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Decentralisa- tion com- patible with co-ordina- tion.
And the de-
centralisa-
tion recomI-
Dended
makes for co-ordina- tion.
Ki..
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Conference of Residents may be relief upon to press upon him, with even greater force than the single voice of a Chief Secretary, the cause of the Federated States.
23. Other critics may fear that the proposed change may mean over-centralisa- tion in the hands of the High Commissioner, at the expense of the Rulers in Council and the Residents. My answer is to ask these critics to compare the present position of the Rulers in Council and Residents in relation to the Chief Secretary with the experience of the Rulers in Council and Advisers in the Unfederated States in relation to the High Commissioner. Under the system which, as explained in paragraph 15 above, has been followed in dealing with the latter States, the matters on which the High Commissioner intervenes even formally in the administration of any State are few, and the occasions on which he has to oppose or over-ride the wishes of the local Government are of the rarest.
24. One of the first needs is to show that decentralisation and co-ordination are compatible. At present neither the Rulers, the public nor even the Civil Service have fully grasped this point. I will give one illustration f their com- patibility. The possession and gift of State land had for centuries been the prerogative of Malay Sultans. To-day the Rulers of the Federated States are confronted with this among other clauses from the Federal Land Enactment:-
Subject to special exceptions made by the Resident with the approval of the Chief Secretary, no town or village land may be alienated except by auction."
A Resident is in the best position to judge the particular wants of a locality in his State. On all other points the Federal Commissioner of Lands should have complete data: he should possess the records of all land policy as determined by Federal or State Council, Residents' Conferences or the High Commissioner: occupied solely with land problems, he should be better qualified than anyone to apply approved rules to doubtful cases. A Chief Secretary may have been a Land Officer as he may have been a magistrate for years, but what esoteric information or qualification, the Rulers must ask themselves, has he to give rulings on land administration any more than on the administration of the Penal Code or the Civil Procedure Code. No Ruler resents the powers of the Chief Judicial Commissioner. No Ruler need resent the powers of an advisory Commissioner of Lands. If there were substituted in all such clauses in the Land Enactment the words "with the approval of the Commissioner of Lands" effective decentralisation in this matter would begin. Correspondence would take place only between the Resident and the Commissioner, and not, as now, between the Resident, Commissioner and Chief Secretary. One branch of the work of the Federal Secretariat would be lopped off and handed over to a specialist, to whose recommendations Rulers and Residents could listen without loss of face or executive power, a specialist who is in no sense their administrative chief but one who as their adviser has certain legal functions in one limited sphere.
25. If decentralisation proceeds on these lines, there will no longer be any basis for the objection at present felt in some quarters to the creation of more joint advisory Heads of Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Departments. Residents will be in a position to assure the Rulers and Unofficial Members of Council that joint advisory Heads will not trench on the administrative unity of the various States but be economic links with the larger policy of British' Malaya. To emphasise this aspect of their position, such titles as Director" should be abolished. The term Secretary for now used in the Department of Agriculture is less assertive of executive authority and better marks the advisory functions of the officer.
44
26. My recommendations therefore involve the early reduction of the post of Chief Secretary to the status of Class I. of the Malayan Civil Service with the title of Secretary for the Federated Malay States." This officer should attend the Federal Council, but be junior to all the Residents. The Council itself need undergo little immediate alteration. The High Commissioner would preside as at present and in his absence the senior Resident would officiate as President. I think that an essential qualification for unofficial membership should be membership of one of the State Councils, whose dignity and importance I am anxious as far as possible to restore. Later it may be found convenient to give certain Heads of big Departments seats on the Federal Council.
29
27. I think it possible that, as the policy of increasing the powers of State Upper House Councils develops, it may be found desirable for the Rulers to withdraw from the or Durbar contentious atmosphere of the Federal Council. This change could not be made for Rulers without their unanimous consent, but I am disposed to think that they would regard it favourably. Their Highnesses' assent to the decisions of the Federal Council could be obtained through their Residents, with whom the matters to be dealt with by the Council would have been previously discussed. I do not think that it would be necessary to formally constitute an Upper House. I believe that in practice a Durbar attended by the Rulers and their Residents presided over by the High Commissioner, and meeting periodically, would suffice. This would have the further advantage that it would enable the Rulers of the Unfederated States or any of them, if they so wished, to attend a Durbar and discuss matters in which they are interested. Such an attitude on their part, if tactfully and patiently handled, would be an important step on the road to that closer association between the Federated and Unfederated States which it is hoped will one day be attained.
28. If this general policy is approved, Committees should be appointed to Committees draw up the necessary changes in Treaty, Law, Finance, and General Orders. to deal with These are matters which will present no insuperable difficulties.
IV. The Restrictions once removed, unity will progress along lines to be determined. 29. Under such a system as is indicated above, with the Federated and Unfederated States developing side by side under a joint High Commissioner, it is not unreasonable to expect that the benefits of further co-operation would ultimately become clear. The authority of all present joint Heads of Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Departments should steadily be extended to the Unfederated States as opportunity offers or necessity dictates. Important services like the Posts and Telegraphs, which do not trench on local patriotism, should lead the way towards administrative unity, and advisory councils for Malaya might make the Unfederated States familiar with the benefits of joint counsel and action. If the Unfederated States eventually elected to join the revised Federation, the two posts of Secretary of the High Commissioner might be combined into one. The policy which I advocate would at least free natural unifying tendencies from their present restrictions and would leave the future to decide on the precise form which association might eventually take.
other change.
recom-
mendation.
30. To summarise, I am advocating a policy of Malayan co-ordination carried Summary of as far as possible but avoiding any suspicion of political amalgamation; and in order to allow the policy to operate I recommend the reduction of the position of the Chief Secretary to Government, Federated Malay States, and the devolution of most of his authority to the State Councils, Residents and the Heads of Federal Departments.
31. In outlining these changes for the future, I wish to disclaim that attitude Federation which blames Federation for every grievance nursed by the Federated States. not con- In its conception Federation was a measure eminently suited to the time and to dernned
per se, but
As a Mongure
for the time
the talents of the first Resident-General. I think that the Rulers are by no means commended insensible of the great progress in their States for which it has been directly res- ponsible. If the machine had always been worked with a hand as light as Sir Frank and for tho Swettenham's, Federation might, while attaining its original objects, have succeeded man. in satisfying the Rulers of the Federated States and inducing the Rulers of the States outside the Federation to come in. But circumstances proved too strong. The development which followed on Federation stimulated the demand of the commercial interests for uniformity and efficiency of administration, a demand to which the Government, with the natural tendency of all bureaucracies to extend their powers, was eager to respond, with the result that the guarantees which accom- panied the approval of Federation gradually came to be forgotten or overlooked. In approving the scheme the Secretary of State wrote:-
"No pains should be spared to safeguard the position and dignity of the Native Rulers, and to invite them to co-operate as fully as heretofore with their British Advisers in promoting the advancement of their respective territories and subjects."
My recommendations do not aim at scrapping the whole machine of Federation, but only so much of it as subsequent experience and development has proved to be