Selangor

“ In retaliation the Dutch, under Admiral Van Braam, invaded Selangor and drove the sultan out of his country. In 1785, aided by the Bendahara of Pahang, Sultan Ibrahim of Selangor reconquered his state; but the Dutch blockaded his ports, and eventually forced him to enter into a treaty whereby he consented to acknowledge their sovereignty. The earliest British political communication with Selangor began in 1818, when a commercial treaty was concluded with the governor of Penang. In 1867 Sultan Abdul Samad of Selangor appointed his son-in-law, Tungku Dia Udin, to be viceroy ”

“ Compared with other states in the peninsula, Selangor is poorly watered. The principal rivers are the Selangor, the Klang and the Langat. The principal port of the state is Port Swettenham, situated at the mouth of the Klang River, and is connected with the capital, Kuala Lumpor, by a railway. The geology of the state closely resembles that of Perak. The state is possessed of most valuable deposits of alluvial tin, and mining for this metal is the chief industry of the population. Kuala Lumpor is also the federal capital of the Malay States. ”

“ It connects the caves at Batu with Kuala Lumpor. Frequent communication is maintained by steamer between Port Swettenham and Singapore, and by coasting vessels between the former port and those on the shores of the Straits of Malacca. All the principal places in the state are connected with one another by telegraph.
For administrative purposes Selangor is divided into six districts: Kuala Lumpor, in which the capital and the principal tin-fields are situated; Ulu Selangor, which is also a prosperous mining district; Kuala Selangor, which is agricultural, and poorly populated by Malays ”

“ The wealth of Selangor lies in its apparently inexhaustible tin mines. The range of hills which forms the backbone of the Malay Peninsula rises in places to a height of seven thousand feet, and it is from this range that the alluvial detritus is washed down, beneath which is deposited the layer of ore or wash, which varies from four inches to ten feet in thickness. ”

“ It will be noted that the inhabitants of this erstwhile Malayan state were, even at the time of the census of 1901, over 64% Chinese, while the Malays were little more than 20% of the population. In Selangor, as elsewhere in the Malay Peninsula, the deaths annually far outnumber the births recorded (e.g. in 1905 births 8293, deaths 12,500) . The disproportion of the female to the male sections of the population is greater in Selangor than in any other part of the colony or Malay States. ”

“ An irregular backbone connects all these great heights, and it itself is of no mean dimensions, being throughout well over three thousand feet above sea-level. Between the mountain-peaks, as may be imagined, there is little room for fertile plateaus, and the most settled districts in consequence are those farthest away from the towering ranges; of these Selangor is, perhaps, the most noteworthy. Here vast forests and jungle scrub extend everywhere, though the trees are being rapidly cut down by the numerous Chinese tin-miners in the settlement ”

“ There has not been any disturbance in Selangor since 1874; and as neither the Sultan, the Malays, nor the Chinese have ever raised objections of any serious kind to the proposals of the British advisers, the "far back" state of things is very singular.
Mr. Syers, the superintendent of military police, appears a thoroughly efficient man, as sensible in his views of what would conduce to the advancement of the State as he is conscientious and careful in all matters of detail which concern his rather complicated position. ”

“ So we embarked on a Malay trader bound for Klang, the port of Selangor, and commenced an expedition which I can recall now as being one of the most interesting of all my travels. The details of our progress across the Peninsula could not be given here, but I will relate one of our first experiences with the tree-dwellers of Kelantan, when we were camped on the head-waters of the Lebah River in that province, where, I believe, no white man had ever been before. ”

“ Negri Calang, or the land of tin, was the designation of this part of the peninsula, and this depopulated region was formerly a flourishing dependency under the Malay sovereigns of Malacca. The population, such as it is, is chiefly composed of the descendants of a colony of Bugis from Goa in the Celebes, who settled in Selangor at the beginning of the eighteenth century under a Goa chief, who was succeeded by Sultan Ibrahim, an intense hater and sturdy opponent of the Dutch. ”

