Major-General Sir Andrew Clarke, R.E., K.C.M.G., the new
Governor, Commander-in-Chief, and Vice- Admiral of the Straits Settlements,
arrived in Singapore on 4 November, 1873. The very lamentable state of Malay
affairs had, from time to time, been reported to the Secretary of State for the
Colonies, and Sir Harry Ord, while he made no suggestion for dealing with the
situation, had expressed his regret that, as he was precluded from
interference, he could do nothing to improve matters beyond offering advice
that the various disputants should meet and settle their differences. If I have
been able to give any idea of the conditions which then prevailed in the
western states, it will be obvious that this advice was not, nor was it likely
to be, accepted. Where all classes and nationalities are in arms fighting for
different causes or different leaders ; where neither life nor property have
any safeguard, except the owner's strength and will to defend them ; where
robbery, or murder, or any other crime, meets with neither inquiry nor
punishment, peace and order will not be restored by any voice from inside the
disturbed regions, and the wisest counsels, unsupported by power to enforce
them, will be given in vain.
Page 173
Page 174 BRITISH MALAYA
Lord Kimberley had, however, furnished Sir Andrew Clarke
with instructions of the first importance, showing a disposition to make an
entirely new departure, and to recognize the duty forced upon England, as the
dominant Power, to interfere in the Malay States and put a stop to a
disgraceful state of affairs. The duty was imperative from motives of humanity
alone ; but it was equally certain that to undertake it would be highly
beneficial to British interests and British trade, though these pleas had
hitherto been dismissed as of no importance. The most timid British taxpayer
will probably admit that it is not wholly unjustifiable to define more clearly
an existing responsibility, in order to create and to keep a trade which is
wholly, or almost wholly, British, and worth £12,000,000 annually.
Neither Lord Kimberley, nor Sir Andrew Clarke, nor any one
else, could see so far into the future as to guess the result for which those
figures speak, and it is safe to say that, while the Colonial Secretary desired
to use British influence to save the Malays from themselves and give them the
blessings of peace and justice, the Governor found it intolerable that the
colony, for which he was responsible, should be harassed by the misgovernment
of its neighbours.
In Sir Andrew Clarke's instructions, dated 20 September,
1873, were the following passages : —
" 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 connexion between them and the British
Government, and to the well-being of the British Settlements themselves. Her Majesty's
Government find it incumbent upon them to employ such influence as they possess
with the Native Princes to rescue, if possible, those fertile and productive
countries from the ruin which must befall them if the present disorders
continue unchecked.
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 175
" I have to request that you will carefully ascertain,
as far as you are able, the actual condition of affairs in each State, and that
you will report to me whether there are, in your opinion, any steps which can
properly be taken by the Colonial Government to promote the restoration of
peace and order, and to secure protection to trade and commerce with the native
territories. I should wish you especially to consider whether it would be
advisable to appoint a British Officer to reside in any of the States.
Such an appointment could, of course, only be made with the
full consent of the Native Government, and the expenses connected with it would
have to be defrayed by the Government of the Straits Settlements."
Here, then, for the first time, was the germ of the
residential idea, though Abdullah, writing to Sir Harry Ord not long before,
had gilded his plea for acknowledgment as Sultan of Perak, by requesting that a
British officer might be sent to him to teach him how to rule the country. That
request he repeated to Sir Andrew Clarke shortly after his arrival, and the
Governor, having made all the inquiries necessary for his purpose, at once
decided on the line of action.
Lord Kimberley's instructions were as wide as could be wished,
and they contained a valuable and definite suggestion; but they invited the
Governor to report his proposals, and Sir Andrew Clarke, a man of energy and
decision, ready to take any responsibility, decided that this was no time for
talking ; the situation demanded immediate action, and he would take it,
reporting what he had done, not what he proposed to do. Naturally the Governor
did not come to this conclusion until he had gone thoroughly into the case,
taken the advice of all those who had any knowledge of Malay and Chinese
affairs, and felt confident that he could carry his plan to a successful issue.
At that time there was, in Singapore, a very remarkable
Page 176 BRITISH MALAYA
and able officer in charge of Chinese affairs, Mr. W. A.
