The Governments Of Malaya - Dr Mahathir bin Mohammed

 GOVERNMENTS OF MALAYA

1. The Malay states were all absolute monarchies before the coming of the British. All taxes collected belong to the rulers. They then allocate funds for the various institutions of Government.

2. Quite naturally the ruler would spend most of the money on himself. There was not much left to finance the institutions of Government.

3. Frequently the ruler would borrow money for his own use. The classic case was the five million dollars borrowed from Siam by the Sultan of Kedah for the marriage of five of his sons.

4. Unable to pay the debt, Kedah had to accept a financial adviser appointed by Siam to ensure Government revenue would be used to pay the debt. The adviser was British.

5. Naturally the development of the state was neglected. Additionally, the tax collectors pocketed some of the taxes. It was in order to prevent this corruption that the ruler accepted the offer of the Kapitan China to collect the taxes and guarantee a much bigger amount would reach the ruler.

6. In Johor, the ruler was more astute. Seeing how the Chinese business people were able to enrich Singapore, the ruler invited them to open up land for agriculture along the rivers of Johor. Although all the revenue went to the ruler, there was enough for financing the different institutions of Government.

7. Other West Coast states benefited from their tin-rich land leased to Chinese miners.

8. The rulers of Kedah and Johor saw the development of Penang and Singapore and wanted their states to develop in the same way. They tried to copy the British administrative system. But it was Perak which first decided to bring in British advisers to improve the administrations.

9. Perak was rich in tin and had leased a lot of tin-mining land to Chinese Kongsis. Fighting broke out between the different Chinese mining companies. The ruler of Perak was unable to deal with this. He decided to get help from the British in Penang. The Sikh police force was brought from Penang to put a stop to the fights between the Chinese kongsis.

10. Subsequent to the incident the ruler decided to have the advice of the British in the administration of the state. Quickly Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang followed suit. Under the British these four states were federated.

11. As far as the people were concerned British rule was no different from the Governments of the rulers. There was more security and administration were better organised. The survey department marked the boundaries between the states and also the boundary between Siam and Malaya. Land holdings were also surveyed and marked with boundary stones.

12. The rakyat and the migrants from India and China were not allowed to be involved in politics. This was reserved for the rulers and senior members of the administration. When it came to dealing with the British, the rulers had the final say.

13. The Chinese migrants followed the politics of China. They were supportive of the uprising against the Emperor by Sun Yat-Sen They regarded themselves as citizens of China and they put up the Chinese flag during certain Chinese national days.

14. There was no citizenship in the Malay states but the Malays were regarded as the subjects (rakyat) of their Malay Rulers. Although all of them regard themselves as Malays but their loyalty was to their different Sultans. There were no political parties. They seem quite happy to be ruled by the British. In fact, they looked up to the British as superior people, able to govern their country well.

15. The British promoted the idea that Malaya was peaceful and stable because it had no history. This was of course nonsense. But in the schools the history of the country was not taught. In the English schools the students were taught the history of the British Empire and of Great Britain.

16. In the Fedrated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, the administration was headed by British officers. The few Malays in the administration held junior posts. But in the Non-Federated Malay States of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor, Malay officers were understudies to the British heads of departments. The district officers were all Malays whereas in the Federated states even district officers or Residents were British.

17. The stable and orderly societies during the time of the British were much liked by the Malays. The Chinese and Indians too found British rule to their liking.

18. In the Malay States of the Peninsula there was no talk of getting rid of the British. In fact, the rulers and the Malays felt that only the British could rule the country. That was why when the British came back after the defeat of the Japanese, the rulers, their subjects and the Indian and Chinese migrants welcomed them. They looked towards the reestablishment of the status quo ante. Only very few Malays who had gone to Indonesia to fight against the Dutch had any idea about terminating colonialism.

19. Unfortunately, the British had other ideas about relations with the Malay States. They felt that the system of Governments to be cumbersome and costly. There were actually seven different governmental system in the Peninsula.

20. There were firstly the colonies of Singapore, Malacca and Penang ruled directly by the British.

21. Then there were the Federated Malay States ruled as a federation with Kuala Lumpur as the capital. Finally, there were the Non-Federated states of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor, each having their own Governments, where the British had to work with Malay administrators. They were less willing to accept British officers.

