan Halima, who always regarded Permatang as her 
special place of residence. 

'* The brick house at Permatang was rendered uninhabitable 
during the Chinese disturbances, but when peace was restored 
Sir A. Clarke authorised the expenditure of money for its 
repair. It is noteworthy that these repairs were not to be 
performed under the orders of the Assistant Resident, as would 
probably have been the case had the building been regarded as 
State property, but money for the purpose was to be handed to 
the Mentri (out of revenues which had hitherto been his own) 
who was to repair the house himself. 

"Captain Speedy does not seem to have been able to spare 
from the Public Treasury the funds necessary for the completion 
of the repairs, for they were never finished. 

" In 1876 the building was temporarily used as a barrack for 
soldiers and a court for the trial of Maharaja Lela and others. 
On this occasion it was hired from the Mentri with the authority 
of Mr. Davidson, then Resident of Perak, and $100 was paid 
monthly for the use of it. The private nature of the Mentri*s 
title to it was therefore again acknowledged. 

"As far as I can ascertain the allegation that the house is 
State property rests only on the statements (unsupported by any 
documentary evidence) of two or three persons, who say that the 
Mentri assured Sultan Jafar and Sultan Ali that he had built the 
house for the Sultan and not for himself. 

"Against these statements there are others which do not 
agree with them. It has been stated to me that what the Mentri 
promised Sultan Ali was not that the house at Permatang was 
the Sultan's, but that he would build another for the Sultan, 
equally good, at Sayong. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 43 

"One well-known fact seems inconsistent with the idea that 
the house at Permatang was the Sultan's. Sultan Ali visited 
the Mentri there on one occasion and was lodged in a side room 
instead of having the best apartment (Toh Puan Halima*s) 
assigned to him. The Sultan did not think that sufficient respect 
was paid to him and the arrangement had to be altered. 

" The transportation of the Chiefs to the Seychelles has not 
been held in any case to operate as a forfeiture of any private 
rights, and there is probably as little reason for appropriating 
for State purposes the Mentri's house at Permatang as for taking 
the Laksamana's house at Durian Sabatang or the Shahbandar's 
at Tanjong Maidan. 

** I regard the house at Permatang as the Mentri's private 
property and the natural house of his wife, Toh Puan Halima, 
and her children, during their lives. 

"(Sd.) W. E. MAXWELL, 
4/A March, 1879. " Assistant Resident y 

H.H. the Raja Muda agrees with Mr. Maxwell that it is 
usual for a Malay of position to build a house lor his wife on the 
occasion of his marriage, but says that such a house as the one 
in question, which is surrounded by extensive fortifications, would 
not have been built for such a purpose, and that whether he 
meant it or not evidence can be produced to show that the 
Mentri stated more than once that he built the house for the 
Yang Di Per Tuan. 

Raja Dris says that having made enquiries from Sayid 
Lahidin at the Resident's request the latter has stated that he is 
ready to swear that the Mentri stated that he built the house for 
the Yang Di Per Tuan. This was said on an occasion when Sayid 
Lahidin was sent to the Mentri by Sultan Ali, and this special 
point was under discussion. 

The Resident states that he would be afraid to take the 
house for Government, both on account of the cost of repairing 
it, the cost of keeping it up and the fact that the Government at 
present has little use for it. He is of opinion that the justice of 
the casCj looking to the powers granted to the Mentri by Sultans 
of Perak-) would give the house to the Mentri and his family. 

The Raja Muda repeats that in his view the house is the pro- 
perty of the State, but that he has no objection to making over 



44 PAPERS OS MALAY SUBJECTS. 

the house to the wife and family of the Mentri for their lives as 
a compassionate arrangement. 

Raja Dris agrees with the Raja Muda, and adds that it is right 
and proper to make over the house to the family of the Mentri 
in consideration of his former services to the State of Perak. 

The Dato Temenggong concurs with the Rajas. 

The Resident remembers, but cannot now put his hand on, an 
entry in Mr. Birch's journal which has left the impression on his 
mind that there was an intention of repairing the house at the 
expense of Government for the Mentri, and suggests that His 
Excellency the Administrator, Straits Settlements, may know 
something of this. 

H.H. the Regent adds that Mr. Swettenham, who was 
always with Mr. Birch, should be applied to for information on 
the subject, and is likely to know. 

Raja Dris then submitted a notice drawn up by him in 
Malay at the request of the Raja Muda and the Resident, 
having for its object the revival of an old custom by which all 
persons cultivating padi or other crops were bound to clear 
and prepare their land and plant and reap their crops at specified 
times simultaneously, thus preventing to a great extent the loss 
which now takes place in consequence of the ravages of insects, 
birds, rats, etc. : 

•* Notice. 

** All persons in Perak must simultaneously undertake all 
kinds of cultivation and field work and must cultivate land to the 
utmost extent of their ability, whether it be dry or wet rice land. 

*'They are to do this simultaneously at one period and 
season. As the seasons for clearing, burning, planting and 
transplanting severally arrive, the Penghulu and the elders of 
kampongs must order all the inhabitants of their districts to set 
to work at one and the same time upon the occupations enum- 
erated in this notice. 

** Should an}' one be disobedient or oppose this regulation 
assuredly that person will be guilty of an offence, and may be 
fined a sum not exceeding $5 according to the custom of the 
country.'* 

5. The Council unanimously agree that this notice shall be 
adopted and published. 

6. Raja Dris having at the request of the Regent and the 
Resident drawn up a scale of fees to be charged by Penghulus 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 45 

in cases within their jurisdiction now submits it to the Council 
as follows : 

\^Translation.'\ 

" GOVERNMENT OF PERAK. 

'' Notice. 

*' We give to the Penghulus of Perak the power of settling 
complaints of people in the country, provided the amount in 
dispute does not exceed $25, and when people of a mukim 
come to enter their complaints to the Penghulu, if the Penghulu 
thinks proper he may grant a summons to call the defendant 
before him, for which a fee of 20 cents must be paid, and a 
subpoena to call witnesses will be subject to a fee of 10 cents, 
and the service of the summons to be paid to the person serving 
it will be 20 cents, and all the expenses must be paid at once by 
the person laying complaint, but when the judgment is given, 
the side which loses the action must repay all the expenses to 
him who has gained the cause. 

** And from anyone wishing to take a summons the Penghulu 
may take a commission in addition to the foregoing charges of 2 
cents in each dollar, and when a person has been called three times 
by summons and he fails to appear the Penghulu may go into the 
case and decide as if the defendant had appeared before him." 

Passed the Council of State this 4th day of March, 1879. 



7. The Resident informs the Council of an application made 
by Wan Teh Sepiah that the Government will take over and 
pay her for a house at Bukit Gantang which she claims as hers, 
but as to the ownership of which there is considerable doubt. 

A similar letter has been sent by this lady to H.H. the 
Regent, Raja Dris, and the Assistant Resident. 

The Raja Muda, willing to help Wan Teh Sepiah, suggests 
that the house might be taken over and removed to Sayong and 
there set up as a residence for himself ; provision for the erec- 
tion of such a building is made in the estimates for the current 
year. 

The Resident advises that as there are several things to be 
considered before such an arrangement can be concluded, 
Mr. Maxwell be requested to send Ah Chong, a Chinese con- 
tractor, to Bukit Gantang, to examine the house and estimate the 



46 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



sum for which he will be prepared to remove the house and set 
it up at Sayong by contract. 

H.H. the Regent lays before the Council a draft of a 
" Kuasa*' which he proposes to give to a Kathi to be appointed 
to discharge judicial and religious functions. 

The proposed *'Kuasa" is read and discussed. 

The Resident says that the advisability of such an appoint- 
ment has been frequently brought to his notice, but there is great 
difficulty in his opinion in selecting a proper person to fill it. 
The Raja Muda mentions a candidate, but the Resident objects 
that he is a stranger and does not know the country or people and 
does not possess their confidence. The Resident suggests that 
Sheik Mahomed Taib is the proper person to perform these 
duties. 

The Raja Muda states that he has questioned Sheik Mahomed 
Taib on the subject and he has refused to act. 

The Resident thinks that little difficulty would be experienced 
in arranging this, and says that he would probably have no 
objection to the appointment of the Raja Muda's candidate as 
an Assistant Kathi. 

Resolved that the whole subject stand over for further con- 
sideration until after the return of Sheik Mahomed Taib. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



4th May, i8';g. 

Present : 
H.H. the Raja Muda YusUF, President. 
H.B.M's. Resident. 
H.B.M's. Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

The Resident reads to the Council a memorandum by H.E. 
the Administrator, dated the nth April, 1879, on the subject of 
the special terms on which it is proposed to alienate land in 
Perak for plantation purposes. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 47 

The Raja Muda repeats what he said on a former occasion 
that having no experience of land matters himself he places 
himself in the hands of the Governor, the Acting Governor and 
the Resident, and that as H.E. the Administrator has expressed an 
opinion in favour of leases for 99 years, he thinks that in deference 
to that opinion that term should be adopted by the Council. 

Raja Dris states that in his opinion the Perak Government 
should be guided by the practice followed in the Queen's 
Colonies, and that if it is the practice there to give Government 
leases for 99 years for agricultural lands the same might be 
done in Perak. 

The Dato Temenggong states that he agrees with the Raja 
Muda in admitting the inexperience of himself and others in 
Perak in arrangements concerning land, and in thinking that the 
opinions of the. Governor should be followed. But he expresses 
a doubt whether a lease of 99 years will induce any one to take 
up land in Perak. 

Capitan Ah Kwee says that he is in favour of leases for 999 
years, and when the General Land Rules were under considera- 
tion objected to the term of 99 years even for building lots. 

Capitan Ah Yam says the same. 

The Resident: I quite concur with H.H. the Regent that we 
should be guided by the advice of H.E. the Administrator, but 
I should have myself preferred the term of lease of land for 
agricultural purposes to have been for 999 years as more nearly 
approaching the practice in Her Majesty's Colonies and which 
may be presumed to have been adopted as the result of 
experience. In them land is for the most part sold in fee 
simple the minerals being reserved. I think, at all events, that 
the longer term may have been advantageously adopted for a 
defined limited time or until some progress had been made in 
settling estates and the State recognised as suitable for the pur- 
poses of agriculturists. 

It is necessary for me to explain in reference to His Excel- 
lency's minute that the 28,000 acres referred to were granted in 
agreements for leases for 999 years last year under authority of 
the Council and H.E. Sir W. Robinson, and that to preserve 
the faith of the Perak Government it will be necessary that such 
of the other applicants as had lodged their applications before 
the framing of the " Special Regulations,'* and who may still wish 
to take up land in Perak, should receive agreements for a 
similar term. 



48 ^PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The Assistant Resident : I think that in the commencement of 
planting enterprise, liberal terms should be offered to intending 
cultivators and that a lease for 99 years for agricultural lands is 
not sufficiently liberal. Penang would not have risen so rapidly 
in its early days if the terms on which land was disposed of had 
not been liberal in the extreme. I am in favour of leases for 
99 years for building lots, but not for agpricultural holdings. 
The following resolution is then put by the Resident: 
"That in the regulations for the sale and registration of 
lands, both ^special' and 'general,' the term of 99 years shall be 
substituted for 999 years in deference to the opinion expressed 
by H.E. the Administrator.*' 

The Council divides upon this resolution : 
For — Against — 

The Dato Temenggong Capitan Chan Ah Yam 

Raja Dris Capitan Chang Ah Kwee 

The Resident The Assistant Resident 

H.H. the Raja MUDA, 
President 

The resolution is then declared to be carried. 
On the question of the terms to be granted to applicants before 
the framing of the rules, the Council are unanimously of opinion 
that they should receive grants for the longer term. 

5. The Council took into consideration the suggestion of 
H.E. the Administrator contained in the Colonial Secretary's 
letter to the Resident of the i8th March, 1879, to reconsider 
the time allowed under Rule II {d) with a view to its reduc- 
tion. 

The Council are unanimously of opinion that 12 years is 
not too long a period to be fixed as the term to be observed 
under this rule. 

6. His Excellency's suggestion that under Rule II (/) com- 
pensation for injury to private roads and growing crops, etc., 
should be granted, the Council unanimously agree to the following 
addition to the rule : 

" Paying compensation for any injury done to private roads^ 
growing crops, etc." 

7. His Excellency the Administrator's suggestion No. Ill in 
the before-quoted letter is then considered by the Council. 

The Council resolve that in its opinion the arrangement 
in the special regulations should be for the present adhered to. 



COUNCIL MINUTESj PERAK. 49 

8. The Resident asks the Council to ratify the nomination by 
H.H. the Regent of Sheik Mahomed Taib to be Kathi without 
any additional emolument and Haji Mahomed Salleh to be 
Assistant Kathi on $50 a month. 

Agreed to. 

9. H.H. the President expresses an opinion that a notice 
should be issued warning persons that anyone who makes a false 
accusation of a criminal offence against another will be liable to 
punishment. 

The Resident says that he thinks that any case of malicious 
accusation which arises should be brought before the Court, and 
that if proved the conviction and punishment of the offender will 
be sufficient notice to the public. 

H.H. the Regent agrees to this view. 

10. H.E. the Administrator's recommendations contained in 
the Colonial Secretary's letter No. 1975/79 of the ist April, res- 
pecting flags for the Regent and the Resident, are ordered to 
be adopted. 

The Council adjourns sine die, 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council, 

Friday, 16th May^ 1^79* 
Present : 
H.H. the Raja MuDA, Regent. 
H.B.M's. Resident. 
H.B.M's. Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Dato Temenggong. 

The Council proceed to consider the evidence taken in the 
High Court at Kuala Kangsar upon which and his own confession 
one Pandak Dorani was on the 12th day of May, 1879, convicted 
of the wilful murder of one Mat Ali, at Jumuan, on the 26th April, 
1879, and was sentenced to be hanged. 

The confession of Pandak Dorani is read and the circum- 
stances of the case fully discussed. 

The Council unanimously resolve that H.H. the Regent may be 
advised to commute the capital sentence to one of imprisonment 
with hard labour for 24 years. 



50 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

H.H. the Regent signifies his acceptance of the Council's 
advice and orders the commutation of the sentence to be carried 
out. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council, 



14th July, 1879. 

Present: 
His Highness the Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
The executive branch of the Council met at i p.m. to-day to 
consider the evidence taken on the trial of Si Dolah and Dualim, 
two natives of Selangor, charged with the murder of one Sempoh, 
at Bagan Datu, on the 24th of April, who were condemned to 
death at Durian Sabatang by a Court composed of the Resident, 
the Superintendent of Lower Perak, the Dato Raja Makota and 
the Orang Kaya Mat Arshad. 

The whole evidence was read over carefully to the Regent 
and Council, and carefully considered. Decision deferred till the 
Council can again meet. 

2. The Resident then laid on the table copies of two letters 
of the 5th July, No. 414/79, and 9th July, No. 419/79, addressed to 
the Colonial Secretary of Singapore, asking the permission of 
Government to a plan for leasing as one large farm certain 
import and export and monopoly revenues of the State for three 
years from the ist January, 1880. 

The contemplated arrangement was explained to His High- 
ness in Council and the plan proposed unanimously approved of. 

4. A letter was read from Mr. Denison reporting his having 
failed to sell "Tanah Saratus*' at the price he had placed on 
it as a reserve — namely, $40 per acre. 

5. Resolved that it is better to keep the land for the present 
unless an advance on the reserved price can be obtained. 

The Resident laid on the table and read a letter from Major 
Studer, dated the 4th July, 1879, acknowledging the receipt of a 
Kris from H.H. the Regent for Mr. Mills, who had so kindly 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 5 1 

procured and forwarded at the Councirs request the Indian corn 
seed from America. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council, 

Saturday, 26th July, i8yg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent, President, 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
Tuan Kathi Shaik Mat Taib, sick. 

2. The Data Panglima Besar took his seat in pursuance of 
the confirmation of his appointment by the Secretary of State. 

4. The Resident reported to the Council that since the last 
meeting the two prisoners, Dolah and Dualim, have escaped from 
custody at Durian Sabatang. Final confirmation of the sentence 
passed upon them is therefore postponed pending their re-capture. 

6. The Resident lays before the Council and explains the 
notice published in Singapore respecting the revenue farms of the 
State which it is proposed to institute from and after the ist 
January, 1880. 

The Council unanimously approve of the proposal to farm all 
the principal heads of revenue in the State for three years from 
the above date. 

7. On the subject of the sale of the " Tanah Saratus " the 
Council unanimously approve of the conclusion come to by the 
members present at the last meeting. 

8. The proposition made by Penghulu Ngah Toh Seah regard- 
ing the arrears of rent due by him for the "Tanah Saratus" 
leased to him — i.e., that he shall pay to Government the sum of 
$200 in satisfaction of all such arrears — is unanimously agreed 



52 PAPEks ON Malay subjects, 

to, the difficulties which the Penghulu has experienced in collect- 
ing his rents from cultivators being taken into consideration. 

9. A letter from Che Abdul Karim of Selama, dated the 29th 
June, 1879, setting out several matters connected with that 
district, is read before the Council, and it is decided that either 
the Resident or the Assistant Resident shall take an early 
opportunity of visiting Selama, when a full enquiry will be made 
into the revenue and establishment of, and the charges upon, 
that district and a report will be laid before the Council. 

10. A report by the Assistant Resident on the ownership 
of the Tanjong Toh Alang mines in the Kinta district is 
discussed by the Council. 

The findings of the Assistant Resident are approved and 
confirmed. 

With regard to Panglima Prang Wahid, the Resident states 
that this man was one of the eight shareholders of the revenue 
of Batang Padang which was taken over by the country under 
Mr. Birch's arrangements on the understanding that compensa- 
tion should be made to the original shareholders. This has 
been done to some extent in a few cases, and it is the Resident's 
intention to submit to the Regent in Council the claims of 
Panglima Prang, if he should not be compromised in the Tanjong 
Toh Alang murder, at the close of the enquiry. 

11. The Resident lays on the table Mr. Maxwell's report re- 
garding the death of two women killed by an elephant named 
** Kulup Gunong,*' the property of the Panglima Kinta, in March 
last. 

12. The Assistant Resident's finding and order are confirmed, 
but it is considered advisable to despatch a letter to the 
Panglima Kinta desiring that the elephant " Kulup Gunong" 
may be either destroyed or sold into another country. 

13. The application of Mr. P. L. Smith for 12,000 acres of 
land, on specially favourable conditions, in three lots of 4,000 
each is then taken into consideration. 

It is decided by the Council that in recognition of Mr. Smith's 
enterprise in opening up the Slim district a block of 4,000 acres 
in that district, at 50 cents an acre, may at a peppercorn rent for 
999 years be offered to him, but that any other quantity required 
for himself or friends must be taken up under the new regfulations 
with the exception of the rule relating to the term which will be 
extended in their favour (to the number of eight persons) to 999 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAIC, 53 



years. Payment in every case to follow the rule laid down in the 
new regulations — t,e.y one-third on completion of agreement for 
lease. The term for selection and for paying up the balance of 
price may be extended to 18 months. The other requests 
in Mr. Smith's application cannot be granted. The Resident is 
authorised to carry out these arrangements should the above 
terms be accepted. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 



Clerk of Council, 



20th October, iSyg, 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja YUSUF). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. Maxwell). 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
The Kali Tuan Sheikh Muhammad Taib. 

2. The Council took into consideration the minutes of evid- 
ence taken by the Judges, Mr. Maxwell and Raja Dris, on the 
trial of Goh Ah Tong and another for the murder of Lee Ah Chin 
at Kota, on the 4th September, 1879. The evidence having 
been carefully read over by the Resident and fully discussed by 
the Council, it was unanimously agreed that the death of Lee Ah 
Chin having occurred in the course of a quarrel arising from the 
trespass of the buffaloes of the deceased upon the garden of the 
defendant, in which deceased and his companions were the first 
to break the law, it may be looked upon as a case of man-slaughter, 
and that the capital sentence recorded against Goh Ah Tong be 
commuted for twelve years* penal servitude. 

3. The notes of evidence taken at Kurau, on the i6th of 
October, before the Judges, Mr. Maxwell and the Orang Kaya 
Mat Arshat, at the trial of Mah Hussein and Si Leman for the 
murder of a Chinese named Teng Kam at Kurau, were carefully 
gone over and considered. 



54 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

The sentence passed by the Court was death by hanging on 
Mah Hussein and i8 months' imprisonment with hard labour on 
Si Leman. 

The murder was committed for the purpose of robbing the 
house during the absence of deceased's two partners. 

The Council unanimously confirm the sentence of death upon 
Mah Hussein having full confidence in the Judges. 

4. The Resident laid upon the table a report from Lieut. 
Walker, Commissioner, Perak Armed Police, of the disposition 
of the Force under his " command on the 3rd of October and 
following days and also returns of the killed and wounded so far 
as the Police have obtained them. 

5. The Resident then grave to the Regent and Council a 
narrative of the events which took place on the 3rd and following 
days, during which he was accompanied by the Assistant Resident 
and the Raja Dris, who are present at the table. 

6. The Regent in Council then, at the instance of the 
Resident, resolved that the thanks of the Government be con- 
veyed to Lieut. Walker, his officers and men for their steady 
conduct and valuable services on that occasion, which in its 
opinion prevented the probable destruction of the town at 
Taiping and ruin of the peace of the district, and the Govern- 
ment especially congratulates Lieut. Walker on his prudence 
and judgment in preventing unnecessary bloodshed by ceasing 
to fire the moment it was prudent to do so. 

The Chinese members, Capitans Ah Kwee and Ah Yam, eagerly 
supported this resolution and said that anything less than had 
been done would have certainly involved the firing and plunder- 
ing of the town on the 3rd instant. 

7. The Resident then said Ihat he desired to submit for the 
approval of His Highness the Regent in Council that he had 
informed all the influential Chinese that he regretted extremely 
the necessity which had arisen for firing into a crowd the 
greater part of which was composed of people who had been 
misinformed and misled by wicked and designing persons, 
and that he proposed to offer large rewards for evidence which 
would lead to the apprehension and conviction of the ring- 
leaders. 

8. The Regent and Council unanimously approve of and 
confirm this decision and authorise the Resident to proceed in 
this matter accprding to his discretion. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 55 

9. The Resident then brought to the notice of the Regent the 
Red and White Flag Societies which Mr. Denison reports as 
threatening the peace in the Krian and Kurau districts, and says 
that he is not prepared to suggest legislation at this moment, but 
he wishes the members of Council to think over the matter with 
a view to effective legislation at no remote date, and states that 
he himself is in favour of repressive measures. 

The Regent says he cjuite agrees with the Resident and that 
these institutions are auite illegal by the laws of the country, 
which punish membership with banishment. 

ID. The Resident brings to the notice of the Regent and 
Council the great want of a Kathi or Chief Priest for Krian, and 
says that the Magistrate there is strongly in favour of the appoint- 
ment of Haji Omar, and asks if the Regent or any member of 
Council is acquainted with this Haji who is very highly spoken of 
to the Resident. 

The Dato Panglima Besar says Haji Omar is the best and 
only proper person for the appointment, the Dato knows the 
country and people well ; the Regent suggests that the Haji be 
sent for and the Resident undertakes to have him called. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



Monday, 3rd November, iS'jg, 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent (Raja Yusuf). 
The Resident (Mr. Hugh Low). 
The Assistant Resident (Mr. W. E. Maxwell). 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 
Capitan CiiANG Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Chan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
The Kathi Tuan Sheik Muhammad Taib. 

2. The Resident laid before the Council a letter from the 
HonourabletheColonial Secretary, No. Perak 7,588/79, of the 22nd 



56 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



October last, directing the question of leave for the Assistant 
Resident to be submitted for the consideration of the Council. 

3. The Resident said that he had advised the Government 
when passing through Singapore that it would not be possible to 
let Mr. Maxwell go on leave as the changes in the revenue system 
then contemplated would render necessary his presence in 
Taiping as His Excellency the Administrator was not able to 
afford us the assistance of an experienced officer of the Straits 
service to act during his absence, and it would be inconvenient 
and very injurious to the public service in Perak to remove any 
officer at present in charge of a district from his station. 

The Resident further explained that the circumstances were 
all now changed, the contemplated chandu farm had been ex- 
changed for a duty of $5 a ball on opium, which could be 
collected without any difficulty but the protection of the revenue 
against smuggling, and he now withdrew all his objections to Mr. 
Maxwell's going away, but His Excellency the Administrator, no 
doubt in view of the late disturbances in Lanit, desired that the 
measure should not be carried out until the Council had recorded 
its opinion. 

4. The question was fully discussed. H.H. the Regent said 
that he did not think there was anything in the state of the 
country to detain Mr. Maxwell, and he thought the arrangements 
proposed by the Resident that he should himself, at all events 
for the present, with the assistance of a Secretary, discharge the 
duties would be quite sufficient. 

Capitan Ah Kwee said that Mr. Maxwell's knowledge of 
affairs was of great value to the State, and he thought that there 
was nothing in the prospects of Larut to prevent his going home 
for a few months to restore his health. The late riot had arisen 
from a misunderstanding, and from the people being misled by a 
few interested persons and not from any combination of secret 
societies or other persons wishing to rebel against the Government. 

Capitan Ah Yam said there were a few bad characters in 
Larut, and he thought things would never be perfectly secure 
till they were found out, convicted and banished; he thought 
Mr. Maxwell might have the leave under the Resident's arrange- 
ments. Raja Dris, the Orang Kaya Temenggong and the Dato 
Panglima Besar are all of opinion that the leave may be safely 
granted and ought to be given, but he should remain away ae 
short a time as possible. 

5. Leave as applied for ordered to be granted. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 57 

6. The Resident then made to the Council the statement as 
follows relative to the recent sale of some of the revenue farms. 

The Resident lays before the Council the statements of the 
sale of certain farms of revenue which he recommends for adop- 
tion by the Regent in Council, and which has been submitted to 
the Government of the Straits Settlements in his official diary. 

Note, — Among others there was a farm of the right to 
collect $5 a ball on opium imported. Duty on tobacco imported 
in to Perak river at $j per pikuL Capitan Ah Kwee^s tender 
for the Larut farms was accepted in preference to a higher one. 

The Resident said : '* In this advice I have been guided by 
several considerations. Firstly, it is our duty to support by every 
means in our power the interests and policy of the Straits 
Government ; secondly, the prices to be paid by Capitan Ah 
Kwee are much in advance of anything hitherto realised, and in 
my belief as much as the farmers can fairly afford to pay ; 
thirdly, the gentleman to whom it is proposed to lease this is 
the present farmer and he has a large sum of money invested 
in the business, he has always been the chief adventurer in the 
mines of Larut, has lost a large fortune in the business in former 
times, and he is the most staunch supporter of Government in 
the district. 

" In a country like Perak, which is recovering from a state of 
anarchy, it will in the future be advantageous to the Government 
that its farms of revenue should not be let on terms which would 
necessitate on the part of the farmers a rise in prices which 
would be severely felt by the people, and it will redound to our 
advantage when the farms are next sold in 1882 for the three 
succeeding years if the present purchasers have made a moderate 
profit by them. 

" The price of the chandu to be sold in Khoo Tian Tek's 
farms is limited by his agreement to $1.30 a tahil for the best 
quality." 

Speaking of the Perak River Farms the Resident said : ** I was 
induced to advise this liberal measure in my great desire to do 
something to open our neglected rich deposits of tin ore in that 
district and to assist in the further development of others. 
The Perak river has been hitherto much neglected ; but by 
interesting the Penang Opium Farmers in its prosperity I am 
inclined to hope that they will assist in the introduction of 
labourers and capital, which while increasing their income from 
the opium will increase that of the Government from the export 



58 PAPERS ON' MALAY SUBJECTS, 

of tin. Many districts of this river contain very valuable deposits 
of the metal, and the chief difficulty in procuring their develop- 
ment arises from their greater distance from a British port and 
the inaccessibility of some of them from obstructions in the 
navigation of the river. 

** It is hoped that the distance will be no great obstacle when 
the value of the deposits is known to capitalists such as the 
Penang Opium Farmers, and the Government is making and 
intends to continue efforts for the clearing of the rivers and 
land communications which so far as they have gone have been 
attended w ith good results. 

** I confidently anticipate that the result of the liberal measures 
now reported to the Council will be a continuance and increase 
of the improving prosperity of Larut, a commencement of a 
similar state of things on the Perak river and its tributaries, and 
a largely increased revenue from the same and other sources 
when the time arrives in 1882 for again considering the best 
means of raising the revenue necessary for conducting the 
Government cf the State." 

7. The Council unanimously approves of these arrangements 
and of the principles on which they have been conducted and 
authorises the Resident to conclude the contracts. 

8. The Resident submits to the Council a Despatch from the 
Honourable the Colonial Secretary, S.S., No. 7,253/79, of i6th 
October, 1879, informing the Government of Perak that the 
destruction of trees for burning into charcoal is to be prohibited 
in Penang. 

9. The Resident states that the destruction of timber is a 
subject which has occupied his attention for a long time, and the 
Government of Singapore has lately sent a series of queries 
relative to the timber supply in Perak, the quantities and kinds 
of wood produced, the measures taken, or possible, for the 
preservation of the forests and for maintaining a succession of 
trees to replace such as were cut down, which were proposed by 
Lord Carnarvon when Secretary of State. 

" If the general belief can be trusted, the denudation of forest 
land very much alters the climate of a country, making it hotter, 
diminishing the rainfall and causing it to rush down the 
mountains in floods, carrying the surface soil with it instead of 
by the comparatively steady flow of the water-courses when 
protected by the jungle. 



COUNCIL MINUTESj PERAK. 59 

"Although of opinion that the cutting down of jungle would 
not in the western range of the mountains in Perak diminish 
appreciably the quantity of rainfall as it undoubtedly does in 
many countries, the Government has been advised not to permit 
coffee planters or cultivators of padi to clear the hills on the 
western face of the Hijau range from which the water power 
used by the miners of Larut is derived. 

" In a country like Perak there are many considerations which 
affect the question of the propriety of endeavouring to preserve 
the timber in the natural forests which are not present in all 
other States. 

*' In the first place the population has no scientific system of 
agriculture and is not much given to physical labour^ still they 
must be fed. In former times a good deal of wet land padi was 
grown, the cultivation, the preparation of the land excepted, 
being carried on by the women. Floods, droughts, insects, rats 
and blights have caused bad harvests from such lands in many 
of the districts of the State for several successive years, and in 
1878 and 1879 a murrain amongst the draught cattle has almost 
entirely prevented the preparation of such lands. The only 
resource for the ryots has been to extend the dry padi cultiva- 
tion which is earned on by clearing jungle land, dibbling seeds 
into its charred surface and abandoning it after taking from it a 
single crop. This in forest districts of course causes the total 
destruction of all timber trees growing within the area brought 
under cultivation, and I am unable to see how it can possibly be 
suddenly prevented. 

"The next difficulty which is likely to meet the Government 
in any attempt to preserve its noble timber is likely to arise 
from gentlemen who may come into the country with the inten- 
tion of introducing coffee cultivation, that of chinchona, tea and 
other industries. Here again the forest must come down and 
very excellent timber be destroyed in enormous quantities. 

"Charcoal burning for the reduction of the ores of tin which 
are found so abundantly all over the State has already destroyed 
all the best timber within 15 to 20 miles of the mines in Larut, 
and is doing the same in all the districts in which the ore is 
worked, this is an increasing cause of destruction as the tin 
mining industry is spreading and likely to become much more 
considerable. 

" The destruction of the most valuable woods for charcoal has 
been always forbidden in Larut, but notwithstanding the prohibi- 



6o PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

tion there are none of the trees suitable for the best charcoal now 
standing within moderately easy access of the mining districts. 

" During this year, from the beginning of which Penghulus of 
districts have been appointed, the Government has more strin- 
gently endeavoured to carry out its orders, and several charcoal- 
burners have been fined, and in some cases large quantities of 
charcoal confiscated, proceedings which have given rise to very 
great dissatisfaction. 

*' On a recent visit I made to a neighbouring mountain I found 
every tree of th(i * Damar laut' which had been growing on the 
hill up to 1,500 feet elevation lying on the ground ready for the 
fire or being burnt into charcoal. 

*'The ground, while shaded by forest, produces abundance of 
young trees which if properly preserved would yield an unfailing 
supply of successors to all the timber carried away by the 
charcoal-burners, or by wood-cutters and sawyers. 

" The trees producing gutta-percha and the singgarep variety 
of India rubber have been entirely destroyed in the search for 
these articles, but young ones abound in the places where they 
grew. 

" The timber as it stands is for the most part in situations 
which render it too expensive to get for export, and the trade in 
it is very inconsiderable, except in firewood which is taken from 
the mangrove swamps of the coast. 

"The question 1 wish to submit for the consideration of the 
Council is whether in view of the great probability of our forests 
being cleared by padi planters and by coffee, or tea, or chinchona 
cultivators in large masses, when the whole timber is sacrificed, 
it is worth the while of this Government to embarrass the mining 
industry, from which its revenues are entirely derived, by carrying 
out the prohibition against the felling of trees of the most valuable 
woods by the charcoal-burners, or whether in view of the little 
likelihood of these trees ever being availed of for timber, it would 
not be better to remove this restriction, insisting only that the 
charcoal-burners shall use up the whole tree instead of as now 
making use of the solid bole only, wasting the branches which 
would frequently yield as much charcoal as the trunk, because of 
the additional trouble which would be required to cut them into 
suitable lengths for charring. 

** I would strongly recommend to the Government of Perak, 
if even a large demand for land arises in the forest districts 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 6 1 



for the cultivation of such tropical products as have made Ceylon 
so prosperous, that large reserves should be made in every 
district, from which the timber should only be permitted to be cut 
by license and under proper regulations as to the quantity taken 
annually and the supply of young trees. 

** The preservation of the timber on all mountains in the neigh- 
bourhood of valuable deposits of tin is of such obvious necessity, 
unless cheap and efficient means other than water power of 
draining the mines be introduced, that it requires no comment." 

10. The matter is fully discussed by the members of Council, 
and it is resolved that charcoal-burners be expected, and, as far 
as possible, compelled to use the whole of the tree instead of the 
trunk only as at present. 

11. The Resident proposes that the regulations for the 
registration of the Chinese on the Coast and in outlying districts 
of Larut, which passed the Council on the ist March, 1879, be 
extended to the north side of the Larut river, and include all the 
rivers and districts up to the northern boundary of the State, the 
registration to come into force from the ist April, 1880, and 
notices to be issued at once. It is the intention of the Govern- 
ment to purchase a small steam pinnace for preserving the peace 
and for the protection of the revenue in these districts, and the 
registration taxes will be appropriated as far as they will go to 
pay for it and its upkeep. 

12. Unanimously agreed to. • 

13. The Resident then informed the Council that the Regent 
was of opinion that now that the revenues showed a fair prospect 
of improvement, he was desirous of improving the position of a 
few persons who had shown themselves faithful to the Govern- 
mem — namely : 

The Dato Panglima Besar from $25 to $50 a month in 
consideration of his sitting in the State Council. 
Orang Kaya Mat Arshad from $25 to $50 a month 
in consideration of the assistance he has afforded 
to the Government of Lower Perak. Maintenance 
for Assistant Kathi Haji Omar, recently appointed 
for Kurau, $25 per month, he resigning all claims 
to fifths as Penghulu. An allowance of $25 a month 
to Syed Mahmud for his maintenance. 

14. The right of Government to raise a revenue on the ataps 
cut from Government ground and taken into Larut, which pay no 



62 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



revenue, was then discussed. The right to collect a duty was 
unanimously declared to exist in the Government, but it appeared 
from what Capitan Ah Yam and others said that it was exercised 
in an apparently irregular manner by the Farmer's agents and 
others, a fact which must be enquired into. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of CvunciL 



Monday, ryth November, rSyg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Temenggong. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

Absent : 
The Assistant Resident, on leave. 
The Tuan Kathi Shaik Mat Taib, at Bandar. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 

4. The Resident brought to the notice of the Council that 
there were strong indications of a disposition on the part of the 
Chinese importers of opium to defraud the revenue of the 
succeeding year by bringing in very large quantities during the 
remainder of the current year at the lower duty. 