Pickering (afterwards created C. M. G. for his many public services), and he
was sent to Pinang to endeavour to persuade the heads of the Chinese factions,
then warring in Larut, to agree to accept the Governor’s settlement of their
differences. In this duty Mr. Pickering was entirely successful, and, as soon
as he had telegraphed the result of his negotiations, the Governor started from
Singapore in the colonial yacht for the island of Pangkor lying of the coast of
the Dindings, near the mouth of the Perak River. The Governor sent ahead, or
took with him, Mr. Bradell, the Attorney-General ; Major McNair, R.A., the
Colonial Engineer ; Colonel Dunlop, R.A., the Inspector-General of Police ; and
Mr. A. M. Skinner of the Secretariat, the party reaching Pangkor on 13 January.
Meanwhile, by the Governor's instructions, I went from Pinang to Larut on board
H.M.S. Avon to tell the Chinese that
their friends in Pinang had agreed to suspend hostilities, and to invite the
Mantri, and any other chiefs who could begot at, to meet Sir Andrew at the
rendezvous on 15 January. By that date it had been possible to collect at
Pangkor, Raja Abdullah, his relative Raja Idris (the present Sultan of Perak),
and the chiefs who were his adherents, also the Raja Bendahara, the Mantri, the
Temenggong, and the Dato Sagor ; but Raja Ismail and Raja Yusuf were too far
away, and made no effort to attend. Mr. Pickering and the heads of the Chinese
factions were also present
After some days of discussion an instrument was drawn up in
English and Malay, and was signed and sealed on 20 January, 1874. It is known
as the Pangkor Engagement, or Treaty, and provides, amongst other things, for
the recognition of Raja Abdullah as Sultan of Perak, and the grant of the title
of Ex-Sultan to Ismail, who is to hand over the regalia to Sultan Abdullah.
The two most important clauses are as follows : —
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 177
Clause VI. "That the Sultan receive and provide a
suitable residence for a British Officer, to be called Resident, who shall be
accredited to his Court, and whose advice must be asked and acted upon in all
questions other than those touching Malay religion and custom."
Clause X, "That the collection and control of all
revenues and the general administration of the Country be regulated under the
advice of these Residents."
The Mantri was confirmed as the chief in charge of Larut,
with an Assistant Resident, and Captain T. C. S. Speedy was immediately
appointed to this latter office.
As soon as the document had been signed and sealed the
Sultan was saluted, and he and his chiefs returned to their homes in Lower Perak.
The heads of the Chinese factions then signed a bond, undertaking, under a
penalty of $50,000, to disarm, to destroy their stockades, give up their
row-boats, and not again to break the peace. At the same time a commission,
consisting of Colonel Dunlop, Mr. Pickering, and myself, with the leaders of
the Go Kuan and Si Kuan factions, was appointed to at once see that these
promises as to the destruction of forts and the rendering up of all arms were
faithfully observed, to arrange for a settlement of the dispute concerning the
ownership of the mines, and to affect, if possible, the rescue of a number of
Chinese women and children said to be detained in captivity by one side or the
other.
The Governor and his party then returned to Singapore, and
from there Sir Andrew sent a report of his proceedings to Lord Carnarvon, then
Secretary of State for the Colonies. As soon as the facts were known the
Chambers of Commerce of both Singapore and Pinang wrote letters of
congratulation, and the Governor's action was received with high approval by
all classes and nationalities in the colony.
As the result proved, this new departure was not to be all
plain sailing ; indeed, the real difficulties had not even
Page 178 BRITISH MALAYA
begun. They were to last for years, and only after the loss
of many valuable lives, the expense of infinite persistence and resource, did
this novel experiment end in complete success. It is one thing to send two or
three white men into a country where none of their kind have ever been seen
before ; to tell them to advise those whose minds and traditions are crooked to
follow the straight path and never deviate ; to endow them with the sole
authority to collect and expend all revenues, and to regulate the general
administration of the country, with do force behind them but their own courage,
tact, ability, and the spectre of British power, miles away in the dim and
shadowy background. It is quite another thing to evolve peace and order and
prosperity out of these difficult conditions.