22. The British felt that there should be only one Government formed by a Union of all the states as well as the colonies. Singapore was excluded from this union. It was to be retained as a British colony, as it was principal base for British military in Southeast Asia.

23. The plan was drawn up in London by the Colonial Office. No consultation was made with the Malay States. It was assumed that the Malay rulers would give their consent. If they did not than the British would simply refuse to recognise them as the rulers of their states. Another prince would be found who would be recognised as Sultan when he signed the surrender of the state to the British.

24. Although there could be a titular Sultan but he would have no role to play in the administration. He would confine himself to matters pertaining to the religious (Islamic) affairs and Malay custom.

25. The Malayan Union plan was kept a secret, but Malaysians began to hear about it through leakages. At once the Malays became agitated. They believed their rulers would not be able to counter the British proposal especially when there was to be a threat of non-recognition.

26. The Malay subjects of the rulers were not allowed to be involved in politics. But the threat was so great that they decided to register their disagreement some how.

27. The Malay newspapers played up the issue. The Majlis of Kuala Lumpur suggested that the Malays should hold a congress and discuss the issue.

28. Some prominent Malays in Kuala Lumpur took the initiative to organise a gathering of Malay organisations to discuss the Malayan Union. There was enthusiastic response. More than a hundred Malay organisations, all non-political attended.

29. The meeting was held in a shabby club in Kampung Baru, the Malay Agricultural Settlement in Kuala Lumpur. This meeting succeeded in identifying some of the unknown Malay leaders. Very quickly they became prominent as for the first time they were accepted as leaders of peninsular Malays. Before that the Malays only knew their Sultan and the prominent personalities in their own states.

30. Of these leaders, Dato Onn Jaafar of Johor was immediately recognised as a national leader. He was well known for his willingness to stand up against his Sultan and to resign from the Johor civil service. He preferred to become a journalist in Singapore. No other Malay had dared to disobey his Sultan. It was considered to be a treason.

31. Dato Onn was successful in the opposition to the Malayan Union. Considering that the Malays at that time were very poor, had little education and had never indulged in politics, the success of Dato Onn and the Malay activists was remarkable.

32. But Dato Onn himself, in a speech at an UMNO Assembly in Kedah, made it clear that the Malays were not capable of ruling their own country. Onn was not campaigning for independence. He merely wanted to prevent the British from turning the Malay states, which were British protectorates from becoming British colonies.

33. After defeating the Malayan Union, Onn was willing to work with the British on plans for unifying the multiracial population. He accepted membership of the Communities Liaison Committee set up by Malcolm MacDonald, the Commissioner for Southeast Asia. Such was Onn’s acceptance of the ideas of MacDonald that he proposed the Malay based UMNO should accept other races and become multiracial. His idea was rejected by UMNO leaders and he resigned.

http://chedet.cc/?p=3513

612612

130 Comments

82 Shares

Like

Comment

Share

A Warm Stone For A Cold Chamelion

 

They always show up after a wet morning  

It thinks it can camouflage ...sorry it can't 

KC

Teenage Weekend .. Tennis US Open ..RanuCanu

Emma Ranucanu..somehow that name kept ringing in my head all weekend ...

Emma's mother is Chinese and father is Romanian both immigrants now living in England .

While the weekend gravitated more toward Ranucanu it belonged to both teenagers. Leylah Fernandez also shares an immigrant background . Fernandez has Ecuadorian , Peruvian and Filipino background. 

I believe they are so young and talented that we will be seeing more of them in tennis news from now on. 

KC

OMPH Church Initiates Interactive Online-Mass With Drive-Thru Communion

Interactive online mass ....

...then drive-thru communion 

…………”receiving communion was like icing on the cake”

“It is ‘All Systems Go’ for interactive online-masses complete with a drive-thru communion” said  OMPH Church’ Parish Priest, Fr Patrick Massang after a trial mass was successfully carried out last weekend.  

The interactive online mass was celebrated with Fr Phillip Lai saying mass in OMPH Church and communicating to an ‘online congregation’ of the BEC (Basic Ecclesial Community) St Anne via a tablet.

Fr Lai reached out to his congregation ...

............... from Church with just a tablet

The ‘congregation’ could view the Priest via Zoom program on their hand phones or tablets and would participate interactively with readings, commentating, singing and responding from their homes all of which could be viewed by the Priest.

online congregation in the safety of their home

At the end of the mass the congregation would drive to church to receive their drive-thru communion and be on their way.

