CO882-(2-3) — Page 224

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.

882

2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE

BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

162. First riots in Larut

Governor to Sultan,

March 28, 1862.

Sultan to Governor, May 15, 1862.

142

to the Rajah Muda. After all that has passed between them, he feels that his position in Laroot is at stake. No doubt it was some fear of this kind that originally led him to support the Bandabara. The position he has held since 1862 is a new one, there are no precedents either way, and whether or not a new Sultan could depose him, would be less a question of the right than of the power to do so.

(3.) The point at issue has called forth much partisan feeling among the Chiefs of the neighbouring States Kedah and Salangore. Those who support Tunku Dia Udin at Salangore are on the side of the Rajah Muda, while those who are engaged against him, are with the Bandahara. The Chiefs, who have so long been struggling with each other for possession of the mining districts in Salangore, care little to see a peaceful settlement effected in Perak, except in the interests of their respective sides.

4. Larut.

To appreciate the present position of the Laroot affairs it is necessary to revert to the time of the late Sultan Jaafar of Perak, and Inchi Long Jaafar, father of the present Muntri.

1

Inchi Jaafar was a trader at Bukit Gantang several miles beyond the tin mines; his dealings were principally with the Chinese miners, and although the Chinese com- munity was then small and the place apparently unknown to Europeans, about the year 1855 he had become a person of some importance.

The Sultan at this time gave Inchi Jaafar charge of the district, which was then limited to the river and the mines, without any title, in which office he probably received most of the revenues of Laroot. From this time each successive Sultan has confirmed the appointment.

Inchi Jaafar died about the period when the affairs of Laroot first attracted the attention of Government; his brother Inchi Ngah Lamat succeeded him.

It was in his time that the first fighting took place amongst the Chinese,

The Cheng Sia (Go Kwans) attacked the Wee Chew (See Kwans) whose place has now been taken by the Sin Nengs.

It has always been said, and it appears probable from the Sultan's letter of the 15th March, 1862, that Ngah Ibrahim, the present Muntri, sided on this occasion with the Go Kwan party, who came off victorious; and it is certain that he dates his fortunes from this point.

One of the leaders of the defeated party, a British subject, complained to the Resident Councillor of Penang of the loss he had suffered from the destruction of his property at the mines. This resulted in two visits to Perak from a man of war carrying letters from Governor Cavenagh with a demand (enforced by a blockade of the River Laroot) for an indemnity amounting to 17,447 dollars to recoup the defeated party for the damages inflicted upon them. The Sultan, after some delay, replied most submissively. He treated the indemnity claimed as a forfeiture due from Ngah Ibrahim, saying that the latter had waited upon him at Perak and agreed to pay it. He moreover confirmed the Government of Laroot upon Ngah Ibrahim to be held independently ("prentah sendirinia") with the advice of the Laksamana. This appointment was apparently in consideration of his having found the indemnity money; there was no mention of his name in the Governor's letter. The Sultan alluded to him merely as Ngah Ibrahim, but soon after promoted him to the high office of "Orang Kaya Muntri " of Perak, one of the "Muntri Ümpat," or four chief officers; and before long he was acknowledged to be practically the independent ruler of Laroot, including the district between the River Krean on the north and the River Bruas on the south. The Laksamana's name seems to have been inserted merely to add weight to the appointment; he has never exercised any authority in Laroot. The whole district, since ruled by the Muntri was not previously

known as one Government.

From that period until the beginning of 1872 the Muntri enjoyed all the royalties and other revenues of the country. These have much increased of late years with the growth of the Chinese mining population, whose number at the close of 1871 were estimated at 40,000. The value of the tin imported at Penang that year, the greater part of which comes from Laroot, was stated in the official returns at 1,276,518 dollars.

But circumstances had already occurred to show that the Muntri was losing his control over the miners. He had already yielded to their demands so far as to do away with the remunerative gambling farm. At the death of the late Sultan the weakness of his autho- rity was shown in another matter. The Chinese sugar planter (Koh Bo An) who rented the farms of the Krean district, ceased to pay his rent to the Muntri, alleging that the pay- ment was made not to him but to the Sultan.