Still one cannot say too much for the new departure. It was
action, instead of a culpable inaction, a craven shirking of responsibility ;
it was the opportunity which had long been so earnestly desired by Englishmen
who believe there is no web so tangled but they can unravel it, no problem so
complex but they will find a solution. Lord Kimberley gave Sir Andrew Clarke
the right to open the door of the Malay Peninsula ; he even suggested where he
might find the key. The permission was entrusted to the right man, and Sir
Andrew straightway put the key to the lock, opened the door, and left the rest
to his agents and successors.
The first actual work was entrusted to the Commission
appointed at Pangkor, and they lost no time in setting about it. The result of
a month's hard and ceaseless travelling in boats and on foot was the complete
destruction of all stockades, the collection of a large quantity of arms and
ammunition, the rescue and restoration to their own people of forty-five women
and children, held captive and hidden away in remote places in the jungle, and
the settlement of the dispute as to the ownership of the mines,
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 179
with the delimitation of areas within which the rival
factions should in future be allowed to take up land. That bald statement gives
no idea of the difficulties with which the commissioners, absolutely
unsupported in all out of the way places, had to contend, or how they were
dealt with. For the most part, the means employed were the only ones available
— tact and firmness, with an accent on the latter. As a sample of the
conditions under which it was then necessary to travel about the country, the
following extract from the report of the Commission will suffice. The members
of the Commission, three Englishmen, one Chinese (the head of the Si-Kuans),
and their servants, had to make their way by a branch of the Larut River to a
point from whence there was said to be an elephant track to the Mantri's
village, and the Mantri had promised to send elephants to meet the party at the
point where they would leave the river for the land journey. The report, of
which I was the writer, tells the rest.
''February 12,
1874. We anchored off the Larut River at 4 a.m. and at 5.30 stood in. About
9.30 a.m. the captain ran the vessel aground, and told us that we should have
to wait several hours, till the tide turned, before we could get off. This, of
course, we refused to do, and as we had done the day before, we got out the kedge,
hauled the vessel off, and finding the right channel, reached the Mantri's
stockade at 11 a.m. We heard there that everything had been ready for us the
day before, so we knew that probably it would not be so to-day, and, with this
to look forward to, we started, towing a big boat and a small one, to take us
up the Limau River when the channel became too narrow for the steamer. A pilot
took us into the river, and at 2 p.m. the s.s. Johore could go no further, so we all got into the big boat. She
was so intensely slow that, after half a mile's progress, we were obliged to
change into the small boat, and here our real
Page 180 BRITISH MALAYA
troubles began. This boat would only just carry us and our
baggage, so we had to leave the servants and some of the things behind for a
second trip. After going perhaps three miles in the boat, there were only a few
inches of water, so we had to get out and walk in the river. The boatman and I
dragged the boat, thus lightened, a few hundred yards further, and then I left
him in charge and pushed on after the others, whom I found, half a mile higher
up the river, in an old stockade on the bank of the stream. Here, with some
difficulty, we found a few Chinese, and persuaded them to go and fetch our luggage
and send the boat back for the servants. The things came in a short time, but
the servants did not arrive for an hour and a half.
" Meanwhile we had ascertained that, the day before,
there had been five elephants for us ; now there was only one, and that one had
come by accident We were therefore obliged to compel the Chinese to carry our
things through the jungle to Bukit Gantang, and we sent them off at once. At
5.50 p.m., daylight closing, we four --- Dunlop, Pickering, Ah Yam, and I —
mounted the solitary elephant, the interpreter and three servants following on
foot.
" The elephant was the slowest, and the path the worst,
that it has ever been my misfortune to meet In fact, the path was no path ; it
was a ' slough of despond,' as indeed we found to our cost It had been raining
at intervals all the day, and the track, where it was not an unbroken stretch
of water, was a succession of holes, at least two feet deep, and full of water.
These holes had been made by the feet of elephants walking over the track.