5. On the motion of Capitan Ah Yam it is unanimously 
resolved that the Resident be empowered to collect a sum 
sufficient (with any amount which may have been already paid) to 
equal a duty of $5 a ball on all opium or chandu in the 
country on the ist January, 1880; 28 tahils of chandu to be 
considered equivalent to one ball of. opium. Penalty for con- 
travening this regulation J 1,000 and confiscation of all opium or 
chandu on which the payment of the increased duty is attempted 
to be evaded. 

6. The Council then took into consideration, in view of the 
greatly increased price and diminishing supply of the various 
kinds of g'^tah, the propriety of increasing the export duty on 
this article from $3 a pikul at which it now stands. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 63 

7. Resolved that, from the ist January, 1880, the duty 
chargeable on getah exported from the ports of Perak shall be 
as under : 

Getah of the best quality $10 per pikul 

„ of other qualities 6 ,, 

8. On the motion of H.H. the President this order is not to 
extend to getah from Patani in transit through the Perak 
territories which will remain as regulated by the Order in Council 
of 1st December, 1878. 



Tuesday J i8th November, iSjg. 

Present : 
H.H. the Regent, President. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Orang Kaya Dato Temenggong. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

Absent: 
The Assistant Resident, on leave. 

The Tuan Kathi Shaik Mat Taib, at Bandar, inaccessible. 
• •••• •••• 

2. At the instigation of the Resident the propriety of raising 
a revenue in Larut from the ataps used in the district was taken 
into consideration. 

3. The Council resolved that a farm of the right to levy a tax 
of one-tenth on all ataps brought into or sold for use in the 
district should be sold by tender, and the Resident is authorised 
to make the necessary arrangement and conclude the contract. 

4. Toh Puan, the chief wife of the former Tengku Mentri, 
having applied for this farm at $120 a month, the Resident 
takes the opinion of the Council on the propriety of giving it 
to her without competition. 

5. The Regent considers that Toh Puan could not manage 
such a business advantageously, and there being reason to believe 
that it would pass into the hands of a Chinaman the Council 
are of opinion that the lease should be disposed of by tender. 



64 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

6. The Resident then brings to the notice of the Council that 
this farm will not protect the trees which produce the leaves 
from destruction but rather tend to hasten it, and proposed that 
as for want of a sufficient surveying staff it is quite impossible to 
lease or otherwise dispose of the lands producing ataps in a 
regular manner, that he be empowered to make the best possible 
arrangements through the Penghulus for the preservation of the 
trees and for collecting a rent from the lands on which they grow, 
the Penghulus, of course, becoming entitled to a chabut on the 
rents collected and revenue arising from ataps produced in their 
districts. 

7. Resolution in accordance with the foregoing minute unani- 
mously agreed to. 

8. The Regent, by advice of the Resident, proposed to the 
Council that from the ist January next an allowance of $25 a 
month be made to Panglima Prang Abdul Haid of Teja and 
Batang Padang. Panglima Prang held one share in the Batang 
Padang farm, which was abolished by Mr. Birch and promise 
of compensation made. An allowance would have been made to 
the Panglima some time since but there was some suspicion that 
he might have been concerned in an outrage on certain Chinese 
in the Kinta district. He has not been found to be guilty of 
participation in that offence, nor has any evidence at all 
implicating him been produced, it is therefore proper that some 
allowance from the revenue be made to him for his subsistence. 

9. Unanimously agreed to. 

10. The Regent, on the advice of the Resident, assents tb 
grant of $25 a month to Haji Han, she being the widow of Haji 
Musa, who held two of the eight shares of the Batang Padang 
duty which was added to the general revenue by Mr. Birch. 

11 . A letter dated 3rd November, 1 879, from the Magistrate and 
Collector at Krian, reporting that he had considered it necessary 
to suspend from his duties the Penghulu Haji Suleiman of 
Siyakah, in the Kurau river, for receiving money on account of 
-Government and not duly accounting for it. 

12. The Resident informs the Council that he has very fre- 
quently received complaints against this Penghulu, who appears 
to have been really obstructive to the officer in charge of the 
district, and also from ignorance of his duty and of accounts to 
have got the land rent in his mukim into a state of great con- 
fusion, but he thinks that as in other instances the man might 
have a further trial, and the Magistrate be instructed to take 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 65 

* 

some pains to have him instructed in his duties, and to report 
further upon him after some time has elapsed, warning him in the 
meantime that his conduct has been considered in Council and 
that he must, if he wishes to retain his position, qualify himself 
for his office. 

13. The Regent says that this Penghulu came to see him and 
told him that he had no difficulty with Mr. Denison, but that all 
his troubles were with Mr. Jeremiah, the clerk at Kurau. 

14. The Council unanimously adopts the advice of the 
Resident and orders it to be carried out. 

15. The Resident then lays upon the table another letter from 
the Magistrate of the Krian district of the same date as the 
preceding in which he returns the commissions of the Penghulus 
who have resigned their appointments, and one of whom he has 
suspended on a charge of fraud. 

1 5 A. The Regent in Council resolves that the resignation of 
Penghulu Ahmad and of Penghulu Mamat of Telok Rubiah may 
be accepted on the grounds stated in the Magistrate's letter, but 
that if this case of fraud should be established against Penghulu 
Mahasa, he ought not only to be dismissed but punished for the 
offence and directed to restore the money he has detained from 
the ryot ($30.) 

16. The Resident submits to the Regent in Council a letter 
from the Dato Raja Makota of Sungei Durian, dated the 8th 
November, 1879, claiming compensation on account of expendi- 
ture in opening the mines at Gopeng. 

17. The Regent in Council decides that the Resident shall 
reply to the Dato that there are many others besides himself who 
were at great expense at Gopeng, and who lost it all before 
Europeans became the advisers of the Government of Perak ; the 
same was the case at Salak, Batang Padang and Bidor and 
other places, and especially in Larut. It is impossible for the 
Government to recognise claims of this kind, which if allovved 
would disturb the whole settlement of the country, but it 
considers that in cases where an actual loss of revenue from 
duties being taken over by the State took place by the change in 
the manner of collecting them, it is just that the country should 
do what may fairly be possible to make an allowance to the 
persons affected by the change and to increase it when the other 
calls upon the revenue permit. Raja Makota is one of those who 
have such claims, and an allowance has been made to him which 
may be increased at some future time. 



66 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

m 

1 8. A report by Mr. Leech, dated 25th October, on tin mining 
In his district, was laid on the table in order that some proposi- 
tions contained in it might be considered by the Council. 

These propositions are contained in the last six paragraphs — 
the principal one is that affecting the tenure of Malay mines 
and mining properties which Mr. Leech recommends should 
not be forfeited to Government after an abandonment of six 
months, as (Chinese mines held under leases or permits are, but 
should have a grace of two years extended to them. 

When the regulations now in force were passed by the 
Council, Chinese mines only were in question, and it is not now 
considered necessary to define any time during which ancestral 
mines belonging to the natives may lie unworked, as it is certain 
that some native owners of numerous mining properties who are 
quite willing to have them worked are unable to obtain persons 
to undertake the enterprise and have not the capital to do it 
effectually themselves, but it is considered imperative that no 
land shall be allowed to lie idle if anyone is willing to work it, 
and the owners of metalliferous land must submit to its being 
worked, receiving as their royalty $2 a bhara. 

With regard to the possibility of fraud by collusion between 
the Penghulus and the adventurers in mines on Government 
property, that difficulty was foreseen by the Council when the 
regulations were framed and a heavy penalty provided. 

19. The Council orders the opinion recorded above to be 
communicated to Mr. Leech for his guidance. 

20. The case of Brahim and Doyup, two prisoners under 
sentence in the State prison, was then brought before the Council, 
the friends of the latter having begged his release. 

21. The Resident explains to the Council that when he first 
began to advise the Raja Muda in the Government of Perak, 
thieving and robbing were very common crimes about Kuala 
Kangsar, and sentences were inflicted and criminals steadily pur- 
sued in the hope that punishment being almost certain to follow 
crime a better state of things might be brought about. This has 
most happily been the result of the measures taken, and the 
people having so completely responded to the teaching given to 
them, and crime being now so rare in the Malay districts of 
Upper Perak, the Resident is quite willing to advise the Regent 
in the exercise of his prerogative to extend a merciful consider- 
ation to cases from that district and to diminish the sentences 
pronounced. 



. COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 67 



22. The Regent and Council quite concur in this view, and think 
that the policy having had the desired effect of teaching the people 
who were before entirely unaccustomed to a regular administra- 
tion of justice and system of police, the two prisoners referred 
to, who have undergone about half their sentence, may be released, 
and the Regent asks the Resident to carry out this decision. 

23. A similar case was submitted for the consideration of 
Council in a petition addressed to the Resident by Abu Bakar, 
Penghulu of Sayong, in which two men of Kota Lama and one of 
Sayong were sentenced to imprisonment for three years, about 
half of which has expired. 

The Regent and Council are of opinion that this case is 
different from that above considered inasmuch as the goods 
stolen have never been recovered, but the Council advises, on the 
proposition of the Regent, that they may be released if the 
friends of the prisoners will pay one-half the value of the goods 
stolen, the imprisonment already undergone to be taken as equi- 
valent for the robbery of the other half. Petitioners to be in- 
formed of decree of the Council by the Resident. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council. 



igth November f iS'jg. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 

The Dato Temenggong. 
The Dato Panglima Besar. 

Absent: 
The Assistant Resident. 
The Tuan Kathi Shaik Mat Taib. 
The Chinese Members. 
• ••■•••■• 

2. The Resident informs the Council that the man Maam, from 
Teja, who it is believed can give evidence of importance in 
reference to the statement of Pandak Leman, arrived yesterday 
evening, so he had thought it right to notify this to the members 



68 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



of Council who are now present, in order that his statement 
might be taken before them. 

3. The man Maam is then introduced to the Council 
Chamber and his statement taken down, which confirms the con- 
fession of Pandak Leman at the place indicated, and his having 
taken him at his request across the river as he says to search for 
his boat which he said had drifted. Maam says he did not see 
any other person. 

About an hour was spent by the Regent and the other 
members of the Council in questioning the two men, Maam and 
Pandak Leman, and all points about which there appeared any 
doubt were cleared up to the satisfaction of the Council. 

The Council then orders the execution of the four prisoners 
under sentence to be proceeded with and carried out at Durian 
Sabatang. 

4. The Resident then brings to the notice of Council that a 
subject of great importance, which he remembers was discussed 
and agreed to at the last meeting at Kuala Kangsar, has been 
inadvertently omitted from record in the minutes — namely, the 
propriety of inviting tenders for farming the revenue to be raised 
by the duty on opium imported into Larut. 

The Regent and all the other members present say that this 
matter was discussed and agreed to, and in their opinion tenders 
ought to be invited, and if a suitable offer should be made that 
such a farm should be leased. 

The Resident informs the Council that feeling sure that he 
had the authority of the Council he had issued a notice inviting 
tenders for such a farm. 

(Sd.) J. T. KEYT, 

Clerk of Council, 



PRINTED AT THE 

F.M.8. GOVERNMENT PRESS, 

KUALA LUMPUR. 



su 



n 






NOV 1 3 1946 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

{^Puhlished by direction of the Government of the Federated Malay States."] 



R. J. WILKINSON, F.M.S. Civil Service 
General Editor, 



HISTORY, 

PART IV. 

COUNCIB' MINUTES, PERAK. 
18q'b-1882. 



EDITED 



BT 



E. J. WILKINSON, F.M.8. Civil Service. 



PRICE: ONE DOLLAR. 



KUALA LDMPUB: 
PBtHTBD BT J. BITSSBLL AT TBS F.U.S. OOTEBNHSMT PBBS9. 



1909. 



600-1/10. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

[Pwhli9hed by direction of the Oovemment of the Federated Mala% States.'] 



E. J. WILKINSON, FJ£.8, Civil Service, 
Oeneral Editor. 



HISTORY, 

PART IV. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 
1880-1882. 



EDITED 



BT 
R. J. WILKINSON, P.M.8. Civil Service. 



KUALA LUMPUR: 
PBINTBD BT J. BU8SELL AT THE F.M.8. OOVEBNMENT PBES8. 

1909. 



500.1/ia 



COUNCIL MINUTES, 1880-1882. 



20th February, 1880. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident, 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 
Capitan Chang Ah Kvvee. 

2. H.H. the Regent expresses to the Council his regret at 
having to announce the death, since the last meeting, on the 
6th inst., at Sungai Limau, of Muhammad Kushashi, the Dato* 
Panglima Besar of Perak, and a member of the Council of State. 
**In him the Government has lost an officer of great experience, 
knowledge, and loyalty." 

6. The Resident, on behalf of H.H. the Regent, states to the 
Council that it was contemplated in view of the increasing trade 
between the Port at Teluk Kertang and Taiping to construct 
a railway between the two places or at all events as far as Kota. 
The cost of this work would probably be (in round numbers, and 
including a good custom-house, landing-wharf, crane and 
appliances, with the necessary stations) about $100,000. This 
could not be defrayed from the ordinary revenue of the year, 
and it was therefore proposed that as this was a work likely to 
be of great assistance to the trade of Larut, the royalty on tin at 
the rate of $2 a bhara, which had, as a strictly temporary 
measure, been taken off the export of the metal in April, 1878, 
when the price was very low, should be now re-imposed from the 
1st March next on all tin exported from Larut. 

The Resident expresses his opinion that the work will be 
remunerative and that the rates of transport can be much reduced 
below those now prevailing, the number of carts being insufficient 
for the trade. The great annual expenditure on the upkeep of 
the present road would also be much diminished. 

7. Capitan Ah Kwee says that having been informed some 
months a^o of the intention of Government to re-impose this 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



duty and to make a railway, he communicated the intention of 
Government to the Chinese towkays, who all remembered that 
the collection of royalty was suspended only as a temporary 
measure, and thought it quite right and proper now that tm had 
reached such a favourable price that the Government should ask 
for this additional assistance and were quite prepared to pay, trust- 
ing that the Government would always treat the trade liberally- 
and not oppress it by duties greater than it could fairly bear. 

8. The Council unanimously agree to the proposition of 
H.H. and the Resident. They approve of the construction of 
the proposed railway, and of the collection of combined royalty 
and duty on tin exported from Larut at $12 a bhara, after the ist 
March, 1880. 

9.^ The Resident is instructed to take the steps necessary to 
carryout the decisions of the Council. 

10. The Regent then says that it is not contemplated at 
present to extend the collection of this additional $2 a bhara to 
the tin-producing districts on the Perak river, although the 
Chinese at Gopeng have informed Mr. Leech that they are quite 
willing to pay it if a cart-road is made for them from their mmes 
to Kota Baharu. 

The Resident concurs in the views of the Regent with whom 
he had been in previous consultation. Signs of improvement 
in the development of the rich tin districts on the various 
branches of the Perak river are abundant ; and he thinks it good 
policy — ^taking into consideration the greater expense of transport 
and of supplies and freight to a port of shipment — to give the 
adventurers (till, perhaps, the beginning of next year) the benefit 
of the lower rate of duty now collected. Everything that the 
limited staff at the disposal of Government could effectually 
undertake would in the meantime be carried out in the way of 
improvement of roads and river-communication. 

Capitan Ah Kwee says that many hundreds of Chinese have 
already gone to increase the numbers at Gopeng and Papan. 
He expresses entire concurrence in the Resident's views. 

The decision of the Regent that the addition to the royalty 
and duty should not be collected for the present at Durian 
Sabatang is unanimously approved. 

11. The Resident then lays upon the table the ticket book of 
the Red Flag Secret Society which had been seized at Sungai 
Siakap in the possession of one Inche' Adam, who is reported to 
have recently established a lodge of the society at that place 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 



during the absence of the Penghulu, the two sons of Penghulu 
Haji Sulaiman appearing as registered members on the counter- 
foils of tickets issued. Mr. Denison had made frequent com- 
plaints of the trouble caused by these societies and the Council 
had on former occasions declared them illegal. Mr. Denison 
hoped the Council would be able to assist him by punishing the 
man Adam. 

12. H.H. the Regent says that there is no doubt of the illegal- 
ity of these " jumaahs" in the State of Perak as they are contrary 
to religion and policy. He recommends that the man Adam be 
sent before the High Court for trial. 

13. Raja Dris, the Temenggong and the Kadzi express 
similar opinions. 

14. It is unanimously ordered that the man Adam be put 
upon his trial before the High Court of Justice at Kuala Kahgsar. 

15. The Resident brings to the notice of H.H. the Regent 
in Council the great frequency of outbreaks of small-pox during 
the last two years and the trouble and expense to which Govern- 
ment is put in isolating infected houses and persons so as to 
prevent the spread of the disease. He advises the Council to 
pass an order making vaccination compulsory. 

16. The Councir unanimously authorises the Residetit to 
procure a supply of vaccine lymph and to issue a Government 
notice that all persons refusing to attend for vaccination, or to 
bring in their children, should be liable to a fine not exceeding 
$5 in each case. 

17. The Resident begs the Regent's attention to a matter 
which is now becoming pressing — viz., the necessity of providing 
a hospital for sick paupers especially of the Chinese race. The 
Government of Penang declines to permit such to be landed on 
its shores, and the accommodation at the Government hospital 
is only sufficient for about eight persons. The Resident had 
mentioned the subject to some of the chief towkays who would 
help by subscription to support the institution if it should not 
be thought proper to establish a poor-rate. 

The Regent, the Capitan Ah Kwee and other members agree 
that something in this direction ought to be undertaken. They 
request the Resident to ask the assistance of the Government of 
the Straits Settlements in giving information as to the practice 
in the Colony where the state of things is similar. 

18. The Resident informs the Council that diseased persons 
having lately been introduced from Penang, some even with 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



small-pox fully developed, he had sanctioned the adoption by the 
Harbour Master at Matang of a system proposed by that officer 
by which a ticket would be given to every passenger passing the 
Police station at the Kuala. This ticket was to be delivered to 
an officer of Police at Matang. This, it was hoped, would bring 
every passenger under the notice of the police, and — besides 
giving some hope of prevention of the introduction of disease — 
would facilitate the taking of an accurate return of immigrants. 

19 The Council unanimously approve of this regulation and 
authorize its being enforced from the ist March next. 



2^th February^ 18S0. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

4. A letter from the Magistrate and Collector of Krian and 
Kurau requests, on behalf of the people of Sungai Mati, that their 
river be re-named the Sungai Baharu, as the place has been 
unlucky under its present name. The request of the people of 
Sungai Mati is granted. 

7. A petition of the Malays of Lower Perak, forwarded by Mr. 
Paul, the Superintendent of the district, is laid upon the table. 
The people ask that the rates to be collected on sampans, accord- 
ing to the notice issued in pursuance of the Order in Council of 
the 17th April, 1879, be abolished and a duty of one-tenth of the 
value substituted. 

The Resident says that a similar request has reached him from 
many mukims in other parts of the country, and he advises that 
the prayer of the petition be granted. 

Agreed to. 

8. The Regent brings to the notice of the Council that under 
the Regulation of the 17th April last-quoted some Penghulus 
charge the ryots for power to cut any small quantity of timber, 
rattans, or bertam required for the repair of their own houses or 



COUNCIL MINUTESj PERAK. 



for private use — a proceeding contrary to the intention of Council 
in passing the Regulation. 

A notice forbidding this practice is ordered to be issued. 

9. The necessity of ordering the people to fence their culti- 
vated lands is taken into consideration. This matter had been 
referred to Raja Dris by H.H. the Regent and the Resident, at 
the instance of the Penghulu of Chigar Galah, with a request that 
he would draw up a notice in accordance with the ancient 
practice of the country. 

Raja Dris now submits the notice that he has prepared, but 
says that it has come to his knowledge that a large section of the 
population would object strongly to it as pressing hard upon 
cultivators by requiring them to erect substantial fences and yet 
not forbidding the practice of allowing buffaloes and other 
animals to stray at will. After a good deal of discussion, in which 
all the members took an animated part, it was decided that a 
clause be added to the proposed notice, directing that the owners 
of domestic animals should be obliged, under penalty, to have 
them enclosed in cattle-folds at night, being liable also for any 
damage they might do to fenced cultivated lands in the day- 
time. 

10. Petitions from several districts are read, asking that the 
rent of bendangs (irrigated rice fields) may be collected at 
the rate of 40 cents per orlong, as decided in Council on the loth 
September, 1877. 

The Resident explains that in Krian and Kurau the permits 
were made out in accordance with the terms in the neighbouring. 
British Colony, and 40 cents an acre, or 53 cents an orlong, is the 
rent demanded. The land there is of the finest quality, and the 
immediate vicinity of a market is an advantage not possessed by 
the lands in Perak. He is therefore of opinion that in Larut, Krian 
and Kurau,. and on all the western siae of the Ijau range, the 
rate should be as it now is in Krian and Kurau ; while in the 
districts of the Perak river and its tributaries it may remain as 
already fixed by the Council. It must be remembered that at 
the date before-mentioned, when these rates were decided upon, it 
was (at the same sitting oJF Council) ordered that an astl kelamin 
should be collected — which order has not yet been put into 
force. This last intention must not be considered as abandoned, 
though it is allowed to sleep for the present till the country has 
attained a further measure of prosperity, the revenue from the 
mines being at present sufficient for its necessities. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



It is therefore unanimously resolved that the rent of bendang 
land be fixed at 40 cents per orlong, in all the districts of the 
Perak river and its tributaries, and that the rate to be charged 
for similar lands in Larut, Krian, Kurau, Ijau, Selama, and all the 
districts on the western side of the mountain range be fixed at 
53 cents per orlong, or 40 cents per acre. 

11. H.H. the Regent (President) then informs the Council 
that Penghulu Toyoh has submitted a proposition for carrying 
the water of the Sungai Rambutan from Bukit Tunggal through 
the mukims of Kampong Gajah and Pasir Panjang into the 
Trus, by which 4,000 orlongs of bendang land, now uncultivated, 
may be made into padi fields, producing a considerable revenue 
and benefiting the country in many ways. The Penghulu's 
proposition is that it should be done jointly by himself and 
Penghulu Jafar at their own expense, that they shall collect a 
revenue from the ryots for the use of the water — this revenue to 
descend as an inheritance {pesaka) to their children. The length 
for which the stream would be diverted is estimated at 4,000 
yards, and the expense is calculated at between $400 and $500. 

12. The Regent considers that if this proposition is acceded 
to several other Penghulus will undertake similar works; his 
only fear is that the Malays of Perak may not have the neces- 
sary skill to successfully introduce such a system of irrigation. 

Raja Dris has no fear about the want of skill, as there are 
Javanese and others accustomed to such work in the country ; 
but as the water and land belong to Government he thinks that 
Government ought in some way to share in the profits arising 
from such a work. Government might, for instance, advance 
half the cost and take half the revenue. 

The Kadzi and the Temenggong also say that there is suffi- 
cient knowledge in the country to carry out the work, and that 
now that the State is at peace and property secure there arc 
many Chiefs of mukims and districts who would undertake 
such tasks. 

The Resident says that he has been informed of the existence 
of much valuable land suitable for such cultivation on both sides 
of the river. He is very much in favour of encouraging such 
enterprises, but — like Raja Dris — thinks that the interests of 
Government ought to be fully provided for. This might be done 
either by ^rantmg a lease for a term of years to the Penghulus, 
during which they would (in consideration of their carrymg out 
the work at their own cost) be entitled to the whole revenue; 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PBRAK. 



or, as suggested by Raja Dris, the Government might within 
certain limits advance half the amount and be entitled to half 
the.revenue. The carrying out of the work and the distribution 
of the water should be entrusted to the Penghulus, the rate 
charged for its supply being settled by them subject to the 
approval of Government. 

13. The Penghulu Toyoh and Haji Abdul Karim (the repre- 
sentative of Penghulu Jafar) are called in and asked which of 
these methods would be the more agreeable to them. Both 
prefer that by which the interest of their families would become 
perpetual, Government taking half the income. 

14. Raja Dris is then requested by the Council to draw 
up a memorandum of this concession on the terms above-noted, 
with the addition that the work must be completed at a cost not 
exceeding $500, and that no money is to be paid by Government 
until the work has been inspected by the Chief Officer of the 
district and has been reported by him as completed. 



28th February, 1880. 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

3. The Resident brought before the Council some points 
(in reference to the settlement of lands originally occupied 
under Malay tenure) which are not provided for in the Regula- 
tions of the 28th February, 1879. 

The following additional provisions are unanimously agreed to: 

(i) On the issue of Government leases to holders of certificates of ownership 
a premium on the lease shall be payable at such rate as may be fixed by the 
GoTemment, not exceeding $3 pei acre. 

(ii) Bendangs or kampongs which have been deserted for three or more years 
may be granted to new applicants provided the original owner is not known, or 
refoses or neglects to renew his occupation ; but a notice of such intended grant 
must be published by the Penghulu or liand OBScer of the district for one month 
previous to making such g^nt ; and should the land contain fruit trees the owner 
may be compensated for these, provided he makes application for the same with- 
in one month from the issue of the notice aforesaid. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



4. The Resident reports to the Council the case of Abdiil 
Shukur which had been brought to his notice by Mr. Paul, the 
Superintendent of Lower Perak. It appeared that this man, who 
is of a respectable family, some five years ago went mad and 
killed a man at Kota Lama. He was then placed in confinement 
by his relations. About three years ago his wife, who is the sister 
of H. Muhammad, second Penghulu of Lambor, married again, 
without — as the husband alleges — having been divorced and he 
having left property sufficient for her mamtenance. Having got 
better he went to Lambor and was refused admittance to the 
house or permission to see his child ; he was beaten and mal- 
treated and sent to Durian Sabatang as a lunatic, and was impri- 
soned at Larut. He was then sick and treated in hospital by the 
doctor. Having recovered, he returned again to Lambor and 
complained to the Kadzi who disagreed with Mr. Paul as to the 
propriety of adjudicating on the case, the Kadzi wishing to re-open 
it, and Mr. Paul thinking it was unnecessary as Sultan Ismail was 
reported to have settled it, though this was not mentioned to the 
Kadzi nor is any paper to this effect producible. 

Abdul Shukur having now petitioned the Resident, the latter 
proposes that the warts of the woman be directed to attend at 
Kuala Kangsar in order that the particulars of the case may be 
enquired into. 

Agreed to, 

5. The Council take into consideration the propriety of 
making every family in Perak plant during the years 1880 and 
188 1, 50 coconut trees, or, if they prefer it, 25 in each year. 

All the members of the Council think this a measure that 
ought to be tried, as the people of Perak are so slow to do any- 
thing for their own benefit. A difficulty in procuring seeds or 
young plants is foreseen, and also that the conditions of some 
mukims are not suitable for coconut cultivation owing to the soil 
being too low and flat. 

It is unanimously resolved : 

That during the 12 months following the Ist April next every fiunily of 
Malays settled in Perak shall be called npon and compelled to plant 26 ooconat 
trees, and the same number in the 12 months from the Ist April, 1881, making in 
all 50 trees in two years. 

That the Penghnlus shall bo responsible that young plants sliall be pro* 
curable by the ryots of each mukim to be tiold at a moderate price. 

That the trees shall be planted in square patches and at a distance of not less 
than five fathoms apart, that they shall be carefully attended to, kept free from 
weeds, and protected from being injured by goats and other animals, and that 
any person failing in this may be fined by the Penghulu of the district. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 



Persons already possessing coconut trees will not be exempted from the 
neoessitj imposed by tbis Regulation, but mast plant the required number in 
addition to any that they already possess. In mukims not suitable for coconuts 
a like number of sago trees must be planted and carefully attended to. 

6. A petition, numerously signed by the traders of Kuala 
Kangsar, in favour of one Raja Bintang, is considered. This 
man was found guilty in August last of having received a Sakai 
child in payment of a debt and was sentenced to one year's 
rigorous imprisonment. The Council are of opinion that enough 
has now been done to entirely suppress the practice of which the 
prisoner was found guilty, and H.H. the Regent (with the 
consent of the Council) grants the prayer of the petition. 

7. The subject of sakat being fully considered, it is decided 
that the following Order be adopted : 

'* That it is not permissible to the Kadzi, or to Assisfcant Kadzis, who ore paid 
officers of the State, in future to accept zakaC 



20th March, 1880. 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

12. The petition of Haji Abdurrahman and Itam Aminah, of 
Ngoh, for the release of a boy named Latif (who was sentenced 
to one year's imprisonment for theft) is considered, in order that 
he may be present as wait at his sister's wedding, and be circum- 
cised, after which his relatives offer to return him to gaol. 

The Regent thinks that he may be pardoned the remainder 
of his sentence for the sake of his relatives and in the hope that 
the detention he has already undergone may be a warning to him. 

Agreed to. 

13. The Regent directs that a notice be issued to all the 
mukims cautioning people — on pain of severe punishment— 
against bringing false charges. 



lo PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

23rd Marchj 1S80. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

2. Khoo Eng {alias Panjang) presents a request to the 
Resident that in the next payment on account of the awards to 
the creditors of the ex-Mantri he may receive the balance due 
to him in full — viz., $2,578.26. 

Ordered : That as it is the only remaining claim and is of 
small amount, half the sum due be paid to him. 

3. The Resident requests the authority of the Regent in 
Council to pay a second instalment of 20 per cent, on account of 
the remaining awards on the 25th May next. This will absorb 
fei, 117.10. 

Unanimously agreed to. 

4. A letter from Mr. Denison (dated the i8th March and 
reporting that Chinese are leaving his district in consequence of 
the regulation requiring registration and the fee about to be 
levied) is laid on the table. 

The Resident informs the Regent and Council that Mr. 
Pickering and Mr. Walker, who visited the Chinese along all the 
coasts of Larut, found them very willing to pay for the regis- 
tration, and on its being explained to them said they were glad 
to have a Government which took so much care of them. 

The Regent thinks that the order is a very proper one and 
that the fee is moderate and should be insisted on. 

The Council are unanimously of the Regent's opinion. The 
registration in Krian and Kurau, as in other places, is ordered 
to be proceeded with. 

5. A petition from To' Bandar asking for a commutation of 
his pension of $15 is considered by the Council. To' Bandar is 
the father of Nakhoda Orlong who was killed in the attack on 
Pasir Salak in 1875. 

After consultation, the Regent proposes one year's purchase, 
the Kadzi two years, and Raja Dris $300. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PBRAK. ii 

It is finally agreed unanimously that To' Bandar be offered 
9300 as the price at which Government will consent to buy up 
his pension. 

6. Alang Ismail's application for permission to erect a kubu 
to catch wild elephants is refused by the Regent and Council, 
the loss of life of these animals being too great owing to the 
inexperience of the persons employed. 

7. The report of the Secretary and its enclosure explaining 
the result of his visit and enquiries into the condition of 
the district of Selama is laid upon the table and taken into 
consideration. 

hpricis of the papers, with the recommendations of the 
Resident in the matter, is read and each part carefully explained. 

The sense of the Council is then taken : 

[a) On the propriety of sending a European Officer sup- 
ported by a detachment of armed police to take 
charge of the district. 

The Regent says it is manifest that everything is now in the 
last stage ofdeterioration, and he thinks the remedy proposed the 
proper one. 

Unanimously agreed to. 

(i) With regard to the confirmation of the concession 
granted by H.E. Governor Sir Andrew Clarke. 

H.H. the Regent says that he was himself in Krian when 
Che Karim was sent b^ the Mantri to open up the district as 
his agent and Che Kanm told him at the time that this was his 
position. It is within H.H.'s knowledge that Che Karim threw 
over the Mantri and intrigued with Sultan Abdullah — ^but what 
arrangement was made with the Sultan is not within H.H's 
knowledge. As for the services rendered by Che Karim to 
Government during the troubles, H.H. had never heard of them. 
H.H. is therefore of opinion that Che Karim has no right to such 
concessions as Sir Andrew Clarke's letter would convey to 
him. 

Raja Dris says that it is within his knowledge that the kuasa 
obtained from Sultan Abdullah was paid for with money, and he 
thinks that the concession granted by Sir Andrew Clarke must 
be adhered to as it was by the assistance of the British Govern- 
ment that Perak obtained peace. 

The Temenggong agrees with Raja Dris, as does also the 
Tuan Kadzi. 



12 PAPERS ON MALAY SUPyECTS. 



The Resident quite sympathises with H.H. the Regent in his 
reluctance to confirm a concession which will make Che Karim 
the richest man in Perak in spite of his failure to develop the 
district. It amounts to this — that the Government will give him 
half the revenue on tin and take all the cost of the establishment 
upon itself. 

The Council, finding after much consideration that the matter 
was very difficult to decide, adjourned to the morrow. 



24th March, 18S0. 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

3. A petition is presented from the foreign traders at Kuala 
Kangsar asking for the release of one of their number named Ali, 
who had been sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for having 
a Sakai child in his possession as a slave. 

The Resident thinks that the measures taken in this case in 
August last have had the desired end of teaching the foreign 
traders and others that no form of reduction to slavery will now 
be permitted in Perak, and that as Ali is the last in prison of the 
persons so punished, and as about eight months of his sentence 
have expired, he may, if the Regent thinks proper, be pardoned. 

Agreed to. 

4. Raja Dris proposes that as the practice of permitting the 
appointment of Assistant Penghulus by the Chief Penghulus of 
mukims is liable to abuse, the permission should be withdrawn, 
and such appointments made after due enquiries in future by the 
central Government. 

Agreed to. 

5. The adjourned consideration of the course most advisable 
to be pursued in reference to Che Karim and Selama is then 
proceeded with. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAfC. 13 



After much deliberation it is considered desirable that the 
concession ordered to be made by Sir Andrew Clarke should be 
adhered to in principle, but that some modification of it be adopt" 
ed in conformity with the experience gained since 1875. Che 
Karim, if left to himself and called upon to pay one-tenth of the 
value from a fixed duty of $12 a bhara, would naturally demand 
a release from the arrangement limiting him to this charge, would 
ruinously increase the charges (as he has hitherto done), and 
would put an end to all hope of developing the district. 

The Council is therefore of opinion that, under all the 
circumstances, and taking into consideration the fact that the 
Government has withdrawn the privilege of trading in opium 
(which in 1879 must have given Che Karim about J504 at $3 a 
ball, 14 balls having been the monthly consumption), he ought 
to be allowed to retain half the duty of f 12 without regard to 
the price of tin. This would reduce the amount of duty to an 
equality with that which he undertook to pay to Sultan Abdullah ; 
it is the rate at which the Mantri paid for Larut and at which 
duty was paid at Kuala Perak, But both Che Karim and the 
Mantri would have had — while paying the duty — to provide all the 
expenditure of their districts, there being, on the other hand, no 
limit to the extra charges that they might impose. It is there- 
fore ordered that, when the lease for 2 1 years from the date of 
Sir Andrew darkens concession is drawn up, it shall contain 
provisions : 

(a) That no duty, or royalty, or charges in the nature of either, imposed upon 
tin exported from the mines to be demised to Che Karim in Selama, shall exceed 
in the aggpregate the sum of $12 per bhara unless any higher rate should have 
been preyiously submitted to, and received the assent of, H.H. the Begent in 
Council ; 

(b) That the duty payable to Government by Che Karim on all tin produced 
in the mines leased to him shall be half the amount of the combined export duty 
and royalty ; 

(c) That all permits, leases or licenses to dig tin in the said lands shall pay 
to Che Karim such fees and other charges as may be levied by Government in 
the district of Larut, and that the getting of tin shall be subject to no other 
charge than such as may be levied by Government by persons digging for tin in 
other parts of the same district or in Larut. 

The Regent and Council unanimously agree to adopt the 

other recommendations in the minute of the Resident — viz., (i) 

that Che Karim be appointed an honorary Magistrate to assist 

the officer in charge m the administration of the district ; (2) 

that the officer in charge have the full powers of a provincial 

Magistrate ; (3) that the question of the appointment of Peng- 

hulus stand over for further enquiry and report; and (4) that the 



14 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByRCTS. 



good offices of H.E. the Administrator and of the Government 
of the Straits be requested to obtain the withdrawal of the officers 
of H.H. the Yangdipertuan of Kedah. 

