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4. In addition to the copies of Mr. Braddell's pamphlet I forward six copies of a reprint of the Constitution of Johore.* Copies of the Johore Statutes to which Mr. Braddell refers are not yet available, but they are now being reprinted and copies will be sent later.
5. For our Treaties with the Malay States, reference can be made to the volume entitled Treaties and Engagements affecting the Malay States and Borneo, edited by Maxwell and Gibson, and published in London (1924).
6. Mr. Braddell has quite recently represented the Pahang Consolidated (Tin) Company in a suit brought by it in the Supreme Court of the Federated Malay States against the State of Pahang to claim exemption from the Tin and Tin-Ore Restriction Enactment. The claim was supported by Mr. Braddell's interpretation of the relations between Great Britain and the Sultans of the Federated Malay States, and the judgment (to be given ultimately, it is expected, on appeal) is likely to settle several disputed constitutional points. I shall address you later in a separate despatch on this matter so far as it concerns the Federated Malay States.
CE
7. In my present despatch I propose to deal specially with Mr. Braddell's assertion that the status of the Sultan of Johore is entirely different from, and It is probable that, juristically much higher than, that of any other Malay Sultans.
as private legal adviser to the Sultan of Johore, Mr. Braddell has not been unaffected by the strong personality of his client, for it is well-known the Sultan himself considers Johore's position vis-à-vis Great Britain to be different from that of other Malay States, and that, in support of his view, he points to certain superficial differences, viz. :—
(a) his practice, unique among Malay Rulers, of addressing letters not to the High Commissioner but to the Governor as if His Highness were a politically independent sovereign addressing a foreign power;
"General
8.
(b) the style of the British Officer seconded to his State, namely,
Adviser," a style unique in Malaya and copied, before the 1914 Treaty, from Siam;
(c) the unique practice of not flying the Union Jack at the house of the General
Adviser in Johore Bahru;
(d) the practice of not calling the house of the General Adviser a Residency, a
practice followed also in Kedah; and
(e) the practice of not providing an incoming or departing General Adviser with
a guard of honour-a practice followed in the Federated, but not in the Unfederated Malay States, except in Kedah.
In themselves none of these points have much importance; but taken together, in view of the endeavour now being made to draw the five Unfederated Malay States into closer association with the four Federated Malay States in matters of common interest, it becomes necessary to inquire carefully whether there is any justification for these special concessions to the Sultan of Johore. I will take each point in turn.
"
(a) As early as 1911 the Sultan of Johore protested that the practice of using only the style "* Governor in addressing His Majesty's representative had been followed in his father's time and had obtained before the post of High Commissioner was created. In reply to despatch Malay States No. 512 of 28th November, 1911,† the then Secretary of State agreed that the Sultan should" for the present address His Majesty's representative as Governor and not as High Commissioner, adding that the latter style had been proposed, not in order to affect the status of Johore, but for the convenience of official correspondence (Secretary of State's despatch Malay States No. 5 of 5th January, 1912). In Malay States despatch No. 43 of 30th January, 1912, Sir Arthur Young reported to the Secretary of State that he had informed His Highness that the proposal to use the style High Commissioner had been for the convenience of official correspondence and that the Sultan had been warned the subject would be brought up again, if the inconvenience increased. But even in the 1914 Treaty with Johore Sir Arthur Young signed as Governor. There is no doubt that the Sultan and all the Johore Chiefs look upon this usage as the symbol of independence, and it is one of the small things to which they attach the utmost political importance. The Sultan feels that he is an independent ruler addressing another independent ruler, and the legal use of the term independent to signify non-political independence is a subtlety beyond
5815/12: not printed. + 41037/11: not printed.
C
* Not printed.
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the Malay mind. Sooner or later, however, a convenient opportunity. should be taken to remove this anomaly. If and when a league of all the Malay States is created, the treaty then required could not treat Johore as different from the other States.
"
(b) The term General Adviser " is that employed in the 1914 Treaty. At present, therefore, three terms are in use in the Malay States, British Resident, British Adviser, and General Adviser. Should a new Treaty be signed, I recommend the adoption of the style British General Adviser " in all the States. This term will clearly differentiate His Majesty's repre- sentative in each State from such officers as Legal Advisers and Financial Advisers, and will emphasize that each State is a British Protectorate. 1 must add that in Governor's despatch No. 92, dated 17th March, 1915,* Sir Arthur Young reported to the Secretary of State that he had "secured for the General Adviser the powers of a Resident while preserving as far as possible the outward forms of the older system. As a consequence of this the Sultan and his people have accepted the new order of things with- out opposition and the Sultan placed himself and his forces wholeheartedly at the disposal of the Military authority during the Singapore mutiny. Insistence on the term British Adviser would have detracted from His Highness' position and been an unnecessary humiliation." Mr. Harcourt replied that every consideration was to be shown to the Sultan's prestige and added a sentence which, in my opinion, hardly represents the actual political situation, namely, that the Sultan should continue to be fully recognized as the Head of the State and as the employer of the General Adviser and other European officers. I consider that there would be little or no objection here to the style British General Adviser.
(c) I am of opinion that it would be well to take a convenient opportunity of suggesting to His Highness the Sultan the propriety of having the Union Jack flown at the residence of the General Adviser as a symbol that he is His Majesty's official representative in the State of Johore,, I must, how- ever, point out that His Highness is likely to express the strongest opposition to any change. It would certainly be impolitic for me in the Sultan's absence to approach the Regent, as the Johore Chiefs would reproach him, if he agreed to this proposal, and declare that the Sultan would never have consented to it. But in the event of the health of the Sultan permitting his return to Johore, I will, if a favourable opportunity occurs, take the matter up with him personally.
(d) The name for the Adviser's official residence is a matter of no political
moment.
(e) It would obviously be a proper act of courtesy to the General Adviser as His Majesty's official representative in Johore for the Sultan to provide him with a Guard of Honour, when he assumes and relinquishes office, especially as Johore maintains a military force which the Sultan loyally placed at the disposal of Great Britain during the war. I must, however, again point out that it would be impolitic for me to raise this question with the Regent, and that the present Sultan is likely to express strong objection to such an innovation. But, if the Sultan returns to Johore, I will on a suitable occasion speak with him on the point.
9. In the Singapore Free Press of to-day is published an article, † which I have cut out and attached, concerning conversations which the Sultan of Johore is alleged to have had with you on the position of the Governor and High Commissioner "in the belief that it has a bearing on the future independence of the State." I have, therefore, telegraphed to you to-day requesting that discussion of such a subject may be post- poned pending the receipt of this despatch. In this connexion I attach also an opinion by Mr. W C. Huggard, Attorney-General of the Straits Settlements, given after a perusal of Mr. Braddell's pamphlet and of the letter of the 10th June, 1931, written to me by Sir Gilbert Grindle. Mr. Huggard concludes that the Government of Johore has quite definitely become "subject to a superior Government and that it is difficult to see how the Sultan can properly be regarded as an independent sovereign ' concur in Mr. Huggard's opinion.
I have, &c.,
14709/15: not printed.
+ Not reprinted.
"
C. CLEMENTI,
High Commissioner.
↑ C. 82356/31 [No. 30]: not printed.
I
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