After an hour's progress it became darker than I have ever known it before, and
darkness in dense jungle feels at least doubly dark. We could no more see our
own hands than if they had been in the next State, so we were obliged to
abandon ourselves entirely to the sagacity
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 181
of the elephant, and never knew whether he was off the track
or on it, or whether there was a track at all. We were sitting back to back, on
some wet grass, in an open pannier, with no covering of any kind, and, to make
us thoroughly miserable, it began to pour with rain — buckets of tropical rain
— and never ceased till late the next morning. We had no waterproofs, and
umbrellas were impossible ; they would have been torn to pieces by the branches
we could not even see.
" If we were miserable, our servants were in a far
worse case. Floundering through mud and water, tumbling over fallen trees, and
tearing through briars and thorns, all in pitch darkness, I believe they wished
for a speedy end to save them from their intolerable woes. Indeed, they were in
constant fear of being carried off by tigers, and as they could neither see the
elephant nor each other, we tried to keep them together by constantly shouting
to them, and by the two men who sat behind on the elephant smoking without
ceasing. Those on foot followed our voices and the lights of our cigars for
many miles. Occasionally the elephant, either frightened or doubtful of the
road, would turn right round, and the servants were then obliged to scatter
into the jungle, and wait there until he made up his mind to go on again ; when
he did go, there was no little difficulty in getting them back on to his track.
Sometimes the elephant would put one foot forward, then wait and consider for
quite a minute whether he knew the road or not. When he stopped altogether, we
had to call to the servants, to prevent their running against him and
frightening him ; for an elephant is always afraid of anything that comes up
behind him, and either slews suddenly round or lashes out with a hind foot When
we could smoke no more we struck matches, as well as we could in the storm of
rain, until our supply was exhausted. We crossed three considerable rivers in flood.
We saw nothing, but we felt the
Page 182 BRITISH MALAYA
elephant make preparations as though to stand on his head ;
then he evidently slid down a steep bank; we heard him ploughing through the
water, and held on for our lives as he crawled up the opposite bank. How the
servants got across I can't imagine ; they only did it by keeping together,
spurred on by the fear of being lost in that inhospitable forest.
" But I feel it is impossible and absurd to attempt to
describe what we went through that night ; ' nor pen can write, nor tongue can
tell ' the misery we endured, nor will any one who was there easily forget it. When
we had almost given up all hope of getting to our destination before daylight,
we came out on to the road, at Changkat Jering, and there, in a deserted house,
we found some of the Chinese who had taken on our luggage. The rain was still
pouring in torrents, and the Chinese Commissioner, declining to go a step
further, took refuge in the deserted hut ; but we preferred to go on, so we
abandoned the elephant, and after walking three miles through mud and water, we
reached Bukit Gantang between 11 p.m. and midnight. We woke up Captain Speedy,
who had given us up, and as we had eaten nothing since breakfast, he
entertained us royally. We were wet through, and our luggage being still on the
road, we borrowed some sacks as night clothes, and in the absence of mosquito
curtains, wrapped ourselves up in old tents and were soon fast asleep."
My impression is that that jungle has never been crossed by
Europeans since.
The Commission visited many out-of-the-way places in the Larut,
Krian, and Selama districts, in search of the captive women and children, and
finally crossed the defile between the Larut and Perak valleys, reached the
bank of the Perak River at Kuala Kangsar, secured a country boat, and, in her,
paddled a hundred miles down the Perak River to the village of Sultan Abdullah,
where they found their steamer and returned to Pinang, having completely
accomplished their mission.
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 183
In November, 1873, a Malacca trading boat had been pirated
at the entrance to the Jugra River, a tidal creek which joined the Langat River
at the spot where the Sultan of Selangor was then living. Of the crew only one
man escaped death, by slipping over the side and clinging to the rudder till
the danger was past and he was able to swim ashore and, in the course of time,
make his way to Malacca. Not long afterwards this man reported that some of
those concerned in the crime had come to Malacca, and they were duly arrested.