With regard to the last point, H.H. the Regent says that there 
is reason to believe that the assumptions of Kedah originated in 
the intrigues of Che Karim. Other members of the Council say 
that at one time he offered to hold the district from Kedah 
although he has declared that it always belonged to Perak. 

In reference to the appointment of an officer to the charge 
of the district, the Resident says that if H.H. can recommend any 
native of the State, with the necessary qualifications, he will 
advise that the district be administered by a native officer as 
more in accordance with the intentions of H.M's Government 
who wish to educate the Rajas and principal people to perform 
such duties. 

The Regent says very emphatically that there is no one who 
can be spared who is capable of this duty. The other Malay 
members concur in this view. 

The Resident then says that the Government is also short- 
handed as regards qualified European officers, and there is not 
one of the younger officers with the necessary knowledge and 
experience, although two or three promise in time to qualify 
themselves for such a post. Mr. Hewett, the Secretary, is the 
only person who can be sent on this duty, though this will 
involve very great inconvenience in other directions. After the 
district is settled, it may perhaps be possible to replace him by 
one of the junior officers, but if the place increases in importance, 
as may be expected, it will always be necessary to retain there 
a fully qualified officer. 

His Highness and the Council unanimously approve of Mr. 
Hewett being appointed to the post and authorise the Resident 
to carry out the measure as quickly as possible. 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 



Sth July. 1880. 
Present : 



COUNCIL MINUTBSj PSKAM. 15 



The Executive Branch of the Council met pursuant to the 
summons of the Regent. 

• «•••»•• 

2. The Resident lays before the Regent the letter from the 
Hon. the Colonial Secretary, S.S., notifying that H.E. the 
Governor has received a despatch from the Secretary of State 
approving of the nomination of Dato' Raja Mabkota to a seat in 
the Council. 

• 9 V'ff • 9 f • 

5. The Resident lays upon the table a letter from Mr. 
Denison, the Magistrate and Collector for Krian and Kurau, 
returning the iuasa of Penghulu Hamid who wishes to resign 
his appointment, and asking to be allowed to sound the Penghulu 
as to whether he would consent to act as a ketuaan of his district 
on receiving permission to carry arms and exemption from land- 
tax on the fields he himself cultivates. The Council decides that 
as Mr. Denison objects to the powers granted by Government 
to the Penghulus in his district, he may in this instance (if he can 
get Penghulu Hamid to consent) attempt to carry out the policy 
he recommends ; but the Council would be glad to be informed 
of the reasons for the Penghulu wishing to resign an appointment 
conferred on him at Mr. Denison's own recommendation. 



20th September^ 1880. 

Present : 

The Regent. 

The Resident. 

The Superintendent of Lower Perak. 

Raja Dris. 

The Temenggong. 

The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 

Capitan Ah Kwee. 

Capitan Ah Yam. 

• t . • • •,• • 

3. The Resident lays before the Council a letter, No. 5,141 of 
the 24th August, 1880, from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, 
S.S., conveying the authority of H.E. the Governor to the 



}6 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Council to revise the Regulations (for leasing waste lands in 
Perak) passed by the Council on the 4th May, 1879. 

4; The Council first takes into con^-ideration the term for 
which leases should be granted. The Resident explains that the 
gentlemen from Ceylon and elsewhere, who two years ago had 
made applications for land in Perak, had declined to take it up 
under the existing regulations, one clause of which bound them 
to accept leases for 99 years. The Council resolves unanimously 
that the regulations be altered so that the term may be extended 
to 999 years. 

After discussion, the Council also agrees unanimously that 
Clause {e) in the Regulations of the 4th May. 1879, be expunged, 
but without prejudice to the right of the State to subject exports 
of produce to the payment of duty should the circumstances of 
the State render it at any time necessary. 

The consideration of Clause {d) of the same Regulations was 
then entered upon in connection with the charges proposed in 
the "Colonial Secretary's letter. The Council unanimously 
resolves to accept the suggested alteration. 

The Regulations, as amended, were then ordered to be entered 
in the minutes and printed, after approval by H.E. the Governor 
of the Straits Settlements. 

14. The Resident lays on the table a printed copy of the 
correspondence between the Government of Singapore and the 
Secretary of State, by which it appears that H.M's Government has 
decided that a sum amounting to $250,000 of the war expenses 
should be paid by Perak. 

15. The Resident explains to the Council that although in his 
opinion the Chinese trading under British protection at the time 
in Penang are in the first instance responsible for the war, he 
recommends the Council to accept the liability with a good 
grace, on the ground put forward by the Secretary of State that 
the country has in the end been benefited. 

Unanimously agreed to. But Capitan Ah Yam states that it 
was not the Chinese but the Mantri who caused the war. 

16. A notice issued by the Executive Government, and dated 
31st August, 1880, requiring all persons carrying weapons into 
the jungle to obtain a pass from their respective Penghulus on 
pain of fine was approved of. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. I 7 

30th December, 1880* 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 

• . * ... • • 

3. •The Resident laid upon the table a letter (No. 7,927 of 
29th November, 1880) from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary 
notifying H.E. the Governor's desire that the Resident will submit 
arrangements for payment of the new debt of $247,832. 

4. The letter having been read by the Resident, as well as 
the printed correspondence on the subject, H.H. the Regent 
expresses the opinion that — although the Government does not 
press for immediate payment — he considers it advisable to 
prepare to meet the liability and relieve the State of all debt as 
soon as,possible, in order that its whole energies may be devoted 
to development. The Regent suggests that the royalty (of $2 a 
bhara), of which the Larut tin was temporarily relieved in April 
last, should be re-imposed from the ist January, and that a tax of 
the nature of asil kSlamin should be collected from the Malays. 
He supports the latter proposal by a statement of the burdens 
of which the ryots had been relieved. 

5. Capitan Ah Kwee says that he has no objection to the re- 
imposition of this royalty as the Government has always shown 
a desire to be just, and after having relieved the Chinese of the 
royalty, even before they asked for the relief, had not re-imposed 
it as originally intended on the rise of the price of tin, but had 
deferred it because of the losses to which the Taiping fires had 
exposed the population. 

6. Capitan Ah Yam also agrees. 

7. Dato' Raja Mahkota thinks that the tax of $2 might well 
be imposed on the Chinese of Larut, but he does not think that 
the ryots could bear the asil kelamin, which is a tax unknown in 
Perak and likely to be unpopular. He would prefer a land-tax 
as soon as the time comes when the ryots can bear taxation. 



1 8 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



8. Tuan Shaikh M^t Taib says that the people are poor, and 
that the crops have failed because the date fixed by the Govern- 
ment for sowing the grain was disregarded bv the Penghulus. 
The padi sown during the month Rajab — the elate appointed by 
Government — has done well, but other padi sown later has been 
ruined by rats or destroyed in other ways. The Penghulus do 
not obey the Government and the people do not obey the Peng- 
hulus — nor will they ever do so till the Government appoints 
some one to enforce its orders by fine and imprisonment. Till 
that time comes the people will never be better off or able to 
bear taxation. 

9.^ The Dato* Temenggong says that he does not know why 
it should be so, but all his relatives and his people generally 
were better off before the present Government was established ; 
and they cannot bear taxation. 

10. Raja Dris says that the people are improving rapidly, 
both in industry and thrift. If you go through Kota Lama you 
will find very much more cultivation now than formerly, and 
excellent kampongs are being made. It is the same in other 
mukims. Still it takes time to alter a people's ways to any 
great extent; and he recommends that when it is proposed to 
tax them it shall be by a land- or house-tax and not by an asil 
kelamin. People in Perak once thought it a disgrace to work 
for wages, but the feeling is rapidly dying out. 

11. The Resident says that there are only ten coolies em- 
ployed on day-wages on the Government hill, but seven contracts 
for clearing land are being carried out by Perak Malays besides 
many contracts for making the road of seven miles to the hill. 
A few months ago it was impossible to get a contract at all. 
The Resident adds that Mr* Wray had informed him that he had 
more coolies than he knew what to do with. The Resident, how- 
ever, thiaks that the Penghulu system, though very successful in 
some directions, needs the superintendence that formed part of 
the original scheme, and he recommends that a meeting of all the 
Penghulus should be called, and that they should be ordered to 
enforce cultivation on a proper system in their mukims. He also 
promises to write to England for some rat-poison, but thinks that 
the true remedy lies in the direction of more extended and sys- 
tematic cultivation. 

With regard to the payment of the new debt of $247,832, the 
Resident advises that a reply be sent to his Excellency stating 
that the Government of the State is much obliged for the 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 19 

consideration shown in the grant of time to discharge the liability. 
The latter should undertake to commence the liquidation of the 
debt by annual instalments, the amount of which should be fixed 
after the balance of the old debt of $125,000 is paid off, and after 
the ^90,533.29 due to the creditors of the ex-Mantri is paid. The 
liberation of slaves and perhaps of slave-debtors, the Resident 
hopes, may be undertaken in 1883. The survey of the State, a 
very necessary work, will involve a large expenditure in addition 
to the services noted in H.E/s letter. 

12. H.H. the Regent stoutly defends his propositions and 
says that before the Europeans came only the higher classes were 
well-off, and the people were fined and had to work in all sorts of 
ways. He thinks that the asil kelamin should be tried, at least 
after another year or so. 

13. The proposed reply to the Colonial Secretary's letter is 
adopted. The feeling of the Council is against the asil kelamin^ 
but the ?2 royalty on tin from Larut is ordered to be again 
collected from the ist January, 188 1. Rat-poison is to be 
procured by the Resident. 

14. The Resident proposes that the registration of Chinese 
should be enforced in. all the districts on the Perak river and its 
tributaries, partly as a protection to the Chinese themselves and 
partly to facilitate the apprehension of contract labourers who 
escape from Larut to Perak proper, or vice versa. 

Agreed to. 

15. Capitan Ah Kwee proposes that an additional Clerk be 
appointed to the Customs at Matang to visa the tickets of all 
sinkehs arriving in the country so as to facilitate the enforcement 
of their contracts. This, he says, is in accordance with the law 
in Singapore and Penang and would be of great assistance to 
employers. The employers should not mind a fee of 50 cents 
per sinkeh to meet this additional expenditure, as at present many 
of the sinkehs under advances run away before their agreements 
expire. 

Capitan Ah Yam seconds this proposition. 

The Council authorises the Resident to make enquiries, and 
if he thinks it advisable to carry out the measure proposed. 

16. Two petitions from sawyers bringing planks into 
Karounting are laid upon the table. These sawyers pray th^t a 
fixed duty of one*tentn in kind be imposed on planks and timbers. 



20 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The prayers of these petitions are supported by Capitans Ah 
Kwee and Ah Yam. 

The Resident says that after having made enquiries he finds 
that a fair composition would be a tax of 60 cents a month per 
man employed. Notices in Larut have been prepared and are 
being issued authorising the Penghulus to collect this. 

The Chinese members state that the arrangement is satis- 
factory and that the people concerned will be grateful. The 
Council unanimously approves the action taken. 



jist December, 1880. 
Present : 



The Regent. 

The Resident. 

Raja Dris. 

The Temenggong. 

The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 

3. The Resident lays upon the table and explained the letter 
of the Colonial Secretary, No. 8, 116 of the loth December, 1880, 
forwarding a copy of a despatch from the Secretary of State 
approving of the abolition of brothel slavery in Perak, 

5. The Resident lays on the table the correspondence 
relative to the s.5. " Phya Puket** ceasing to run between 
Singapore and Penang, calling at Durian Sabatang, and the 
proposition of Messrs. Chong Moh and Keng Yong to run a 
small steamer to Durian Sabatang and Pangkor. H.H. the 
Regent and the Council are unanimously of opinion that these 
lines should be kept up and encouraged, even if increased 
expenditure be necessary. 

0. The proposal to place a market at Matang, under regula- 
tions similar to those at Taiping and Kamunting, is submitted 
to the Council and is agreed to. 

• ••*•••• 

8. The Resident lays before the Regent in Council some 
papers on the question of the boundary between Kedah and Perak 
^•n reference to the claim of Kedah to the land between the Selama 



Council minutes, perak. 2t 



and the Krian rivers, on the argument that the Selama was 
formerly known as the Krian. 

The Regent says that nothing is more certain than that this 
land belongs to Perak. He was himself the person sent by his 
father, Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah, to take over the territory 
from Governor Butterworth. Mr. Lewis, the Resident, accom- 
panied the Regent to Krian to deliver over the land. To' Mat 
Amin (who, he believes, is still alive) was a Penang officer who 
accompanied them, and the Penang Government Clerk was 
named Muhammad Hasan. The latter is dead. The Regent 
returned to Perak through Selama via Ijok and the Batu Ber- 
dinding Pass. There were then very few people in Selama. Tin 
had not been recently worked but there were traces of ancient 
workings. At that time there was no talk of the Krian ever* 
having been the Selama ; the present Selama was called Selama 
and fell into the Krian. If Che Karim or the Mantri had applied 
to the Kedah Government for permission to open mines at 
Selama such an application could not bind the Perak Government. 
The Mantri had received authority over the Krian district from 
the Sultans of Perak, and the letters of authority from Sultan 
Abdullah to Che Karim are still in existence. Every old man 
in Perak who is familiar with the case — and such old men are 
numerous — can be brought to testify that the land in question 
has belonged to Perak as far back as the memory of man can go. 

Raja Dris says that he was the friend and constant associate 
of Sultan Abdullah. He remembers the issue of authority to 
Che Karim to open Selama; the Mantri had previously been 
consulted and there was never any doubt that the Krian river was 
the boundary between Kedah and Perak. Che Karim, thinking 
that the Mantri was getting the worst of it in his fight with the 
Chinese, came to Sultan Abdullah (who was on bad terms with 
the Mantri) for authority. Che Karrm may also have applied to 
Raja Yusuf, but he (Raja Dris) did not hear anything to that 
eflfect. 

The Temenggong — who is a connection of the Mantri and 
lived with him at Bukit Gantang when Che Karim went oflF to 
open up Selama under the authority of the Mantri who held Krian 
under a kuasa from the Sultans of Perak — adds that there 
was at that time no question about the right of Perak to this 
territory, and he had never heard that Kedah laid any claim to 
it. The Krian river was always understood to be the boundary 
between the two States. 



22 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The Kadzi, Shaikh Mat Taib. says: /* I lived in Larut in the 
days of the Mantri's father, Che Long Jafar. Selama then 
belonged to Perak and was under the Government of Che Loi^g 
Jafar. The name of the district Chief was Shaikh Muhammad 
Asik, who was sent there by Che Long Jafar. The son of this 
Chief is the present Penghulu of Ulu Selama, Muhammad Arif, 
who doubtless can give evidence as he has always lived on the 
spot. The river Krian and not the Selama was considered to be 
the boundary ever sirtce I knew Perak (25 years)." 

Dato' Raja Mahkota says that he has no personal knowledge 
of the facts ; but, as a Perak Chief, he has always understood that 
the Krian river was the boundary between Perak and Kedah. 

The Council advises that a letter be written to Mr. Denisoa 
to ask for a report of the progress made by the surveyor of H.H. 
the Regent of Kedah, and 'that H.E. the Governor be informed 
that Perak is ready to defend its just claim whenever and wher- 
ever it may be convenient to the officers of H.M. the King of 
Siam and to His Excellency. 



5M January, i88r. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
A Raja Dris. 

The Superintendent of Lower Perak. 

The Temenggong. 

The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 

4. A letter is read from Haji Abdul Wahid (Deputy Kadzi^ 
Matang) to the British Resident, complaining that To' Puan 
Halimah has taken down a flag from the mosque at Matang on 
the pretext that it is her own mosque. Another letter is read 
from the same Haji Abdul Wahid to To* Puan Halimah asking 
for assistance to pay for the flag and for a mosque fence, the 
reason given being that the mosque belongs to her. The Regent 
also reminds the Council that the same Haji petitioned last year 
for the mosque to be repaired, on the ground that it was the 
property of (jovernmcnt. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 23 

The Council decides that the mosque at Matang is a Govern- 
ment mosque. 

H H. the Regent states that it has never been the custom to 
use flags in the mosques of Perak, and he recommends that no 
flags be allowed for the present. 

The Kadzi thinks that a white flag with black letters may be 
allowed at the mosque, but no colours should be permitted other 
than black and white. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota thinks that flags should only be 
allowed on the application of the Imam to the Head of the 
Government. 

Raja Dris and the Temenggong vote with H.H. the Regent, 
who accepts the Dato' Raja Mahkota's amendment. 

Notice to be issued that no flags will be permitted on the 
mosques or at festivals except by permission of the Government. 

5. The Resident brings to the notice of the Council a case in 
which this same Haji Abdul Wahid was accused of detaining 
a woman, the wife of Nyah Pyah, on the ground that she was a 
slave, although she held a certificate of manumission signed by 
Capt. Speedy as Assistant Resident of Larut. When called 
upon to explain, the Haji said that he had not detained the woman 
on this account, but because her marriage was irregular, as it had 
taken place while she was a slave and without the Penghulu's 

f)er mission. The Resident therefore ordered the woman's re- 
ease and had referred the matter to the Council. 

The Council unanimously confirms the Resident's action and • 
agrees that such disputes should not be stirred up by the Kadzis. 

6. The notice issued by the Executive Government on the 
i6th November, 1880, is now approved and confirmed. It orders 
that the charcoal duty in the Kinta Chanderiang and Batang 
Padang districts should be collected on the tin exported at the 
rate of 50 cents per bhara. The appointment of a Clerk at J20 
per mensem to collect this duty is also approved. 

8. A petition from Megat Pendia bin Megat Abdullah, of 
Kota Lama, is then read. It states that the petitioner is 
entitled to maintenance by the State in virtue of his descent. ^ 
It appears that formerly high Ministers of State were occasionally 
taken from this grade of dignity (which is above that of a wan), 
but that no such appointment has recently occurred. In 

> Hia pedigree is givon in tho General Editor's preface to " Papers on Malay 
Subjocta— Law II.'* 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBS^ECTS. 



consequence of the petitioner's ancestor having been a Bendahara 
he puts in a claim for preferential treatment. 

The Regent in Council decided that the petition should be 
replied to in the sense that Megat Pendia cannot be provided 
with a suitable post as none is now vacant ; that he cannot be 
provided with an allowance but will be given a gratuity of $25 ; 
that all natives of Perak, without exception, are equal in the eyes 
of the law ; and that Megat Pendia's application for employment 
will be borne in mind. 

9. The grant of $25 a month to To* Tuah, in consideration of 
his former share of the Batang Radang revenue, is confirmed. 



/oi/i June, i6*8r. 
Present : 



The Regent. 

The Resident. 

The Assistant Resident. 

Raja Dris. 

The Temenggong. 

1. The members residing at Kuala Kangsar meet as an 
Executive Committee according to notice. 

2. The Resident, on behalf of H.H. the Regent, explains 
^that it had been necessary to summon such members of the Council 

as could conveniently be called together to take into consideration 
the propriety of appointing To* Muda Yusuf to be the Assistant 
to the Dato' Panglima Kinta. 

3. The Resident adds that the family which had for many 
generations supplied Kinta with its Dato' was divided into two 
branches, the Kepayang branch and the Ipoh branch. ^ It was 
alleged that ancient custom demanded that whenever .a member 
of either branch became Dato^ a member of the other branch 
should be made his Assistant, or I )ato' Muda, and should ultimately 
succeed to the position of Dato*. 

3. The present Dato' belonged to the Kepayang branch of 
the family. At the death of the last Panglima, Ngah Lasam, the 
present Uato' was To' Muda and so succeeded to the higher office, 
while Ngah Lasam' s son, Abdurrani, was made To' Muda. 

* See Appendix A. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 25 



4. To' Muda Abdurrani afterwards died, leaving a son, who is 
now about 10 years of age, and a half-brother named Yusuf who 
claims the position of To' Muda and enjoys the support of a very 
large party in the district. 

6. As, however, the Dato* Panglima had set aside the legitimate 
claimant, Yusuf, wiio held a kuasa from Sultan Abdullah, and 
had conferred the position of To' Muda on his own son, Ngah 
Wahab, a state of ill-feeling had sprung up, and it was feared that 
the peace of the district might be disturbed. 

7. After doing what he could to restore peace, and after full 
enquiry, the Resident had undertaken to submit the claims of To* 
Muda Yusuf to be considered by H.H. in Council. 

8. H.H. the Regent says that the custom is undoubtedly what 
the Resident has described. He thinks that To* Muda Yusuf 
should be appointed. 

Raja Dris and the Temenggong say the same. 

9. It is unanimously ordered that Che' Alang Yusuf be 
appointed To' Muda, to act under and to assist the Dato' in the 
business of the district. 

10. The Resident asks H.H. what salary should be attached 
to the appointment. H.H. replies that the district is important and 
rapidly developing, and that the To' Muda, who is a man of energy, 
will probably do a good deal to assist its development. He con- 
siders that the salary of the To' Muda should be fixed at $50 per 
mensem so as not to deprive the Dato' of any of his emoluments^ 

This is unanimously agreed to. 
• •••«•*• 

19. The Resident states that he observed on his recent tour 
that the larger gutta trees of all kinds had been destroyed, and 
that the people were now beginning to cut down the smaller 
trees so that these valuable plants were in process of extermin- 
ation. He did not think that any good would result from pro- 
hibiting the practice of cutting down the trees, but he suggested 
that, after three months' notice had been given, the export of 
Perak-grown gutta should be prohibited, gutta coming from 
Pahang or Patani being allowed transit as before. 

This is unanimously agreed to. 
. • 2a: The Resident says that another matter is also of pressjng 
importance, that is the preservation of the forest in so far as the 
needs of the tin-smelting industry would permit of it. 



26 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



21. He recommends that after the close of the present felling 
season no primeval jungle [rimba) should be felled for padi- 
planting except in low-lying and swampy situations, where the 
wood is of soft and perishable quality, and that even here no 
timber should be felled except with the permission of the Peng- 
hulu of the mukim, or in special cases by the Head of the 
Government, 

22. He adds that this would not cause any special hardship 
as there is plenty of helukar in the country. 

23. The Council agree unanimously to this measure, and 
authorise the Resident to carry out the measure and to issue the 
necessary notices. 

-24. The Resident lays on the table and explains a letter from 
the Colonial Secretary relative to the destruction of rats, on which 
subject information had been kindly procured by the Secretary 
of State at the request of H.E. the Governor, Sir F. Weld. 

25. The Council desires to express to H.E. its sense of the 
kind interest shown in this and other measures for the assistance 
of the Government of the State. 

26. The Resident informs the Council that the rat-poison 
(phosphoric paste) which he had been directed to get from 
England has arrived, and that the Assistant Resident, having tried 
it on a small scale, finds it very efficacious. 

27. Some Memliers of Council express a desire to try samples. 
The bulk is then distributed by the Resident for experiment on 
an extensive scale. 

28. A letter of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary,. No. 2,8.15 of 
the 2nd May, 1881 — enclosing an extract from a despatch from 
the Secretary of State authorising provision being made for 
the payment of pensions to Native States Officers who belonged 
to Her Majesty's regular service, or whose appointments had 
received the confirmation of the Secretary of State — is then read. 

29. H.H. the Regent says that he quite agrees that this 
provision should be n^ade, but he thinks that at some future date 
the scope of die measure might be extended so as to include all 
officers, both European and native, who faithfully served the State. 

30. The Resident says that the retired Penghulu of Sungai 
Trap, To' Amar Diraja, has asked him to apply to H.H. in Council 
tx> know whether some allowance in the nature of a pensioa 
might be made to him. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PBRAK. 2^ 



31. His Highness aod the native members say that none of the 
old officers of the State deserve the least provision of this sort, since 
their extortion and oppression had ruined the country in the past. 

37. The Resident states that in his recent travels he has 
observed a very great improvement in the condition of the people. 
The Malays have no longer the excuse of poverty to urge 
against taxation ; and he hopes that the Members of Council 
will help at some future time to devise a method by which the 
Malays might assist the revenue, either by an astl kelamin (poll- 
tax), or by a house-tax, or by a land-tax. The slaves must be 
freed and expenditure must be incurred ; and although the 
revenue was flourishing, the people contributed nothing to it 
except when they worked as tin-miners. 



6th July, 188 J. 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 
• »•••.. . 

12. The Resident brings to the notice of H.H. the Regent 
in Council the fact that lands are now being purchased in large 
blocks on the south side of the Kurau river for sugar plantations. 
Sugar-growing is no longer a new industry in Perak ; and when 
the road between Kurau and Taiping is completed, the land along 
it will also be taken up in a very short time indeed. 

13. The Resident therefore advises that — in view of the 
necessity of securing a permanent annual income from its lands 
for the State — the whole of the Larut province, which from its 
accessibility is more valuable at present than the rest of Perak, 
should be removed from the operation of the special regulations, 
and should be sold on lease for 999 years, at f 3 per acre premium 
and 40 cents per annum quit-rent. 

This is unanimously agreed to. 



28 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

2jst August y 1881. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
The Temenggong. 

4. A letter from the Officer in Charge of the Selama district 
is read submitting a proposition from Penghulu Mat Dari, of UIu 
Selama, that immigrant families should be assisted by Government 
with money for their support until they can get in their first 
harvest. If such assistance can be given many families from 
Patani are anxious to settle in Ulu Selama. 

5. H.H. the Regent says that such has been the custom of 
the country and it is a sound policy, for the Patanis are a padi- 
growing people and the transport of food to Selama is difficult. 

6. The Council orders that assistance, not exceeding $1 5 each, 
may be granted to not more than 100 families, the money to be 
repaid within a year, and Penghulu Muhammad Dari to be res- 
ponsible as surety. 



j'jth December, 1881, 

Present : 
Raja Dris (in the Chair). 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
The Temenggong. 
Capitan Ah Kvvee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

3. The Resident draws the attention of the Council to the 
great increase in the disease called beri-beri and to the conse- 
quent rise in hospital expenditure. This extra expenditure can- 
not be met by the voluntary subscription of half a dollar a year 
from every mining cooly. The Resident therefore proposes that 
the registration system now in force in the Coast districts and in 
Batang Padang, Kinta and Bidor, be extended to Larut, and that 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 29 

€very Chinese male of more than 16 years of age be registered 
throughout the State. In consideration of this the Government 
will undertake to keep up the hospitals in the various districts. 

4. This is unanimously ageed to. 

5. The Resident in reference to the war debt (which is the 
only debt now due by the country to the Straits Government) 
explains that the Government of Perak is anxious to pay the debt 
off as speedily as possible so that the whole revenue of the State 
may be devoted to its development. He adds that he expects to 
have a large unexpended balance at the end of this year, and 
thinks that if the Council will approve of the import duty on 
opium being raised from $5 a ball to $6 a ball from the ist 
January, 1882, he may be able to relieve the country of the cost 
of the war by the end of 1882. He points out that in the 
Siamese Province of Tongkah, where little is done for the miners, 
the import duty on opium is $6 a |>all, and that the North Borneo 
Company proposes to collect $12 a ball. A rise from $5 to $6 
W\\\ cause a very slight increase in the price of chandu and will 
bring in an extra revenue of from $17,000 to §20,000 a year. 

Capitan Ah Kwee says that he has discussed this matter with 
the Chinese, and that there is no objection to the proposal so long 
as the Resident does not advise the Government to farm out the 
retail sale of prepared opium. He adds that he has spoken to the 
farmers who are willing to collect and account for the increased 
duty. 

Capitan Ah Yam also says that there is no objection to the 
increased duty. 

The increase is then unanimously agreed to. 

6. The Resident lays upon the table a letter (No. ^^^ of the 
29th November, 1881) from the Colonial Secretary enclosing a 
despatch from the Government of India to the effect that the 
immigration into Perak of coolies from Calcutta, Madras, or 
Bombay, may be permitted, provided the requirements of the 
Indian Government are met. The Resident explains briefly what 
are the conditions insisted on by the Government of India, and 
the Councillors are unanimously of opinion that the conditions 
may be complied with. 

The Resident adds that it will take some time to prepare for 
submission to the Council the details of the immigration rules that 
must be embodied in the laws of the State. No time will, however, 
be lost when preparing the necessary measures. 



30 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

7. '11)6 Resident lays before the Council an application from 
Capitan Ah Yam for a concession of land to build a Chinese 
theatre for the instruction and amusement of the people. 
Having so many people from China it is desirable that Taiping 
should be made as agreeable as possible as a place of residence 
for them, and — under proper restrictions — this proposal deserves 
support. 

Capitan Ah Kwee says that the people like the idea but that 
the towkays fear that the coolies may desert their work to attend 
the theatre. 

Capitan Ah Yam asks for a grant of land in the town for 10 
years free of quit-rent. After that period the land and buildings 
will become the property of Government. 

The Council agrees that a piece of land, 300 feet by 180 feet, 
may be leased for 10 years free of rent to Capitan Ah Yam, 
provided that : 

{a) The hours of opening and closing the theatre should 
be .«*ubject to the approval of Government after 
consultation with the principal towkays ; 
{b) The building should be a substantial one with a tiled 

roof ; 
{c) No other building should be erected on the land except 
for the use of persons connected with or visiting 
the theatre, the permission of Government having 
been previously obtained for such erection ; 
(rf) The plan of the theatre should be approved by Govern- 
ment ; 
(e) Police on duty should be allowed to enter at any time 
of the day or night. 

8. The Resident lays upon the table an application from the 
Rev. F. Hab, Head of the Roman Catholic Tamil Mission in 
Penang, for 200 acres of Kuala Kurau land on which he proposes 
to attempt to form a Settlement of Tamil families This Settle- 
ment would be an experiment, which, if successful, would be of 
advantage to the country and might be further extended. The 
terms asked for are that the premium usually charged for State 
land be remitted, that no quit-rent be payable for the first three 
years, and that when the ground has been fully or in part culti- 
vated the Government will permit Father Hab to recover from 
the tenants his expenses in forming the Settlement and will allot 
the land to the occupiers in accordance with his recommendation. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 3 1 



The Council agrees that 200 acres of land in Kurau may be 
allotted as an experimental measure to the Rev. F. Hab on the 
following terms : 

[a) That the land be free of all charges except survey 

fees for three years from this date ; 

(b) That at the end of three years the Government will be 

prepared to issue leases for such portions of the 
land as may be under cultivation ; 
(r) That such leases will be issued to each cultivator for 
the land actually occupied and cultivated by him, 
on his proving to the satisfaction of Government 
that he has repaid his share of the original outlay 
advanced by Father Hab ; 
[d) That if such repayment has not been made the 
Government will, if necessary, issue leases to 
Father Hab, or to his successor, or representative, or 
to Christian Tamil families recommended by him ; 
{e) That after the expiration of the third year all the land 
alienated will be chargeable with an annual quit- 
rent of 40' cents per acre together with the usual 
fees for registration when the leases are issued ; 
{/) That no premium will be charged by Government ; and 
(g) That any land still lying waste and uncultivated at 
the expiration of the three years may be resumed 
by Government. 
9. The question of the proper rate to be charged for lighting, 
water-supply, police and road services in Taiping is discussed. 

The Resident recommends a charge of 10 per cent, on the 
rental of all property in Taiping and of 5 per cent, for Matang, 
Kamunting and other Larut districts — this amount to be a con- 
solidated charge for all services. 
This is unanimously agreed to. 



nth March, 1882, 

Present: 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
The Temenggong. 



32 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

7. The Council considers a petition from the householders 
of Taiping asking that the rates for police, lighting and water 
might be remitted for one year. 

8. This is allowed. 

9. The Regent then discusses an application from Mr. W. V. 
Drummond, of Shanghai, and others, for 1,000 acres of land in four 
blocks for the purpose of working and smelting tin in Perak. 
It is ordered that a favourable reply be sent to Mr. Drummond 
to the effect that H.H. the Regent and the Council are prepared 
to let him have a grant to the extent requested on terms similar 
to those granted to the French Company. 

10. Referring to the question of immigration the Resident 
informs the Council that in compliance with the duty entrusted 
to him by H.H. the Regent at the last meeting he has, in 
conjunction with the Immigration Officer in Penang, drawn up 
regulations which are now under the consideration of H.E. the 
Governor of the Straits Settlements. 

11. The Resident lays before H.H. a letter from the Colonial 
Secretary conveying the decision of the Secretary of State that 
pecuniary rewards should be given to certain Malay Chiefs in 
consideration of services rendered to the British Government 
during the Perak war. 

H.H. the Regent says that he is not aware of the services 
rendered by Raja Uteh, Saiyid Mashhur, Raja Indut and Raja 
Asal. They would be overpaid at $700 each ; but in deference 
to the opinion of the British Government he is willing to sanction 
the payment of the money. So far as H.H. knows, Saiyid 
Mashhur was at one time intriguing with the enemies of the 
English against Mr. Birch. 

Raja Dris states that these persons were followers of Mr. 
Swettenham and doubtless did render what services they could. 
All persons ought to be made to understand that assistance 
rendered to Government will not go unrewarded. 

It is ordered that the sum of $700 be paid from the revenues 
of the State to each of the four persons named in the letter or, 
failing them, to their heirs. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 33 



1 2th March, 1882. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja MahkoTA. 
• •••.•••• 

5. Correspondence on the subject of the status of the Krian 
Penghulus is laid upon the table. 

After discussion, it is decided that Mr. Leech, Magistrate of 
the district, may employ on salaries three Penghulus — viz. : 

{a) Penghulu Salam at $120 per annum for Kampong 
Permatang and Kampong Kedah ; 

(i) Penghulu Ngah To' Siah for Bagan Tiang at ?i8o; and 

{c) Penghulu Haji Musa for Sungai Kotaat $144 per annum. 

It is thought that the other Penghulus named by Mr. Leech 
might be dispensed with ; but if retained they may only receive 
as remuneration the commission of 20 per cent, on the collections 
of revenue actually passing through their hands, and they may 
be exempted from payment of rent on the land actually cultivated 
by them. No salaried Penghulus are to be allowed commission 
on collections of land revenue nor may they occupy land free of 
rent. No Penghulu in the district is to have judicial powers. 

The land revenue should be collected by the Collector and 
his officers, and the Penghulus should give general help to Govern- 
ment ofiRcers and should render assistance to the Magistrate 
when called upon to do so. 

6. The Resident lays on the table a letter from the Temeng- 
gong stating that one Puteh Karim, brother of Itam Abdur- 
rahman (deceased), claims royalty [chabut) on the Klian Gong 
mine at Salak. He also puts forward a letter in which certain 
persons at Kota Lama claim that the revenue from these mines 
should be spent for the benefit of Kota Lama, alleging that they 
had a promise from the former Resident, Mr. Davidson, that it 
should be so spent. He also raises the question of the distri- 
bution of the Penghulu's revenue {chabut) during the illness of the 
Penghulu Dato' Sri Lela, as the work is being done by the 



34 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Temenggong, with the help of the Assistant (Penghulu Abdur- 
rahman) and one I tarn Nahun. 

H.H. the Regent says that he has known the country during 
three reigns and that the Salak mines were always regarded as 
the property of the State. In the days of Abdullah Muhammad 
Shan they certainly belonged to the Sultan, and in the days of 
Sultan Ali, Che Ngah Lamat was the lessee. To' Kahir, Che 
Ngah Lamat' s agent, gave an elephant known as Me' Yang to 
Sultan Ali by way of rent for these mines. It is true that Sultan 
Ali was not Sultan in title at the time, but he was the de-facto 
Ruler of the Ulu and did not recognise Sultan Jafar. Sultan Ali 
afterwards confirmed the grant to Che Midah, mother-in-law 'of 
To' Kahir. On Sultan Ali's death the mines should have been 
inherited along with the Crown, but they actually came into the 
possession of the Raja Bendahara Usman, foster-son of Che 
Midah. The Raja Bendahara let her have the mines; and she 
quarrelled with her son-in-law. To' Kahir, and worked them 
herself with Chinese labour. This was the first time that Chinese 
had come into the place. 