Drive-thru communion. Wind the window down, take communion and you're off

Veronica Wong from St Anne’s group, said “the mass went very well but the communion was a very nice addition and more meaningful, like having icing on the cake”.

Another participant Mrs Ivy Andrew said that if my parish is having mass I will willingly participate. As for communion it is something I love to partake every time even if it is via a drive thru. It’s not inconvenient in any way.

First time …..

Fr Massang said the online mass with drive-thru communion was the safest way to go. Other churches were doing online masses but communion was not attached. Attaching communion after the mass is more meaningful.

“It was really meant for the congregation who consist of a majority senior citizens. Because Covid 19 had worsened we didn’t want to take any risks. As the mass is online there is no physical contact.

At the end of the mass you drive in, wind the glass down and receive the communion and be off. It is the safest way to go about it and all SOP’s are observed.

This will be the practice until we open the church for service again. We intend to have more masses on weekends but it will be gradual.

It will be a good outreach for the congregation to connect with the church again”.

All the language groups in the parish will have to contact their BEC leader to participate. Already the Tamil group have said they will have their online mass and communion before the end of the month.

BEC Participation

Veronica Wong who is the leader of BEC St Anne said they had to practice with Zoom for three nights before the day of the mass.

Previously we just connected to Zoom but none of us were interactive. Now we were required to prepare the script with readings and hymns.   

There were 12 of us. It helped that we already had a BEC Whatsapp group chat so we could communicate.

We had to identify who were the readers, choir or individual singers, responding etc. Those not participating in these activities would have to mute their devices otherwise it would interfere with the audio.

Visuals of Fr Phillip Lai’ at the church altar was sharp and audio was very clear and vice versa. Overall everything went well and was very smooth.

Serving you safely. Fr Phllip Lai, Fr Patrick Massang and the OMPH Team

A positive outcome of this exercise was the group has decided to use Zoom for their group rosaries in the month of October “otherwise we will soon forget”.

It looks like this Zoom is a good outreach for the congregation to connect with the church after all.

KC

 

 

 

Hung Kee Rice Shop - Quaint & Original

A quaint rice shop in changing Ipoh

This is Hung Kee Rice Shop located at the corner of Jalan Raja Ekram (Cowan Street) and Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri. At this present time the shop is closed due to the MCO like everywhere else.

This rice shop is close to 50+ years old and it remains the only shop in the area that hasn’t changed its style.

Shady and green hibiscus and bougainvilla plants  

It is open and airy with hibiscus and bougainvilla plants giving that green and shady atmosphere. The inside has large wall mirrors, marble topped tables sitting on steel legs with wood chairs.

Food was good as good as any shop. The char siew and siew yoke was great but what I enjoyed was the rice and hot soup served in a porcelain dish. Especially the soup since it retained the heat longer.

Lunch here was a problem because of parking but an evening dinner was fine. Usually on a rainy evening an order of rice, veggie and hot soup would be enough to end the day.

Neat, tidy and airy

That seems like a long a time ago

End

Tin Mining In Gopeng .. 1920's

 This photo submitted by Jawa Barat / Fb / Ipoh Discovery Channel should be in the area near RTC (Rural Transformation Centre) after Kg Kepayang and before Gopeng. It was dated 1920. The pipeline is a giveaway. 

Photo was taken from the west across the main road.

Kinta Kid

Comparison Photo of Gunong Lanno & Sungai Raia ... 100 Years Later

Title: Buddhist Temple, Simpang Pulai 1920. Photo by Jawa Barat on Ipoh Discovery Channel/ Fb.

Saw the above photo on Ipoh Discovery Channel and recognised it immediately. It was the limestone hill Gunong Lanno beside the Sungai Raia. The location is Kg Kepayang and not Simpang Pulai which is a kilometer to the north.

It had two cows and its herder in the river probably after a days work and took a dip before calling it a day.

Rubber and tin was thee economy in that decade and cows besides elephants were a popular beast of burden assisting those industries .

The course of the river is still with its original alignment as now and the Kong Fook Ngam Buddhist temple overall is still the same though with some slight alteration

Photo submitted by Ching Boon Tat 

It can be compared with this photo submitted by Ching Boon Tat from Kinta Valley Watch. A beautiful contribution.

Save Gunong Lanno.

Kinta Kid