In February, 1874, Sir Andrew Clarke arranged with Sir Charles Shadwell, the
Admiral of the China Fleet, who happened to be in the Straits, to join him in a
naval demonstration at Jugra. The Governor took his yacht up to the Sultan's
village and managed to get the Sultan to visit him, when Sir Andrew pointed out
the disgraceful state of affairs which had so long continued, and asked the
Sultan to give satisfaction for the recent ease of piracy. The Sultan proved
most amenable, promised to assist his Viceroy to establish order in Selangor,
and as regards the case of piracy, in which one of his own sons was implicated,
gave full authority for the trial of the accused, but expressed his own opinion
of the trivial nature of the affair by describing it as " boys'
play." The prisoners were then tried by the Viceroy, and on the evidence
of the sole survivor of the murdered crew, a number of Langat men were duly
identified, convicted, and condemned to death. When the result of the trial was
communicated to the Sultan, he sent a kris to be used at the execution ; the
sentence was then carried out, the Admiral and the squadron sailed away, and
the Viceroy was left with the éclat of these proceedings to quicken his
authority.
It was not till later in the same year that I took up my
abode in Bandar Langat — the “ City of Festivals ", as the mud swamp was
otherwise named — but when I had been there a few months and was on terms of
close
Page 184 BRITISH MALAYA
intimacy with the best society, I ascertained that the men
who had been executed were not responsible for this particular crime, though
the punishment must have been deserved on general principles. The evidence of
the Malacca witness was positive and unshakable, but it is probable that his
own state of mind would not allow him to take very careful note of the features
of the assailants at the moment of attack, and from the rudder he would not, on
a dark night, have a very clear view of the subsequent proceedings. The effect
produced by the trial and execution was all that could be desired, for there
has never since been a case of piracy on the Selangor coast, and from that day
forward the Viceroy's authority was not seriously disputed.
In March, 1874, Lord Carnarvon gave his qualified approval
of the steps taken by the Governor to give effect to the instructions he had
received from Lord Kimberley, and, in May, after a debate in the House of
Lords, the Secretary of State expressed his full sanction in generous terms.
In May, 1874, Sir Andrew Clarke invited the chiefs of Sungei
Ujong and Rembau to meet him at Sempang in the Linggi River, the point where
the main stream forks, one branch draining Sungei Ujong and the other Rembau.
The Rembau chief failed to attend, but the stockade at Sempang was destroyed,
and the Governor returned to Singapore satisfied that his action, and the visit
of the two men-of-war, would impress the Malays with a conviction that misrule
would no longer be tolerated.
In order to convey a correct appreciation of the various
events which mark the establishment of England's influence in the Malay States,
it is necessary to jump from place to place, and from incident to incident, in
a way which can hardly fail to be irritating to the reader. Thus it is that I
must return once more to the Sultan of Selangor, to chronicle my own
appointment, as British
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 185
Adviser, to the Court of that delightful potentate. The
Governor was still receiving letters from the Viceroy expressing his fears that
the Sultan's sons were disloyal and secretly encouraging his enemies ; so, in
August, Sir Andrew Clarke again visited Langat and left me there, with twenty
Malay constables, to do what I could to keep the Sultan up to the high level of
his expressed intentions. The police and I lived together in a very
unattractive residence ; it was an old stockade with walls made of logs of
wood, piled one on top of the other, a high-pitched roof of palm leaves, very
far from watertight, the bare earth for floor, and two open spaces at either
end for doors. The only path in the village passed right through the stockade,
and the smallest effort would throw anything through one door-space into the
river. Reeds, rank grasses, and jungle undergrowth grew up to the walls, and,
at high tide, i.e. twice in every twenty-four hours, very little of the mud
floor was left uncovered by water. The top of the log wall was well above high
-water mark, and there one could sleep in luxury, except when it rained, and
that was on about half the nights in the year. But I have been in worse places,
and one of the great advantages of this residence was that you could make a fire
anywhere within the walls without fear of burning a hole in the floor, and the
log walls afforded an almost inexhaustible supply of fuel. A fire was not
required for heating the premises, the temperature varied from 92o
F. in the day to about 75o F. or 80o F. at night, but
smoke was absolutely necessary to defend oneself against the attacks of the
most numerous and bloodthirsty breed of mosquitoes within a thousand miles. So
one made plenty of smoke and sat in it. Outside, the prospect was singularly
unlovely; a few score of blighted cocoanut palms, with broken and drooping
fronds, like the plumes of a hearse returning from a disorderly wake; some
particularly disreputable and tumble-down huts ;
Page 186 BRITISH MALAYA
the dark-brown waters of two deep and eddying streams ; and
all the rest mud and rank brushwood. When the tide went down, and the sun drew
a pestilential vapour from the drying ooze, horrible, loathsome crocodiles
crawled up the slimy banks to bask in the noisome heat. And every day great
pieces of these banks, undermined by the violent onslaughts of the tide, fell
helplessly into the stream, dragging in their fall some over-tired palm, some
misshapen jungle tree, to lie with its head in the swirling water, its roots,
torn from the ground, standing ragged and unnatural against a background of
grey sky. If I was not perceptibly affected by the gloom of these surroundings,
I gathered from the one or two strangers who visited me that they thought them
rather uncanny ; but then the stranger never stayed long enough to appreciate
the excitements of the City of Festivals.