As regards Mr. Davidson's alleged promise, the Kadzi and 
the Assistant Resident were actually present when certain 
promises were made about the price of the Salak mines being 
gfiven to Kota Lama but nothing whatever was said about any 
royalty or chabut. 

As regards the Penghulu's chabut^ the Council decides that 
the money is to be paid to the Temenggong, who will allow one- 
third to the Assistant Penghulu Abdurrahman and another third 
to Itam Nahun. 

7. The Dato' Raja Mahkota, on the invitation of the Resident, 
states his case with reference to the Gopeng mines. In Sultan 
Ismail's time he advanced $10,000 to open these mines on an 
agreement with the Sultan that he was to receive $2 a bhara 
on all the tin produced until the debt was paid off. Only $2,000 
had been paid back when the disturbances broke out. Some 
years ago he mentioned these facts to the Resident who advised 
him to revert to the question when the country was in a 
prosperous condition. 

The Resident says that while quite a believer in the truth of 
the Dato's story he cannot see his way to advising the Government 
to deal favourably with such a case as it would open a door to so 
many other claims of a like nature. The decision of the Regent 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 35 



in Council is that nothing can be done for the Dato' as regards 
this claim, but that he has the Resident's assurance that he is 
valued as one of the State's best officers and may expect his 
position to improve with the advancement of the country's revenue. 

9. H.H. the Regent lays upon the table a statement of his 
services at the time of the war. This statement is made conse- 
quent on yesterday's vote for rewarding the four persons who for 
their services were recommended to the notice of the Secretary 
of State. 



i^th March, 1882, 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
• •»••••* 

7. The Resident submits to H.H. the Regent that in his 
opinion the State will be in a position to abolish slavery and the 
institution of slave-indebtedness in the year 1883, and that he 
desires the mem.bers of Council on returning to their districts to 
consult as to the best method of carrying out this important 
measure, He will also ask H.H. to call a meeting of the Council 
in May to decide upon some definite scheme, of which due notice 
may be given to the people concerned. 

8. The Resident also brings to the notice of the Regent in 
Council the fact that the Malay population of the State is now in 
a settled and prosperous condition, and might be asked in 1883 to 
contribute to the revenue to the extent of not more than ^^2.50 for 
each male adult. Whether this money should be raised in the 
form of a poll-tax {asil kelamin) or house-tax, or land-tax, or in 
any other form of tax, is a matter upon which he desires the 
opinion of the Council; and he begs the members to come 
prepared to decide upon this important matter at the Council 
Meeting in May next. 



36 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



10. At the suggestion of the Resident the Regent in Council 
directs that the new Settlement at Telok Ma' Hitam is to be 
known as " Telok Anson," in compliment to General Anson, 
who drew the first plan of the town and took great interest in 
its removal from Durian Sabatang. The name Telok Ma' Hitam 
has also been found inconveniently long. 



j6th May, 1882, 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
The Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 

The Dato* Raja Mahkota. 
Captain Chang Ah Kwee. 
Captain Ah Yam. 
• ••••••• 

3. The Resident lays upon the table a letter from the 
Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements reporting the 
receipt of a despatch from Lord Kimberley with a request for 
information regarding the progress made towards the extinction 
of debt-slavery in the Protected Malay States since 1879. He 
also submits a copy of a reply sent to this letter on the 26th 
April, 1882. 

4. An interesting discussion follows on the question of debt- 
slavery and bondage and upon the best means of dealing with 
the matter. Raja Dris inclines to the opinion that the best 
plan would be to fix a date after which all persons should be 
free, the creditors or owners recouping themselves in the 
meantime by getting what they could out of their bondsmen in 
the way of payments or of work. It is indeed asserted that in 
anticipation of such a general release many agreements have 
already been entered into between masters and slaves, by which 
agreements the slaves have agreed to pay to their masters a 
certain proportion of their earnings as free labourers and so to 
extinguish any d^t that, might be due. Other alternative plans 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 37 



are discussed and many difficulties are suggested ; finally it is 
decided to postpone the further consideration of this matter to 
Monday, the 22nd instant. 
• •••• •••• 

7. The Resident calls upon the Chinese members of Council 
to give their views as to Chinese public opinion about the beri- 
beri hospitals and about the possibility of checking the disease 
in the mines. 

8. Capitan Ah Kwee and Capitan Ah Yam both agree that the 
hospitals do not afford sufficient accommodation. The last 
return shows 577 patients in the Yeng Wah Hospital, but many 
coolies remain in the "kongsi'* houses because there is no room 
for them in the wards. The people go freely to hospital, but 
cannot be induced to eat regularly the beans that have been 
found useful in the gaol and hospitals. Flour has not yet been 
introduced into the coolies' diet, but they are supplied with bean- 
oil. The Chinese members are of opinion that a Government 
order regulating diets on the lines proved to be beneficial would 
not be obeyed by the coolies. The coolies would take more 
bean-oil if it was supplied to them, but they would not eat flour 
or pulse in lieu of rice. The disease is gaining ground in the 
mines and is now very prevalent. Capitan Ah Kwee finds that 
many patients, who get better in the wards, relapse into illness 
as soon as they get back to the mines. 



22nd May, 1SS2, 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 
• •••••••• 

2. The Resident says that from the informal discussion that 
took place at the last meeting it was evident that the question of 
the manumission of slaves was not yet ripe for immediate settle- 
ment. He therefore thinks it advisable that those members who 
were present should record their opinions in order that such 
a record may enable the Government to frame definite proposals 
for discussion and adoption on some future occasion. 



38 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



3. The Dato' Raja Mahkota says that in his opinion slave- 
debtors should be called upon to buy their freedom by monthly 
instalments paid either in labour or in money. Masters who 
desire to .employ, their slaves in. their own houses may do so by 
arranging for a monthly reduction of the debt so as to leave the 
debtor free at the end of two years. Should the instalments not 
be met, the creditor is entitled to sue as for an ordinary debt, and 
to have the slave-debtor sent by the Magistrate to work for 
Government at the rate of not more than 20 cents a day, half 
his earnings to go to his support and half to his master in 
payment of the money due. The people so object to Govern- 
ment work on the mountains that debtors will always be ready 
to earn money for their masters without having recourse to this 
measure. All slavery should be completely abolished from the 
1st January, 1885. 

4. The Kadzi agrees generally with the Dato' Raja Mahkota, 
but would prefer that the period of complete manumission be 
extended to three years. 

5. The Temenggong holds the same view. 

6. Raja Dris agrees generally with the preceding speakers, 
whose proposals accord with the views already expressed by 
himself, but he will draw up a memorandum and submit it to 
Council so as to explain in detail the prices at which different 
classes of slaves should be valued for manumission. 

7. H.H. the Regent agrees with what had been said, but 
thinks that the Penghulus should enquire and ascertain the 
proper sum to be demanded in each case and to report on the 
number of slaves and slave-debtors in their mukims. 

8. Raja Dris remarks that an enquiry of this kind would lead 
to interminable difficulties. When the Resident came to Perak 
it was notified that all persons who on the day of his arrival were 
of the status of slaves or bondsmen and under the control of their 
masters should be considered to be of that status without further 
investigation or enquiry ; and it was greatly due to this assurance 
that the discussion of thfs important question had not had any 
disturbing effect. The best plan therefore would be to divide 
bondsmen into classes and to fix the limits of compensation 
payable for each class. 

g. The Regent then withdraws his objection, but says that 
he would like to see the term of absolute manumission extended 
to three years. 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 39 



10. The Resident explains that his chief objection to the 
proposals of the Chiefs rests on the delay which must take place. 
He would like to see every one in the State free early in 1883 ; 
but if the regular payment of instalments can be guaranteed to 
the proprietors he thinks that the proposals of Raja Dris present 
a solution that can be accepted. He would be greatly obliged 
if any one of tht members who may wish to do so will prepare a 
memo, giving his views in detail. With such assistance, and after 
discussing the question with other members not now present, the 
Resident hopes to prepare a return disposing of the question in 
a satisfactory manner. He is quite sure that the British Govern- 
ment and H.E. the Governor will highly appreciate the valuable 
and ready assistance which the members have given in the 
discussion of this question and their desire to respond to the 
invitation to abolish an institution so generally repugnant to the 
feelings of civilised nations. 

1 1. The Resident next brings to the notice of the Council the 
proposition of H.H. the Regent — a proposition originally ad- 
vanced in 1878 — that the Malay population of the State should 
now contribute to the revenue. He invites the opinions of the 
members upon it. 

12. It is evident that the circumstances of the Malay popu- 
lation have very much improved during the last few years and 
that they can now contribute to the expenses of Government 
without any difficulty, which was not the case when the proposal 
was first considered. 

13. The Dato* Raja Mahkota thinks that a poll-tax of $1 per 
head per annum may be levied on any male of Malay race above 
15 years of age. 

14. The Kadzi considers that foreign Malays should beasked 
to contribute less than Perak Malays. 

15. The Temenggong thinks that $1 a head is a sufficient 
contribution and may be demanded. 

16. Raja Dris thinks that the tax would be more acceptable 
if it was raised on land. Holdings, though they cannot be 
surveyed, might well be registered, and the Penghulus might 
collect the dues. For those who pay nothing for their land a $3 
poll-tax would be a moderate contribution. The people of the 
State ought to be made to work, if only to teach them habits of 
industry. A certain portion of land should be assigned to each 
man and he should be made to cultivate it or punished by fine. 



40 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



17. H.H. the Regent thinks that a poll-tax of $2 should be 
imposed on each adult male. A moderate tax of this sort would 
be understood by the people ; a land-tax would not be under- 
stood. 

18. The Resident agrees with the Regent that a tax of $2 a 
head may be imposed on all Malays, native or foreign, being 
males of more than 15 years of age. The difficulties in the way 
of the collection of a land-tax are at present insuperable, but 
there is no reason why some system such as that proposed by 
Raja Dris should not be introduced in the future. By an Order 
of Council issued about two years ago an attempt was made to 
insist on the planting of coconuts; this attempt failed through 
lack of proper supervision. If a tax on land were now imposed 
the Resident thinks that it would discourage cultivation, while 
casual wage-earners would escape scot-free. At its next meeting 
the Council will be asked to authorise the collection of a poll-tax 
of $2 a head with effect from the ist January, 1882, the collec- 
tion to be made by the Penghulus and Officers of districts, the 
former receiving the usual commission of 10 per cent, on all sums 
collected by them. 

19. The Kadzi enquires whether forced labour on public works 
will be altogether abolished in consideration of this tax. If so, 
the people will readily accept it. 

20. The Resident replies that in the present state of the 
labour market the Government cannot undertake to promise any 
such exemption ; but, should forced labour be resorted to, the 
market price of labour will be paid for it. The funds to be 
raised by the poll-tax will help to defray the cost of importing 
Indian coolies for employment on public works. 

23. The Resident brings to the notice of the Council the fact 
that at the last triennial sale of the revenue farms the Secretary 
of State observed with regret that the Perak Government in- 
tended to continue the practice of public gaming for three more 
years; and he therefore desired to learn the opinion of the 
Council on the possibility and propriety of giving up the farm 
and suppressing the vice. 

24. H.H. the Regent and the Councillors arc unanimously 
of opinion that such a proposal is impracticable. The Chinese 
will be bound to gamble, and if their gambling is not regulated 
it will lead to constant tights and kongsi riots. The Police 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 4I 



would be unequal to the calls upon them, and corruption 
would be rampant. The revenue raised — though important in 
view of the burdens imposed on the State — is not of so much 
consequence as the preservation of peace in the districts inhabited 
by Chmese miners. 



22rd May, 1882. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 
The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 

• ••••••• 

2. The Resident informs the Council that the object of H.H. 
the Regent in calling this meeting is to lay before it the cor- 
rected proof of the Enactment for regulating the immigration of 
Indian labour. 

3. The "Perak Indian Immigration Enactment, 1882," is 
then read, and after being explained, section by section, is 
agreed to. It is then declared to have passed the Council and 
to be law in Perak. 

• •••*••• 

6. The Councillors, however, wish it placed on record that the 
clauses which stand as Nos. 87 and 88 in the original draft 
should be retained and should stand as part of the Enactment. 



pM October, 1882. 
Present : 



The Regent. 

The Resident. 

The Acting Assistant Resident (Capt. Walker). 

Raja Dris. 

The Temenggong. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 



42 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 

The Kadzi. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. 

3. The Resident lays before H.H. the Regent in Council a 
copy of the Parliamentary paper on " Slavery in the Protected 
Malay States." 

4. The Resident then lays upon the table and (at the request 
of the Regent) reads the essay on " Slavery and Slave-indebted- 
ness," by Mr. W. E. Maxwell, lately Assistant Resident, Perak, 
together with that officer's proposals for the abolition of the 
institution wathin three years. 

5. H.H. the Regent observed that the historical survey 
drawn up by Mr. Maxwell was in all respects correct, and that 
he was prepared to admit that many old Perak institutions were 
of an oppressive and indefensible character. Corruptions of the 
religious law' {shard*) had "been introduced into the country, 
while the adat or customary law of the State had sanctioned 
aggressions by the strong upon the rights of the weak. These 
aggressions had the sanction of time behind them, and could only 
be done away with by the assistance given to the Rajas of 
the State by H.M. Government. Speaking for himself he was 
anxious 10 act on British advice and to pass ^n Order in Council 
for the abolition of slavery and slave-indebtedness, but he 
considered that his own position was somewhat exceptional, and 
he hoped that four or five persons,* attendants on his children, 
might be exempted from the operation of the law and might be 
still allowed him as slaves. He, however, left himself entirely in 
the hands of the Government and of the Council, and was 
ready to bring the desired measure into force as soon as a decision 
was arrived at. 

6. The proposals of Mr. Maxwell and those submitted at 
previous meetings by various members were then fully discussed. 

7. Raja Dris, the Dato' Raja Mahkota and the Temenggong 
say that it would be extremely difficult to secure that slavery and 
slave-indebtedness should be abolished in 1883 as originally 
proposed. It would be better to extend the time over two padi- 
harvests, as this would allow the slave-owners and creditors two 
seasons — valued at $15 each — iii which to recoup themselves for 
the value of their property. In that case it would be unnecessary 
for Government to make any contributory payment, provided, of 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 43 



course, that the slaves were compelled to work honestly for 
their masters during the period preceding complete manumission. 

8. The Resident says in reply that the question of economy 
is not as important to the State as the question of freeing 
it from the obloquy to which it is now exposed. He quite feels 
that some time should be allowed by way of preparation for the 
change, especially in households where the services of females are 
indispensable, and with His Highnesses permission he would 
suggest for the consideration of the Chiefs that slaves and 
debtors might remain at the disposal of their masters till the 31st 
December, 1883, their services being valued at half the amount 
of compensation to be awarded in each case. At the end of that 
period the Government might make a free grant to each owner 
of the remaining half of the value of the servant, thereby 
providing for his complete manumission and freedom from 
all further liability by the date mentioned. Power should 
be reserved to the servant at any time to borrow the whole sum 
from Government on condition of his working out in labour on 
public works that portion of it for which he would have had to 
serve his master till the 31st December, 1883. This last measure 
could not, however, be made applicable to women, as no public 
employment could be provided for them ; they must therefore 
remain in their present condition till the end of 1883, when they 
would be entitled to complete freedom. Government paying the 
balance of their value. 

9. H.H. the Regent and the other members concurred. The 
following resolutions were then formulated : 

(i) On the 31st day of December, 1883, aJavery and bond-indebtedness shaU 
entirely cease and be absolutely abolished in the State of Perak, and all claims 
arising out of either condition shall be understood to have lapsed and to be 
irrecoverable. 

(ii) The masters of the slave-debtors and slaves shall until the date fixed for 
the final abolition of slavery retain their rights to the services of their dependents 
except as hereinafter provided. 

(iii) No owner of a male slave or creditor of a male bond-slave-debtor shall 
be entitled to value his services for compensation under these reg^ilations at more 
than $30, nor shall any Court to which appeal may be made have power to award 
a larger sum. 

(iv) No female slave or bond-slave-debtor shall be valued for the purposes of 
this r^ulation at a price exceeding $60. 

(v) Every slave or bondsman shall employ his time in his master's service 
and shall obey his master's orders (until entitled to manumission) in any 
Intimate employment. The value of such service, if continued until the 3l8t 
December, 1883, shall be fixed at half the amount settled as the total compensation 
to be made to the master in each case, or proportionately for shorter periods. 



44 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



(vi) At the date assigned for the complete abolition of slaveiy — y\z.^ Slat 
December, 1883 — the Government will pay to the master of the dependent as a free 
grant the amount necessary to complete the full compensation agreed upon or 
adjudged to be the value of the slave. 

(vii) Any slave or debtor refusing or neglecting to obey the lawful orders of 
his master during the period preceding manumission may be taken before the 
nearest Court of competent jurisdiction, which after enquiiy may direct the slave 
or bondsman to be employed on the public works of the State, and the wag^ 
earned by him (excepting so much as may be necessary for his maintenance) 
shall be paid to the master towards the half -compensation to which he is entitled 
under these reg^ilations. 

(viii) It shall be lawful for the slave or bond-debtor, in oi*der to enable 
himself to secure immediate freedom, to borrow at any time from the Govern- 
ment the whole amount of compensation adjudged or agreed to be paid in his 
case, on condition of his labouring on the public works of the State until he has 
repaid by deductions from his wages the proportion of his value payable to his 
master. 

(ix) Female slaves and debtors will be entitled in like manner to a remis- 
sion of half of the amount adjudged or agreed upon as full compensation in con- 
sideration of their continued good service with their masters during the interval 
between the passing of this order and the complete abolition of slavery. At the 
expiry of that period the remaining half of the full compensation allowed will be 
paid to their masters as a free grant by the Government. 

(x) The Chief Court in each district of the State shall have authority to 
decide all disputed cases as to the condition of individuals and to award the 
amount of compensation. The decisions of the Courts must be reported monthly 
to Government and will be subject to revision or reversal by H.H. the Begent in 
Council. 

The preceding resolutions are then carefully read over in 
Council and are unanimously agreed to. 



lotk October, 1882, 
Present : 



The Regent. 
, The Resident. 
The Acting Assistant Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
The Kadzi. 

• ••*•••• 

3. H.H. the Regent says that he wishes to abandon the request 
that he had made for the exemption of four or five of his per- 
sonal attendants from the operation of the proposed measure 
for the release of slaves and debtors, but that he would like to 



I 



> 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 45 



substitute for it a request that on the 31st December, 1883, he 
(as an exceptional case) should receive from Government the full 
value of all slaves or bond-debtors in his possession, without any 
deduction being made for the services required of them during 
the period preceding manumission. 

Raja Dris states that he has already freed all his own slaves 
and slave-debtors unconditionally and without compensation. 
He cannot, however, include in this manumission the slaves who 
are the personal property of his wife, the daughter of H.H. the 
Regent, as he has no power over them. 

The Resident submits for the consideration of H.H. the 
Regent the following Instructions: 

Instbuctioxs fob the Guidance of Coubts and Magistbates appointed to 

CABBT OUT the Obdebs OF H.H. The Reqent in Council fob the 

Manumission of Slaves and Bond-debtobs in Febak. 

The Resident in a letter to the Hon. the Colonial Secretarj (28th May, 
1878)* quoted certain principles that he had laid down very early in his 
term of residence in Perak for guidance in dealing with slave cases. 

One of these was that "every person in Perak, who was an acknowledged 
slave-debtor or slave in the actual possession of his master on the 19th day of 
April, 1877, should be recognised as being legitimately in that position." 

Another was that ** no free person should on any pretence whatever, after the 
19th day of April, 1877, be reduced to the condition of a slave or slave-debtor." 

It must therefore be held : 

(a) That on the compulsory manumission of slaves and slave-debtors, a 

slave-owner shall be entitled, without question, to compensation for 

any acknowledged slave or slave-debtor who was in his possession 

on the date above-mentioned ; 
(&) That no claim founded upon any transaction subsequent to the 19th 

April, 1877, or in resi)ect of any person bom after that date shall be 

entertained. 

2. In 1879 statistical returns were furnished by most of the Penghulus of 
the State and gave the number of slaves in the possession of each householder 
in each mukim. These returns furnish a valuable check upon fraudulent claims ; 
uid it is expected that any claims unreasonably in excess of the numbers given in 
the returns will be treated with suspicion and scrutinised carefully. 

3. The following regulations shall be in force throughout the State of Perak 
from the 1st January, 1883 : 

(a) Subject to the principles laid down by the Resident in his letter of the 
28th May, 1878, to the Colonial Secretary, all royal slaves {hamha raja) and 
persons taken by force under the royal privileges, all persons reduced by a raja to 
slavery 'for their' offences "and all persons who have become hulur to the State 
are hereby declared to be unconditionally free. 

(6) In the case of other persons now in the condition of slaves or debt- 
bondsmen, slavery and debt-bondage shall cease absolutely on the 3l8t December, 
1883. 

* See Appendix B. 



46 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



' .(c) At any time after the coming into operation of these regulationa and 
before the Slst December, 1883, any sUive or debt-bondsman may claim and 
shall receive his freedom upon payment to Grovemment (on his master's aooonnt) 
of the sum of thirty doUars or any smaller sum that may have been adjudged 
or agreed upon as his valoe for compensation. 

(d) Within the same period it shall be lawful for the Government of the 
State to advance the above-named sum on account of any slave or debt* 
bondsman and to set him .free; and to require of him labour upon public works 
of utility. 

(e) The Chief Court in each district shall register all slaves, bondsmen and 
emancipated persons, shall decide disputed claims, and shall advance (after 
having received the [Resident's approval) the redemption-sum for any slave or 
debt-bondsman. 

(/) The Chief Magistrate of the district shall allot work to any person for 
whom such redemption-sum is advanced, and the Court shall issue certificates 
uf emancipation to all persons entitled to them. 

(g) The Courts shall have the power to purchase (on behalf of, and subject 
to the approval of, the Government) the freedom of any slave or debt-bondsman, 
if unable to pay or to work, by the payment of any sum, proportionate to his 
value and not exceeding $25, to the person entitled to receive it. 

(h) The Courts shall have power to require the production of any slave or 
debt-bondsman whose evidence may be required in any enquiry, private or 
otherwise, into circumstances attending the alleged servitude. 

(i) Any person for whom a redemption-sum has been paid by Government, 
or who is still in his master's service, shall be liable to the punishment provided 
by Section 492 of the Straits Penal Code for breaches of contract by labourers 
if he neglects or refuses to perform the work allotted to him. 

(j) Any act which would be a punishable offence if done to a free man shall 
be equally an offence if done to any person freed under Clause (a) or to any 
person emancipated under Clauses (c), (d) and (/), or — ^after the 81st December, 
1883 — to any person whatsoever on the pretext of his being in the condition of a 
slave or slave -debtor. 

(*) On the 31st December, 1888, all debts due fi-om debt-bondsmen shall bo 
deemed to have lapsed by efflux of time, and no such debt shall thereafter bo 
recoverable by process of law from any debt-bondsman, from any surety, or from 
Government. 

(0 The Courts in deciding upon the status of an alleged debt-bondsman 
who disputes his liability, shall be glided, so far as it is applicable to the case, 
by the Resident's letter to the Colonial Secretary, dated the 28th May, 1878. 

Passed by H.H. the Regent in Council this 10th day of October, A.D. 1882. 



HUGH LOW. 

6. This paper is read, paragraph by paragraph, discussed, and 
unanimously agreed to. 

7. H.H. the Regent then proposes that the resolutions for 
the abolition of slavery in Perak should be copied and forwarded 
for the consideration of H.E. the Governor, Sir Frederick Weld, 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PRRAK. 47 



K.C.M.G., who has so anxiously pressed upon the Government 
of the State the propriety of providing for the manumission of 
tjie servile class in Perak. 

8. This is unanimously agreed to. 
• ••••••• 

12. The Resident brings to the notice of H.H, the Regent the 
unsatisfactory results of the collection of the duty on charcoal at 
Kuala Kangsar and at Taiping. At thos^ places the collection 
is farmed out, the duty being levied on the charcoal itself at the 
rate of 5 cents per pikul or 40 cents per cart-load. In Kinta it 
is collected on the smelted tin by a special rate of 50 cents per 
bhara of tin for the charcoal used in smelting. This rate is 
based on the average quantity of charcoal used in smelting a 
bhara of tin from the ore. Since the introduction of this 
system the Kinta revenue has greatly improved owing to the 
impossibilitv of evading the duty. The Resident asks for author- 
ity to introduce the same system into the other districts of the 
State — ^viz., Taiping, Kuala Kangsar, Selama and Low^r Perak. 
Tliis is unanimously agreed to. 



nth October, 1882. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 

The Acting Assistant Resident. 
Haja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
• ••.•••• 

5. The Resident lays upon the table the published notices 
inviting tenders for the sale of the revenue farms in Perak. 

6. He points out that in Lower Perak it had been brought to 
his notice on his last visit that there existed an irregular farm for 
the sale of chandu at Kota Setia, much to the advantage of the 
pipah farmer, who paid nothing for this privilege but was reported 
to make. $1,000 a year by the monopoly of the sale of the drug. 
This seemed to be a legacy from the farm established in 1878, 
when Mr. Tooth opened up the Bindings Sugar Estate. He (the 
Resident) had been under the impression that the monopoly had 



48 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



died a natural death when Mr. Tooth's enterprise had come to aa 
untimely end. ..But this was not the case. 

7. Tenders had accordingly been called for the extension of 
the regular farm so as to include the district from Durian Sa- 
batang to the mouth of the river and from Sungaj RungUup to 
British territory. The. farm was to be bound to sell opium of 
the best quality, by not making more than 25 faels from each 
ball, at §1.20 per tael ox 14 cents per chi. It is important that 
this source of revenue should be secured without delav, as the 
district was likely to be occupied for sugar-planting, which would 
put the State to expense in police protection and yet yield no 
revenue, as the land had been given at the nominal price of 50 
cents per acre free of quit-rent. The Resident therefore asks 
H.H. to consent to it. 

8. H.H. the Regent and all the members are of opinion that 
this is a very proper measure and authorise the Resident to 
carry it out. 

9. A similar farm is ordered to be established at the lower 
extremity of the Bernam river from Sabak to the sea. 

10. The Resident then lays upon the table the published 
notices inviting tenders for the lease of the revenue farms for 
a term of three years from the ist January, 1883. He explains 
the reasons for dividing up the farms so very greatly on this 
occasion, the chief reason being a desire to give people who 
invest their money in the country a chance of sharing. in the 
profits made by the revenue farmers. 

11. He adds that although he has adyisf^d this course on the 
present occasion — provided, of course, that proper prices were 
secured — ^he was personally of opinion that on the next allotment 
of the farms they should be divided up into only two primary 
divisions — viz., Larut and Perak farms. In each of these 
divisions there should be one chandu and opium farm (which 
should include the rights now conferred on ^the north and ^puth 
Larut coast farms as regards opium, the rights of the opium im^ 
port duty farmer, the rights of the chandu farmer in Lower 
Perak, and the collection of the opium import duty in Lower 
Perak), a spirit farm extending over the whole of each divisioa, 
and a joint gambling and pawnbroking farm extending over 
the same area. Such an arrangement would attract greater 
capitalists to the country, if indeed they were not by that time 
to be found locally. 

12. The Council then adjoi}rned> ^ ., 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 49 

18 th October, 1882. .0 

Present: 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
ITie Kadzi. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
• • • . • • •<• 

3. The Resident reports to H.H. the Regent that the' tenders 
for the revenue farms were opened on the 12th instant and were 
generally satisfactory, 178 tenders in all having been received. 
An abstract was forwarded to H.E. the Governor of the. Straits 
Settlements ; and when an answer had been received, he (thp 
Resident) will be able to report to H.H. the Regent and th^ 
Council the exact amount realised. At present he has only iht 
satisfaction of saying that the increase in the value of the farms 
will probably be not less than $360,000 annually. 

4. Referring to the proposal to tax the male population by 
the imposition of an asil kelamin (^^^ Council Minutes of the 
22nd May, 1882), the Resident invites H.H. the Regent to arrive 
at some decision, as notices ought, before the close of the current 
year, to be prepared for distribution in the various districts. 

5. Raja Dris says that he has lately been through the 
districts of Kinta, Kampar and Lower Perak on a visit^ of in- 
spection on behalf of the Government. At the request of the 
Resident he gave his special attention to the question under 
discussion ; he sounded the people and discussed with the Chief^ 
alternative methods of raismg some revenue ifrom the Malay 
population. He found that the best possible disposition pre- 
vailed everywhere and that people were quite willing to obey 
any Government order, whether for the collection of the astf 
kelamin (poll-tax), or for the payment of rent on land, or for 
gratuitous labour for a fixed number of days annually at works 
of public utility. In his own opinion a poll-tax of $1 on aU 
males above the age of 15 would be sufficient for the first year, 
if such a tax must be imposed, but the form of tax could not be 
popular as it had never been levied in the Perak river district??. 
The cultivation of land in the districts is also so unsystematic 
that the collection of rent might present insurmountable difi>- 



50 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



culties. Under the circumstances he is altogether in favour of a 
certain number of days' gratuitous service being required of each 
male in the country— or, in lieu thereof, a commutation-tax of 25 
cents a day. He thinks that six days only should be required. 

6. H.H. the Regent observes that in Sultan Jafar's time the 
people through their Chiefs offered to pay $4 each annually, 
provided the system of ierak (corv6e) was given up. In 
addition to this payment they were also willing to render free 
service and provide their own food : 

(a) In the event of the country being at war ; 
• {b) Whenever the Princes have to celebrate a marriage 
or to assist at a funeral, or on any similar occasion ; 
(r) Whenever general assistance is needed for the building 
of a kudu for the capture of elephants. 

This proposal was not accepted by the Yangdipertuan as the 
Chiefs were not all of one mind upon the subject. To' Jan^gut 
and Che Long Jafar opposed it, while the Panglima Kmta 
and Panglima Bukit Gantang favoured it. In those days the 
ryots were klraA'd at the pleasure of the Chiefs for all kinds of 
duties, and it frequently happened that in a year they were never 
released from such gratuitous labour. They found their own 
food and everything else that they required. They were also 
expected — those of them that were of any consideration — to 
make presents to the Raja according to their means. There 
were also at that time import duties upon everything that came 
into the country, 2^ per cent, being the most common rate. 
Even rice and salt were taxed. These duties have all been 
remitted within the last four years, and all imports except opium, 
spirit and tobacco are now free. Ast'l kelamin used to be 
collected in all Krian and Kurau at the rate of $2.50 per 
married couple ; this was because they were far from the Raja 
and could not be brought to work for him in Perak. Che Long 
Jafar and To' Janggut resisted the Raja Bendahara's attempt 
to collect asil kelamin in Larut, and this was the beginning of all 
the troubles and divisions among the Chiefs; but the asil 
kelamin was only the pretence put forward — ^the Chiefs had other 
objects in view. 

His Highness observes that he does not feel competent to 
give an opmion on this question, remembering (as he cannot help 
doing) the different light in which these things were viewed in 
former times. He thinks that the ryots might certainly be called 
upon for a month's labour and still be great gainers in com- 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK. 51 



parison with the old state of things. Ten days, at least, of 
gratuitous labour on public works should be required of them if 
they are to pay no other taxes. 

7. The Resident suggests that it would be not in accordance 
with the views expressed by Raja Dris if the rule as to gratuitous 
labour was enforced in Krian, Kurau, Selama and Larut, where 
all the Malays pay rent for the land that they occupy. In the 
Krian and Kurau districts they used to pay in former times — 
in addition to asil kelamin — a tithe of the produce of their lands. 

8. Raja Dris says that he would like to introduce land 
regfulations as liberal as those in the neighbouring Colony. That 
was his reason for proposing so moderate an assistance from the 
ryots to the State. 

9. The Resident observes that the circumstances of this young 
State are not comparable in all respects with those of the Colony. 
There, labour is abundant ; here, it is often twice — or even three 
times — as costly. He experienced this lately at Durian Sabatang, 
where after ordering the officers of Government to pay the market 
price for labour — ab6ut 40 cents a day and the labourer's food- 
he now hears that even this is insufficient owing to the demand 
for labour and the dearth of any supply. 

10. Raja Dris replies that he had no difficulty about hiring 
boatmen during his recent travels. He also observed a greater 
inclination on the part of Perak people to work for wages. 

11. The Resident thinks that if they are not called upon to 
contribute to revenue in any way the people may fairly be 
expected to work gratuitously for Government for 10 days in 
every year or claim exemption on payment of $2.50. 

12. H.H. the Regent suggests 12 days — or one day for each 
month. 

13. Raja Dris adheres to his opinion that only six days' en- 
forced gratuitous labour (or an equivalent payment of 25 cents a 
day) should be required of each person. 

14. The Temenggong and the Dato' Raja Mahkota agree 
with Raja Dris. 

15. The Kadzi thinks that eight days would be a suitable 
period, but would like to see the two Imams and the Khatib of 
each village and the Bilal and the Siak of each mosque excepted. 

16. After discussion, it is agreed that one Imam^ the Khatib^ 
the Bilal and the Siak — four persons for the service of the mosque 
in each village — be exempted from the new rules. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



. 1 7. After considerable discussion it is unanimously resolved 
that a Government Order be issued as under : 

(i) All persons of Malay race, foreign or native, above 15 years and below 50 
years of age, in th6 State of Perak — with the exceptions hereinafter mentioned — 
shall labour gp:«taitoasly on the public works of the State for six clear days in each 
year. 

Exceptions. — (a) All persons cultivating land and paying on their own account 
i^nt for the same to Government ; (&) all Rajas of the royal family of Perak ; and 
{e) one Imnm and the- Khatih, BiJal and 8iak of each mosque. 

(ii) Any person may commute the service of his personal labour by a 
payment at the rate of 25 cents a day to Government. 

(iii) A list shall be made (by the Penghulus and other Government officers in 
each district) of all persons liable to this tax. One copy of this list shall be kept 
by "the Penghulu and another in the Head Office of the district. 

(iv) When the services of the ryots are required, a requisition shall be made 
upon the Penghulu by the Chief Officer of the district for the number of men 
required; and before doing so all preparations shall have been made for their 
going to work immediately on their arrival, tools and other necessaries being 
provided for them. The journey to and from the place of work shall not be 
included iu the six days. 

(v) The Penghulu or his deputy sliall superintend the labour of the men of 
each village, and the Penghulu shall be entitled to receive from Government as 
Ills fee one-tenth of the value of the labour rendered (calculated at 25 cents per 
head per diem). 

(vi) Every person refusing 01' neglecting to obey the Penghulu's order to 
render his annual quotutn of labour shall be liable to a fine of $5. 



1 



ipth October J 1S82. 
Present: 



The Regent. 
- Thfe Resident. 

Raja Dris. 
^ The Temenggong. 

The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
The Kadzi. 
• ••••••'• 

.12. The Datp* Raja Mahkota raises the question of the rental 
pf the State lands that yield the nipah from which ataps are 
tiiade in Lower Perak. 

• 13. The Resident lays upon the table a report (dated the 20th 
July, 1882) by Mr. Denison on the nipah and atap revenue of 
Lower Perak. He adds that the question of raising a revenue 
from the magnificent nipah forests of Lower Perak was brought 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PERAK, 53 

up about four years ago. The right to cut the nipah leaves 'was 
let to Low Kim, a Chinaman ; and the privileges that were leased 
to him included the export duty. He was paying $2,400 annually 
to Government for his privileges. 

When the nipah farm was first let a lessee at $50 per mensem 
was obtained with difficulty. In offering the farm for the term 
following the ist January, 1883, it was thought advisable to cui:tail 
some of the rights and to limit it to the export duty. Low Kim 
was offering $6,480 annually for this duty. The question arises 
as to what is a fair rent to be levied for this nipah land from those 
who wish to use it for cutting leaves for making atap for export 
to Deli and elsewhere. 

