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OFFICE
PUBLIC RECORD
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Reference -
mimin C.O.882/19
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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I agree with Your Highness that the interests of Johore are closely interwoven with those of the Colony. That administration will also be represented at the forth- coming Durbar, as I shall attend it in my dual capacity as Governor of the Colony and High Commissioner for the Malay States, while the Colonial Secretary will also be present as on the last occasion. I consider that I am in no way debarred from attending by the fact that I am the President of both the Executive and Legislative Councils of the Colony. Indeed, I feel strongly that these meetings are an outward and visible sign of the solidarity of Malaya as a whole. They partake in no sense of the character of a legislative assembly, in which binding decisions are taken, and the procedure at the next Durbar will closely follow the lines adopted on the previous occasion. By means of these exchanges of ideas I shall be able next year, as I was in 1930, to hear the views of all the Rulers at first hand and to convey them in person to the Secretary of State, whom I shall meet in England within one month from the date of the Durbar.
At the last Durbar, Johore was represented by the Regents and made valuable contributions to the discussion, notably in connexion with the question of the forma- tion of a Malay Regiment--an object which is now in process of being realized- and in regard to a Customs Union, which is still a live issue in the politics of Malaya; and I have no doubt Your Highness will have important matters to suggest for dis- cussion on the next occasion.
Dr. Winstedt, I may say, was present throughout the proceedings at the last Singapore Durbar. He returns from leave in a few days' time, and will be able to inform Your Highness personally of all that took place on that occasion. I would suggest, therefore, that Your Highness should consult him on the whole subject; and, if then so desire, we can all three have a talk which might help to remove any
you misconceptions Your Highness may have formed as to the purpose and nature of these meetings. I can, however, most definitely assure Your Highness that you need have no fear that by attending the Singapore Durbar you will commit your State to any policy or decision whatsoever.
It would be most regrettable if Johore should be the only part of the whole Peninsula not represented at the Durbar, a circumstance which might serve to create the unfortunate impression that the interests of Johore were in some way divergent from the interests of all the rest of Malaya. This is, I am sure, the last thing Your Highness would wish to suggest.
In conclusion, I would like to say that I much appreciate Your Highness's expression of loyalty to the Throne of England, and your recognition of the benefits that the State of Johore has derived from British protection.
With kindest regards and best wishes.
His Highness
The Sultan of Johore, G.C.M.G., K.B.E.,
&c.,
&c.,
Johore Bahru.
MY DEAR GOVERNOR,
your
&C..
Enclosure 3 in No. 44.
Istana Passir Plangie,
Yours, &c.,
C. CLEMENTI,
Johore Bahru, 31st October, 1933.
I THANK YOU for kind letter of the 24th instant and for your consideration of my position.
Your Excellency says that I was under a misapprehension of the scope and object of the Durbar Meetings, and Your Excellency has very kindly sent me a copy of the minutes. Refreshing my memory from them, I find, at page 3, that Your Excel- lency proposed that "these meetings would thus become part of the established I also find that from these minutes it appears machinery of Malayan administration.
that one of the purposes of the Durbars is to make decisions. Thus, on page 11, Your Excellency said with respect to the Malayan Departments" as I have already said, when this Durbar was opened, we are not here to make any decisions to-day. I shall hope to have a future Durbar-perhaps next year-at which decisions can be taken "; and there are other references to decisions.
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So I find that the intention is to make the Durbars a part of a joint Malayan administration, and to take decisions at them. Samuel Wilson and in face of his report, I had thought that the Rulers would be After my conversations with Sir consulted first as to whether any further Durbars should be held at all. refer Your Excellency in particular to the second and third paragraphs on page 13 I would of Sir Samuel Wilson's report and to Clauses (viii) and (ix)" of his conclusions, at page 34 of the report.
my
Your Excellency in
your letter also the unfortunate impression that the interests of Johore were in some way divergent
says that absence **
might serve to create from the interests of all the rest of Malaya." To this I would respectfully reply that it assumes that the interests of all the rest of Malaya are the same, from which assumption I dissent, and that I do consider that the interests of Johore are very often divergent from the rest of Malaya. I do not agree that Malaya can be treated as either an economic or a political whole. I think that such an idea involves considerable danger, which is why I stressed in my previous letter that my position and that of my State differed legally, politically and economically from the rest of the Malay States.