My police guard was at first composed of Malacca Malays ;
but as they grew homesick and became terrified by the stories they heard in the
village, they were replaced by an equal number of men from Singapore, not so
mild or well behaved, but better fitted for the duty. In the months which
followed I travelled by steam launch, boat, and on foot over every district in
the State ; they were laborious days and full of surprises, nearly always of an
unpleasant description, but it was all new, useful, and crammed with incident
and interest I wandered into Perak on one side, returning by a march of many days,
and an eventful journey down an unexplored river, where for three days we
(there were four Malays with me) never saw a human being or a habitation. I
strayed into Sungei Ujong and paid a surprise visit to the old Dato' Bandar,
the "Water Lord" of that State. He was not over cordial, but when he heard
that, for the first time, there was a white man in his village he sent a
message to say he would see me, and he took the trouble to explain some of the
causes of his difference with the rival King, the " Land
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 187
Lord." I walked on to visit this latter chief and found
with him Mr. Pickering, who had been sent up in October in response to an
urgent request from the Dato' Klana (he was the Land Lord) that the Governor
would help him to bring the Dato' Bandar to reason. The Dato' Bandar was
passing old, as Malays go, and also passing wicked, even for his age and times
; but he had far more character than his younger joint-chief, and declined
absolutely either to change his ways, give up any of the privileges he claimed,
or come to terms. The Governor had written him several letters and bidden him
to a meeting ; but he declined all advances, refused to see any one, and
elected to remain in his tents ; that is to say, he remained in his own
stockaded village, a place called Kapayang, and practically invited any one to
come and draw him who liked the job. It was not my business, but so far as I
could see it was a very pretty quarrel as it stood, and from what I heard from
Pickering, it was not likely to be left there.
Mr. Pickering had with him a few police and an English
Serjeant, and his mission was to see fair play and prevent the Chinese miners
from joining one side or the other, should they come to blows. After a
protracted correspondence and several interviews between Mr. Pickering and the
old Dato' Bandar, the former decided that the Water Lord would not resort to
armed resistance, though he declined to meet the Dato' Klana, or to admit that
this chief had any higher authority in the country than he possessed himself.
Mr. Pickering therefore decided to return to Singapore, and in order to do this
he had to walk to the coast. As a side-light illustrative of the changes and
chances of mortal life in the Malay States at that time, the following extract
from Mr. Pickering's journal is interesting : —
" 7 November,
5.30 a.m. Some Malays brought a report that two Chinese had been murdered
by supposed Rembau
Page 188 BRITISH MALAYA
men yesterday afternoon, between here and Permatang Pasir.