14. It is unanimously resolved: 

(a) For the term of three years the nipah districts in Lower Ferak shall be 
let to the ryots through the Penghulus at a rent of 50 cents per orlong. Tha. 
distribution of this land shall be entrusted to the Penghulus, who must be 
answerable to Government for the rent of whatever land is returned as being in 
their respective mukims. The area as given in Mr. Denison's report from the 
Penghulus' own measurements is 4,711 orlongs. 

(b) The Penghulus are to be held responsible for the proper care and protec- 
tion of the trees, and will receive the usual chahut of one-tenth on the rental and 
export duties. 

(c) The payments are to be made by the Penghulus to the Sub-Treasurer of 
Lower Perak, half on the Ist day of April and the remaining half on the 1st 
day of October in each year, beginning from the 1st April, 1883. 

15. The Dato' Raja Mahkota states that three years ago the 
Government remitted the usual charge per ton on junks trading 
to the Perak river for ataps. This was done to encourage the 
industry when it was in its infancy. In lieu of the rates pre- 
viously in force a uniform charge of $1 per vessel (regardless of 
its si^) was levied oji these.junks. . When. Mr. Denison went to 
Lower Perak he levied on junks trading in ataps the same rates 
as on other vessels ; but Mr. Paul, who happened to visit th« 
place on his way from Penang to Sungai Ujong, pointed out that 
this was not in accordance with Government regulations, and the 
money that had been so collected was returned. 

The Dato* now advises that as the trade is well-established 
and lucrative, the harbour dues might be rai.sed to at least half 
the rates charged on other junks. From 25 to 30 junks leave 
Lower Perak monthly for Deli. 

16. It is unanimously resolved that the harbour dues on junks 
engaged in this trade shall, from the ist January, 1883, be coU 
lectfed at the rate of half the dues paid by the ordinary trading 
junks frequenting. the ports of Lower Perak, , >; 



54 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



1 7. The Resident reports to the Regent in Council the trial 
of Udin, a headman of the Red Flag Secret Society, and of Che 
Sarib and Saiyid Hasan Yahya, of Bagan Nakhoda Omar, for 
enlisting members for (and for belongmg to) the White Flag 
Secret Society. These societies have their head offices in the 
Colony but have recently ramified into Lower Perak. 

18. Raja Dris submits his notes on the trials which were coi- 
ducted before himself, Mr. Denison, Dato' Raja Mahkota, Dato' 
Panglima Kinta, and Orang Kaya Mat Arshad. Udin was sen- 
tenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment as he had resisted 
the police with force of arms and had called upon the ryots to 
assist him. Che Sarib was sentenced to five years and Saiyid 
Hasan Yahya to 2i years' imprisonment with hard labour. 

19. H.H. the Regent in Council entirely approves of the pro- 
ceedings, and thanks the Chief Justice for the service that he has 
rendered to the State. 



20tA October, 1882. 
Present : 



The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
The Kadzi. 
• ••••••• 

6. The Resident submits a letter from the Colonial Secretary, 
S.S., intimating H.E. the Governor's wish that Government ver- 
nacular schools should be established for the people. He asks 
for an expression of the Councillors' views on the subject of 
education. 

H.H. the Regent says that a school which had been tried for 
some time at Sayong made excellent progress while it possessed 
a good Master in Muhammad Sidik, but broke down under his 
useless successor and had to be closed. H.H. and the other 
members agree in thinking that education will not be popular, and 
that pupils will be collected with difficulty unless attendance is 
made compulsory by law. They consider that schools teaching 
elementary English, Malay by means of books in lloman character^ 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PBRAK. 55 



and elementary arithmetic on European lines might be tried at 
Kuala Kangsar, Selama, Teluk Anson and Batu Gajah. Such 
a system would, in the opinion of the Council, be much more 
popular than purely vernacular schools. 



2ist October, 1882. 

Present : 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
Dato' Raja Mahkota. 
The Kadzi. 

• . ■ • • 4 

3. Raja Dris brings to the notice of the Council a complaint 
from the shopkeepers of Batu Gajah. 

Early in 1881 the Government purchased land for the purpose 
of establishing a trading village from which supplies could be sent 
to the mines of Papan, Siputeh and other places in Kinta, and 
from which tin might be exported. The site proved healthy and 
convenient, and land was sold to traders, who binltf twenty or 
more good houses on it. An emporium being thus created, it was 
soon frequented by hawkers, who sold their goods from boats, 
obstructed the landing place, paid no dues, and damaged the 
profits of the local traders. 

The Resident now lays on the table a letter from the District 
Magistrate, Kinta, forwarding the traders' petition that people in 
boats should only be permitted to sell goods wholesale — />., rice 
by the bag, salt fish by the ton, kerosene oil by the tin, tobacco 
in quantities of five catties, curry stuff in amounts of $1 value, 
coconuts by the hundred, cloth by the piece, onions by ten catties. 

Raja Dris says that the request of these petitioners is in 
agreement with the ancient customs of the State. He proposes 
that the retail sale of articles from boats at landing places be 
prohibited. 

This is unanimously agreed to. 

4. The Resident lays on the table a claim from one Basek, 
of Kota Lama, to chabut or ^ on a tin mine at Ulu Kepayang, 
claiming it aa his private and ancestral property. 



55 PAPERS ON ^AMi^ iuBy'icfs. 



On this a question arises as to the amount of chabut payable 
to Pengiiulus and owners of mines under Regulation of the 
Couftcil of State of the 6th September, 1878. 

Raja Dris maintains that under them the Penghulu is entitled 
to one-tenth of all revenue raised in his district, and that he draws 
it equally on the tin obtained from Government land and on that 
mined on private property, on which a drawback of $2 a bhara 
is allowed the proprietor. . 

The Resident turns to the record in the Coujicil minute-book, 
which makes it clear that the Penghulu is entitled to a tenth on 
the tin obtained from Government land but that he draws nothing 
from private land on which the owner gets the royalty. 

Raja Dris produces the Malay -lithographed version of the 
order and a copy of the kuasa under "^ which Penghulus are 
appointed. Carefully read, the first of these documents supports 
th,e . Residences vj^v^, though the language might have been 
more clear and definite. ^The kudsa of the Penghulus provides 
absolutely for the payment of a tenth of all duties collected in 
the mukim. 

The Resident states that the Magistrate, Kinta, had on a 
recent visit raised this very question, and had been referred in 
reply to the notices that had been passed by the Council and 
distributed in every district. Mr. Hewett afterwards said that he 
was about to submit a case for full instructions. 

The Resident therefore considers that the best plan woul4 
be for the Council to defer the consideration of what might provQ 
a matter of, great importance until they have the case to b6 
submitted by the Kinta Magistrate fully before them. 

This is agreed to. 



2^th October^ 1882. 
Present : 



The Regent. ;, 
The Resident. 
Raja Dris. 
The Temenggong. 
The kadzi. ' : 



COUNCIL MINUTES J PERAK. 57 



3. H.H. the Regent in Council considers a letter received 
from H.H. the Yangdipertuan of Kedah reporting the result of 
an enquiry held in Kedah regarding an affray which took place on 
the 13th August, on the Kedah side of the Krian river, between 
foreign Malays, some of whom resided in Kedah and some in 
Perak. In this affray a man named Muhammad Sidik was killed, 
and two others, Batawi and Kadir — all residing on the Perak 
side — were seriously wounded. 

The Resident submits the reports of the Krian and Selama 
officers and the notes of evidence taken immediately after the 
occurrence. In these notes the witnesses all assert that the 
persons who crossed the frontier from Selama to claim the girl 
Ramah were unarmed, though the Kedah witnesses assert the 
contrary. 

After discussion, it is decided that the Regent shall send a 
letter, to H.H. the Yangdipertuan pi Kedah, thanking hian for 
the steps taken by him, and offering to send over aH persons whose 
evidence is required at the trial, provided due notice be given of 
the exact date fixed for the hearing of the case. It is also 
decided to write to H.E. the Governor asking his advice as to 
whether a high officer of State, such as Raja Dris, should not be 
sent over to watch the proceedings and to endeavour to establish 
cordial relations with Kedah, as the facilities for bringing fugitive 
criminals to justice are at present unsatisfactory owing to the 
laxity of the people on the Kedah bank of the Krian. 

4. In reference to the recent epidemic of small-pox, the 
Resident informs H.H. in Council that through the kind 
assistance of H.E. the Governor arrangements have been made 
for a regular monthly supply of vaccine4ymph from Europe. 



The Regent. 
The Resident, 
Raja Dris. 
The T^menggong. 
The Kadzi. 



26th October, 1882. 
Present : 



58 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

4. A letter from the Magistrate, Kinta, asking for the appoint- 
ment of an Assistant Kadzi for the district, is laid on the table 
for the consideration of H.H. the Regent. 

Raja Dris says that on his recent visit to the district many 
complaints were made to him of the inconvenience caused by there 
being no Judge capable of hearing matrimonial cases in Kinta, 
Kampar, or Sungai Raya. People from those places are put to 
the expense of going to Lower Perak for the settlement of matri- 
monial disputes. In his opinion there should be an Assistant 
Kadzi and a District Court in every district with a large Malay 
population. 

H.H. and the Council agree as to the propriety of making 
such an appointment but know of no one fitted to fill it. Should 
such a person be found the appointment may be made with a 
salary of f 25 per mensem attached to it. 

• ••••••^ 

7. The Resident represents to the Council that applications 
have recently been made for pensions by applicants claiming to 
be warts Perak, and as such having a right to be provided for by 
the revenues of the State. He says that this subject was brought 
to the notice of H.E. the Governor on the occasion of his last 
visit to Perak by claims for Raja Mahmud and from the Raja 
Permaisuri, widow of Sultan AH. 

H.H. the Regent says that he allows the Raja Permaisuri $25 
a month and that her claim was based on different grounds — ^viz., 
that she had maintained the children of ex-Sultan Abdullah till 
they were sent to school. Raja Mahmud's claim relates to the 
detention of his property and is baseless, as the Regent and Raja 
Dris know. 

The Resident, however, advises, as the question is always crop- 
ping up, that the Council should place on record the names of all 
persons who can claim, as members of the royal family, to be 
warts Perak, H.E. the Governor had recorded in a minute that 
he thought the time had arrived for making such provision for the 
Rajks as would prevent their regretting the former state of things. 

The Regent thinks that the revenues of the State may be 
fairly asked to contribute a sufficient payment for the support 
of the Rajas of royal blood, so as to give them no excuse for 
oppressing the people and troubling the Government. 

Raja Dris is of the same opinion. He considers that the 
allowance should be^sufficient to maintain a modenate household 



COUNCIL MINUTES, PBRAK. 59 



but not to provide for extravagances. Pensions should be paid 
irrespective of any income derived from service under Govern- 
ment or in any other legitimate way. 

H.H. the Regent then submits the following list for sub- 
mission to H.E. the Governor : 

SONS OF THE EBQENT. 

1. Raja Pendawa, ^15 per mensem. 

2. Raja Johor, who is yoang and for whom a pension is asked. 

GRANDSONS OP THE REGENT. 

1. Raja Abdol Jalil, son of Raja Dris, ^15 per mensem. 

2. Raja Abdol liajid, son of Raja Mansor, ^10 per mensem. 

NEPHEWS OF THE REGENT (SONS OF RAJA PANDAK 
ABDURRAHMAN.) 

1. Raja Mahmnd, |16 per mensem. 

2. Raja Brahim, ^16 per mensem. 
8. Raja Ali, ^16 per mensem. 

4. Raja Alang, ^16 per mensem. 

CHILDREN OF EX-SULTAN ABDULLAH. 

1. Raja Mansnr ) 

2. RajaChulani**^^^*^^^^'^*'*^^ 

8. Raja Ayesha, daughter, seven years old> $10 per mensem. 

SONS OF RAJA BfiNDAHARA ISKANDAR. 

1. Raja Mahmnd, $15 per mensem. 

2. Raja Dris, Ohief Jostlce of the State. 
8. Raja Hasan, $16 per mensem. 

4. Raja Ahmad, governing Kampar. 

SONS OF RAJA OMAR, BROTHER TO BfiNDAHARA OSMAN. 

1. Raja Iskandar, $15 per mensem. 

2. Raja Ababakar, $16 per mensem. 

DAUGHTER OF A FORMER RAJA B£NDAHARA. 
Raja Uteh, an old lady, $6 per mensem. 

DAUGHTER OF SULTAN ALT. 
Raja Jawah, $10 per mensem. 

CHILDREN OF RAJA DRIS. 

1. Raja Abdol Hamid, aged nine. 

2. Raja Iskandar, a child. 

8. Raja Ngah Khatijah, a girl of seven. 
4. Raja Harun-ar-Rashid, an infant. 

There are also other members of the royal family — ^.^., the 
children (names unknown) born to Raja Abdullah in the 
Seychelles and Raja Ismail of Kampar. 



OO PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



' ' TheMoregoing list is believed to contain the names of all 
those who can claim to be warts Perak in the direct male line. \ 

* The following note was subsequently added by the Besident : . 
^ . " Ijn reference to the proposiBkl tp settle pensions on the members of the royal 
family of Perak, H.H. the Regent in a letter to the Hesident explains thath^ 
inadvertently omitted from the list the name of his daughter, Baja Nuteh, wifb 
of Raja Dris. The Resident replies that her name will be submitted to H.E. for a 
pension of $25 per mensem. It is to be noted that the income of a woman, from 
her own private property or settlements is independent of any control by the 
husband. 

" H.H. the Regent in the same letter informs the Resident that Raja Husain, 
son of Raja Ngah Futra, and grandson of a Raja Bendahara^ being of true blood, 
ought with his three children to be included in the pension list. The Resident 
replies that he has never before heard of this Raja, and that as the pension list is 
now so large he doubts the propriety of adding to it. Raj^a Dris, however, recom- 
mends the grant of a small pension of |10 per mensem, and the Regent again 
presses for this allowance." 



jith November, 1882, 

Present: 
The Regent. 
The Resident. 
Raja I>RIS. 
The Temenggong. 
The Kadzi. 
Capitan Ah Kwee. 
Capitan Ah Yam. \' 

'3. The Resident informs H.H. the Regent and the Council 
that H.E. the Governor had done him the honour of forwarding 
in H.E.'s own handwriting, in anticipation of the official letter 
(which would no doubt soon follow), a copy of the minute in 
which H.E. had been pleased in the most gracious terms to 
approve of the proceedings in Council and of the regulations 
passed for the manumission of slayes and bond-debtors in Perak. 
With the permission of H.H. the Regent he would read it. 

" I approve the regulations regarding the abolition of slavery in Perak. I 
congratulate H.H. the Regent, the Resident, and the Council upon the results of 
their deliberations, and I fully appreciate the spirit of patriotic duty and self- 
denial which has animated those Me^nbers of Council who hold slaves, especially 
Raja Dris, who has already set a noble example worthy of his high character and 
royal lineage. I thank H.H. the Regent and the State Council for their 
■considerate" recognition (in Resolution viii) of the effort that I have made to 
prQmQte a speedy manumission of slaves upon a satisfactory basis. To the steady 
perseverance, discretion and tact that have guided Mr. Low, the Resident, and to 



COUNCIL MINUTES J PERAK, 6 1 



the good sense and pablic epirit of the native Chiefs and Headmen of Perak is 
attributable a resolt so creditable to themselves and so condacive to the honour 
and interests of the State. I shall transmit copies of these papers and of this 
minute to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. 

" FRED. A. WELD. 

""^ath October, 1882r 

On the motion of H.H. the Regent it is ordered that H.E.'s 
minute be recorded in the Council book with a full acknowledg- 
ment of the gratification that it afforded His Highness and the 
Council Members to receive this approval of the efforts made 
by them to carry out this measure for the relief of the servile 
classes. 



APPENDICES. 



Appendix A. 

THE TITLE OF DATC PANGLIMA KINTA. 

The sncoesBion to the di|^itj of Dato' Fanglima Kinta is looked upon in Perak 
as the beet example of the bSrgilir principle — the carious rule by which different 
Malay families share the same title. In this case there were two families, the 
Ipoh or Paloh family and the KSpayang family (so-called from the places where 
they lived) that took it in turn to provide the Dato' Fanglima Kinta. In 1880 the 
Date' Panglima Kinta was named Uda Bidin, and he really belonged to the Ipoh 
branch of the family and not to the Kepayang branch, as asserted by Sir Hugh 
Low. The pedigree (as recorded in Sir Hugh Low's own handwriting) is as 
follows : 

Dato' Panglima Kinta, To* Janggut 



To* Taarim Pandah Jamal 

(Dato* 8M Raja) \ 

I Dato' Panglima Kinta, Uda Bidin 

Dato' Panglima Kinta, Ngah Lasam \ 

I • Che* Ngah Wahah 

To* Muda, Ahdutrani Yusuf 

(deceased) 

It will bo seen from this pedigree that Sir Hugh Low must have been under 
the impression that the Ipoh and KPpayang families were simply subdivisions of 
the same house, Yusuf representing one branch and Wahab representing the other. 
Sir Hugh Low and the Council accordingly gave the title of To' Muda to Yusuf. 

Nevertheless, even a casual examination of the pedigree will suffice to show 
that there was some fallacy in the Resident's line of argument. The two 
branches, as given by Sir Hugh Low, only go back through one generation to a 
common ancestor. To' Janggut, and seem to have supplied one Panglima each 
(Ngah Lasam and Uda Bidin). No " ancient custom " could possibly have arisen in 
so short a time. The truth was that the Ipoh and Kepayang families were much 
more distinct, and that one of the two had just succeeded in supplanting the other 
altogether, and in getting two consecutive Panglimas appointed from its own 
ranks. Both Ngah Lasam and Uda Bidin belonged to the Ipoh (or Paloh) 
family. The two claimants, Yusuf and Wahab, represented the two consecutive 
Panglimas of that family and the Kepayang branch was being shut out altogether. 
It has not regained its claim to the succession ; and so the last four Dates and the 
present To' Muda have all been drawn from the Ipoh family. 

When Mr. A. Hale was stationed in Kinta in the eighties he made a very 
full pedigree of the two families of the Kinta succession ; and although it would 
be useless to give all the ramifications of the genealogies, the following tables will 



64 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



show how the Mantri*8 mother, who was not related to either Ynsnf or Wahab» 
was neyertheleas the granddaughter of a Dato' Panglima Kinta. 

Ipoh or Paloh Family. 



To* Paloh 

Dato' Panglima Kinta, Ngah Sudin 
(known as To* Tua) 

Dato' Panglima Kinta, Jahar 
(known as To* Oemok) 

Dato' 6ri Baja 
(M. Puteh Biti of Paloh) 



Dato' Panglima Kinta, Ngah Lasam 



To' Mnda, Durani * 
(died before 1881) 



To* Pandah Jarnal 
I (M. Andak Pari) 

I I 

Kulap Md. Tumf - Dato* Panglima Kinta, Uda Bidin 
(Claimant ; afterwards (M. To* Puan Anjang) 

Dato' Panglima Kinta 
on death of Uda Bidin) 

Che^ Wan, the present Ahdul Wahah 

To* Muda Kinta (Claimant ; afterwards D. P. K. 
on death of Md. Yusuf) 

KfiPATANo Family. 

To* ChangJcai 8Sga 

Dato* Panglima Kinta, Oapar 
(known as hilnng dalam jalan) 

Che* Anjang Jali 
M. Andak Faiimah 



Ahu Kasim 
d. 8. p. 



I 



Teh Sarah (daughter) 
M. Panjang Muhammad 



Che* Ngah Pura (daughter) 

M. Ch^ Long Jafar, Ruler 

of Larut 

The Mantri Ngah Ibrahim Na* Kah (daughter) 

M. Dato' Panglima Kinta 
Muhammad Yusuf 

The pedigree here given is not the full pedigree. The KSpajang family 
obviously goes back much further than To* Changkat Siga, since to establish a 
custom it must have given more than one Dato' PSnglima to Kinta. But so far 
OR the descendants of Oapar and Che* Anjang Jali can be traced it would appear 
that the direct male line has died out and that the representative of the KSpa* 
yang family (if any exists) must be sought in some remote collateral branch that 

* To* Muda Durani was the son of Ngah Lasam's principal wife, To' Puan 
Ilalimah. ' Kulc^ Md. Yusuf was the son of a secondary wife, Ngah Sana. 



APPENDICES 65 



has ceased to remember its oonneotion with the main line. Descendants in the 
female line are very nnmerons, but as daaghters of the KISpaTang family have 
married into the Ipoh house, there is no reason why the latter family should not 
be considered to represent both the houses that formerly shared the title of Dato' 
Ftoglima Kinta. 

I have been able, howcTer, to obtain further information on the subject of 
this title. The following pedigree giyes a complete list of its holders, both in tha 
Paloh and KSpayang branches. 

To' Changlcat Piatn 

I 
To Chandang * 

I 

To* Tamhah 

First Dato* PHglima Kin fa 

! ^ 

I I 

To* Changlcat Sega To* Chnvgkat RSmhiah 

(Paloh) (Kkpatang) 

Second D. P. K. Third D. P. K. 

I I 

To* Paloh To* Ngah Oapar 

Fourth D. P. K. Fifth D. P. K. 

I I 

To Janggut, Ngah Biulin To' U?moi 

Sixth D. P. K. Seventh D. P, K. 

I 

I " I 

To' Slri Baja To' Panilak Ahdnlmnjid 

I I 

To iMSam Vfia Bidin 

Eighth D. P. K. Ninth D. P. K. 

I I 

riwii/ Wnhab 

Tenth D. P. K. Kleventh D. P. K. 

I 

Che* Wan 

Present To' Muda Kinta 

It may be added that To' Tambak married n Indy of the famous family of 
Tun Sahan and owed his title in all probability to her position. 



Appendix B. 
SIE HUGH LOW'S LETTEK ON SLAVERY IN PERAK. 

[Col. ftfic. No. 2,454-78. 
Perak No. 566-78.] 

DrRiAK Sabatang, 

2Htk May, 1R7S. 
Sir, 

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Swettenham's letter. No. 
2,454 of the 21st May, calling upon me by command of His Excellency the Governor 
for a report on the subject of slave-debtors in Perak, what steps have been taken 
regarding it, whether the question has lieen before the Council, what pnlilic 



66 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



notices, if any, have been issned regarding it, what stepe it ig proposed to take, 
and generally my views on the subject. 

In reply I beg respectfully to sabmit that the former condition of persona in 
the position of slave-debtors in Perak bore so close a resemblance to that of 
actual slaves that the remarks I propose to make on the subject vrill in most 
oases be applicable to each of tliese unfortunate conditions, and in my commnnica- 
tiona with the Government of Perak the two relationships have always been 
considered together. 

When I first arrived in the country in the month of April, 1877, I found that 

one of the greatest causes of complaint against the then existing state of thinjrs 

*arose from the natural reluctance of the European Officers employed in the 

country to assist attempts of the creditors of slave-debtors and owners of runaway 

slaves to obtain possession of what they considered their property. 

I was told that several persons of one or the other class were living on the 
grounds of the Residency, and an impression prevailed that they wero under the 
Resident's protection. 

My instructions having been to look upon Perak as a Native State, ultimately 
to be governed by Native Rajas, whom I was to endeavour to educate and advise, 
and the Pangkor engagement having provided against interference, by the 
Resident with the religion or customs of the country, I gave it to be understood 
on the first case being brought to my notice that I would not shelter refugees of 
this description nor permit any person of either class to live on the Residency 
premises except with the permis:}ion of their masters to be previously obtained. 

Very early in my term of residence I consulted with the Raja Muda Yusuf, 
Raja Dris, the Date* Temenggong, Shaikh Mat Taib and many others of the 
principal people of Perak (the Council at the time not having been appointed), 
explained to them the views of Englishmen on the subject, and how abhorrent to 
our ideas of right and wrong was this state of servile subjection of our fellow 
creatures, enforcing what I said by all the familiar arguments and proposed to 
them as follows : 

1st. That as Resident and a Judge of the highest Court in the country I should 
not be called upon to interfere in any way to restore to their creditors or masters 
any of those persons who had deserted before my arrival in Perak ; 

2nd. That every person in Perak, who was an acknowledged slave-debtor or a 
slave in actual possession of his master on the day of my arrival, should be 
recognised as being legitimately in that position, and that the officers of justice 
and police should assist in preventing them from leaving their masters except 
upon payment of their debts or redeeming themselves at a fair price ; 

3rd. That every master should be bound to receive the amount of debt or 
price if tendered and allow the debtor or slave to go free ; 

4th. That no free person should on any pretence whatever after the day of my 
arrival be reduced to the condition of a slave or slave-debtor ; 

6th. That their masters to be entitled to retain their enforced serrices, must 
treat them with kindness, clothe them and feed them ; and 

6th. That at some future time, when the country became settled and pros- 
perous, the State should redeem the debts of both classes upon terms which would 
be settled by the Council about to be appointed and the stigma of slavery bo tlni« 
removed from the State — the accomplishment of such an object would, 1 assured 
them, redound greatly in civilised countries to the credit of its rulers. 

The Chiefs all agreed to this settlement of the difficulty, and those arrange* 
ments have been acted upon from that day ; they have never been embodied in a 
formal proclamation or public notice, but whenever the officers of districts have 
askcil for instructions on the subject tbcy have lieen supplied to them in writing. 



APPENDICES. 67 



Courts of Jnstice have given deoisiona in aooordanoe with them, and I have lost no 
opportonity, as maj be seen by my diaries, of making them known in my journeys 
through the State, and they are i>erfectly well understood and assented to 
throughout the whole country. 

Had I at the time asked for the legalisation of repudiation of the claims 
agaimtt them by the debtors, or unremunerated manumission of the slaves, it is cer- 
tain that the country would not have attained the encouragingly peaceful stage it 
has now reached, and very doubtful whether we could have maintained our present 
position in it without the aid of troops. 

With a view to securing ultimately the fulfilment of the 6th of the above- 
mentioned provisions, I have at various times endeavoured to get the slaves and 
slave-debtors restored, and columns having this purpose in view are inserted in 
the printed returns which are ordered to be kept by the Penghulus, but as yet I am 
unable to report any result from these endeavours. 

The only person who has attempted to act in defiance of the arrangement is 
the Raja Mnda Tusuf. I advised him strongly on the contrary, but he gprudgingly 
and unwillingly consented to be guided by my opinion which he asked for and 
obtained in writing. 

I regret that I have very little even now to suggest in addition to what has 
already been done for the amelioration of the condition of the classes under 
consideration. 

In my opinion it would obviously be unjust to deprive the Perak Malays of a 
property to which by immemorial custom they have been entitled without fair 
compensation. The measures already taken have, I am sure, been very beneficial, 
and I think that the matter does not at present press for further action. The 
people are becoming accustomed to look upon this species of property which- - 
notwithstanding the regulations — is constantly evading them, as being of 
diminishing value, and I believe the greater number of them would be glad to 
transfer their rights on moderate terms to the State. 

The chief difficulty would be found in dealing with the possessors of young 
girls and women employed in domestic affairs. 

I regret extremely that I am not able to give H.E. the Governor any 
accurate estimate of the number of persons belonging to the servile classes in 
Perak — the most well-informed natives whom I have consulted on the subject 
have said that from 60,000 to 80,000 dollars would be sufficient compensation to 
be paid to their owners^ 

1 have, etc.. 

The Colonial Secrbtabt, HUGH LOW, 

ETC., ETC., ETC., Resident. 

Singapore. 



PRIXTED AT TRIE 

r.M.a. 60YCBNMBNT PRESS, 

KUALA LUMPUR. 



k 



\ 



• i 



i 



LlBRAft> 

<»tAeno> MUSbuiw 



NOV 1 3 194B 

PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

\PtihHnh(^ hij dii'pctiov of thp Govfi)*nmf*fit of th^ Fei^eroted yfalay Sfnten.' 



n. J. WILKINSON, F,M.S. Civil .<?^niW, 
General Ed if or. 



MALAY HISTORY. 

PART V. 
NOTES ON THE NEGRI SEMBILAN. 



liV 
K. J. WILKINSON. F.M.S. Civil Re^^^ice. 



PBICE: ONE DOLLAR. 



KUALA LUMPUR: 
FBINTBD BY J. BROWN AT THE P.M.8. GOTKBNMBNT PBK8S. 

1911. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

[PuhUsked hy direction tf the Oovemment of the Federated Malay States.'] 



R. J. WILKINSON, RM.S, Civil Service, 
General Editor, 



MALAY HISTORY. 

PART V. 
NOTES ON THE NEGRI SEMBILAN. 



BY 
R. J. WILKINSON, PM.S. Civil Service. 



KUALA LUMPUn: 
FEINTED BT J. BROWN AT THE F.M.8. GOVERNMENT PREBR. 

1911. 

500—8 11. 






\ 



PREFACE. 



This pamphlet was intended originally to contain a series of 
essays (some being of a very technical character) on Negjri 
Sembilan subjects. It has, however, been decided to publish 
only the two less technical essays in the *' Papers on Malay 
Subjects'' and to issue the others in separate form in a series 
of monographs that will appear later. 

R. J. W. 



HISTORY/ 

NEGRI SEMBILAN NOTES. 

PART I. 

NEGRI SEMBILAN HISTORY. 

By R. J. Wilkinson. 

I.— INTRODUCTORY. 

THE annals of the little Malay confederacy known as the 
"Nine States" {nSgSri sembilan) have 'been the subject 
of much discussion and of many essays by Martin Lister, 
D. F. A. Hervey, R. N. Bland, A. Hale, C. W. C. Parr, and 
other authorities, who can claim a more intimate knowledge of 
the country than that possessed by myself. Under the circum- 
stances some defence or apology seems necessary for the fact 
that my account differs very much from that which has hitherto 
been accepted as true history. The divergencies are largely 
due to the use of fresh historical material and to the critical 
method that I have thought it necessary to adopt when discus- 
sing Malay legends. 

In Martin Lister's own words the history upon which he 
relied had been " handed down by wocd of mouth from eenera* 
tion to generation of the inhabitants.'' Though oral tradition of 
this sort possesses a good deal of value, it is insufficient by itself 
to give us a trustworthy history of a country. It must be 
corroborated or checked; and Martin Lister did not know of 
any data by which his legends could be verified. Other writers 
have sought for additional history in what one may call the 
constitutional law of the Negri Sembilan; they have drawn 
inferences from explanations that every Malay accepts or seems 
to accept as historically true. Thus, the royal Sakai ancestry of 
the ruler of Rembau is deduced from the fact that he "is 
birtiromba ; he adds to his constitutional authority the privilege 
of blood — of a pedigree traced on the maternal side back to 
the aborigines, the heirs of the soil he rules, whose rights have 
been merged in his." ^ Plausible as the process appears, such 
a method of tracing history is even less to be trusted than 
Martin Lister's frank acceptance of local legends for what they 

» Parr and Maokray, " Rembau/' p. 61. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



were worth. The new method- is simply history that takes as 
its basis the pretensions of various families and the claims that 
they put forward to a share in the revenue. The trail of greed, 
of arrogance and of self-interest is over all such testimony. 

Even in the course of this enquiry I have met with attempts 
to tamper with historical truth. Sometimes it was a mere hiding 
of evidence, as when a powerful chief concealed the fact that he 
possessed a Sakai weapon among his heirlooms — the concealment 
in this case being due to his fear that a Sakai ancestry might 
be imputed to him. Sometimes the suppression goes further, as 
when in one instance a Malay magnate destroyed deliberately a 
number of documents that did not corroborate his own version of 
hi^ory. Indeed, there was evidence to show that in another case 
a good many years ago, all the chiefs and headmen of a small 
Negri Sembilan State agreed among themselves to deceive the 
District Officer and to induce him to recognise a concocted consti- 
tution that would give them a claim to a larger share of the loral 
revenues than they actually possessed. The effort seems to have 
been successful. But it must not be supposed that these local 
attempts to falsify history are due to the temptation offered by 
.the credulity of individual British officers; the forger was at 
work in these States long before the days of the protectorate. 
One document produced before me in connection with a certain 
title bore the date 1698, purported to have been issued by a 
sultan who lived in the early part of the nineteenth century, was 
stamped with the seal of a sultan who died in A.D. 1760, 
and was written on paper with a water-mark of A.D. 177 1. It must 
have been concocted in connection with a controversy that was 
raised and settled several generations ago. 

These facts will explain why I have thought it necessary 
to be critical of my historical material, to check it by collecting 
different versions of the same incident, to supplement it in 
every possible way, and to be very careful before accepting any 
uncorroborated statements. But for a cautions student there is 
plenty of evidence that has been neglected hitherto. To begin 
with, there are the seals used by the local chiefs now and in the 
past. The.se seals are usually dated and bear the name of the 
sultan who conferred them. They give us first-hand evidence 
of real valut*.^ Then we have the testimony of the ** Malay 

*■ The life of a seal is not long enough i o ensure our possessinfr the oritrinals ; 
we only hare copies that were made to replace the old seals. The eyidenoo is not 
conclnsiye, bat it goes a long way towards proof. 



HISTORY; INTRODUCTORY^ 



• Atinals/f a book written in A.D. 1636* It is evident that any 
references made by the author of that book to the Negri SembilTn 
of his own time are of great importance. for corroborating pr 
^ demolishing our tradition. Lastly, there are many traditional 
^ Retails, of little importance in themselves, that have. a material 
bearing on the truth or falsity, of more important assertion?. 
We have, for instance, lists of the holders of almost every Negri 
Sembilan title. The length of a list may not be absolute proof 
of the antiquity of a title ; but it is primd facie eviclence and 
may be corroborated by the traditional association of certain 
holders of the dignity with events of which we know the dates. 
Singly^ such facts count for very little, but cumulatively they 
may prove a great deal. 

Let us then appl^ these critical methods ta the main points 
of our present traditional history. 

The principal figure of the " Sakai " period of Negri Sem- 
bilan history is the Dato' Sekudai. He lived in the days before 
the foundation of the Menangkabau State of Rembau — and that 
State is supposed by Malays to have existed for 360 years, and is 
believed by Newbold, Parr and Mackray^ to date back to A.D. 1530 
or 1540. We can check these statements. The Dato* Sekudai is 
mentioned in the *' Malay Annals" as a contemporary chief 
(A.D. 1636). The seal of the second Dato* of Rembau (son of 
the first) is probably extant even now ; certainly its impression 
is to be seen on old documents. It bears the date A D. 1707. 
The fifth Dato' of Rembau is associated by Jelebu and Sungci 
Ujong tradition (as well as by Rembau tradition) with events 
that occurred between A.D. 1757 and 1773.^ His son became 
Dato' of Rembau. about the year A.D. 1795. In face of this 
evidence, is it possible to accept Parr's view that the first Dato* 
of Rembau dates back to A.D. 1540; that the fifth reigned 
between A.D. 1645 and 1660; and that the eleventh (son of the 
fifth) became Uato' in 1795^ one hundred and thirty-five years 
after his father's death ? These are rather serious calls upon our 
faith. 

Let us turn to Johol. The Dato* of Johol is expected to 
wear his hair long and to decline to travel; he is the lineal 

* "Remban," pp. 12, 118. * He is said to have visited Malacca, and we 
know that a Dato' oF Rembau visited Malacca in a.d. 1757. There he married a 
Portofirnese j^rl who became the mother of the pleven'-h Dato', onl ancestress of 
the TTan's Tlhai, He refused his daughter to Sultan Abdul Jahl Muaazam Shah 
(A.D. 1760). He expelled the Linggi setUeis fium Remban (a.d. 1770-1780). 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUPySCTS. 



representative of a Sakai chieftainess of the most I^fendary 

Eeriod. Here at least we ought to have a lineage tmit goes 
ack to the mistv regions of the distant past. But criticism 
plavs havoc witn romance. The line of Johol chiefs only 
includes eight names; the seal of the dignity b dated 1874^; 
and the ancient long-haired chieftainess was traditionally the 
mother of a Dato' of Ulu Muar who was put to death about the 
year 1773. Johol is the newest, not the oldest, of the nine 
States. 

Jelebu is reputed an ancient *' Sakai " kingdom ; its chiefs 
bore the title of undang in the days before Rembau was 
founded. So runs our tradition. It also tells us that the third 
Dato' obtained a certain seal and title from Johor, and that the 
first Dato' Bandar of Jelebu obtained his seal and title at the 
same time. Let us examine these seals. They quote as the 
fountain of honour Sultan Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah of Johor ; 
and he reigned and died in A.D. 1 760. 

