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496

(85247/24.)

No. 10.

The SECRETARY OF STATE to the HIGH COMMISSIONER.

FEDERATED Malay StateS.

(Secret.)

(Answered by No. 11.)

Downing Street.

26th August, 1924.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to inform you that towards the end of his visit to this country His Highness the Sultan of Perak requested an interview with the Secretary of State to discuss certain fhatters connected with the administration of Perak, and before the interview he forwarded the memorandum of which a copy is enclosed.

2. The Sultan saw Mr. Thomas on the 6th of August and it was arranged that His Highness should call at the Colonial Office on the following day and state his case to the Far Eastern Department.

3, The Sultan came to the Colonial Office accordingly on the 7th of June and dealt generally with the points raised in his memorandum on the Federated Malay States Government's policy as affecting Perak.

He said that in the smallest matters, e.g., in the case of trifling public works, authority had to be obtained from Kuala Lumpur. Although Perak had plenty of money available, yet it was not authorised to spend it without the authority of the Chief Secretary or Head of the Federal Department concerned. He wanted to see Perak developed, e.g., in the matter of survey, but any expenditure over 500 dollars (which was so small a limit as to be practically useless) had to be approved by other than purely Perak Authorities. He referred also to the matter of the Estimates which he claimed should be prepared by Perak Authorities and not be drawn up and controlled by the Chief Secretary's Office.

4. He said that the Perak State Council was a body with practically no work to do and no powers to exercise. Before federation, it was the paramount authority in the State under the Sultan and it was essential that its authority should be restored. He compared the then position with the corresponding position of the State Councils in Johore, Kedah and other States outside the Federation.

His Highness asid that it was clearly wrong that he, the Ruler of the richest and most important State in the Peninsula, should have considerably less authority in his State than, e.g., the Sultan of Kedah had in his, while he admitted that other than purely State legislation must be still enacted jointly in the name of the Federated Malay States. No reference to a Federal Council should be necessary in the matter of Estimates of a State's revenue and expenditure.

5. With regard to the present position of the Chief Secretary, he said that this officer was now next in authority to the High Commissioner, i.e., above the Rulers, and in his opinion there should be no officer in a position to dictate to the Sultan and Rulers except the High Commissioner himself. He said that he very much appreciated the friendship of yourself, but realised that you were naturally dependent in dealing with problems arising in the Federated Malay States on your Federated Malay States advisers, when details were concerned with which you could not personally be acquainted.

6. The Sultan then referred to the remarks he had put in his memorandum as to gambling and opium farms. He was told that there was no prospect of the re-establishment of the farms or the old system of monopolies, since that would be regarded by public opinion in this country as a retrograde step.

7. His Highness also represented that the invasion of Malaya by Indian and Chinese chetties was a danger to the native Malays. These people charged unconscionable rates of interest and he thought it possible that in time the effect would be to reduce the Malays generally to a state of poverty and to deprive them gradually of their land and other property. He would like to see his own people in Perak prohibited from dealing with these ohetties and he had advocated this with the Chief Secretary who was, however, opposed to it. In consequence there was no prospect of such a measure being brought into force in Perak, whereas if the State Council had the power to enact purely State legislation it would be done forthwith.

The Sultan was promised sympathetic consideration of his proposal in the matter of the legislative authority of the Perak State Council and was also promised that the question of the Sultan's father's income from the Kampar Tin Mines should be looked into.

8. His Highness referred to his desire to see The Dindings and Pangkor restored to his State. He said that he would warmly welcome this concession and was promised that the matter should have consideration, though the Colonial Office was not aware to what extent importance was attached to the retention of those districts as part of the Colony of the Straits Settlements.

9. The Sultan referred to the observations he made in his memorandum as to the private means of the Rulers and he said that he thought the Government should set aside for the benefit of the Ruler an estate from which he would derive an income, and it was in his opinion not right that a Ruler should have to put in an application for any piece of land he wanted in his own State for approval by some outside authority.

10. In the matter of property inheritance in accordance with the Mohammedan custom, the Sultan complained that excessive charges on the estate of a deceased person were caused by the necessity of employing a lawyer to have such a matter arranged. He thought that the fees levied on the estate for these charges were excessive and could be avoided if the Government would agree to accept the require- ments of the usual Mohammedan custom in such matters and would be prepared to give official recognition of the inheritance of property accordingly without the necessity of a lawyer's arguments.

11. The Sultan said that Malay Cadets, although in possession of similar qualifications as regards legal knowledge, &c., as those required from British Cadets in the Malayan service were, nevertheless, paid at considerably lower rates than the British; moreover, that the Malays were not even paid adequate salaries, as he himself knew from having been in the service of the Federated Malay States before he succeeded to the Sultanate; the result was that the Malay Cadete suffer greater temptation in the way of accepting bribes, &c., than their British colleagues. It was promised that this latter evil should be remedied and that the questions as to pay, and pensions referred to in the Sultan's memorandum under "Rulers and Chiefs " should be investigated.

12. On the very important general question raised by the Sultan as to the powers of himself and his State Council and the position of the Resident of Perak his complaints are amply borne out by the printed memorandum written by Sir W. G. Maxwell and dated the 15th of October, 1920, of which copies were sent to you in Mr. Churchill's Confidential despatch of the 23rd of March, 1921. Since that date the policy recommended in the memorandum has been adopted and fit has been decided to restore powers to the Sultan and State Council and to decentralise so far as possible with a view to the creation hereafter of a wider and more loosely knit federation of all the Malay States, into which it has been contemplated that the Federated Malay States would enter as a unit, if they continue to be constituted as they are at present.

13. In your despatch No. 46 of the 30th of January, 1923,‡ you deal with this policy, especially with the proposed increase in the functions and powers of the State Councils. I am not aware how far this increase has actually taken place, but, in view of the Sultans' representations and the profound dissatisfaction which he shows with the present position, it seems clear that the transfer of powers cannot have proceeded far.

14. Again, with regard to decentralisation, I am aware from your despatches No. 698 of the 23rd of December, 1923,§ and No. 124 of the 29th of February, last|| that amendments of the General Order have been made in this direction, but on looking at them again I see that there is really little transfer of power. The Residents in the different States are to be informed and consulted but the power of headquarters and of the Federal Departments acting under its directions remain almost unimpaired. Similarly, by Enactment No. 2 of 1924 sent home in your despatch No. 277 of the 7th of May last-though this again is a step in the right direction-the Chief Secretary retains the full power of deciding what functions may be exercised by the Residents and of revoking such decisions at his pleasure.

* No. 1.

j No. 6.

† 51135/20: not printed.

15212: not printed.

‡ No. 4.

No. 8.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

LITT

C.O.

Reference :-

882/10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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