6.30 a.m. started again and found the road worse than ever, a muddy swamp, half
a mile broad, commencing the journey, every step taking you up to the thigh in
sticky clay. However, I think jungle travelling does not affect the health
much, as one soon gets warm, and a course of phlebotomy by leeches takes the
heated blood away from the constitution. At 7 a.m. we arrived at Linsum, the
Dato' Akek's territory. Here his men met me, and called me to look at a dead
Malay, who had just been able to reach this house when he dropped dead ;
another man was here, wounded ; these were the men we had heard about I saw the
dead man, and turning him over found a shot wound in his left breast. After
that I visited the wounded person ; he had a shot wound on his right side which
had gone through him, but he did not seem in danger. I interrogated him ; his
story was as follows : ' My name is Haji Mahmud ; I am a small trader to Sungei
Ujong, and live at Rambun China Besar, in British territory. Yesterday morning
I, Sulong Iman (from Rambun China Besar), and another man started from Permatang
Pasir to Sungei Ujong; Sulong Iman had a burden of rokok grass, and I had ten dollars on my person. The other man's
name I don't know ; he joined us at Permatang Pasir. When about three miles
from this, about I p.m., six or seven men attacked us. My head was down — I
could not distinguish their faces. Sulong Iman was shot dead, I and the other
man were wounded ; they took my money, and I ran with the other man here, where
he died. I think they must be Rembau men, but I don't know. Sulong Iman's body
is in the jungle.' Some of the Dato' Akek's men offered to accompany us on our
way and look for the body ; after going about four miles, in the depth of the
jungle we found the man's body, and close to it my feet stirred up a pool of
blood. The man lay beside his burden, and a shot wound was in the
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 189
back of his head. After we had passed the part where robbers
most frequent, the Dato' Akek's men went back, promising to bury the body, and
said they had sent word to the Dato and would make every inquiry into the case.
From 8.30 to noon we went through dense jungle and deep swamp, without a sign
of cultivation. After this the country is open and covered with short grass.
... I had sent the letter for the Toh Muda ahead ; when I arrived at his place
he was as hospitable as he could be during the Fast, and sent men to get me a
boat for Malacca. He and his people complained much of the Dato' Bandar, as the
only man now obstructive in Sungei Ujong. At 3 p.m. got a small boat with three
oars, which was to take us down to Malacca. As we were four men in all (two
police, self, and servant) we could not sit down, and the boat had no cover ;
we were not very comfortable, but on the other hand we were sure to catch the
steamer. 6 p.m. at Kuala Linggi (twenty miles from Malacca by sea), heavy rain.
" 8 November.
Men had been pulling all night, and at daylight were off Tanjong Kling. 7.30
a.m., reached Malacca. 8 a.m., called on the Lieutenant-Governor and reported
the murder of the Malacca men.”
As the state of affairs reported by Mr. Pickering seemed
highly unsatisfactory, Sir Andrew Clarke sent him back to Sungei Ujong at once
with a letter to the Dato' Bandar, telling that chief that the Government
recognized the Dato' Klana as the head of affairs, and the Dato' Bandar must
submit to him or take the consequences. The old man's only reply was that he
was quite satisfied with things as they were ; would not submit to his rival ;
and that the affairs of Sungei Ujong were no concern of the Governor, who did
not understand Malays and their customs. In fairness to the Dato' Bandar, it
must be admitted that, by ancient custom,
the Dato' Bandar was probably correct in his contention, but he had for years
Page 190 BRITISH MALAYA
exceeded his authority, and treated the Dato' Klana as a
young person to be kept in his place.
The Dato' Klana had provided himself with a small force of
about forty Arabs, recruited in Singapore, and he was joined by some three
hundred Malays of the country. Emboldened by these numbers and the presence of
Mr. Pickering and his Malacca police, under an English sergeant, the Klana
determined to bring the Bandar to reason. The Klana and all his friends were,
however, arrant cowards, and when the force took the field and was met by a
determined resistance, the Malay warriors disappeared, guns were abandoned on
the road, and Mr. Pickering, Sergeant Kiernan, the Arabs and police were left
to do all the fighting. They did it manfully ; for though they were at first
compelled to retire and their position threatened to become serious, they
returned to the fray, retook lost positions, and drove the enemy from all his
strongholds except Kapayang, the Dato' Bandar's own village. This place had
been made very strong by a number of newly-erected defences, and the Bandar had
secured the services of Raja Mahmud, of Selangor, who was never so happy as
when in command of a fight. Indeed, it was chiefly Raja Mahmud's name which had
turned to water the blood of the local boasters, and, if the field had been
left to the Malays, Raja Mahmud would have made short work of the Klana and his
rabble.