The"* first Yamtuan Besar, Raja Melewar, came over from 
Sumatra about A.D. 1773 under very romantic circumstances; he 
was (we are told) a son of the Sultan of Menangkabau of the 
oldest Malay lineage and was deputed by his father to reign over 
the Negri Sembilan. History again is fatal to romance, for 
there was no Sultan of Menanp^kabau in A.D. 1773; the Menang- 
kabau kingdom had been partitioned nearly a century before. 

Discrepancies of this sort between Malay tradition and 
indisputable fact make it imprudent to follow* blindly in the wake 
of great pioneers of Negri Sembilan research such as Lister and 
Hervey. Much evidence has come to light since their time to 
enable a more accurate account to be written ; and, doubtless, this 
present history will be corrected and supplemented in its turn as 
more facts become known. The only finality that we need 
expect lies in the possibility of the old uncritical methods of 
stud)r being abandoned for good and all. Far too much of our 
past information rested on no better authority than the represent- 
ations of some inventive lSmbagaj:>xi the look-out for an mcrease 
of pay. 

^ At the earliett. 



II.— THE LEGENDARY OR SAKAI PERIOD. 

A.D. 1450—1600. 

Mala^ tradition divides the history of Negri Sembilan into 
three pnncipal periods : (i) an early period when the country 
was split up into four Sakai States (Sungei Ujong^ Kiang, 
Jelebu and Johoi) ; (2) an intermediate period during which 
the four Sakai States were replaced by nine Menangkabau 
States under the suzerainty of Johor ; and (3) a modern period 
during which four out of the nine Menanp;kabau States formed 
themselves into an independent constitutional monarchy under 
a yamtuan or ruler of their own. 

It is with the early or " Sakai " period that we are first 
concerned. 

Malacca was founded shortly before the year A.D. 1400 by the 
fusion of a settlement of aborigines with a colonj^ of Singapore 
or Palembang Malays. The place ^rew rapidly in importance, 
and was soon in a position t% exercise some sort of hegemony 
over the coast districts of Selangor and Sungei Ujong and over 
its own hinterland of Rembau and Naning. From the '' Malay 
Annals ** we learn that a Malacca noble named Tun Perak was 
penghulu of Klang in the reign of Sultan Mudzafar Shah (about 
A.D. 1450). This penghulu was a man of the very highest rank ; 
bis sister. Tun Kudu, was married to the sultan ; his father had 
been bendahara ; he himself rose afterwards to the position of 
bendahara; and his son was the aged bendahara who fought 
Albuquerque in A.D. 15 11. From the ** Malay Annals'' aeain we 
le^n that Sungei Ujong was governed in the days of Mansur 
Shah by a Malacca noble, Tun Tukal, and that like Klang it was 
an appanage of the bendahara's family. Of Jelebu and Johol 
we hear nothing. The evidence of the SSjarah Melayu makes 
it quite clear that " the four Sakai States '* were mere fiefs of 
the bendahara from A.D. 1450 to the date of the "Annals" them- 
selves (A.D. 1636) ; and even the seal of the Dato' of Rembau, 
granted in A.D. 1707, bears the inscription ^'by the grace of 
the Bendahara Sri Maharaja." * The inhabitants of the Negri 
Senlbilan of that early time may have been aborigines but their 
rulers were certainty Msdacca Nl alays. 

* DSngan kwmia BSndahara 8Sri Maharaja, 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



We will now turn from recorded history to local Malay 
tradition. 

" It is difticalt to say," writes Martin Lister. " how lonj? ago it was that a 
great uumber of Sakai travelled from the moantains of Scadai and arrived in 
Johol. Their numbers amounte(3 to as many graijis as are contained in a gantang 
of ixidi^ as on their arrival in Johol each indi\ddual planted a g^in of padi and it 

>va8 lonnd that a gantang was exhausted..., There were four great chiefs or 

batins among these Sakai : three were men and one a woman. The woman 
elected to remain in Johol. The three men veparated with their followers. 
One went to Jelebu, one tp Klang, and ono io Sungei (Jjong. This was the 
origin of the ttndang yang Smpat, jthe four Jaw-givers, of which Klang was the 
oldest."* 

This is the Johol story. In Rembau we hear again of a Sakai 
migration and of Sekudai ; but the details are different. The 
migration becomes a mere " descent from the hills," a blending 
by intermarriage of the aboriginal hill-peoples with the Sumatran 
immigrants from the other side of the Malacca Straits ; Sekudai 
appears only in the story of the Dato* Sekudai and is not 
associated with the migration. In Sungei Ujong we hear of 
the founding of the four Sakai States without any general 
migration, and the date is given as at a time anterior to the 
coming of the Dato* Sekudai. 

All traditions unite in saying that there were four '* Sakai 
States," although the " Malay Annals " mention only Sungei 
Ujong and Klang. The point is unimportant. More interest 
attaches to the story of the Sakai migration. The Negri Sem- 
bilan aborigines belong to three distinct tribes: the Biduanda 
(also known as Blandas and Mantra) ; the Besisi ; and the Jakun* 
The legends are associated with the Biduanda, a hill-tribe 
that speaks a language made up mainly of archaic Malay. 
It is possible that the old Malacca penghulus succeeded in impos- 
ing their language upon these Biduanda, but it is difficult to see 
why they failed to convert the Biduanda to Muhammad^nism and 
why they did not impose their language upon the Besisi and 
Jakun. The problem must be left unsolved for lack of evidence.^ 
Meanwhile the old Malay traditions or folk-lore regarding this 
early Sakai period may be placed on record for what they are 
worth. The Johol story has been given in the words of Martin 
Lister. The Rembau legend tells us in its figurative language 
that " the black crows (the Sakai) walked down from the hills 
while the white egrets (the Sumatran immigrants) flew over the 

^ J. R. A. S., S. B. (1884) xrii; ^'the Constitution of the Negri Sembilan." 
^ I am inclined to conjecture a connection between the Biduanda and the 
i^^umotran Sakai. 



HISTORY: LEGENDARY OR SAKAI PERIOD. 



sea." Then there came the Bendaliara Sekudai, "a great man, 
a man of title,** who married a daughter of the aboriginal chief, 
Batin Sa-ribu Jaya, and had three children, who became in their 
turn the ancestresses of the ruling houses of Rembau, Sungei 
Ujong and Pahang. 

Bindahara Sikudai 
m. a daughter of Batin Sa^ribu Jaya 

To' Bungkal (f) To' Mudek (f) To' Mingkudu (f) 

The Balers of The Buleni of Sangei The Balers of 

Bembaa Ujong Pahang 

These pedigrees would carry more conviction if they did not 
possess such geometrical exactitude. The Sungei Ujong gene- 
alogy shows this bad quality to an even more suspicious extent. 

Batin SSri Alam 



Batin BSrchaiiggai 

Bi8i 
(a Chief of Sangei 
Ujong) 
I 



To* JUundong 
(foander of Jeleba) 



Ncnek Klrhau 

(foander of 
Johol) 



To' Dam DSrani 



Baiin 8ibu 
Jaya (f) 



I 

PutSri Mayang SSlida 
m. the Saltan of Johor 

I • 



m. Bitidahara 
SSkudai 



To* Engku 
Klang 



To* Mantri 
Akhirzaman 



To* Joluiu 
Pahlawan 



The 

Balers of 

Klang 



The 

Balers of 

Jolebo 



The 

Balers of 

Johol 



The 

Balers of 

Sangei Ujong 

By a similar arrangement of parallel columns all the principal 
titles of Sungei Ujong are made to trace back to a common 
ancestor. This, of course, is Malay tradition ; history does not 
work on mathematical lines. 

Sungei Ujong legend is more interesting and certainly more 
original than its pedigrees. It takes us back to the very dawn . 
of history, the creation of mankind. 

It ascribes the origin of the Biduanda to a certain Batin Sri 
Alam, whd met a walking tree-trunk near the waters of the river 
Langat. He captured it and kept itin captivity till it laid eggs, 



PAPERS ON MALAY SOBJECTS. 



forty-four in number. He buried the eggfs till they were 
hatched, when there emerged forty-four children, the ancestors 
of the Biduanda. Batin Sri Alam brought up these children till 
they came to years of maturity and had to be supplied with 
garments of bark-cloth to cover their nakedness. He then sent 
twenty-two over to Sumatra, where they colonised the coast as 
far as the borders of the Batak country, while he kept the 
remaining twenty-two in the Peninsula^ where they became 
Biduanda or Rayat — the latter term being interpreted as "sons 
of the soil." Another story tells us that every man falls from 
Tieaven either on his feet (as a raja), or on his seat (as a batin), 
or on his face (as a slave). Batin Sri Alam rose up from his 
seat and travelled round the world ruling the slaves — the Bedouin 
in Arabia, the Biduan^ in India and the Biduanda in Malaya; the 
three terms being all translated "serf.'' Folk-lore and etymology 
are at daggers drawn in every region of the earth. 

These legends of the creation are not the only stories 
associated with Batin Sri Alam. He is said to have led an ex- 
pedition into Jelebu. There he found trays of food waiting for 
him, served up and ready for him to eat, but with no man present 
to explain the source whence they came. Batin Sri Alam niade 
few enquiries; he ate the food and named the place Kuala 
Dulang^ the place of plates, as an everlasting memorial of his 
gratitude. He showed less thankfulness in his next adventure. 
The Muhammadans of Jelebu did their best to bring him into 
the fold of the true religion. He accepted their ministrations 
at first with great placidity and consented to repeat the Confes- 
sion of Faith; but when the mudin went on to explain the 
need of circumcision Batin Sri Alam incontinently vanished. 
One rumour has it that he reappeared on Mount Siguntang 
Mahameru, another that he is still in hiding among the caves 
of Kota Glangg^ in Pahang. But, whatever his &te, he was 
never seen again either by the Moslems who effected his 
conversion or by the land that he did so much to people. 

Next in this aborie^inal genealogy comes the Batin Ber- 
changgai Besi, whose wife was Berduri Besi and whose brother-in- 
law was Ketopong Besi — the iron-clawed chief with his iron- 
quilled .wife and her iron-crested brother. The names are 
somewhat forbidding; but the legend bids us avoid hasty 
conclusions by assuring us that these saga-figures were 
quiet, primitive people, unacquainted with the use of iron 

^ ** Minstrels." The word is SBnekrit. 



HISTORY: LEGENDARY OR SAKAI PERIOD. 



or. ev£n of fire and that they had to Hve on uncooked food. 
By them there was found in a hollow of the rocks a lovely 
fcury-child whom tbejr adopted as their own, though she showed 
her breeding by living on fruit and declining to share their 
bestial repasts of raw meat. When she grew up she appeared 
to the Sultan of Johor in a dream and let him know that sne was 
to be seen in the place where water was heaviest. The Sujtan 
began his investigations at once. He weighed the water of 
Jobor and found that Malacca water was heavier. Following up 
this clue, he foiind that the Linggi and then the Langat waters 
were heavier still. He travelled up the Langat till he came to 
the junction of the Beranang and the Semenyeh. Applying his 
regular test, he chose the waters of the Beranang. A Tittle 
further upstream he came to a place where four streams met. 
Here the welcome sight of some sugar-cane pulp and maize- 
refuse floating down on one of the streams suggested the 
presence of human habitations and led him to the home of his 
destined bride. She became the mother of the Bendahara 
Sekudai. 

There are, however, many variants of these legends. In Mr. 
Bland's version of the Aturan Sungai Ujong, the story of the 
sugar-cane pulp and the maize-refuse is told of the Bendahara 
Sekudai himself when in search of his bride, Batin Sibu Jaya, 
and the incident is located at the junction of the Linggi and 
Rembau rivers. * . 

Legend also associates Batin Berchanegai Besi with the 
founders of various States. Dato' Jelundong, foundress of 
Jelebu, was his sister. So was Nenek Kerbau, foundress of 
Johol. To'.Tukul and To' Landas, joint-founders of Klang, 
derived their titles from the hammer and the anvil with which 
they rendered to Batin Berchanggai Besi the service that Batin 
Sri Alam vanished to avoid. 

Again it is related of To' Dara Derani, daughter of Batin 
Berchanggai Besi, that she fled in terror from Sang Kelembai who 
was striding about the country turning all whom he met into stone. 
*'Why flee?" said an Achehnese saint who lived at Sungei 
Udang between Pengkalan Kempas and Permatang Pasir, " I 
have a charm that no Kelembai can face. A single candle will 
keep him away." The candles were lit nightly; the .people 
were saved from a stony fate; and the place is called Pengikalan 
Dian to this day. This legend is interesting because it is asso- 
ciated with the ^' petrified properties " of this Achehnese saint, 



lO PAPERS ON MALAYlSUBJECTS. 



the curious old granite carvings that lie round his tomb and are 
the great archaeological mystery of Negri Sembilan, 

Tradition gives us the names of the places that were import- 
ant in those primitive days: Ching, Beranang, Pajam. Lebah 
Bergoyang, Buloh Bohal, Langkap Berjuntai, Subang Hiiang, 
Merbok Kerawang, and Tunggul Si-jaga. They could not have 
been Malay villages for they are not on the banks of streams 
such as Malays love. Probably they were Biduanda settlements 
and represent the golden age of the Sakai, the time before the 
Menangkabau colonists filled up the country and drove the 
aborigines to the mountains. 

These legends are given for what they are worth. The 
student of serious history will prefer to rely on the maps of 
Goudinho de Eredia (a.d. 1613) and the statements of the ** Malay 
Annals" (a.d. 1636). He will learn from them that the Negri 
Sembilan of this '* Sakai " period was a country sparsely popu- 
lated \^Y wandering aboriginal communities who were exp.oited 
by officials and traders from Malacca and Johor. 



III.— THE DATO' SEKUDAI, a.d. 1600— 1640. 

. The Dato* Sekudai or Bendahara Sekudai or Batin Sekudai 
has .become a sort of mythical figure. The rulers of Remhau 
claim him as their ancestor through his marriage with the. 
daughter of the aboriginal chief, Batin Sa-ribu Jaya or Sibu 
Jaya. The rulers of Sungei Ujong also claim him as au 
ancestor and Batin Sibu Jaya as an ancestress; little dis- 
crepancies as to sex are negligible in a Malay legend. He lived 
at all sorts of dates. He was the traditional grandfather of the 
first Dato' of Rembau» who ruled (according to Parr) about A.D, 
1540. His wife was a traditional contemporary of the Achehnese 
saint (of Pengkalan Dian) who died in the reign of Mansur Shah 
about A.D. 1460.* One Rembau legend has it that the first Dato' 
of Rembau claimed the title because he was the Bendahara's 
grandson. One Sungei Ujpng legend has it that the Bendahara- 
was married in the presence of SulUn Abdul Jalil II of Johor, a 
ruler who reigned from A.D, 1637 to 1671. But every Mala^ 
account agrees on the fact that this Dato' lived in the Sakai; 

Eeriod before the foundation of the nine Menangkabau States. 
[e is of interest as a date, if as nothing els e^ ' - i 

* From the insoription ou the tomb. ' 



HISTORY: DATO' SEKUDAI. II 



The Dato' Sekudai appears in the " Malay Annals " and is a 
historic as well as a legendary figure. The *' Annals " tell us very 
little about him. His son, Tun Ahmad, married Tun Puteh, 
d^gbter of Tun Anum, Bendahara of Johor. Another of his 
sons, Tun Kenibak, married a Johor lady, Tun Chembul, and had 
two children, Tun Puteh and Tun Pandak. The Dato' was 
therefore a grandfalherat the time the " Annals'' were written. Of 
him personally the Sejarah Melayu only says thz^t he <^btained 
his name because he was the first person to colonise Sekudai ; 
clearly, the Rembau and Sungei Ujdng traditions cannot refer 
to an earlier Dato* Sekudai. It only remains to fix his date by 
the light of what the " Malay Annals'* tell us. 

The " Annals*' are dated A.D. 1612 and purport to have been 
written or inspired by Tun Sri Lanang, Bendahara of Johor. ^ 
But this date cannot be accepted. Even in the preface where 
it occurs reference is made to the death of Sultan Alaedin in 
A.D. 1615, and in the body of the work mention is made of Sultan 
Mughal of Acheen (A.D. 1635), of the mission of Mudzafar Shah 
to Perak (a.D. 1635), and of the fact that Mudzafar Shah had 
been succeeded by his son Mansur Shah " who is reigning now." 
The " Annals *' cannot have been written in their present form prior 
to A.D. 1635. 3 But Sultan Abdullah is referred to as the reign- 
ing Sultan, and he died about A.D. 1637. These facts give us the 
date of the "Annals" very closely, and show us that the Dato' 
Sekudai was a man of a certain age in A.D. 1636. We must have 
been a man of high birth to have borne the title of Tun and 
married his sons so well, and he must have played a very 
important part in the Negri Sembilan to have become the 
legendary figure that he now is. We may say that he flourished 
between A.D. 1600 and 1640— a date that disposes of the 
Rembau tradition that its line of rulers dates back to A.D. 1540. 
Incidentally, too, the date disposes of the fanciful claim put 
forward for the Dato' of Rembau that he ** is berteromba, that 
he adds to his constitutional authority the privilege of blood — of 
a pedieree traced on the maternal side back to the aborigines, 
the heirs of the soil he rules, whose rights have been merged in 
his/' . There is no question of any Sakai heiresses in actual 
history. The " Malay Annals" tell us that the Negri Sembilan 
districts were appanages of the Bendaharas of Johor "to this day" 
(A.D. 1636). The Dato' Sekudai was. closely connected with 

^ Grandfather of tho lady who married the Dato' Sekadai's eon; Tnn Ahmad. 
^ ' The last chapter was added verv.moch later than 1686. 



12 PAPERS ON MALAY SUSPECTS. 



the! Be.ndahara's family. Rembau tradition traces descent to 
bim; the Rembau seal refers to '' the grace of the Bendahara 
Sri Maharaja." The idea of wart's rights through Sakai ownership 
of the soil is a mere fiction that has been accepted all too readily 
by British officers stationed in Rembau. 



IV.— THE NINE MENANGKABAU STATES, 
A.D. 1640— 1760, 

The Menao^^kabau migration to the Peninsula seems to have 
begun in the sixteenth century some time after the capture of 
M^acca in A.D. 151 1. In A.D. 1613, Goudinho de Eredia notes 
in his bopk and map the presence of Menangkabau settlers 
in the Portuguese territory of Naning and also in Rembau 
beyopd the Portuguese frontier. There is nothing, however, in 
his map to indicate that there were Menangkabau colonists in 
Johol, Sri Menanti or Sungei Ujong ; indeed, bis silence suggests 
that those districts were still occupied by the aborigines. The 
fact that he speaks of Sungei Ujong as a Sakai region and of 
Nanine as a Portuguese possessioagoes to show that the founda- 
tion oi the " Nine States " must be referred to some later period. 

In A.D, 1639 things began to change. The Dutch Admiral 
Van de Veer made a treaty of alliance with Sultan Abdul Jalil II 
of Johor and co*opetated with him in the siege pf Malacca. The 
military value of the Malay auxiliaries proved a disappointment 
to the Dutch ; but the fact remains that the Sultan's men were 
present at the siege and were brought into close relationship 
with their Menan^cabau kinsmen. From this date the Johor 
Government began to possess a much stronger hold over the 
Malay settlements in the Negri Sembilan. The position had 
changed in other ways as well. The Malacca Malays do not 
appear to have sent colonists to their dependencies; they 
simply sent officials and perhaps a few traders, miners and 
planters as the English do to-day. But the Menangkabau men 
were a settled Malay population, with influential resident families, 
that sought to get the chieftaincies into their^own hands. The 
days of the deputy from Johor were really numbered ; the reign 
of Sultan Abdul Jalil II marks the commencement of a new era 
in Menangkabau history. 

In A.D. 1643 ^^ Dutch at Malacca created the first of the 
*' Nine States " by recognising a certain Dato' Sri Lela Merah 



HISTORY: NINE MBNANGKABAU STATES. I3 



as hereditary Roller of Naning. It is not to be supposed that 
there were no chiefs in the rest of the country, but they had not 
yet secured the recognition and the hereditary rights that would 
justify us in regarding them as Heads of the Nine States. 

In A.D. 1705 the Ruler of Naning secured recognition and 
received certain k^besaran, or insignia of rank, from the Sultan 
of Johor, Abdul Jalil III, as well as from the Dutch. This seems 
to have been the signal for other ambitions and applications of 
the same sort. In A.D. 1707 the second de facto Ruler of 
Rembau obtained a hereditary title and a seal from Johor ''by 
the grace of the Bendahara Sri Maharaja." A few years later 
the 5ato' Bandar of Sungei Ujong^ (and probably the Penghulu 
Mantri or Ruler of Suneei Ujong) obtained similar recognition. 
The title of Penghulu Mantri had been in existence for a very 
long time but was held (in its early years at least) by deputies 
from Johor ; it now began to be held by a local hereditary chief. 
The Dato' of jelebu did not secure full recognition till about 
A.D. 1760 ;^ the Dato' of Inas probably secured his position about 
the same time. The Chiefs of Pasir Besar, Klaiig and Segamat 
have disappeared from history and their seals cannot be traced ; 
the To' Raja of Jelai is a Pahang magnate. But I see no reason to 
doubt the universal Malay tradition that the *' Nine States" were 
made up of Naning, Rembau, Sungei Ujong, Jelebu, Klang^ Inas, 
Pasir Besar, Segamat and Jelai. There was no real "con- 
federacy." The "Nine States" were merely a congeries of 
small chieftaincies that had received recognition from their 
common suzerain, the Sultan of Johor. They were not even 
'' Menangkabau " States in the truest sense of the word. The 
adat perpateh^ or law of Menangkabau, was introduced into 
Sungei ujong at a much later date, and it is doubtful whether it 
was ever introduced at all into Klang, Segamat and Jelai. 

Of course, the traditional accouYit of the foundation of the 
Nine States is more romantic than the reality. Let me quote 
the present Yamtuan of the Negri Sembilan on the subject : 

" In the early days of the fonudation of the States that make up the Negri 
Sembilan, colonists came oyer from Menangkabau to all the nine settlements, and 
each settlement had its own penghnln or headman over itself. As the popula- 
tion augmented with t^e arriv^ of fresh colonists, and with the natural increase 
through the birth-rate, the penghulus came to an agreement among themselves 
and went on deputation to Johor. This was in the days of Sultan Abdul Jalil II 

of Johor The Sultan gave them each a seal and a title with authority 

to govern the country under the suzerainty of Johor." ' 

' From the Bandar^s dated seal. ^ From the Date's seal quoting Sultan 
Huadzam Shah. ^ From a letter to the Resident of Perak. 



14 PAPERS ON MALAY SUB^SCTS. 



History moves with prosafc deliberation ; it does not create 
Nine States in a day. Romantic legend proceeds on diflfereot 

* lines. To be remembered, it must be picturesque ; to be 
picturesque^ it sums up a whole century of history as a sort of 
grand durbar, in which the mighty Sultan Abdul Jalil II distribut- 
ed seals and titles to the founders of the new ruling dynasties. 
The seals themselves disprove this story. There was no durbar 
and no distribution of this sort ; the legend is a mere dramatic 
picturing of a great historic change. 

The Sultan of Johor could grant seals and titles but he could 
not confer any real power. The new dignitaries returned to 
their various States with their seals in their pockets and their 
pretensions very much enhanced, only to find that the local 
magnates had still to be reckoned with. They met with varying 
destinies. In Rembau and in Naning the Chief secured locsd 
recognition but had to consent to have his powers fettered 
by the admission of four tribal headmen to a share in the 
Government. In Jelebu the Daio' had to grant to two powerful 
and ancient dignities (Uato' Mantri and Dato' Umbi) a right 

: of veto at the election of his successors. In Sungei Ujone the 
Ruler had to share the revenue with the Dato' Bandar and the 
Dato' Ahdulika Mandulika. In Jelai the To' Raja confined his 

< authority to his own valley and asserted no claims to suzerainty 
over other local chiefs who held no title from Johor. In Inas the 
Dato* failed to secure any hegemony over the other local 
magnates and was compelled to cede his position to the more 
powerful Dato' of Johol and to become that Ruler's vassal. The 
Rulers of Pasir Besar and Segamat lost their positions altogether 
anil did not survive even as vassal chiefs. The peculiar con- 
stitutional arrangements that we meet with in the different Negri 
Sembilan States seem to have been due in some measure to the 

• concessions with which the Johor nominee bought off the opposi- 
tion of the other local magnates. 

The world of Negri Sembilan is a small one; but, small 
as it is, it did not stand still during this long period of 120 years. 
The immigrants from Sumatra continued to flock into the country 
and to fill it up. The effect of the immigration was twofold. 
In the first place it tended to displace the law of Johor by the 
customary law of Menangkabau. It is noticeable that the first 
two rulers of Rembau were father and son, thus suggesting 
succession according to the law of Johor. In Naning, where 
Johor rule was never effective, the Menangkabau law of succession 



HISTORY: ABDUL JALIL MVADZAM SHAH, 1 5 



was followed frofti the first. Tn Surigei Ujo'iig, Where the 
Snmatran imrhij^rants were not numerous, succession by uterine 
<Iescent was only intfoduced in the nineteenth century. The 
gradual displacement of Johor law by Menangkabau custom 
was one of the great features of this transition p«'riod. The 
other was the shifting of the balance of power. The first 
Sumatran immigrants had settled in the nearest valleys: in 
Naning and in the low-country {baroh) divisions of Rembau. 
The later settlers had to go further afield, with the result that 
they . created new States — Inas, Johol, Gemench^h, Terachi, 
Gunong Pasir, Jempol and Ulu Muar — and upset the balance of 
power in the old by making the new divisions of Rembau more 
populous than the original settlements. 

Meanwhile the civil wars and troubles that were distracting 
the Government of Johor between A.D. 1700 and 1760 rendered 
the Sultan willing to grant titles and concessions to any chiefs who 
would recognise him, and made it impossible for him to interfere 
.effectively in the internal affairs of the Negri Sembilan. Further, 
the accession of the Bendahara's family to the throne enabled 
the sovereign to give away powers that had previously belonged 
to the sovereign's ministers. No Negri Sembilan seal can be 
traced to an ear'ier date than that of the change of dynasty. 
The weakness of Johor, the increasing population of the Negri 
Sembilan, the agitation for the introduction of Menangkabau law, 
the rise of new settlements and new chiefs: all these things 
made for one single end — the severance of the tie between the 
Negri Sembilan and Johor. 



v.— ABDUL JALIL MUADZAM SHAH, a.d. 1760. 

The name of Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah, Sultan of Johor, 
plays a great part in Negri Sembilan history and tradition. It 
was this Sultan who conferred on the Penghulu of Jelebu his 
seal and title of Dato' Mantri Akhirzaman Sultan. The naihe 
also appears on Raja AdiPs seal : Ihni Sultan Abdul Jalil 
Muadzam Shah. It appears on the seals of the Rulers of 
Tampin — e^g., as-Sultan Abdul Jald Muadzam Shah turun 
kapada as-Sultan Sharif H amid bin Sharif S ha ab an Muham- 
mnd Shah, It appears again on the seal of the last Ruler of 
Naning: Sultnn Si-Maharaja Diraja ihni Sultan Abdul Jalil 
Muadsiam Shah. It was also a " Sultan Abdul Jalil" of Johor 



l6 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBfRCTS. 



who'ts alleged by tradition tahave granted to the Negri SemlMlaii 
chiefe/the periBtsrioo to seek a ruler in Menangkabau«^ 

But when we turn to the annals of the Sultans of Johor the 
name of Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah seems at first sight to be 
conspicuous by its absence. The third Abdul Jalil (1701-1717) 
was Abdul Jalil Rtayat Shah; the fourth (1717-1722) was Abdul 
Jalil Rahmat Shah. Faute de mieux, Parr identifies this Abdcd 
Jalil with the child-king, Ahmad Riayat Shah ; and then finds it 
incredible that an '' infant pupi>et could eflPect such a partition of 
his empire."^ It is equally incredible that this child-ruler, who 
died before he came of age, should have borne two distinct 
titles. Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah could not possibly have been 
the "infant puppet/' Ahmad Riayat Shah. A glance at the 
latter's full name will explain the mystery; he was Ahmad 
Riayat Shah ibnt Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah. What then was 
the history of this boy's father ? 

Sultan Sulaiman of Johor and Lingga died in A.D. 1760 at a 
time when his eldest son and heir, Tengku Besar Abdul Jalil, 
was in Selangor with the Yamtuan Muda, Daeng Kemboja ; and 
the Sultan's death was followed a few weekj later by that of the 
Tengku Besar himself. Daeng Kemboja gained so much by 
this opportune coincidence that he is accused by Malays of 
having brought it about by poison. However, he dissembled his 
joy and took the body with a great show of grief to Riau, where 
he placed the Tengicu Besar 's son upon the throne under the 
name of Ahmad Riayat Shah. Dutch records mention the visit 
paid to Malacca by the Bugis fleet bearing the remains of the 
deceased heir to the sultanate. 

Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah occupies a peculiar position in 
history. In one sense he was never Sultan. He survived his 
father, it is true, but he died before he could return home and 
assume the reins of power. On the other hand, there is no 
doubt that he was de facto Regent for some years previous 
to the death of his father. He bore a royal title, negotiated 
several treaties, and doubtless did confer the seals and titles 
that are attributed to him. In fact he pushed generosity of this 
sort to a fault. He ceded Rembau (and other territories) by 
treaty to the Dutch. By another treaty he ceded Rembau to 
the Bugis. He also appointed Raja Adtl his deputy, to govern 

> The old seal of the Dato' of Ulu Moar quotes 8uUan Mahmud ihni Sultan 
Abdul JaUlf bat it is donbtfnl whether this is Sultan Mahmud III of Johor, or 
Raja Melewar taking the title of Sultan Mahmud. ^ *" Bemban," p 17. 



HISTORY: MENANGKABAU PRINCES, 1 7 



Rembau in his name ; and, last of all, it is quite possible that be 
did grant Rembau (and other territories) to Raja Melewar as 
the tradition would have us believe. The cession of the same 
piece of territory to four different owners is quite consistent 
with the ways of Malay princes, especially when (as in the case 
of Sultan Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah) they have no real claim 
to the territory that they cede. But if Malay tradition is 
justified in accusing Daeng Kemboja of poisoning the TSngku 
Besar, we may be able to trace in Abdul Jalil's policy some slight 
justificatory explanation of the reason for his death. 

One more fact is related about this Abdul Jalil Muadzam 
Shah. It is said that he asked for the daughter of the Dato' of 
Rembau, To* Uban, and that the Dato* refused her to him. This 
led to a feud. Rembau tradition mentions the feud and the 
name of the Dato\ but not the name of the Sultan. Jelebu 
tradition mentions the feud and the names of both Dato' and 
Sultan; it goes on to add that the Dato' of Jelebu obtained 
his seal and title for his good services in reconciling the 
antagonists. We need not accept every detail of the story. 
The Rembau tale that the hostility of Johor caused a breach 
of the law of suc^cession in Rembau is hardly credible of a 
time when the Johor power was represented by an "infant 
puppet." But there was doubtless an "incident" of this sort 
that led to the execution of To* Uban's brother who was 
despatched on a mission to Johor and to the grant of a title 
to the Dato' of Jelebu who may have been more conciliatory 
and apologetic. And if it does little else, the incident helps us 
to date its hero, Dato* Uban, the fifth Ruler of Rembau. 



VI.— THE MENANGKABAU PRINCES, 

A.D. 1721 — 1773. 

Reference has already been made to the fact that the con- 
stant migration of settlers from Sumatra into the Negri Sembilan 
tended to create a demand for autonomy. In this chapter an 
account will be given of the manner in which this autonomy was 
brought about ; but before dealing with the point it is necessary 
to give a short sketch of the position in Johor. 

In A.D. 1699, Mahmud II, the last sultan of the old Malacca 
line, was assassinated at Kota Tinggi. He was succeeded by 
his bendahara who took the title of Abdul Jalil III. In his turn, 



l8 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 



Abdul Jalil III was deposed^ by the Sumatran pretender, Raja 
Kechil, who claimed to be a posthumous son ol the murdered 
Sultan Mahmud. Raja Kechil took the title of Abdul Jalil IV. 
But the sons of Abdul Jalil III intrigued with the Bug^is and 
succeeded in overthrowing the pretender who had deposed their 
father. This was in A.D. 1722. For the next twenty-five years 
there was a continuous civil war between the two factions, one 
aided by the Bugis and the other by Sumatran Malays. 

In this long civil war the Negri Sembilan States recognised 
the pretender, Raja Kechil, as a true son of the murdered sultan 
and took his side against the Bugis. They did what we might 
have expected them to do, for Raja Kechil was a Sumatran 
of the same blood as their own settlers. But by their action 
they brought upon themselves the hostility of the Bugis, a 
dangerous race, united, energetic and redoubtable in every way ; 
while they themselves were leaderless and divided. Such situ- 
ations created the opportunity of the military adventurer, the 
soldier of birth and renown, under whom the Negri Sembilan 
chiefs might lay aside their differences and fight as one man 
against the common enemy. But let the present Yamtuan 
describe the position in his own words : 

^ As time went on, the State of Johor grew old and was attacked by enemies 
on all sides — men from Jambi and Menangkabau, Achehnese and Enropeans from 
Malacca. The Negri Sembilan settlements themselves fell into the hands of Bngis 
chiefs from Eian and suffered cmelly from the tyranny and oppression of their 
foreign mlers. At last the position became intolerable. Little by little tho 
Henangkaban settlers were losing aU that they possessed ; so far from meeting 
the Bng^s on eqnal terms they had to sacrifice every single thing that they 
owned ; they had passed into complete subjection ; and even the Saltan of Johor 
was powerless to keep the Bugis at bay, for he also was weak and Ibeset by 
enemies. In this dilemma the Menangkabau penghnlus of the Negri Sembilui 
held a meeting and came to an agreement under which they went and repre- 
sented to the Saltan the tyranny of the Bugis, asking him to let them have a 
prince for themselves to govern the country and drive out the enemy. Bat the 
Sultan would not g^ve them a prince. So they asked permission to refer to 
Menangkabau in Sumatra and to procure a prince from that country. To this the 
Saltan consented, for he was himsdlf of the Menangkabau family, and also 
because the Negri Sembilan had been colonised and developed by settlers from 
Menangkabau and were known by the Menangkabau name. Upon their arrival 
in Menangkabau the Sultan there gave them the services of one of his sons 
named Raja Melcwar. On the return of the delegates the penghulus and aU the 
people did homage to Baja Melewar, after which they made all preparations for 
a general war against the Bngis. In course of time, thanks to the valour of Raja 
Melewar and to the power of his sword, the Bugis were defeated, and their ruler, 
Daeng Kemboja, retired to Riau where he died. AU this is recorded in the 
histories of MiUaya.** ' 

* A.D. 1717. ' From the letter to the Resident of Perak. 



HISTORY: MENANGKABAU PRINCES. 1 9 



A reference to Bland's Aturan Sungai Uiong^ will show 
that the Sultan who referred the delegates to Menangkabau is 
said to have been Sultan Abdul Jalil IV, and that the occasion 
on which he did it was when he had ascended " his father's 
throne by the aid of Bugis and Rawa troops/' This was about 
A.n. 17 1 7. Raja Melewar was chosen and placed on the throne 
about A.D. 1773. Malay embassies are very dilatory, but the 
longevity of these particular envoys is beyond belief. We cj^n 
see clearly enough how Malay tradition condenses long periods 
of history into single dramatic incidents. 

But the Sungei Ujong account furnishes us also with a 
solution to the problem that it presents. It tells us that Raja 
Melewar was not the first Menangkabau prince to be '* deputed " 
from Sumatra to the Negri Sembilan. 