“ The latter is a great curse in Perak, and being a part of "Malay custom" which our treaties bind us to respect, it is very difficult to deal with. In the little States of Sungei Ujong and Selangor, with their handful of Malays, it has been abolished with comparative ease. In Perak, with its comparatively large Malay population, about four thousand are slaves, and the case seems full of complications. ”

“ A second line runs south from Perak and connects with the railway system of Selangor, which in its turn connects with the Negri Sembilan and Malacca line, thus giving through railway communication between the last-named town and Penang. Perak also possesses some 600 miles of excellent metalled cart-road, and the length of completed road is annually increasing. ”

“ The total area of alienated mining land at the end of 1905 amounted to 65,573 acres, and it was estimated that over 60,000 Chinese were employed in the mines.
The main trunk line of the Federated Malay States railways passes through Selangor. It enters the state at Tanjong Malim on the Perak boundary, runs southward through Kuala Lumpor and so into the Negri Sembilan. It runs for 81 m. in Selangor territory. A branch line 27 m. long connects Kuala Lumpor with Port Swettenham on the Klang Straits where extensive wharves, capable of accommodating ocean-going vessels, have been constructed. ”

“ This mineral wealth is the magnet which, according as the price of tin is higher or lower, attracts into Selangor more or fewer Chinamen. The chief source of the revenue of the State has been the export duty on tin.
The low lands on the coast are fringed with mangroves, which thrive in blue mud and heavy clays, and these lands, when drained, are well adapted for sugar. Wet rice grows well in the swampy valleys which separate the minor ranges, and dry rice on the rises; while tapioca, tobacco, pepper and gambier thrive on the medium heights. ”

“ The federated states, under the protection of Great Britain, but not British possessions, are Perak, Selangor and the confederation of small states known as the Negri Sembilan (i.e. Nine States) on the west coast, and the state of Pahang on the east coast. Each state is under the rule of a sultan, who is assisted in his legislative duties by a state council, upon which the resident, and in some cases the secretary to the resident, has a seat, and which is composed of native chiefs and one or more Chinese members nominated by the sultan with the advice and consent of the resident. ”

“ Slavery and debt bondage exist in all the native States; except in Selangor and Sungei Ujong, where it has recently been abolished, as it is hoped it will be in Perak. The slaves of the reigning princes were very easily acquired, for a prince had only to send a messenger bearing a sword or kris to a house, and the parents were obliged to give up any one of their children without delay or question. ”

“ Mr. Newbold, who had charge of a military post on the Selangor frontier in 1833, witnessed many of the atrocities perpetrated by these Bugis princes, who committed piracies, robbed, plundered, and levied contributions on the wretched Malays, without hindrance. In Mr. Newbold's day the whole population of Kwala Linggi, where he was stationed, fled by night into the Malacca territory, where they afterward settled to escape from the merciless exactions to which they were subjected. ”

“ To-day the valley of the Lebir River in Kelantan and the upper portions of several rivers near the Perak and Selangor 482 boundaries are inhabited by Pahang Malays, the descendants of these fugitives. The Pahang natives are almost all engaged in agriculture. The work of the mines, &c., is performed by Chinese and foreign Malays. In the Lipis valley the descendants of the Rawa Malays, who at one time possessed the whole of the interior in defiance of the Pahang rajas, still outnumber the people of the land. ”

“ Their efforts, however, have not hitherto been successful. A magnificent road over the mountains, with a ruling grade of 1 in 30, joins Kuala Lipis, the administrative capital of Pahang, to Kuala Kubu, the nearest railway station in Selangor. The road measures 82 m. in length. Pekan, where the sultan has his residence, was the capital of Pahang until the middle of 1898, when the administrative headquarters were transferred to the interior as being more central. None of these towns is of any size or importance. ”

