PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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TTTTT C.O.882
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON-
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Chief of so insignificant a territory, with formidable enemies in his neighbourhood, would kind feel that he had no resource but to yield, if a firm representation were made to him by the Government, and he were made to see that he had no hope of support of any from Malacca or elsewhere.
18. As to the prevention of interference in Salangor affairs from the Perak side, little can be done until the question of the Perak succession is settled. As soon as that is settled, and either the Bandahara (Ismail), or the Raja Muda (Abdullah), recognized, he should be made to co-operate in putting a stop to expeditions into Salangor from the Perak side. An attempt should, at the same time, be made to ascertain the position of Raja Hitam of Birnam, who holds landa on both sides of that river, which is reported to lead up to a magnificent tin country, and define his relations with Perak on one side, and Salangor on the other. In fact there seems no reason why this should not be attempted at once. My impression is, from the way that I have heard him spoken of by Tunku Dia Udin, that Rajah Hitam, though he belongs to the Madhi faction, would not be likely to be a very stanch supporter of it, if he found that his own position and claims, whatever they may be, would not be endangered by the success of the other party; and if he could be brought over, it would close the country on that side, and make every thing secure from the Perak frontier down to Kallang.
14. A review of the foreign relations of the parties in Salangor would not be complete without a reference to Quedah. The Sultan of Quedah, though he is Tunku He disapproves Dia Udin's brother, takes, I believe, very little interest in his success. of his conduct, I understand, in certain matters. He is himself a strict observer of bis religion, and I am told that he is displeased with his brother's laxity in drinking wine But I do not believe that his sympathies are at all and eating with Europeans, &c. enlisted on the other side. I fancy he looks down on the whole of the Salangor people as a set of mere Bugis, and if he cares at all as to the turn that events may take in the country, it is that he would like to see that side lose which the Maharaja of Johore supports; for like the Bandahara of Pahang, he is believed to entertain strong feelings against the Maharaja, it being even asserted that a main cause of his having recently married the daughter of the Sultan Ali was that the Maharaja had, or was about, to ask her in marriage himself, and that it was desired, among the people of the "white blood," to find for the old Sultan an unimpeachable excuse for declining what they would consider as a mis-alliance. The Sultan of Quedah has, on more than one occasion, given his brother assistance, but it has been rather, I think, because he thought that it would please this Government than from any interest of his own in the matter; and, on the whole, I believe that whether his brother succeeds or fails, it will matter very little in his eyes, and that unless moved to do so, he will not think of taking any step either to aid or to thwart him.
15. Next as to Tunku Dia Udin's relations with the Sultan at Langat, the past bistory of the matter is briefly as follows. The present Sultan, some years ago, made over the Kallang district to one Raja Dowlah, who had married his cousin, and wife's sister Raja Lijah. Raja Dowlah, during the time he held the country, did something towards developing it, and some Europeans from Singapore set up a factory at Pankalan Batu. Raja Mabdi, a relation of the Sultan's (see the Parliamentary Paper, page 30), considered that he had rights in Kallang, and drove out Raja Dowlah. The Sultan on this called in Tunku Dia Udin, gave him his daughter in marriage, and constituted him hia Wakil or Viceroy. He at the same time assigned to him the Kallang district, under the understanding that he would have to turn Madhi out of it. Tunku Dia Udin, before undertaking the business, entered into engagements of mutual support with several of the principal people of Salangor, and especially with the King's eldest son, Raja Musa. He then commenced operations, and succeeded in getting possession of Kellang about the end of 1870. Pankalan Batu was the last place taken, and on its fall Mahdi managed to get through the lines, and fled to Salangor River, where Raja Musa was in command of the forts. Musa, after this, through sheer weakness of character, allowed Mahdi to become really, if not nominally, master of the place, and finally, after the affair which led to the bombardment of Salangor in July 1871, he fairly ran away from the place, and came to the Kallang, whence he accompanied Mr. Birch and me to Langat on our visit there on the 21st July, 1871. Subsequently to this, Tunku Dia Udin re-installed him at Salangor, but his conduct there was so unsatisfactory, and it became so obvious that the place might be expected, at any moment, to fall into the hands of Mahdi and bis associates, that Tunku Dia Udin removed him, and put his brother, Raja Yakob, in his place. Musa after this continued to live at Salangor River, though not in the fort, doing all he could, as 'Tunku Dia Udin avowed, to assist the enemy, who at that time had made a movement on the Hulu Salangor from Birnam and Porak. Subsequently to this both