'* In due time after this (embassy) Uaja Kasah oame from Menangkabau, 
sent by the Baja of the country ; and the four penghnlns received him. He was 
unable, however, to introduce the laws of Menangkabau as the four penghulns 

desired After Baja Kasah oame Baja Adil He was also unable to 

revise the customs Baja Adil went back to Menangkabau and was succoedo 

ed by Baja Khatib. He also did not know how to introduce new customs. And 
the four penghulns were amazed and said, ' the Baja of Menangkabau promised 
he would grant us a Baja who would establish his laws in the four countries ; 
now we have had three Bajas who have done nothing at all.' Then Baja Khatib 
went away, and after him came Baja Melewar." ' 

The Dutch records in Malacca tell us that in A.D. 1722 
there was "a son of the Sultan of Menangkabau'' in Rembaa 
preparing to lead the people against the Bugis. This may 
have been " Raja Kasah." Of Raja Adil we know more. He 
was not a foe of the Bugis; in fact he owed his seal and 
authority to Abdul Jalil Muadzam Shah, the ally of Daeng 
Kemboja, and he married his daughter to a Bugis chief. In 
A.D. 1757 he was conducting negotiations at Malacca on behalf 
of the State of Rembau. Of Raja Khatib we hear much and 
know little. He was the enemy of Raja Melewar, against 
whom he waged a civil war. Tradition has it that he was an 
impostor who was unmasked by Raja Melewar. But the facts 
seem to be otherwise. Raja Melewar attacked and was badly 
defeated at Kampong Bukit, whence he retreated to Spri. He 
then detached Penghulu Naam of Ulu Muar from Raja Khatib's 
side and invaded the country again, this time successfully. It 
was then Raja Khatib's turn to flee and to intrigue with 

^ J. B. A. S., S. B., xxYiii. ' From an account of Sungei Ujong prepared 
by the present Date* Klana for Mr. D. O. C/ampbell, when Besident of Negri 
Sembilim. 



20 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Penghuiu Naam. Suspecting treachery, Raja Melewar beheaded 
the intriguing Penghuiu before attacking the enemy. Raja 
Khatib fled and never returned. Penghuiu Naam*s head is 
buried at Bukit Tempurong and his body under an asam jawa 
tree near the old astana at Ampangan Rambai. 

The details of this story and the part of king-maker played 
by the petty Penghuiu of Ulu Muar make it fairly clear that 
Raja Melewar was not a delegated prince of Menangkabau with 
the whole forces of the four undang at his back. He was an 
adventurer who conquered for himself a certain real authority in 
the valley of Sri Menanti and then proceeded to claim or to 
obtain a certain nominal authority over the whole of Negri 
Sembilan. He did that by taking the title of yamtuan or king.^ 



VII.— THE CONSTITUTION OF a.d. 1773. 

Raja Melewar is believed to have been installed as Sovereign 
of Negri Sembilan by the four undang at Penajis in Rembau in 
the year 1773; and I see no reason to question the date. It is 
approximate if it is not exactly correct. But there is some 
reason to doubt the details of the story. 

fonsider the state of the country at the time. Between 
Dato* Uban of Rembau, who was governing his country in 
A.D. 1770, and Kosel, his son, who became Dato' about A.D. 1795, 
there were no less than five Rulers of Rembau and the rule of 
alternate succession was disregarded altogether. Although we 
know nothing definite about these frequent and irregular changes 
we may infer that the time i^as one of civil war and turbulence 
in that little State. In Sungei Ujong the Dato' Klana had just 
obtained a Bugis title and was no friend of the customary law of 
N^enangkabau which Raja Melewar is said to have introduced. 
In Jelebu the Dato' haa obtained a seal and title from Johor 
some fifteen years previously but had had hardly time to consoli- 
date his power to meet the rivalry of the more ancient dignities 
of Dato' Mantri and Dato' Umbi. The famous installation at 
Penajis may be a mere dramatization of a slow historic change. 
Still, whatever the truth may be, there is no doubt that Raja 
Melewar did secure for himself recognition as Yamtuan of the 

^ Ho appears to have taken tbe title of Sultan Mahmud ihni Sultan Abdul 
Jalil, evidently in virtue of some concession granted him by the erer-generons 
Abdal Jalil Mnadzam Shah of a.d. 1700. 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION. 21 



Negri Sembilan, that he created the modern Joholi and that the 
constitution of Negri Sembilan represents the outcome of his 
policy. Under that constitution Raja Melewar became the titular 
king of the country, with no ownership of the soil and no power 
to tax the people, but with high titular dignities and a small 
civil list. 

As regards Johol the position is this. We know that Dato* 
Naam was Raja Melewar's contemporary and was the first of the 
seven holders of the dignity of Penghulu of Ulu Muar. There have 
been eight Rulers of Johol, seven of Jempol, eight or nine of 
Terachi, and ten of Inas. In no case do the lists of the holders 
of any of the minor tribal dignities cover more than eight names 
in the Johol division. These lists are not conclusive evidence of 
the antiquity of a title, but their average length and their unifor- 
mity suggest that they date back to the time of Raja Melewar 
and roust have been affected very greatly by his policy. In this 
connection it is interesting to note that the second and third 
Rulers of Johol were women, and that the second was named 
the " Long-haired," ^ and the third Setiawan, a title now borne by 
the Dato'. Is it too much to see in these details some expla- 
nation of the feminine attributes that have been the cause of the 
dignity being associated with immemorial Sakai antiquity ? 

Raja Melewar could not have been a son of the Sultan of 
Menangkabau, for that old Sumatran empire had fallen to pieces 
a century before his time. He may, of course, have been a 
descendant of the old Menangkabau kings. But it is a notable 
fact that no Negri Sembilan princely pedigree goes back further 
than the ancestor who first came to the Peninsula; the ante- 
cedent Sumatran portion is never given. This is the more 
remarkable because the theory of the constitution expected every 
Yamtuan to prove his silasilah or genealogy before he was 
installed, and because the imaginary Sultan of Menangkabau 
continued to send his sons over to Negri Sembilan for half a 
century after the coming of Raja Melewar. 

But if these early yamtuans were not princes of Menang- 
kabau, who were they ? 

Any explanation must be conjectural. Still, there is a clue. 
A Rembau account of Raja Melewar says that he went from 
Menangkabau to Kampar and from Kampar to Telapak Burok (or 
Teratak Buloh) before setting out on his journey to Johor. Why 

* Ramhut panjaug. 



PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Telapak Burok ? When we come to the Sungei Ujong story of 
Yamtuan Sati we read that after his deposition he went with his 
wife to live at Telapak Burok in Siak. Other princes and 
princesses in the local pedigrees are said to have done the 
same — was this little place their real Sumatran home ? When we 
remember that these Menangkabau princes were obtained through 
the medium of the Raja of Siak, it is hard to resist the conclusion 
that he sought them in his own territories from a famil)r at 
Telapak Burok and did not send embassies to the extinct 
Empire of Menangkabau. 

One last point remains : why did Raja Melewar accept a posi- 
tion of no real power and why were the all-powerful provincial 
chief? anxious to secure a puppet to rule over them ?. We are 
referred by courtly Malay historians to Raja Melewar's kingly 
descent, to the anxiety of all men to do him honour, and to the fact 
that he was a warrior-prince, under whose generalship the local 
leaders were willing to lay aside their rivalries and expel their 
common enemy, the Bugis prince Daeng Kemboja. We need 
not accept this explanation at its full face-value ; tliere is no 
country in the world where titles are sought after more than in 
the Negri Sembilan. The "constitution" of A. D. 1773 had 
great merits. It gave the chiefs a "king" whom they knew 
and trusted, who could ennoble them much more readily and eco- 
nomically than the distant Sultan of Johor, and who could settle 
their many disputes without interfering with local autonomy. 
It gave Raja Melewar an exalted title, an assured position and 
a certain mcome. On paper the constitution of the Negri 
Sembilan was excellent ; but the chiefs forgot that a great 
name is apt to rouse corresponding pretensions and that Raja 
Melewar's successors might be less tractable than he. It took a 
century of civil war to stamp out the arrangements that looked 
so well in theory. For the moment all went well; it was not 
till the death of the first yamtuan that troubles began to arise. 



VIII.— THE YAMTUAN MUDA OF REMBAU, 

A.D. 1773— 1830. 

In A.D. 1757 the Dutch records tell us that there were 
present in Malacca two chiefs who came to negotiate a treaty 
on behalf of Rembau. One of these was the ruling Dato' ; the 
other was Raja Adil. But who was Raja Adil and what authority 
had he to represent Rembau ? 



HISTORY: YAMTUAN AiUDA OF REMBAU. 23 



As usual, Malay traditions agree to differ. But the seal of 
Raja Adil makes it plain that he was a delegate or representative 
of the Regent of Johor and that he did not bear the title of 
yamtuan. His sea! and powers passed afterwards into the 
hands of Raja Asil, his son, who took in 1798 the title of ''Sultan 
Muhammad Shah, Yang-di-pertuan Muda of Rembau." The 
change was merely titular ; Kaja Adil exercised in Rembau the 
same powers as a Yamtuan Muda, and is counted as the first of 
the line even though he never held the actual title. According 
to one version Raja Adil was the second Yamtuan Besar ; but 
this may be doubted. He was probably senior to Raja Melewar, 
and certainly played his part in the Negri Sembilan before his 
Sri Menanti rival appeared on the scene. 

The facts that led up to the creation of this new dignity are 
not recorded ; they can only be guessed. It is hardly likely that 
Raja Adil and Raja Asil could have witnessed without jealousy 
the assumption of the title of Yamtuan by a Menangkabau 
prince who had no greater claim to it than they themselves 
possessed. When Raja Melewar died there would be a disputed 
succession ; in any case the yamtuan of A.D. 1773 became two 
yamtuans in A.D. 1798 and three yamtuans a generation later. 
From A.D. 1798 we get two princely families : one in Sri Menanti 
and one in Rembau and Jelebu. Peace between them was 
secured by the marriage of the Yamtuan Besar, Raja Itam, to the 
widowed sister of the Yang-di-pertuan Muda, Raja Asil. 

A Negri Sembilan throne was a precarious possession at best. 
About the year A.D 1812 Raja Haji, son of the Yamtuan Muda, 
abducted a woman of Rembau and took her for safety to his 
father's house. All Rembau was in arms at once at this viola- 
tion of customary law. According to Begbie (who was writing 
only twenty years after the event), Raja Ali, a nephew of the 
Yamtuan Muda, persuaded his uncle to flee for refuge to Malacca 
till the storm blew over. Raja Asil, with his sons, fled, leav- 
ing the bold nephew to face the storm. Raja Ali got over the 
difficulty by deposing his uncle and seizing the throne. The 
new Yamtuan Muda was a son of a Bugis chief named Daeng 
Alampaki and a stepson of the Yamtuan Besar, Raja Hitam. 

If Raja AsiFs position had been precarious that of his nephew 
was more precarious still. The latter had to contend against 
the hostility that besets every usurper, the intrigues of his disin- 
herited family and the jealousy and suspicion of the democratic 
people of Rembau. He moved at first with great deliberation, 



24 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



making no enemies. In A.D. 1 819 he made a treaty of friendship 
with the Dutch. With the Sri Menanti family he was on good 
terms, being the stepson of Yamtuan Hitam and the brother-in- 
law of that prince's successor, Raja Lenggang Laut. By slow 
degrees he saw his disinherited cousins sink into poverty and 
disgrace during their exile at Malacca, till Raja Haji died and 
Raja Jafar, his brother, was ready to renounce his pretensions. 
But just as Raja Ali seemed sure of his position, the unexpected 
death of the Yamtuan Besar, Lenggang Laut, in A.D. 1824, 
threatened the peace of the Negri Sembilan and the position of 
the Yamtuan Muda. 

Immediately after the death of the Sri Menanti ruler the 
Dato* of Ulu Muar (Dato* Bongkok Abdul Malik) came forward 
as custodian of the royal family, reported the sovereign's death to 
the four great undangy and invited them to instal Raja Radin, 
a mere boy, as Yamtuan Besar, in the place of bis father, the 
deceased Lenggang Laut. I'he Dato' Klana Kawal of Sungei 
Ujong (whose duty it was as imam of the four undang to nominate 
a Yamtuan's successor) objected to the procedure. Insisting that 
a successor should be delegated from Sumatra, he entered Sri 
Menanti with a strong force, drove out the Dato' of Ulu Muar, 
and placed a soldier of fortune named Raja Kerjan in charge 
of the royal domain till the Raja of Siak could choose and send 
over a successor. In A.D. 1826 the successor arrived, a certain 
Raja Laboh or Yamtuan Sati, who had married a daughter of 
the exiled Raja Asil and was therefore a deadly enemy of 
the Yamtuan Muda, Raja Ali. He made a very poor use of his 
position. Instead of pursuing a conciliato^ policy he allied 
himself at once with the Sumatran free-lance, Kaja Kerjan, whose 
misconduct had made him thoroughly unpopular and whose 
military reputation rested largely on a policy of self-praise. 
Yamtuan Sati could look for no friendship from his family foe 
in Rembau, nor from Ulu Muar and Johol, where Dato' Bongkok 
and Kaja Radin had found a refuge. He had only one powerful 
friend and supporter, the king-making Dato' Klana Kawal. 
With incredible folly he proceeded to quarrel with his only friend, 
the Klana, over a matter of a few cents. 

It appears that about the year 1830 Dato' Klana Kawal went 
to Sri Menanti to attend a cock-fight, at which he won a good 
deal of money. In the midst of his jubilation over his bags 
of copper coin he was accosted bv a Sumatran prince, Tengku 
Kechil Muda Raja Laut, who ordered him to pay 2\ per cent. 



HISTORY: YAMTUAN MUDA OF REM8AU. 25 



commission to the Yamtuan. This was too much for the very 
small reserve of patience possessed by Dato' Klana Kawal. 
Apart from the question of the Yamtuan's ingratitude to a man 
to whom he owed everything, the demand for a percentage was 
unconstitutional ; it interfered with everv right that a warts 
possessed in the country. The Sungei Ujong chief plunged his 
hands into his sacks of cents and said to Raja Laut, '' It is to us, 
the waris, the heirs of the soil, that all commissions and per- 
centages belong. I claim the commission ; let the Yamtuan have 
the rest of the money.'* Raja Laut went ofF well-satisfied with g^\ 
per cent, of the Klana's winnings, leaving the Klana to see that 
his temper had got the better of his judgment. Of course, 
reflection only made him angrier as he realised his error. As he 
went down the steps of the astana he muttered tags of 
customary law and ended by laying down his handful of cents 
at the foot of a tree. *' If the law is to be broken^ be it broken ; 
I, too, shall break the law. How runs the saying? 

' Birtali ka-Siak ; 

' BSrtuan ka^Menangkabau ; 

'We have ties with Siak, and look to Menangkabau for our 
Lord.' May I drink the water of forest streams and eat the roots 
of forest plants and pillow my head on forest timbers — I will 
have no more of these ties with Siak and these prince^ from 
Menangkabau.'' He passed on to Terachi where he sent for his 
old enemy, the Dato' of Ulu Muar, and told him that the astana 
might be attacked with impunity. Dato' Bongkok immediately' 
drove Yamtuan Sati out of the country and restored Raja Radin 
to his father's old home. Yamtuan Sati took refuge in Malacca. 

The flight of the "delegated prince" and the attitude of the 
Klana made it possible for any local candidate to hope to become 
Yamtuan Besar. There was no lack of applicants for the honour. 
First there was the boy, Raja Radin, his father's heir. Next 
there was "Yamtuan Beringin," Raja Radin's self-appointed 
guardian. Next there was Raja Kerjan who did not lack 
assurance in matters of this sort. Then there was the deposed 
ruler who wanted to be restored ; and last of all there was Raja 
All, Yamtuan Muda of Rembau, who saw an opportunity of 
securing for himself a titular kingship over the whole of the 
Negri Sembilan. 

It was during the troubled years of Yamtuan Sati's presence 
in Sri Menanti that a new factor in Rembau politics had come to 



26 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 



the front in the person of Saiyid Shaaban bin Saiyid Ibrahim 
al-Kadri, a clever Arab who had succeeded in ingratiating 
himself with Raja AH and becoming the Raja's son-in-law.. 
Saiyid Shaaban's influence was so great that from this time 
onwards the Yamtuan Muda's whole policy was devoted to the 
advancement of the interests of his son-in-law and to securing 
the Saiyid's recognition as heir to the throne. It was a risky 
policy- The Saiyid was not popular. He was a man of no real 
rank ; his mother was a slave girl ; and his father's Arab blood 
counted for very little with Rembau tribesmen who traced 
descent through the mother. Such then was the position when 
the outbreak of the] Naning war gave a sudden importance to 
what were previously the family quarrels of a few petty chiefs. 



IX._THE NANING WAR, a.d. 1831— 1832. 

The "Naning War" is an episode to which the English 
student cannot look back with satisfaction. The Portuguese are 
the only Europeans who have been able to carry on war against 
Malays in a manner suggestive of something higher than comic 
opera. The real point at issue between the English and the 
Dato' of Naning was a matter of 200 gantang of rice, worth a 
few dollars at the very outside. Of course, there were "principles" 
involved. The English claimed to be fighting to vindicate the 
sanctity of an ancient treaty made by the Dutch 190 years 
earlier; the Malays were fighting nominally for their indepen- 
dence, but in reality to support the pretensions of the ambitious 
Dato' Dul Saiyid. The facts were as follows : 

In A.D. 1643 ^^^ Dutch had made a treaty with Naning. 
Under that treaty the first Naning " Dato' " had agreed to pay 
the Dutch a tribute of one-tenth of the rice-crop of Rembau, the 
Dutch pretending to believe that the entire crop did not exceed 
4,000 gantang. The Dutch could not have levied this tribute by 
force ; but the Dato* was glad to pay it for their recognition of 
his title and their assistance against his rivals. The successors 
of that Dato' were not in need of Dutch support and found that 
the tribute was Irksome. They, therefore, approached the Dutch 
with a view to its abolition. A compromise that saved the 
dignity of all parties was arrived at by the Dutch affecting to 
believe that the entire rice-crop of Naning only amounted to 
2,000 gan fang SL yeB.r and by their accepting 200 gantang as one- 



HISTORY: NANING WAR. 2J 



tenth of the quantity. From that date the Dato' paid the Dutch 
200 gantang of rice per year, and the arrangement was confirm- 
ed by the English in the Naning Agreement of A.D. 1801. 

About the year A.D. 1830 the East India Company chafing at 
the cost of the Settlement of Malacca, drew attention to this old 
treaty and pointed out that a gpreat deal of revenue was being 
wasted by the acceptance of 200 gantang of rice as one-tenth of 
a crop that was enough to maintain a population of some 10,000 
people and could hardly amount to less than a million gantang. 
In vain did the local authorities point out the iniquity of an 
exaction for which the Company made no return and the folly of 
trying to enforce it at the cost of war; the East India Company 
was obdurate, saying that a treaty was a treaty and must be 
observed. Matters were not made easier by the fact that the 
refgning Dato', Dul Saiyid, was a man of arrogance and ambition. 
The Malays of Naning refused to comply with the orders of the 
Company and affected to believe that those orders were mere 
illegal demands made by Mr. W. T. Lewis, the Collector of 
Land Revenue. The Resident Councillor sent a portion of the 
Malacca garrison to invade Naning and maintain the authority 
of the Company. This led to the " War." 

On arriving at the borders of Naning the officers found that 
their advance was blocked by a solitary Malay pcnglima in full 
war-paint who hurled defiant imprecations at the troops and 
danced a contemptuous military dance in full sight of the whole 
British force. Such conduct could not be tolerated. The 
cautious troops suspecting that the dance was intended to decoy 
them into the exposed padi-fields, bombarded the truculent 
penglima with their field-guns, to his extreme delight, as the 
artillery of that time was- not exactly an arm of precision. In the 
end the dancing penglima was hit "in the midst of a demu 
volte^^ ; and the elated troops were left to find out for themselves 
that Malays who did not expose themselves were more difficult to 
deal with than Malays who did. The field-pieces next became 
a source of great tribulation owing to the love of the draught 
buffaloes for muddy pools and other localities that made very poor 
emplacements for the guns. After several hours had been spent in 
advancing three-quarters of a mile, the troops bivouacked for the 
night. The next day they had to face new difficulties. They 
had not brought much food as they had not anticipated resistance. 
Small convoys invited disaster ; large convoys were impossible 
when the force itself was so small. In the end the whole body of. 



28 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 



troops had to retreat to the nearest rest-house on British 
territory and impound whatever stores the local ^^^i could pro* 
duce. This staved off disaster for the moment; but it encours^ed 
the enemy and brought every waverer to the side of Dul Saiyid. 
The troops were besieged in the rest-house. Meanwhile, in the 
town of Malacca all was panic ; the wildest reports were current 
and the authorities dared not denude the place of its remaining 
defenders in order to send succour to their soldiers in the field. 
The men in the rest-house held out till their provisions were 
exhausted and then endeavoured to cut their way through the 
enemy and reach Malacca. The old trouble about the buffaloes 
and the guns began again to impede progress. At last, the 
exasperated officers solved the difficulty by spiking the guns 
and allowing them to fall into the hands of the enemy. Malay 
resistance may be harrassing, but it is not an effectual bar to the 
march of European troops. The force got back to the town of 
Malacca and the Malays were ungrateful enough to eat the 
buffaloes to which they owed so much of their success. The 
victory and the buffalo-feasts left Dul Saiyid the undisputed 
matter of Naning. 

Probably we shall never learn the truth about Saiyid Shaaban 
and his policy at this time. Begbie says that the Saiyid sus- 
pected the Brftish expedition of being aimed at Rembau in the 
interests of Yaifttuan Sati, and that he lay in ^ambush in the 
jungle and counted every gun and every soldier in order to 
satisfy himself that Yamtuan Sati was not with the force. The 
Malay account also represents Saiyid Shaaban as the ally of 
Naning at this time. It is typical of a certain aspect of Malay 
character that a chief like Saiyid Shaaban, born and educated in 
Malacca, should have been so foolish as to imagine that his own 
petty rivalries with Yamtuan Sati could stir up European 
Governments and set in motion European troops. The issue of 
the war taught him more wisdom than that. Whether it was that 
he realised that no European Power would tolerate a reverse so 
damaging to its prestige, or whether he did not wish to magnify 
still further the power of Dul Saiyid, he reversed his policy as 
soon as the expedition had been repulsed. From this moment 
he figures as the friend of the English. 

The East India Company began now to regret the policy that 
plunged it into war over a question of a few measures of rice. 
The Singapore press was scathing in its comments upon the 
political and military inefficiency that had been conspicuous 



HISTORY: T AMPIN, 29 



throughout the whole affair. British prestige demanded the 
despatch -of a second expedition and rather better preparations 
and management. While these preparations were being made 
negotiations were opened with Raja Ali and Saiyid Shaaban. 
An interview was arranged and a treaty made with the Rembau 
chiefs. Begbie, who was an artillery officer in the Naning 
expedition, describes the Rembau magnates as the sorriest crowd 
of vagabonds who were ever admitted to the honour of an 
alliance with the British Empire. However, the treaty was 
signed. It is noteworthy that Saiyid Shaaban's name did not 
appear in it, nor had he anv locus standi whatever as a Rembau 
chief ; yet, both the English and Malay accounts represent him 
as the most important figure in the negotiations. According to 
the Malay story he obtained for his assistance the promise of a 
pension and of a refuge in the Colonv should the vicissitudes of 
Negri Sembilan politics ever lead him to need such assistance. 
He also received a plot of land in Malacca and was certainly 
encouraged in his ambition to become the heir to Raja Ali's 
dignities. 

The second Naning expedition was more successful than the 
first. Taboh Naning, Dul Saiyid's village, was taken bv assault ; 
many of the Naning chiefs went over to the British ; Dul Saiyid 
himself became a fugitive and ultimately surrendered. He was 
deposed but received a pension from the Indian Government till 
his death. His heirs still take the title of Dato' of Naning and 
possess a certain prestige ; his tomb is the scene of votive 
pilgrimages. His country became a Malacca district and the 
^tribal chiefs were replaced by territorial penghulus. Naning 
-lost its autonomy and the East India Company its money ; the 
only gainers by the war were Raja Ali and nis son, the ambitious 
Saiyid Shaaban. 



X.— TAMPIN, A.D. 1S33— 1872. 

The fall of Naning was a great triumph for Rembau. True, 
the State had given the English no assistance, but its defection 
from the side of Naning was represented everywhere as the 
decisive factor in the war. Begbie himself attached more 
importance to this factor than it probably deserved. In Sri 
Menanti Yamtuan Sati had fallen ; in Naning the Dato' had been 
deposed. Raja Ali and Saiyid Shaaban were the dominant 
chiefs ; and they possessed the friendship of the British at Malacca. 



30 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



Taking advantage of the opportunity, Raja AH proclaimed 
hintself Yamtuan Besar of the Negri Sembilani while Saiyid 
Shaaban took the title of Yamtuan Muda. 

The descendants of Raja Ali and Saiyid Shaaban possess the 
originals of the two treaties made with England about this time. 
The earlier is dated the 20th January, 1832 (14th Shaaban^ 
A.H. 1247)1 the later is dated the 9th January, 1833 (19th 
Shaaban, A.H. 1248). It was in the interval between these two 
treaties that the two chiefs claimed their increase in rank, as 
appears clearly from the seals used on the two occasions. The 
claim was perilous. It is typical of Malay chiefs that they are 
never content with the reality of power ; they prefer to imperil 
it for the sake of empty titles. The Yamtuan Muda and Saiyid 
Shaaban had nothing to gain by their new titles ; per contra 
they gave oflfence to every chief in the Negri Sembilan. For the 
moment, however, the other chiefs nursed their wrath, awaiting 
their opportunity. It was the folly of Saiyid Shaaban that gave 
them the chance for which they were waiting. 

The Dato' Muda of Linggi (To' Muda Katas) was a personal 
enemy of the Saiyid and had endeavoured without success to 
interrupt the negotiations that had led to the treaty of 1832. 
Nakhoda Lop, a rival of the To' Muda, took advantage of the 
altered conditions in order to secure the Saiyid's assistance 
against Linggi. He presented Saiyid Shaaban with a gold* 
sheathed kSris and with a buckle {pending) of some value and so 
obtained his help in an attack on To' Muda Katas. The attack 
failed. To' Muda Katas happened to be a believer in a vigorous 
offensive. He did not wait for a second attack but led a raid 
into the heart of Saiyid Shaaban's territories. The Saiyid called 
on the Dato' of Rembau for assistance. The Dato' of Rembau, 
To' Nganit, had not received any gold pending and saw no 
reason for interfering in private quarrels. He stood aloof. 
Saiyid Shaaban then committed an act of blazing indiscretion. 
He sent a small band of his followers to surprise and slay the 
Dato' of Rembau, a fellow-magnate of his own State. To' 
Nganit escaped with his life but his house was plundered and 
burnt by Saiyid Shaaban's men. After this outrage all Rembau 
rallied to the side of the injured chief, and even the Dato* Klana 
of Sungei Ujong declared against Raja Ali and Saiyid Shaaban. 
On the principle that '' one should fight a hawk with a hawk 
and a sparrow with a sparrow," the two great undang now 
put forward a prince. Raja Radin of Sri Menanti, as a candidate 



HISTORY : T AM PIN 3 1 



for the dignity of Yamtuan Besar. A civil war followed and 
ended in the flight of Raja Ali and his son-in-law. 

Accounts differ as to what exactly happened. One story has 
it that Raja Ali fled to Lubok China, then to Simpang Linggi, 
and finally to Malacca, while Saiyid Shaaban held his own in 
Tampin and succeeded ultimately in turning Tampin into an 
independent State. Another story has it that Saiyid Shaaban 
fled to Malacca while Raja Ali held out in Tampin. There is no 
doubt about the issue of the war. After a long and desultory 
stru^rgle the old State of Rembau was torn in two, the western 
portion going to the Dato' of Rembau and his headmen, and the 
eastern portion to Raja Ali and Saiyid Shaaban. Raja Ali died 
at Keru, near Tampin, in the year 1850. Saiyid Shaaban lived 
till 1872 (a.h. 1 291) but never succeeded in receiving recognition 
as Yamtuan Muda. He was accepted as the independent ruler 
{tengku besar) of Tampin, and as nothing more. 

Incidentally it is recorded in the annals of Raja Ali's family 
that Saiyid Shaaban was serving a sentence of six months' 
imprisonment in the Malacca gaol when his father-in-law died, 
and that a hard-hearted British Government refused to allow him 
out on parole to attend the obsequies. His wife sent the Tampin 
regalia as an offering to the authorities at Malacca without being 
able to induce them to change their resolution. The regalia 
were then concealed and (presumably) have not been found 
since. They are said to have consisted of two spears (one of the 
type known as changgat put^ri, the other berkirawang)^ a long 
kMs {keris panjang berkelok bersalut) and a written genealogy 
of the family. The obsequies of Raja Ali were carried out by 
his daughter. Raja Lebar, wife of Saiyid Shaaban. 

Thus then was the State of Tampin established. The ques- 
tion suggests itself : Why did this particular portion of the old 
State of Rembau cleave to Saiyid Shaaban when the rest of 
Rembau seceded ? And what is the origin of the four local terri- 
torial dignities, the penghuluships of KSru, Repah^ TSbong and 
Tampin Tengah ? 

The facts seem to be as follows. The old Malay State of 
Rembau contained a large amount of unoccupied territory. 
Adventurers at the head of bands of emigrants came at various 
times to the Yamtuan Muda and obtained his permission to form 
settlements in these tracts of jungle. Tradition has it that 
Penglima Hitami a Batu Hampar tribesman of Lanun descent, 



32 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



was the first to colonise Tampin ; he was head of a party of 70 
Lanun settlers. A Machap man of the Mungkal tribe is credited 
with having colonised Keru and Tebong, while a Tiga Batu 
party colonised Repah. These four settlements wiUi their 
territorial penghulus, having nothing in common with the tribal 
chiefs of Rembau, followed the fortunes of the Yamtuan Muda 
and his descendants. The boundary between Rembau and 
Malacca is given as follows in the treaty of 1833 : 

"From Koala Sungei Baneh to Bakit Bertam, thence to Bakit Jelntong, 
thence to Bakit Patos, thence to Jirat Gonjai, thence to Labok Talain, thence to 
Dosan Feringgi, thence to Dnson Kepar, thence to Haln Sangga and thence to 
Bakit Patas/' 

This is the present boundary. But it is suggested that the 
Tebong district at least la^ in the territories of the Dato' of 
Naning and that its inclusion in Tampin was the result of the 
Naning war. 



XL— BRITISH INTERVENTION, a.d. 1872— 1897. 

Sungei Ujong, — The history of the State of Sungei Ujong 
stretches back far into the past. As early as A.D. 1460 or 1470, 
it was ruled by Malay chiefs who bore the title of penghulu 
mantSn and were appointed by the bendaharas of Malacca and 
Johor. But the present ruling houses of Sungei Ujong do not 
date back so far. They seem to have acquired their hereditary 
rights about the year A.D. 1700, and transmitted them at first 
from father to son in accordance with the law of Johor, and not 
by uterine descent as required by the law of Menangkabau. 
About the middle of the eighteenth centui-y a son of the 
pinghulu mantSri of Sungei Ujong obtained the semi-royal 
bugis title of dato^ kilana putera^ by which his representatives 
have since been known, to the exclusion of the more ancient 
dignity of the penghuluship. In A.D. 1773 the State was one 
of the four that recognised Raja Melewar as yamtuan of the 
Negri Sembilan, and Sungei Ujong so obtained for its ruler, the 
Klana, recognition as imam or head of the undang of the 
confederacy. To this day the Dato* Klana is charged with the 
duty of making the formal nomination of a new Yamtuan. 
About A.D. 1780 the second Dato' Klana (Leha) gave a settle- 
ment at Linggi to a number of Riau colonists who had been 
expelled from Rembau by Dato* Uban for declining to give up 
their customary law, the adat timenggong. If it is true, as some 



HISTORY: BRITISH INTBRVBNTION. 33 



traditions have it, that Raja Melewar's popularity was due to his 
being able to enforce the adai pSrpateh, it is a notable fact 
that Sungei Ujong, the first State in his confederacy, never 
accepted that law in its entirety and did not accept any of it till 
a much later date. Sungei Ujong has a territorial rather than 
a tribal system of administration. 

Early in the nineteenth century a conflict began to arise 
between the supporters of the matriarchal law of Sumatra and 
those of the Penmsular patriarchal law. It came to a head in a 
civil war of succession between the third Dato' Klana (Bahi) and 
the turbulent Dato* Kawal, heir by uterine relationship to the 
first two Klanas. In the end Dato' rCawal triumphed ; he became 
the fourth Klana and introduced the adat pSrpateh along with a 
compromise, a giliran (or rule of succession by rotationj, under 
which his representatives and those of Dato' Klana Bahi took it 
in turn to succeed to the position of head of the State. These 
disputes and the headstrong policy of Dato' Kawal did a great 
deal to weaken the real authority of the ruler. 

It must always be remembered that Sungei Ujong was not a 
tribal State like Rembau. It possessed great territorial chiefs 
in the Dato' Bandar who governed the Coast, the Dato' Andulika 
Mandulika who ruled Pantai, the Dato' Akhirzaman of Rantau, 
the Dato' Amar of Ulu Klawang, and the Dato' Muda of Linggi. 
These chiefs possessed concessions and seals; in some cases 
they owed their positions and revenues (equally with the Klana) 
to the Sultan of Johor. Foremost among them was the Dato' 
Bandar, chief of the waris di-ayer^ who held the country's 
richest sources of revenue in his own hands. The Dato' Klana 
wanted that revenue for his wars ; the Dato' Bandar disputed his 
orders. Civil war arose and the Yamtuan Besar, Raja Radin, 
was called in as arbitrator. The revenues were divided and 
various compromises were arrived at to save the dignity of both 
parties. History was tampered with ; pedigrees were put forward 
to show a relationship between the rival families ; sayings were 
coined to make peace between the Klana and Bandar. The State 
was " an egg borne by them equally " ; they were " as the pupil 
and the white of the eye." 

Telur sa-biji sama di-tatang ; 

Pesaka satu sama di^bela ; 

Hilang di-darat di-ayer menchari, 

Hilang di-ayer di-darat menchari, 

Laksana mata hitam dengan mata puteh. 



34 PAPkRS ON MALA"^ SU^JECtS. 



Rut common-sense is against such diplomatic compromises. The 
Bandar smarted over his loss of revenue ; the Klana resented 
his loss of dignity. The State became a house divided against 
itself ; whatever one rulfer did, the other opposed. Matters came 
to a crisis in the Selangor disturbances of the early seventies. 
The Selangor refugees, fleeing from the wrath of the British, 
came to Sungei Ujong. Warned by the British Government the 
Klana gave them no shelter. Encouraged by the unpopularity 
of this inhospitable policy, the Dato* Bandar shielded the refugees 
and made the Kiana's position insupportable. The unfortunate 
Klana had to choose between the enmity of the British and deposi- 
tion at the hands of his own people. He threw in his lot with 
the British, maintained his position with the assistance of a 
Resident, and divided the ranks of his enemies by inciting a chiefs 
to drive out the Bandar and seize his authority. Ultimately the 
country was pacified and a British Protectorate was established, 
under which the Klana and the new Bandar ended their differences 
by the receipt of an equal status and an equal civil list. 