“ Plate 1.—Some of the Selangor Regalia.
Models, representing part of the regalia of H.H. the Sultan of Selangor—two small drums, the tufted (cowtail) lances, the trident, the k’ris (dagger) called B’rok Bĕrayun, and the sacred trumpet (lĕmpiri) .
Page 40.
This trumpet and the drums of the Selangor regalia were kept by the present Sultan (then Raja Muda, or Crown Prince of Selangor) in a small galvanised [41] iron cupboard which stood (upon posts about three feet high) in the middle of a lawn outside His Highness’ “garden residence” at Bandar. ”

“ Thus in Selangor, one of the native states of the Malay Peninsula, the success or failure of the rice crops is often attributed to a change of district officers.​ [1279] The Toorateyas of southern Celebes hold that the prosperity of the rice depends on the behaviour of their princes, and that bad government, by which they mean a government which does not conform to ancient custom, will result in a failure of the crops.​ [1280]
Belief of the Dyaks in the power of the rajah to fertilise the rice. ”

“ It is by no means necessary to ensure the popularity of a kramat or shrine that the saint to whose memory it is dedicated should be a Malay. The cosmopolitan character of these shrines is attested in the following note which I sent to the Selangor Journal11 about the shrines in the Ulu Langat (Kajang) district of Selangor:—
“The chief kramats in the district are ‘Makam ’Toh Sayah’ (the tomb of a Javanese of high repute) ; ‘Makam Said Idris,’ at Rekoh, Said Idris being the father of the Pĕnghulu of Cheras; ‘Makam ’Toh Janggut’ (a ‘Kampar’ man) , on the road to Cheras ”

“ Pahang owes something over $3,966,500 to Selangor and $1,175,000 to Perak, which have financed it now for some years out of surplus revenue. The value of the imports in 1905 was $1,344,346, that of the exports was $3,838,928, thus making a total trade value of $5,183,274. The most valuable export is tin, the value of which in 1905 amounted to $2,820,745. The value of the gutta exported exceeded $140,000, that of dried and salted fish amounted to nearly $70,000, and that of timber to $325,000. ”

“ By the census taken on the 5th of April 1891 the population of Selangor was given at 81,592 souls, of whom 67,051 were males and only 14,541 were females. The census taken on the 5th of April 1901 gave a total population of 168,789 souls, of whom 136,823 were males and 31,966 females. Of these 108,768 were Chinese, 33,997 were Malays, 16,748 were Tamils, and only 487 were Europeans. The returns deal with nearly a score of different nationalities. Since 1901 the population has been much increased and now certainly exceeds 200,000 souls. ”

“ Chinese Secretary, Selangor, 1890; in charge of Mines Department, 1891; acting Government Secretary, May, 1891; acting Treasurer, Selangor, 1897: Treasurer, Kuala Lumpur. Sept, 1897; Protector of Chinese, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan and acting District Treasurer, Kuala Lumpur. Address: Kuala Lumpur, Selangor. Federated Malay States. ”

“ Clause (3) Repealed by Act 10/1960, section 31, in force from 08-08-1960, which also deleted in Clause (2) the words “but subject to Clause (3) ” which followed the words “Part VI”. The original Clause (3) read as follows: “ (3) In relation to the municipality of Kuala Lumpur, Clause (2) shall not apply until such date as may be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the concurrence of the Ruler of the State of Selangor in pursuance of arrangements made between the Federal Government and the Government of that State for the establishment elsewhere of the State capital ”

“ The entire country near the coast, on the east as on the west, may be said to be given over to rank jungles, in which the lordly tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the wild pig, and tapir have their homes, and monkeys of almost every species are abundant in the wooded slopes.
One-half of the world's tin is produced in the [Pg 157] Malay States; it is mined chiefly in Selangor and Malacca, and forms the mainstay of the country's prosperity, though, curiously enough, little or no stanniferous deposits have been found on the eastern side of the dividing range. ”

“ District Officer, Kuala Langat, Selangor, Jan., 1903; Magistrate, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Mar., 1904; acting District Officer, Pekan, Pahang, Nov., 1904. Address: Pekan, Pahang, Federated Malay States. ”