British Expansion into Malaya and Singapore

1.3 BRITISH COLONIZATION

The British were another important foreign power that came to exert its influence in Malaya. Their presence in the peninsula first began with their attainment of Penang.
The British East India Company, which was based in India during the 18th century, was in dire need of a base to serve as a collection centre, naval point and pier in the Malay states.

Hence, the British were at an advantage when Sultan Muhammad Jiwa of Kedah, came at just the right moment, seeking assistance from them to ward off impending threats from the Bugis.

He was willing to surrender Penang to the British in exchange for their protection. Seizing the opportunity to expand their domain, the East India Company assigned Captain Francis Light to negotiate with the Sultan on behalf of the British. The result was a treaty signed between Francis Light and Sultan Muhammad Jiwa in April 1771, in which the British was granted permission to trade in Kedah in exchange for their protection of the state.

The treaty, however, was short-lived, and annulled when the British refused to provide aid to Kedah in an attack on the Bugis in Selangor.

When Sultan Abdullah ascended the throne of Kedah, the state once again, came under fire. This time, however, from the nation of Siam.

The Sultan wasted no time in appointing Francis Light to negotiate once more with the East India Company and offered Penang Island to the British in exchange for their protection against the Siamese.

Thrilled with the offer of Penang, the Company sought permission from the British government in London to offer protection to Kedah.

The Sultan, on his part, did not allow the British to occupy the island until the Company promised protection. Although Francis Light conveyed these terms to India for approval, the Company rejected Kedah’s request for protection. Despite this, Francis Light took over the island on 11th August 1786, after making an empty promise of protection to the Sultan.

When Sultan Abdullah discovered that the British had lied and refused to grant protection to Kedah, he made several attempts to regain the island of Penang by force, but failed.

Finally, in 1800, a new treaty was drawn up between the British and Kedah, in which the British acquired Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai), in addition to Penang for an annual fee of $10,000 to the Sultan of Kedah.

British reign over Singapore, on the other hand, began with the arrival of Stamford Raffles on the island in 1819. Raffles found Singapore ideal as a trading centre and a base which would shatter the Dutch monopoly of the East Indies.

When the Sultan of Johor failed to recognize an agreement between Raffles and the Temenggong of Johor, in which the British were granted permission to establish a settlement in Singapore, Raffles sought the help of Tengku Hussein. The latter was denied his rightful place on the throne by the Bugis, who appointed his younger brother, Tengku Abdul Rahman, as king instead when the Sultan of Johor died.
Hence, at the Temenggong’s invitation, he was only too willing to go to Singapore from Riau, and be proclaimed the Sultan of Johor by Raffles on 6th February, 1819.
Through cunning on the part of Raffles, the earlier agreement between the Temenggong and himself was made legal by Sultan Hussein, despite a wave of uproar by the Dutch.
The British and Dutch signed the London Treaty on 17th March 1824 to solve the conflicts between themselves in the East and to protect their own interests. It was agreed upon ib the treaty that Singapore, the Malay states and India would come under British rule, while East India and the regions south of Singapore belonged to the Dutch.

The treaty also forbade both parties to establish new settlements or sign agreements with the local heads of other areas.

With Singapore, Malacca and Penang under British rule, the three states were combined into one administration unit known as the Straits Settlements.
Singapore expanded rapidly and overshadowed Penang, which grew at a moderate pace. Malacca, on the other hand, failed to develop and remained backward.
As for the other Malay states, the British strictly enforced a policy of non-intervention and the proceeding five decades after the London Treaty, have often been described as "half a century of inactivity".

1.3.2 From A Policy of Non-Intervention to Intervention
After five decades of practicing a policy of non-intervention, the British found themselves inevitably getting involved in the politics of the Malay states in 1874.
There were many factors that brought about this change and caused the fall of the Malay states into British hands.

Among them were:
(i) piracy problems;
(ii) the civil war caused by constant disputes over succession among the leaders of the state, which made local governments unstable;
(iii) the birth of secret societies that caused frequent fights among them, which stymied growth and economic development of the tin mines.

Consequently, there lacked law and order in the peninsula and this greatly threatened the safety of the huge number of British investors in the Malay states and their trading activities, which mainly involved the tin mining industry.
The British were also concerned about losing investments from the Chinese, who were fearful that the unrest in the Peninsula might harm their trade, since the Chinese were the main source of investments in the Straits Settlements and were vital to the prosperity of Singapore.

Another factor was the occurrence of the Industrial Revolution in Europe during the 19th century. With it came the need to obtain raw and processed materials for the industry as well as markets for the finished products. In their desire to develop their many colonies abroad and monopolize the tin mining industry, the British found it necessary to intervene in the Malay states.