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On the 25th February, 1872, the Muntri announced to the Lieutenant-Governor

1872.

the commencement of the disturbances in Laroot. He stated that, while in Penang, he Commencement of had heard rumours of fighting, and on the 12th had crossed over to Laroot. Next day, disturbances. while he was investigating the quarrel, fires broke out at the mines, and the Go Kwan faction was driven out, most of them crossing over to Penang. The Muntri asked for aid, apparently against the Go Kiwans, remarking that it was not unlikely many of the Head- men were in Penang.

The disturbances did not cease till the 26th March, when the whole of the Go Kwan faction had been turned out of the country with great loss of property.

For a short time much lawlessness, such as is now going on, prevailed in the neigh- bourhood.

Between the 16th March and the 8th April, five petitions, as named in the margin,* were addressed to the Lieutenant-Governor; the first three referred to vessels (one of them a steamer) either plundered or threatened by piratical junks at the mouth of the Laroot River, the two later ones complained of the Muntri's own conduct. Their petitions recall the circumstances of the previous riots in 1862. The Chinamen who petition are, as in that case, miners ruined by the victorious faction, with whom the Muntri is again alleged to have sided, even to the extent of sharing the pillaged property. He admits in his letter of the 28th March that he had thought fit to imprison three of the Headinen. The only measure of redress afforded to the present complainants was a letter from the Governor to the Muntri, expressing his Excellency's conviction that "his friend would do what was right in the matter," which the Muntri answered by denying the Chinamen's assertions.

The correspondence closed with a letter from the Governor informing the Lieutenant- July 25, 1872 Governor of this, and adding that his Excellency could not interfere.

The Go Kwan party was completely defeated, and all fighting was soon over.

As to

the piratical junks complained of, upon this first occasion the presence of Her Majesty's steamer "Zebra" in April proved sufficient to repress any further attempts.

On 24th April Mr. Irving visited Laroot in the "Pluto" to make inquiry about the Perak succession, and, except the stockades in the town, found no sign of disorder. He did not go up to the mines, however, which no official appears to have reached since Lieutenant-Governor Birch's visit in July 1871, immediately after the Salangore affair.

Throughout these first disturbances the Muntri so far held his own that he was able to remain in the country. He could hardly be expected to do more, for Mr. Birch stated in his letter of February 25, 1872, that "there are at least 40,000 Chinese working in these mines, and the force at the disposal of the Raja Muntri of Larnot consists of forty policemen."

With August 1872 commences the second stage of the Laroot disturbances. To Second disturb understand what follows, the relation of the various Kwans (country divisions) with each ances. other and with the great Hoeys (or Kongsees) whose head-quarters are in Penang, should be made clear. The miners consist of "Cantonese" (here called Macaos) and "Kehs,' who are unfriendly and speak different dialects. These two great race divisions, though at the bottom of all the disturbances, have become much confused, many siding with the Kongsee to which they belong rather than with their own people. The present parties are best known by the names of See Kwans and Go Kwans, as follows:-

See Kwan, four districts.--Sin Neng, Sin Whee, Seow Keng, Whee Chew; mostly Gee Hins and Cantonese.

Go Kwan, five districts. Cheng Sia, Fee Say, Soon Tek, Lam Hye, Tong Quan: mostly Hye Sans and Kehs.

On the 27th August, 1872, the Muntri addressed a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor

of Penang (Mr Campbell) in which he made bitter complaints of the trouble that had now befallen him." The complaint was on two grounds.

1. That all the Chinese who had left Laroot during the late disturbances were collecting together for the purpose of attacking him, and that many of his own relatives had taken sides with them.

2. That two persons, Mr. Bacon and Wan Junoos of Kedah, were, in the name of the Raja Muda, raising disturbances in Krean [this latter point has more to do with the question of the Perak succession, which from this period has been mixed up with the Laroot affairs.]

The police inquiries showed that the Muntri was not exaggerating matters, much September 2, 1872.

* 27 Penang traders (Chinese), March 16; 3 Larut traders (Malays), March 18; 10 Sumatra traders,

April 4; 1 Chinese trader, April 6; 4 Chinese traders, April 8.