Your Excellency reminds me that the Regents attended the last Durbar and brought up certain subjects there; but that was done without the consultation of either myself or my State Council. The attendance of the Regents does not, therefore, form a precedent; in particular, it must not be assumed that when the Tunku Mahkota referred to a consistent and common policy with regard to customs tariffs he had in mind any such matter as a Customs Union or that Johore is in any way committed to such a Union. Both this suggestion of the Tunku Mahkota and also his suggestion as to the Malay Regiment were prompted by the General Adviser before the Durbar was held; and my State Council was never consulted upon either matter. Your Excel- lency tells me that a Customs Union is still a live issue in Malayan politics, and I presume that it will be brought before the forthcoming Durbar.
Indeed, Your Excellency, the more I think over this matter and the more I study what was done at the last Durbar, the more strong do I feel the objections to be to such meetings.
In both this and my last letter I have been very frank with Your Excellency, and I am sure that that is what you would wish. Naturally, anything that will benefit my State has my approval, but I do not feel that the holding of these Durbars will have such an effect, and I understand from Sir Samuel Wilson's report, as I have pointed out above, that the policy of holding them is as yet unsettled. Any tendency towards federation or any joint administration of Malaya as a whole would be dis- approved by my Councils and my people, in which connexion I would refer Your Excellency to the Memorandum presented to Sir Samuel Wilson by the Unofficial Members of my State Council.
I do not feel, therefore, that any useful purpose would be served by the con- ference Your Excellency suggests; and I beg to be excused from attendance at the proposed Durbar.
I appreciate very much Your Excellency's long letter and your close attention to my views, and I thank you for them. In concluding, may I draw Your Excellency's attention again to the matter I referred to under the heading "Politically previous letter? I notice that in Messrs. Maxwell and Gibson's Treaties my corre- in my spondence with His Excellency Sir Arthur Young in 1914 is headed as being between myself and the High Commissioner for the Malay States. This is wrong, of course; the correspondence was with His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements following the Treaty of 1885, see particularly Article V of that Treaty. The ensuing Treaty of 1914 was also made with His Excellency the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements.
With kindest regards and best wishes.
His Excellency
Sir-Cecil Clementi, G.C.M.G.,
Singapore.
Yours, &c.,
IBRAHIM.
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. LONDON |
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VL REORGANIZATION OF THE POSTAL SERVICES.
C. 92296/32 (No. 1].
SIR,
No. 45.
FEDERATED MALAY STATES.
THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(No. 766,)
(Received 11th January, 1932.)
[Answered by No. 47.]
Government House, Singapore, 17th December, 1981.
I HAVE the honour to submit my proposals for the reorganization of the Postal Services in Malaya together with a short account of the various stages of their initiation and development.
2. Upon my arrival in Malaya it became clear to me that steps should be taken to reorganize the Postal Services with a view to placing them upon a sound and commercial basis throughout the Peninsula, and that this could not be accomplished otherwise than by placing all Postal Services under a central directorate. It was obvious that such technical and interrelated Malayan services as telegraphs, tele- phones and wireless could not be dealt with satisfactorily or economically if the State Governments acted independently of each other and without a common policy. It is unnecessary for me, I feel, to labour this point. Accordingly, before proceeding to England in October, 1930, I arranged for the appointment of a Committee includ- ing representatives of the Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States under the Chairmanship of the Secretary for Postal Affairs, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States, to report upon telegraph and telephone communications. Later, under amended terms of reference, the inquiry was enlarged to include the wider subject of an extended co-ordination of posts, or telegraphs, or telephones, or all such services. The report* of the Committee was available on my return to Malaya in June last, and a copy is attached to this despatch for reference (Enclosure 1).
3. There are several points in connexion with this report to which your atten- tion is invited, and it should in the first place be noted that the reference to extension of co-ordination in the amended terms of reference did in fact limit the scope of the inquiry to an investigation of the most satisfactory method of extending mere co-ordination.
4. In Section 18 the Committee nevertheless emphasized its opinion that judged by standards of efficiency the proper solution did not in their opinion consist in the extension of co-ordination but in the creation of a central authority, such as that exercised by the Head of the postal services in Dominions such as Canada and South Africa. In view of its terms of reference, however, the Committee proceeded to investigate the possibilities of an extended co-ordination, notwithstanding the difficulties inherent in any solution which represented a compromise between postal and political points of view. It is necessary to keep this aspect of the matter in view as it is clear that the Committee, while advocating a form of co-ordination, has in fact indicated its preference for a more centralized system of control.
5. Arising from this underlying mixture of postal and political considerations the next step in the argument was that the co-ordinating authority should be Malayan, and that it should be constituted in such a way as to be acceptable to all the adminis- trations affected (Section 15). The Committee then proceeded to record its conclusion that the only acceptable authority would consist in a Board on which each participat- ing administration would be represented (Section 17).