The British were also seeking to protect their interests and trading activities abroad from the intervention of other foreign powers, fearful in particular that Germany, which had defeated France earlier, would set out to establish new conquests in foreign lands.

With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the British now had access to countries like Burma, India, Aden, Malta and Gibraltar, and finally to Hong Kong and China in the east via the Straits of Malacca. To proceed to the east, however, the British would have to contend with leaders of the Malay states. As such, they needed to establish ties with the Malay chiefs to maintain this smooth route to the east.
Through the Suez Canal, the British also found it possible to sail from England to Malaya in 42 days instead of the arduous 116 days prior to the opening of the canal. This resulted in the increase in trading activities in the peninsula and a greater need to control the peninsula.

One other factor that caused the British to intervene in the Malay states was the appointment of Lord Kimberly as the Secretary of State for the colonies. Rooted in the firm belief that the benefits of British rule should be spread throughout the world, Kimberly passed on this belief to Sir Andrew Clarke in the latter’s capacity as Governor of the Straits Settlements, and it was Clarke who prompted direct involvement of the British in the Malay states.

1.3.3 The fall of the Malay states to the British
As mentioned earlier, British intervention in the Malay states were prompted by the unrest in Perak, which included the fights among the secret societies and the succession disputes among the state’s royalties.

The years between 1861 and 1872 saw three separate wars in Perak known as the Larut War I, II and III, involving two secret societies - Ghee Hin and Hai San.
To add to the chaos was the succession dispute between Raja Yusof, Raja Ismail and Raja Abdullah, which prompted them as well as the other Malay chiefs to get involved in the Larut Wars.

Finally, in 1873, Raja Abdullah decided to take matters into his own hands by writing to Sir Andrew Clarke asking for help. This event brought about the signing of the Pangkor Engagement in 1874, in which the Residential System was first established in Perak. This was a historical event which laid the foundation for the establishment of the Resident System in most of the other states in Malaya.
In Selangor, British intervention was prompted by the murder of 8 British subjects in a pirate attack on a Malacca boat in November 1873. The men involved in the slaughter were believed to be employed by one of the sons of Sultan Abdul Samad of Selangor.

In Negeri Sembilan, the British found excuse to exert their influence when civil war broke out due to the rivalry between Dato’ Kelana Sendeng and Dato’ Bandar Kulop Tunggal, the leaders of two of the many districts in Negeri Sembilan. The dispute was on whom had the legal right to collect taxes in the Linggi River, an important trading point in Sungai Ujong. The door was opened to British intervention when Dato’ Kelana Sendeng asked the British for assistance in declaring him the legal head of Sungai Ujong.

There were 2 reasons which contributed to British intervention in Pahang. Firstly, British trade was interrupted due to the civil war. Secondly, the Sultan of Pahang wanted to sell state land to foreign powers to solve his financial problems. However, actual intervention in the form of the implementation of the Resident System only occured in 1888 after a British citizen was murdered outside the Sultan’s palace.

British intervention brought about the Residential System, which was initially established in Perak, to the other states of Selangor, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. It was a system in which the British extended their reign over the Malay states in an indirect manner. Under this system, the leaders of the state would have to consult the Residents on all matters pertaining to the smooth running of the state, except those involving Malay customs and religion.

Consequently, in 1896, these four states were combined into one administration unit and acknowledged as the Federated Malay States. Each state comprised one Resident, who in turn, had to report to the General Resident.

Unlike these states in Malaya, Johor maintained its independence and succeeded in merely acquiring an Adviser and not a Resident, thanks to the ingenuity of Sultan Abu Bakar and some of his ministers, including Datuk Jaafar, Abdul Rahman bin Andak and Datuk Mohd Salleh bin Perang.

Contrary to the authority of a Resident, an Adviser was not allowed to interfere in the running of the state and force his decisions upon the Sultan or Chief Minister, who still maintained power over their administration.

Hence, Johor, together with the other remaining states like Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu, which were once regarded as vassal territories of Thailand, became known as the non-federated Malay states and accorded British protection as agreed upon in the 1909 Anglo-Thai Treaty between Britain and Thailand.

Like Johor, these states too were assigned a British advisor each, but were still allowed to exercise full authority over the state including matters pertaining to the allocation finances.

The British extended their reign to Sabah only after the British North Borneo Company took over. Before that, Sabah belonged to Brunei since the early 16th century and encountered several different parties including individuals and companies.

Sarawak, on the hand, was relatively stable under the reign of the Brookes, who appointed British officers to monitor a number of strategic points on the river system.