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Musa and Yakob were, at Tunku Dia Udin's instance, and on my representations, recalled to Langat by the Sultan (see my Memorandum of the 24th July). Yakob, not- withstanding this, continued to adhere to Tunku Dia Udin's side, but Musa became thoroughly alienated, and may now be considered as one of Mahdi's confederates. Such were the relations between Tunku Dia Udin and his family when I last met him in June 1872, and such they are now. And when I asked him as to the Sultan's wishes and intentions, he said that it was impossible to say, that the last persons that get hold of him made him speak as they thought. But whatever may have been the Sultan's real wishes and motives, there can be no doubt but that his action, or the action of whoever it may have been who has had command of his seal, has been most embarrassing to Tunku Dia Udin. Langat River became at one time the enemy's line of communi- cations, and Langat Town a sort of sanctuary, in which they could take refuge whenever they met with reverses. It was impossible that such a state of things as this could last for long, and Tunku Dia Udio must have seen that, so long as the Sultan acted in the ambiguous way he did, he had no alternative but either to blockade the Langat River or else to give up the enterprise as an impracticable one. He determined on the blockade, taking care that a sufficiency of all legitimate supplies were allowed to go up, and it is out of this step that the questions which are now before the Government of vessels having the Sultan's own passes, captured by the Sultan's own Viceroy, have arisen.
16. In such a state of affairs it appears to me that the Government has it in its power to do much towards improving the position of Tunku Dia Udin by bringing its influence properly to bear on the Sultan, and perhaps also on Raja Musa. Letters of congratulation might be written to the Sultan in regard to the success of his son-in-law and Wakil in regaining the Salangor forts, while reference might be quietly made to the circumstances under which the Wakilship was confirmed in 1871 after the Salangor affair. And the letter might be followed by a visit, which should not be a hurried one, but extend over several days, so as to give the people time to get over their nervousness, and become ready to disclose what really is in their minds. An attempt might be made, in the course of such a visit, to get hold of Raja Musa, and try and bring about a recon- ciliation between him and the Tunku Dia Udin; and in many other ways, which will readily suggest themselves, opportunities might be found for impressing the policy of the Government on the people, and also for verifying, and possibly for correcting its views as to the state and tendency of affairs, and so of modifying its policy, if in any particular it should be found to rest on mistaken premises.
17. It only remains to consider the fourth particular, in regard to which I stated above (par. 9), that I thought that the Government had it in its power to render assistance to Tunku Dia Udin, viz., by giving him advice and assistance in the adminis tration of his Government. In this direction much, I think, might be done at once, and much more hereafter, when the country is settled. The finances of the country might be inquired into, and perhaps a moderate loan given to enable the Tunku to take up the usurious loans by which, by this time, I have no doubt he is again overladen, though, before these last troubles, he seemed on the point of extricating himself from them. His fortifications might be inspected, and their defects pointed out. Above all he might be encouraged and assisted in his scheme of a road across the Peninsula from Kallang to Pahang. It is difficult to estimate the effect that such a road, running through the richest tin districts on the Kallang side of the mountains, and giving means of commu- nication with the west coast to the tin and, I believe, gold countries on the Pahang side, would have in developing the resources of both countries. Then the Tunku bas ideas in his mind on the subject of education and the administration of justice, and ruany other matters, in regard to which nothing but a little advice and encouragement are required to develop vague ideas and wishes into definite projects.
18. These considerations naturally suggest this as a proper point for considering the question raised in the Secretary of State's deepatch of the 20th September as to "whether it would be advisable to appoint a British officer to reaide in any of the States." In regard to this I think there can be no doubt, as I have already indicated, but that some measure is required, by which the influence of the Government may be brought to bear more persistently on the Ralers of the States than has hitherto been the case, but I doubt the expediency of placing permanent Residents at any one of the States. What appears to me to be required is the appointment of a single officer whose duty it should be to supervise the affairs of the whole of the States, visiting them all periodically, and returning after each tour to Singapore, and thus enabling the Governor to gather, by personal enquiries, that sort of insight into the affairs of the different countries, and the characters of the different Chiefs, which it is so difficult to gather from a mere perusal of written reports.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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