Sri Menanti, — We have seen that the expulsion of Yamtuan 
Sati and the fall of Raja Ali, Yamtuan Muda of Rembau, left Raja 
Radin in undisputed possession of the royal demesne in Sri 
Menanti and the royal dignity of Yamtuan Besar. He held this 
position against all rivals till his death, and even exercised a good 
deal of influence in Sungei Ujong, in Rembau, and in Jelebu. His 
death, however, was the signal for new disturbances. His son, 
Tengku Antah, on claiming the throne, was opposed by a Sumat- 
ran prince, a son of the old claimant Yamtuan Beringin, who 
maintained that the custom of seeking a ruler outside the country 
should bt reverted to. The undang, on being called in, set aside 
the claims of both the disputants and placed on the throne 
an older man, Yamtuan Imam, brother of the deceased Yamtuan 
Radin. The death of Yamtuan Imam reopened the trouble. 
This time the claimants were Tengku Antah, son of Yamtuan 
Radin, and Tengku Ahmad Tunggal, son of Yamtuan Imam. 
The former had the more powerful local following ; the latter 
had seized his father's seals which were the true regalia of the 
State. The local undang, the Dato' of Johol, favoured Tengku 
Antah, who installed himself at Sri Menanti and made a fresh 
seal of his own to replace the missing regalia. But the rest of 
the Negri Sembilan rulers were now weary of the eternal disputes 
over the title of Yamtuan. The Dato' Klana, Saiyid Abdurrah- 

* The present Dato' Bandar Ahmad. 



HISTORY: BRITISH INTERVENTION, 35 



man, of Sungei Ujong, was friendly to the claimant, Tengku Ahmad 
Tunggal. The Dato' of Rembau claimed complete independence, 
and the Dato' of Jelebu*s attentions were monopolised by a 
Yamtuan Muda of his own with whom he was on the worst of 
terms. The "treason*' of the three undang who would not 
acknowledge Yamtuan Antah would, if acquiesced in, have left 
him in undisturbed possession of Sri Menanti at least ; but with 
true Negri Sembilan imprudence he would not leave well alone. 
In A.D. 1876 he attacked the Dato' Klana of Sungei Ujong for 
showing courtesy to the pretender, Tengku Ahmad Tungg^al. 
The Dato' Klana was then under British protection. A British 
force at once set out in two columns ; one column forced the 
Bukit Putus pass and occupied the Terachi valley, the other 
traversed the mountains and took the Malays in the rear. 
This reverse made Tengku Antah consent in A.D. 1876 (at the 
instance of the Maharaja of Johor) to resigfn his claims to the 
titles of *' Yamtuan Besar" and *' Sultan" and to style himself 
only "Yamtuan of Sri Menanti-" In A.D. 1887 he made a fresh 
treaty, submitting himself to the supervision of the British Govern- 
ment as refi;ards his relations with other States ; and in A.D. 1889. 
his son and successor, Tengku Muhammad, and the rulers of the 
States under his jurisdiction (Johol, Inas, Ulu Muar, Jempol, 
Gunong Pasir and Terachi), placed themselves unreservedly under 
the protection of England. This treaty was also accepted by 
the Kulers of Tampin and Rembau. 

In this connection it is necessary to explain that there was a 
phase in the history of the Negri Sembilan States when the 
Maharaja of Johor endeavoured to play a part in their affairs. 
It must be remembered that the independence of the Negri 
Sembilan was never admitted by the Maharaja and that the 
policy of that prince seemed to be aimed for some time at 
bringing this part of the Malay world into his own sphere of 
influence. The activity of the British Government put an end to 
an^ ambitions that the Maharaja may have entertained of 
bringing Rembau and the Sri Menanti States into union with 
Johor and Muar, but traces of these perished hopes may be seen 
occasionally in the terms of old treaties, notably in the Rembau 
agreement of 1877, the Jelebu agreement of 1877 and the Sri 
Menanti agreement of 1876. 

Rembau, — The war between Rembau and Tampin over the 
pretensions of Yamtuan Ali and Saiyid Shaaban ended, as we 
have seen, in the complete separation of the two States. Like 



36 PAPBRS ON MALAY SUBySCTS. 



all Malay wars it was long, desultory and indecisive. Rembau 
continued to be hostile to Tampin ; the Ruler of Tampin con- 
tinued to intrigue for the dignity of Yamtuan Muda. The 
chronic trouble caused by these irritating little conflicts and 
intrigues led in the end to discontent with the Rulers of both 
States. In March, 1877, Haji Sahil, the unpopular Dato* of 
Rembau, made a treaty " for giving quietness and peace " to his 
country by undertaking to submit all his disputes for the " advice 
4nd instructions" of the Maharaja of Johor. This treaty was 
ultra vires as it was not signed by the eight lembaga. Six years 
later, by a fresh treaty, the eight lembaga deposed Haji Sahil and 
appointed Benin bin Sidin, Dato' of Rembau. By this treaty the 
chiefs agreed to refer all their disputes to the Governor of the 
Straits and to abide by his decision. But this treaty was not 
enough. It gave the British Government no real control over 
the country and allowed the Dato* and his warts to pursue a 
most suicidal policy of land-alienation for the sake of the personal 
gains made by selling large tracts of country to Chinese tapioca- 
planters from Malacca. A policy of this sort is so pregnant with 
future trouble that the British authorities began to strain every 
nerve to obtain some hold over the land-policy of the country. 
In the end the Dato' and the leading warts chiefs who claimed 
possession of all waste lands parted with their rights to the 
British Government in return for one-third of the revenue. 
This is the treaty of September, 1887. In 1889 ^^^ State of 
Rembau joined with Tampin and the Sri Menanti States in 
forming the confederacy known as the ''old" Negri Sembilan. 

Jelebu, — The State of Jelebu was established about A.D. 1760 
by a certain local chief of Ulu Jelebu obtaining from Abdul Jalil 
Muadzam Shah, Regent of Johor, a seal and title as ruler of his 
country. There were, however, certain local territorial chiefs 
who held positions of real antiquity and importance even though 
they had not been recognised by the Johor Government. These 
chiefs seem to have disputed the Dato's authority, with the 
result that a number of tnuafakat or compromises were arrived 
at. The title of Dato' now " rotates " between three families, 
one being the original Ulu Jelebu family;^ and each new holder 
has to be approved by two local chiefs, the Dato' Umbi and 
Dato' Mantri. But a further disturbing element appeared in the 
country in the form of the princely Sumatran families who 
exploited the Negri Sembilan so successfully. Raja Adil is said 

' The wans Ulu JlUhu, wane Khning and tcarte Saarim, 



HISTORY: BRITISH INTERVENTION. 37 



to have lived in Jelebu ; and his grandson, Tengku Sabun, made 
himself Yamtuan Muda of the little State at some date about 
A.D. 1820. Dynastic disputes and wars of succession divided the 
Jelebu chiefs and exposed the country to raids from Pahang 
ivhich depopulated considerable tracts. When the British 
Protectorate was established in Sun^ei Ujong the condition of 
Jelebu was pitiful. In 1877, the Yamtuan Tengku Abdullah 
made a treaty agreeing to ask "advice and instructions" from 
the Maharaja of Johor, but such an undertaking, given by a 
titular dignitary without the consent of the Dato' and chiefs 
of Jelebu, was valueless for bringing about peace. The troubles 
continued. In 1883, the British Government was invited to 
arbitrate and a fresh treaty was made. Under this treaty the 
residential system was introduced into Jelebu, the Yamtuan was 
bought out with a life-pension of $1,200 a year, and the Dato* 
and chiefs were promised an interest in the revenues of the 
State. The Yamtuan died not very long afterwards, and a fresh 
treaty was drawn up (in A.D. 1886) abolishing the dignity of 
Yamtuan and readjusting the financial arrangements. 

The Negri Sembilan, — The various treaties to which reference 
has been made had the effect of dividing the administration of 
the country into two sections : the Eastern (comprising Rembau, 
Sri Menanti and T^mpin) under " the Resident of Negri 
Sembilan," and the Western (comprising Sungei Ujong and 
Jelebu) under " the Resident of Sungei Ujong." This adminis- 
trative partition was brought to an end in 1 895 by the appointment 
of the Hon. Martin Lister as Resident for both divisions under 
his old title of Resident of Negri Sembilan. Mr. Lister died in 
A.D. 1897 ^"d ^'^s succeeded by Mr. E. W. Birch, who effected 
the union of the Negri Sembilan States under a titular Malajr 
sovereign by the election of Tengku Muhammad, Ruler of Sri 
Menanti, as Yang-di-pertuan Besar of the whole country. This 
was, for all intents and purposes, a reversion to Raja Melewar's 
constitution of A.D. 1773, which had been abolished (as we 
have seen) by the treaty of 1876 after nearly a century of civil 
war. 



PART II. 
THE CONSTITUTION. 

By R. J. Wilkinson. 

Alam beraja ; 

N^giri berpSnghulu ; 

Suku bertuha; 

Anak buah biribu-bapa; 

Orang semenda bertimpat\semSnda, 

"The world has a king, the country a chief, the tribe a 
head, the family an elder, and every man a family to attend to 
his affairs/' so runs a local saying that summarises the consti- 
tution of the Negri Sembilan. Unfortunately, this brief defi- 
nition includes technical terms that presuppose a knowledge of 
all the complexities of Menangkabau law. Words like "tribe," 
" family," '*elder" and "chief" are beyond any simple interpreta- 
tion ; they have to be explained guardedly and at very great length 
if the explanation is to escape the wrath of every European who 
has dwelt in Rembau and absorbed its enthusiasm for the 
unimportant. 

Some terms, of course, are easy to define. "The world" 
is the Negri Sembilan ; no Rembau man need take exception to 
that. "The king" is the Yang-di-pertuan BSsar, "The coun- 
try" is Rembau (or her sister-States) ; the definite article need 
only be emphasised to indicate what is meant. " The chiefs " 
are the Klana of Sungei Ujong, the Penghulu of Jelebu, the 
Dato' of Johol, and the Dato' of Rembau. But underlying 
this territorial system we have a tribal organisation. Each 
of the four great chiefs rules, or ruled — for we are dealing with 
the constitution of A.D. 1773 — over a number of " tribes ''1 
or semi-autonomous clans, each of which manages most of 
its affairs under the control of its own lembaga or head- 
man. The clan, in its turn, is subdivided into "families,"* 
each with its own "elder"'; and the "family" may be 
divided into various branches settled in different localities. 
Every individual has his own immediate relatives to look after 
his affairs and avoid, if possible, the publicity and scandal of a 
reference to the family elder. If a dispute could not be 

* Bviku,, ^ PSrut, • Ihu bapa or huapa. 



40 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 



arranged amicably it had to be taken to the elder who had 
jurisdiction up to $3.50 or the value of a goat. If that jurisdic- 
tion was insufficient the case might be referred to the lembaga 
whose powers went up to %^ (or the value of a buffalo) and 
included authority to arrest : " bonds are the Ihnbaga's^^ said the 
law. Next came the court of the chief or undang^ whose 
jurisdiction extended to $14 and included the power of life and 
death. In exceptional cases a matter might come for hearing 
before the king's own court. ^ 

In itself the gradation of official powers is no protection to 
the liberty of the subject. Its special effectiveness in the case 
of Negri Sembilan lay in the fact that the higher authorities were 
like our own appellate or assize courts : they could not initiate 
an attack on an individual. The Negri Sembilan peasant was 
more than a ryot helpless in the clutches of a great territorial 
chief. If he committed a petty offence he was judged by his 
own people ; the chief could not interfere. If he was chargjed 
with a graver crime he was heard by his own people, and if a 
primi facte case was made out against him he was handed over 
to the higher authorities for trial. If the tribal headmen used 
their powers unfairly and screened their own people from punish- 
ment they might be called to account for their misconduct; but 
the chief could not proceed against anyone except the tribal 
headman, nor was he strong enough to attack any single lembaga 
unjustly in face of the opposition that such a proceeding would 
arouse among the rest. The abolition of direct relations between 
the chiefs and the ryots made the Negri Sembilan tribal divisions 
a real shield to the rights of the subject. If any European 
student imagines that constitutional Government is alien to the 
Asiatic mind he may study the Menangkabau system with profit, 
for it is a genuine Malay creation and owes nothing to alien 
influence. Its faults and failures are those common to all 
democracies: overmuch disputation, irresolute and divided 
action, and the inertia that comes of a Government being over- 
weighted with checks and counter-checks. These faults were 
free from any oriental hankering after despotism. The Negri 
Sembilan Malay was a loyalist in his way, but he loved his 
liberty even more than he loved a lord. It was his attempt 
to love both that brought disaster upon him. 

The "king" or Yang-di-pertuan Besar was essentially a 
constitutional ruler. " He does not own the soil nor can he 

* Kfadilan, 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION. 4 1 

■ 

levy imposts/' said the law; '' be is oaly the fountain of 
lustice and can claim a civil list." No one indeed could be 
less like the despot of Eastern romance. His civil list was 
framed on very frugal lines : *' from every household a gallon of 
rice and a couple of coconuts !' each time a ruler was buried or 
crowned. Commuted into dollars at the last accession this mas 
manak anK>unted to 

(14 for Johol proper, 

(14 for all Ulu Muar, 

Jy for all Jempol, 

ty for all Gemencheh, 

and so on. Moreover, it was limited by the stipulation that the 
funeral of one ruler and the installation of the next should be 
treated as one ceremony and should call for one contribution 
only. On the occasion of a great festival — such as a royal 
marriage or circumcision — the yamtuan was entitled to a gift of 
three bufiEaloes from the mag^nates who attended the dinner. In 
consonance also with the universal Malay custom that regards 
all rarities and freaks as the kin^s perquisite the yamtuan could 
daim bezoar-stones, talismans, ivory, freak-buffaloes, and even 
the children of unmarried mothers as being inexplicable pheno* 
mena, "plants without seeds, flowers without buds." When all 
these sources of income are totalled up they represent very little. 
Attempts to get more were risky. One Yamtuan, as we have 
seen, tried to levy a commission of 2^ per cent, on some money 
won by the Dato' Klana when betting at a cock-fight in Sri 
Menanti. He was deposed and driven out. Any attempt to 
claim percentages or raise taxes brought the "king" into 
collision with the great territorial chiefs who were always ready 
to fight for the retention of their perquisites. 

The Yamtuan was birkhalifahy the Caliph, God's vicegerent 
on earth. This meant that he stocni at the head of the religious 
law and was the court of final resort in all disputes regarding 
Moslem custom. His position meant less in the Negri Sembilan 
than it did elsewhere, owing to the fact that the chiefs and 
people owed their powers and liberties to the adat and were 
very unwilling to admit its subordination to the Law of the 
Prophet. Indeed, they tried to argue that the two were identical 
or of equal importance. 

Hukum yang rata, 
Adafyang datar. 



42 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 

>' Religious law is level ; customary law is flat/' And again 

Adat yang kawi, 
Shara^ yang lazim, 

'* Custom is compulsory; leligion is obligatory/' In both cases 
we get a distinction without a difference. Moreover, the judges 
of religious law were removable at the will of the local chiefs 
and were not likely to carry many appeals to the king. At the 
same time the position of "Caliph'* must have been one of some 
importance, for the powerful rulers of Rembau claimed to be 
birkhalifah as soon as they asserted their independence of the 
Yamtuan. 

The king was also the keadilan or fountain of justice: in 
other words, he was the final court of appeal. His jurisdiction 
amounted to 66 kupang or $24, and he could behead while the 
chief could only kill with the keris. If a Dato* of Johol or Dato' 
of Remhau considered that a matter was too thorny for him to 
settle by himself he might always refer it to the Yamtuan as a 
disinterested arbitrator. The value of the king's prerogative 
in this respect depended greatlv on the trust that the chiefs 
could feel in him. A fair-mindea prince might have become the 
most influential man in the land ; a self-seeking judge was what 
nobody wanted. If the civil wars are any criterion of the capacity 
for rule displayed by the later " kings " they indicate that the 
fountain of justice was polluted and that the indefiniteness of 
the ruler's judicial powers are due to the fact that reference to 
him never crystallised into a regular custom. 

Apart from the limitations to his power the king held a 
position of great dignity. He and his family were extra-terri- 
torial, belonging to no clan and owning no allegiance to any tribal 
headman. He was sacrosanct.^ The great territorial chiefs 
were revered.^ They had a special sanctity of their own, but 
it was a pale shadow of the true majesty or kings. The later 
penghulus of Rembau, though they claimed several royal attri- 
Dutes, dared not claim the daulat. Royalty had also its own 
court language : the great chiefs could not annex it though they 
tried to raise their own " utterances " ^ to the plane of the king's 
"commands/** Then there were the ceremonies: the royal 
precedence, the deference of others, the homage, the kingly 
yellow that no one else might wear, the regalia, the salutes, the 

1 mrdauUtf, 2. BSrandika. » 8<thida. * Titah, 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION. 43 

dwelling in palaces, the title of Sultan— all these things were 
precious possessions and whetted an appetite for more. 

We may pass over the minor rulers, the Yamtuan Muda of 
Rembau and the Yamtuan Muda of Jelebu. They had no place 
in the arrangements of A.D. 1773, but were added afterwards 
to allow some feud or put an end to the jealousy of rival princes. 
Each Yamtuan Muda was a local deputy of the Yamtuan Besar, 
and did not possess a distinctive position of his own in the 
theory of the constitution. 

Next below these titular rulers came the four great terri- 
torial chiefs or undang. Ceremonially they were of minor 
importance. When elected each of these chiefs had to present 
himself before the yamtuan and do homage for the office 
conferred upon him— a mere form, since the yamtuan had no 
power to bestow such dignities. On these occasions the chiefs 
were addressed formally as oratifr kaya : a commoner's title, 
not a prince's. Nor could a chief habitually use the royal 
yellow or the royal forms of speech or any other regal attribute ; 
he was a commoner and no more. He could claim a salute of five 
guns as against seven for a yamtuan and three for a lembaga. So, 
too, his wedding i^rA/«<i/ ceremonies lasted five days as against a 
prince's seven, and a ISmbaga's three. He had no less than 
16 kebesaran or insignia of rank, but they were not " regalia " 
in the highest sense. In theoretical power he had also to 
take a position below that of the kingr. His jurisdiction was 
limited to a bahara or about $14, while the king's extended 
to 66 kupang or $24.80 to be exact. The chief could only 
execute with the kMs ; to " shed blood " was a royal preroga- 
tive. The yamtuan could lev)' his mas manah — his gallon of rice 
and two coconuts — on all the households of " the world " : 
the undang levied a similar contribution on certain Crown 
lands ^ only. But with all this affectation of inferiority the 
great territorial chiefs were wealthier and mightier than the 
king. Their wealth they did not owe to their office but to the 
fact that they were waris^ heirs of the soil, representatives (in 
theory) of the old aboriginal peoples. Though the chief divided 
his revenues with the rest of the waris (he was only one of 
many "heirs"), he took the lion's share in accordance with the 
tribal rule, " Big shares to big men, little shares to little men." 
Constitutionally, too, the four great territorial chiefs were the 
Hang balai, the pillars of the court, the electors and upholders 
of the yamtuan. The yamtuan could not create a chief, but the 

' Ta'nah tilapakan» 



44 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 



chief might — and often did— K:reate a yamtuan. Raja Khatib was 
put forward by the Dato' of Uiu Muar, a minor territorial magnate; 
Yamtuan Radin ^as the nominee of Rembau ; Yamtuan Sati was 
made and unmade by the Dato' Kiana; Yamtuan Antah was set up 
by the Dato* of Johol. In true power there was no comparison be- 
tween the chief with a whole State at his back and the king with his 
great pretensions and his ragged retinue. One was reality: 
the other bluff. So was it also with jurisdiction. That of 
the king was a name ; that of the undang a living force. The 
king might behead, it is true; still he could only behead his 
own followers, and the practice was not to be commended. 
For real criminal justice the chiefs kerts was all that was wanted. 
The chiefs powers were definite enough. He heard cases of 
treason, murder, robbery, arson, poisoning and incest. Lesser 
offences were tried before the letnbaga^ and unless the lembaga's 
fining powers ($7, or the value of a buffalo) were exceeded, the 
chief did not interfere. As has been pointed out already, the 
undang's court was not one of original jurisdiction ; offenders 
were brought to it by their own tribal headman, and when the 
case was over it was also the l^mbaga who saw to the recovery 
of the fines. The chief was in general control of the tribal 
headmen and could call them to account if they were inefficient 
or corrupt, but the machinery for the purpose was elaborate and 
does not enter into the theory on the Constitution. 

In three out of the four States the term penghulu {nigeri 
berpenghulu) may be identified with the undang himself ; in the 
fourth State, Johol, there were divisional pengKulus who were 
subordinate to the undang. 

The main point of the theory is that below the territorial 
chief — be he an undang or a divisional penghulu like the Dato' 
of Ulu Muar^ — there come the tribal headmen who are not terri- 
torial in the strictest sense of the word. They are known as 
ISmbaga and their tribes as suku : both terms need a good deal 
of explanation. 

The colonists from Menangkabau came to the Peninsula from 
various Sumatran districts : from Payakombo, from Sri Lemak, 
from Sri Melenggang, from Batu Hanipar, from Batu Balang, from 
Mungkal, from Tanah Datar, from Tiga Nenek and from Tiga 
Batu. After settling in the Negri Sembilan they and their 
descendants continued to call themselves after the districts from 

' The diyisional penghulu is often termed an und4jmg» . 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION. 45 



which they had come, so that what are territorial names in 
Sumatra have come to be tribal names in the Malay Peninsula. 
But this list of ten tribes would not be exhaustive. It might 
happen that some Sri Lemak settlers would reside for some 
time in Pahang and then migrate to Ulu Muar ; while other Sri 
Lemak colonists would come direct to Ulu Muar from Sumatra. 
This would create a distinction between the Seri Lemak Pahang 
and the Seri Lemak Menangkabau. In other cases there might 
be two separate migrations from the same locality at different 
times under different chiefs; thus, we get the Payakombo tribe in 
Rembau split into two portions, one in the low-country under 
the lembaga Datd Merbangsa, and the other and larger portion 
in the uplands under the lembaga Dato^ Seri Maharaja. 
Furthermore, the Negri Sembilan population includes descendants 
of the original inhabitants who were in the country before the 
Sumatran settlers arrived, and who are known generically as the 
biduanda tribe ; and it also includes colonists who did not come 
from Menangkabau : for instance, the clans of the anak Acheh or 
Achehnese, and the anak Melaka or Malacca Malays. It is, 
therefore, difficult to lay down any general rules as to the 
distribution of these different tribes. 

Moreover, it must be remembered that Menangkabau adat 
traces descent through women only. The ** Payakombo" tribe 
of to-day is made up of the descendants in the direct female line 
of the women-settlers from the Payakombo district ; the descend- 
ants of the male settlers take their mother's designation. Under 
the circumstances these tribal distinctions have no real racial or 
territorial si^ificance. For all intents and purposes they are 
artificial divisions. The artificiality of the whole system is 
enhanced by the fact that a man passes on marriage from the 
control of his niother's tribe to that of his wife's, so that a large 
proportion of the males in the charge of any one tribe do not 
belong to that tribe at all by descent. A Negri Sembilan suku 
is a very mixed community ; its women — and the lands they own 
— are the bonds that hold it together. Not that the artificiality 
of the whole tribal system would matter much if it worked well 
in other respects. But the inequality in numbers and inlportance 
between one tribe and another and between one family and 
another created difficulties. In 1891 two Rembau tribes totalled 
167 persons between them, while a third tribe numbered 3,766 
by itself : a constitution that disregards numerical differences of 
this sort is hardly the work of men wise in the wisdom of the 



46 PAPERS ON MALAY SUBySCTS. 



world. There are many features in the government of the old 
Negri Sembilan that seem to have been invented for the express 
purpose of exciting tumults and provoking civil war. 

Nothing, for instance, could be fairer — on paper — than the 
system of giltr or rotation. We will suppose that there were 
four Payakombo "families'* in existence when the constitution 
was settled. To avoid the risk of the position of lembaga-shxp 
being monopolised by any one family, the four might agree that 
the tribal headman should be selected from the ranks of each in 
rotation. But what was simple, practical and just in A.D. 1700 
might become an abuse two centuries later. New families would 
have come over from Payakombo and have risen to importance 
without acquiring any claim to the honour of ^ving a lembaga 
to the tribe. Old families would have fallen into poverty and 
discredit, yet under the ancient constitution they would still 
have the right to insist that the tribal headman shall be selected 
in rotation from their own ragged and disreputable ranks. If 
the divisions had been territorial instead of tribal a redistribution 
of electoral rights could be arranged easily enough on the basis 
of numbers, but with ** families" and "clans" the difficulty is 
almost insuperable. The grievances and disputes which arise 
out of the election of officers in the Negri Sembilan are due to 
the fact that the Constitution (in so far as it affects that one 
issue) is quite out of date. 

The jurisprudence of Menangkabau allowed for the need of 
constitutional changes from time to time. It recognised tribal 
agreements^ as a source of law. If the tribe choose to 
admit new colonists to a full or partial franchise the tribe 
was at liberty to admit them. Doubtless, arrangements of 
this kind were arrived at from time to time in the interests 
of tribal peace; but they were only compromises and con- 
cessions, varying in each case with the requirements of the 
moment. There was no uniformity about .them. The old 
families gave as little as possible, the new families took as 
much as they could get. These divergencies and anomalies 
make it necessary to write a separate account of each State, tribe, 
and title in the Negri Sembilan; general statements on such 
points are impossible. But within the tribe itself the powers of 
the headman and elder do not vary. The differences that exist 
are confined to extra-tribal authority and to the method of 
selection or appointment to offices. 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION. 47 



Before proceeding to discuss the unvarying element — the 
authority of an official within his own tribe — it may be of interest 
to ^ve an example of constitutional change and of the reasons 
for it. In the oldest Rembau treaties we get the signature of the 
Dato' and of four tribal headmen. This Council of Four repre- 
sented in all probability the four principal lembaga at the date 
when the Constitution was established. Yet, in 1891, the 
tribesmen represented by these four headmen numbered only 
1,317 persons out of a total population of 11,136 souls. The 
Council of Four had long ceased to be representative of the 
whole people, though its members still enjoy a certain cere- 
monial precedence over the rest. Accordingly, in 1832, we find 
that four more lembaga were added to the list of signatories to a 
treaty, thereby indicating the creation of a Council of Eight. 
These four additions possessed (in 1891) a following of 3,667 
tribesmen, so that the Council of Eight is much more represent- 
ative than the original Four. On the 1891 census the figures 
are: 

Biduanda (represented by the Dato') ... 3,766 

Tribesmen under the original Four ... 1,317 

„ „ additional Four ... 3,667 

or 8,750 out of 11,136 persons. Although there are even now 
over 2,000 persons who are not included in what we may 
call the higher franchise of Rembau, the present state of affairs 
represents a very great advance on the days of the Council 
of Four. And the constituencies (if we may call them so) are 
unequal. The Dato' Samsuroh Pahlawan only represents about 
150 tribesmen: and even the senior lembaga^ the Dato* Gempa 
Maharaja, with his following of 300, compares unfavourably with 
the junior lembaga^ the Dato' Mandulika, whose anak buah must 
be about 2,000 in number. Anomalies of this sort will explain 
the turbulence of Government in Rembau, besides throwing light 
upon the distribution of the population in the days of the early 
colonists. 

Within the tribe itself things were simple enough. The 
lembaga was its head.^ His authority was defined with great 
precision ; he could fine or award compensation to the extent 
of the value of a buffalo or of a bahara, of tin, a jurisdiction 
representing some $7 in the currency of the time, though it would 
represent far more in the depreciated silver of to-day. He was 

' In Jelebn, Johol and Bemban. In 8ongei Ujong the term Vtmhaga is 
used loosely and often incorrectly. 



48 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByBCTS. 



elected by a strict rule of rotation from one after another of the 
fully enfranchised families included in the tribe ; but the election 
(which was made by the tbu bapa or heads of families) had to be 
confirmed by the territorial chief, be he an undang or a pinghulu 
like the Dato' of Ulu Muar. Once elected and approved the 
lemba^a could not be dismissed except by the undang^ in 
council, nor could he be dismissed for anything except a serious 
offence such as dereliction of duty or encroachment on the 
powers of others. His position in fact was a very strong one. 

The duties of a lembaga were of a very varied character. 
He was expected to be present at great social functions in his 
tribe — ^weddings, feasts, ear-boring festivities, circumcision 
celebrations, and so on ; but his presence had to be paid for by 
gifts of rice or cakes and by the tit-bits of the meat of the buffalo 
slaughtered for the occasion. He had judicial authority in cases 
of serious assault ; in more serious cases he took the. accused 
into custody and handed him over to the undang for trial. He 
was a sort of qualified witness in important cases such as 
transfers of land, and he was a sort of bailiff or sheriff for 
carrying out decrees of the court. 

In Rembau and in the Kuala Pilah district the limbaga still 
plays a part in land administration. Although there need be no 
question of the usefulness of the tribal system in the past, there 
may well be two opinions about its utility at the present time 
if compared with the territorial system in force m the other 
Malay States, and to some extent in Jelebu, Tampin and Sungei 
Ujong. In Malacca it was swept away after the Naning war and 
a territorial classification was substituted for it. In Tampin and 
Jelebu it is perishing ; in Sungei Ujong it never throve ; Rembau 
is its main stronghold. 

Below the lembaga came the ibu bapa or elder. The elder 
or elected head of the family was the court of first instance in 
such family disputes or petty assaults as could not he settled in a 
friendly manner by the immediate relatives of the disputants. 
Even in the past the elder's powers were limited. He could not 
arrest: "bonds are the lembaga' sl^ said the law. He might give 
damages or award compensation or impose a fine up to the value 
of $3-50^ or one goat, but he could not enforce such a decision 
without invoking the aid of the lembaga. Such powers are quite 
obsolete now. The elder's main business, however, wa3 of 
another kind. He was supposed to be au fait with Uie affairs 
of his ** children." If they were in debt or trouble he pleaded 



HISTORY: COXST/TUT/OX, 49 



I 



\ 



their cause ; if there was any doubt as to what they had done he 
was expected to testify to the truth. In order that he might 
possess the needed knowledge of what was going on he was an 
nonoured guest at all family feasts and family councils, and 
he was called in to attest the payment of a debt or the final 
settlement of any transaction of importance. He was a sort of 
attestant J. P. or qualified witness. The elder was elected by 
his "children," subject to the approval of the tribal headman. 
" He lives or dies at the discretion of the lembaga^^ said the law ; 
he could in fact be dismissed without trial or enquiry. The 
dignity of tbu bapa still exists in Rembau, Kuala Pilah and 
Jelebu, though shorn of much of its ancient importance. 

Two more institutions invite attention though they are left 
unmentioned in the short summary of the Constitution that 
has served as a heading for this chapter. They are the orang 
besar and the warts. The orang besar (or besar^ as they are 
more commonly called) were tribal officials whose business it 
was to act as a check on the officer immediately above them, 
whether he was an elder or a lembaga. The territorial chief 
appointed some to keep an eye on the limba^a^s doings and 
prevent him becoming too powerful; the lembaga appointed 
others in order that he might keep his ** elders" in order. With 
the weakening of the tribal system the powers and duties 
of the orang besar have passed outside the range of practical 
politics. 

It is otherwise with the waris^ whose position has been much 
misrepresented and misunderstood — to their own very great 
advantage — by many a writer upon the subject of Menangkabau 
adat. They are sometimes spoken of as the warts " tribe," and 
are identified with the great Biduanda clan who number about 
one-third of the whole population of Rembau. Moreover, it is 
suggested or implied that ** the proprietary right of the aborigines 
in the soil vested in the warts by virtue of the alliance contracted 
between To' Lela Balang and the daughter of Batin Sekudai."i 
All this is pure myth. 

In the first place a distinction must be drawn between the 
warts and the biduanda. True, the waris are members of the 
Biduanda tribe in Rembau and most other States, but they are 
not co-extensive with it. They are a privileged inner ring or 
circle, very little limited indeed in number: so limited in fact, 

» Paw and Maokray, " Bemban," p. 28. 



50 PAPERS ON MALAY SUByECTS. 

that they hardly number twenty adults for the whole of Sungei 
Ujong.^ In Rembau they are more numerous, it is true ; but 
even in Rembau there is a great numerical difference between 
the few families who make up the privileged circle of the ivaris 
and the four thousand persons who are grouped together as 
Biduanda. 

Who then are the wans? They are the ''heirs" of some 
territorial chieftaincy, or of some ruling house — in Rembau, as 
in Sungei Ujong, Jelebu and Johol. Doubtless, they sometimes 
claim descent from mythical figures like the Batin Sa-ribu Jaya, 
who is alternately a man and a woman at the discretion of local 
genealogists, but the facts of history are plain enough. The 
exploiters or overlords or rulers — call them what we will-^of the 
ancient Negri Sembilan were the members of the great house of 
the bendaharas of Malacca and Johor. Tun Perak, the fourth of 
the Malacca bendaharas, held at one time the actual post of 
penghulu of Klang. He was the father of the Bendahara Lulok 
Batu, the seventh bendahara (A.D. 151 1), and grandfather of Tun 
Isap Beragah, the eighth bendahara. Continuing the pedigree 
we come to Tun Perak's great-grandson. Tun Isap Biajid, the 
ninth bendahara, who is associated with the early years of Johor ; 
to Tun Isap Misai, a generation later, the tenth bendahara; and 
lastly to Tun Isap Misai's grandson, the eleventh bendahara, 
Tiin Sri Lanang, who inspired (if he did not write) the Sejarah 
Melayu. And the Sejarah Melayu tells us in so many words 
that these outlying districts had been the property of that great 
Malacca family from the time of the earliest Bendaharas down to 
the period at which the "Annals" themselves were written (A.D. 
1636). There is no question of any " Batin Sa-ribu Jaya" or of 
any Sakai ancestry through whom a claim was made. 

True, we have only Tun Sri Lanang's word for the statement 
that his family possessed these rights; he may be exaggerating 
the power and wealth of his family. But corroboration comes 
from an unexpected quarter. The old seal of the Dato* of 
Rembau was worded as follows: Dato* Sedia Raja bin Dato' 
Lela Maharaja, dengan ktirnia Bendahara Seri Maharaja, 
Then follows a date of which the first tw^o figures are illegible. 
.''By the grace of the Bendahara Sri Maharaja*' — that is the 
authority on which the old chiefs of Rembau based their claim. 

* !.<?., the Klana's trari*. But wari» may be used of the heirs of any terri- 
torial title ; aiid there are thus several war\% gronps in Snngei Ujong. In 
Tcrachi the iraW^ are not Bidnanda, nor is the Dato* of Naninp^. 



HISTORY: CONSTITUTION, 5I 

Be it remembered that this old seal — ^which can be read on the 
treaty of 1833 — was not personal to the ruling Dato' (who was 
a I-ela Maharaja), but was the seal of the chieftaincy itself. 
There is no question of any warts tribe or of any Sakai 
descent: the warts are simply one or more Biduanda families 
who obtained a seal and a concession from an old Malay chief. 

What then was the date of this concession ? The last two 
figures are "21," — a.h. 921, 1021 or 1121. The first of these 
dates takes us back to A.D. 15 14^ an impossibly early period. 
The second takes us to about A.D. 1610, when the author of the 
Sejarah MHayu was himself bendahara ; but he bore the title 
Paduka Raja not S^ri Maharaja, The third is A.D. 1707. 
The seal would represent the second Dato' of Rembau/ the first 
having been a Lela Maharaja. The Sungei Ujong pedigrees, 
though they mention no dates, give us seven penghulus anterior 
to the Dato' Klana of A.D. 1773, and suggest that the warts 
family obtained its rights during the closing years of the seven- 
teenth century. The assertion of right by uterine descent is not 
a Sakai custom nor is it a Johor custom, it is a matter of 
Menangkabau adaf ; and the conclusion to which the historian 
is forced is that certain .^early Menangkabau settlers acquired the 
claims of the old Johor overlords and then proceeded to transmit 
them to their timpat semenda or '* wife's relations " in accordance 
with their own ancestral law. 

^ This is in accordance with tradition which maintains that the second Dato' 
of Bemban was the son of the first. It also explains the giliran hSmr of Bembau. 
The transition from the adat t&minggang to the adat pSrpateh wonld make two 
families eligible to the mlership : the lela maharaja family as heirs of the first 
Date' and the sidia raja family as heirs of the second. The giliran of the Snngei 
Ujong waria dudarat arose in exactly the same way. The Malay theory of Sakai 
ownership of the soil is quite irreconcilable with the claims of the waris jawa of 
Bemban. 



{ 



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