P It must in may view be accepted that the creation of a central authority on the Canadian and South African model is politically impossible in Malaya, at any rate for the present; but I share the view of the Committee that substantial improvements could be effected on. less radical lines.
7. On my return from leave in June, 1930 [? 1931] I gave the Committee's report my most careful attention; and formed the conclusion that the Committee's proposals indicated a way to considerable progress, but that it was necessary to review them in the light of the decisions arrived at during my stay in England regarding the policy of decentralization in the Federated Malay States. It therefore became necessary to consider most carefully the two points referred to in Section 15 of the Committee's report, i.e., individual status in the Postal Union and separate stamp issues.
*Not reprinted here,
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8. A full consideration of these two matters left me with the conviction that it was both possible and desirable to go further than the Committee had suggested in its report in the direction of centralizing postal control, provided that the several administrations were allowed a large measure of local management, and that the ultimate financial control were left in their hands.
9. These questions were discussed at a Durbar of the Federated Malay States Rulers held at Sri Menanti in Negri Sembilan on the 18th August, and I attach for reference a copy of a memorandum (Enclosure 2) prepared for Their Highnesses' consideration, in which was embodied my conclusion that the postal administrations of Malaya should cease to be members of the Universal Postal Union, and that Malaya "should be constituted as a single unit therein. I also emphasized the fact that each State would have its separate stamp issue.
(5
10. I alluded to this matter once again in my recent address at the budget session of the Federal Council (attended in state by Their Highnesses the Rulers of Perak, Selangor, and Negri Sembilan) in the following terms :-
"The creation of the Postal Board, foreshadowed in my Sri Menanti memo- randum, is dependent on the prior formation of a Malayan Postal Union, and draft articles of agreement are now under consideration by the Federal and Colonial Governments. When the scheme matures, each State of the Federation will have its own stamp issue as in the days before the Treaty of 1896; each State stamp, however, will display the superscription Malaya in addition to the name of the State, and this arrangement may be taken as emblematic of my whole policy, which is the restoration of full political individuality to each local Government under a scheme for the joint administration of common enter- prises."
Ever since the States of Kedah, Kelantan, and Trengganu came under British protec- tion in 1909 and were allowed their separate stamp issues (which they had not been permitted by Siam) the previous loss of their individual issues by the four States of the Federation has been a matter for Malay political comment. For example, the late Orang Kaya Kaya Seri Adika Raja, Wan Muhammad Saleh, I.S.O., of Perak, made a statement which is still remembered and repeated. The tiger, he said, was the emblem of the British Government; and the tiger's head on the original stamp designs of the four States meant that they were being administered with the help of British brains. In the next issue the tiger was depicted springing out from the jungle, half its body being visible. That represented that the British were no longer content with giving advice, but wanted possession of the country. Finally, in the federal stamp issue the whole tiger emerged, and the Federation was administered in nearly all respects as a Crown Colony. I record this statement because I wish to make it clear that the question of separate stamp issues is not an entirely unimportant side issue, but has political implications, which cannot be ignored in any scheme for decentralization or for postal reorganization.
11. In the course of the Durbar at Sri Menanti I showed to the Rulers rough sketches of the type of stamps proposed. Photographs of these sketches* (Enclo- sure 3), are attached to give a general idea of what is intended, but I made it clear that the choice of a design for the centre in each set of stamps would lie with the Ruler and State concerned. Only the marginal pattern would be common to all the sets. I emphasized the need for placing the word " Malaya and explained further that I was of opinion that in the public interest all postage on these new issues, stamps issued in Malaya should be available for use throughout the Peninsula, and should not be restricted as at present to the Colony or States in which they are issued. Their Highnesses expressed their satisfaction with these proposals which, I am certain, are in fact most acceptable to them.
12. Subsequently I gave instructions for the preparation of a draft agreement for the formation of a Postal Union under the style of Malaya. I directed that this agreement should be drafted for signature between the Colony the Straits Settle- ments and the Rulers and Government of the Federated Malay States in the first instance. I enclose a copy of this draft (Enclosure 4). Entrance of the other Malay States into the Union at a later date would be effected in each case by a declaration of adherence in the form of Enclosure 5.
13. This draft agreement has been carefully considered by the Law Officers of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States and has received the approval of both these Governments. In brief outline the draft provides for the establishment of a Postal Union, to be placed under the control of a representative Board under * Not reproduced here.
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