The Governor had heard of Mr. Pickering's precarious
position, and Colonel Dunlop was sent up with a relieving force of bluejackets
and a few men of the 10th Regiment . In the face of this display of strength,
the Dato' Bandar abandoned his village and retired into Selangor, Raja Mahmud
holding the position just long enough to give the old man a fair chance of
escape.
Sungei Ujong difficulties were thus brought to an end and as
the Dato' Klana was now the undisputed ruler of the State, and sincerely
anxious to do whatever he was
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 191
told, a British Resident was sent to him, and the work of
putting his house in order was begun in earnest .
As for the Dato' Bandar and Raja Mahmud, they made their way
to the City of Festivals, where I met them, and after a deal of trouble
persuaded them to let me take them to Singapore to see the Governor. I have
good reason to remember Raja Mahmud as he walked into my dilapidated stockade
at the head of a dozen men who, like their master, feared God, but had no sort
of fear of man. I suppose he was under thirty years of age, of average height
for a Malay, very well built, and extra-ordinarily alive. He had a fine open
face, looked you straight and fearlessly in the eyes, and you realized that he
always spoke the truth, because the consequences of doing so were beneath
consideration. He was very smartly dressed, with silk trousers and a silk
strong, a fighting-jacket, a kerchief deftly and becomingly tied on his head,
and in his belt the famous kris Kapak
China — the Chinese hatchet. His jacket attracted my attention most, for I
had never seen one like it before, and, for that matter, have not seen another
since. It had short sleeves to the elbow, fitted rather tightly to the body,
and was made of a thick silk in narrow stripes of white and red, while over it
in every direction were printed, in heavy black, texts from the Koran in the
picturesque Arabic characters. I thought at the time how remarkably well this
weird and fantastic jacket suited the man, his bearing and his reputation. It
was only a visit of ceremony, but Raja Mahmud's strong personality, his
straightforward manner, and his fearless courage attracted me immensely. We
made fast friends, and though I took him to Singapore, and he accepted the
Governor's order not to leave that place for twelve months, I also took him
back to the Malay States, and in all the years which followed he never failed
me, or any one else who understood him. Only he was not an everyday man : he
was a type of the
Page 192 BRITISH MALAYA
best quality of old Malaya, with all the Malay prejudices
and hatred of innovation. One had to realize all this, to remember it, and to
consider his view of life if you wished to see the best of him and earn his
regard.
As for the old Dato' Bandar, he also went with me to
Singapore, and gave himself up to the Governor's clemency. He was not allowed
to return to Sungei Ujong, but was made comfortable with a house and allowance
in Singapore, and there he died, as I have told in another book.1
It was in November, 1874, that a Proclamation was published,
by Sir Andrew Clarke's directions, stating that the Secretary of State for the Colonies
had approved all the arrangements made by the Governor with the Malay States,
and warning all concerned that they would be held to the strict observance of
their engagements. At the same time the following appointments were gazetted :
—
Mr. James W. Birch, to be Resident of Perak, with Captain
Speedy as Assistant Resident.
Mr. J. G. Davidson, to be Resident of Selangor, with Mr. F.
A. Swettenham as Assistant Resident.
Captain Tatham, R.A., to be Assistant Resident of Sungei
Ujong.
Mr. Birch, the Colonial Secretary at Singapore, had been
sent to Perak in October on special service, and when that duty was
successfully discharged, he received the appointment of Resident, which he was
most anxious to obtain.
Mr. J. G. Davidson, one of the leaders of the Singapore Bar,
a close friend and consistent supporter of the Viceroy of Selangor, and a man
with strong sympathies for Malays, was selected as Resident of Selangor.
Captain Tatham's appointment was temporary, and he
1 The Real
Malay.
SIR ANDREW CLARKE Page 193
was shortly afterwards succeeded by Captain P. J. Murray,
R.N., who held the post till his death in 1882.
Thus each of the western States had been provided with a
British Adviser, and to the uninitiated it might be supposed that everything
would now go on satisfactorily. That, however, was the reverse of the case.
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