CO882-10 — Page 525

25

498

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

CO. 882/10

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC.- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

Introduc. tory.

Vague fear of amalgama-

tion of the

Malay States

with the

Colony:

must be removed.

น

1

31

The present

Federated States.

Gradual zrowth of

(54248/24.)

No. 12.

The HIGH COMMISSIONER to the SECRETARY OF STATE.

MALAY STATES.

(Secret.)

SIB,

(Received 18th November 1924.)

[Answered by No. 14.]

Government House, Singapore.

21st October, 1924. I HAVE the honour to place before you my views on the political development of Malaya. During the period of my administration I have lost no opportunity of discussing the question with all those whom I considered competent to give me information and advice: I have made it my business, by frequent visits, to get into close touch and terms of intimacy with the Rulers both in the Federated and Unfederated States; and as a result I have arrived at very definite conclusions, which I believe to be in accord with the views held by the Rulers, and by the abler members of the Malayan Civil Service, especially those in whose hands the chief responsibility for the future administration of Malaya will probably rest.

2. I must preface my observations by remarking that over-centralisation in the Federated Malay States led to an apprehension that, despite treaties and assurances, amalgamation of the Malay States with the Colony was the ultimate goal of British policy. The more liberal policy which has governed the development of the newly protected Unfederated States has done much to dispel that apprehension and the proof of the genuineness of our assurances, which the adoption of the policy I am about to recommend would give, should finally remove the last traces of it.

I. Natural Tendencies in Malaya towards Unity.

3. There is a strong tendency in Malaya towards economic and administrative unity. The country is a geographical and largely a racial unit, and has community of industrial interests. The Colony, the Federated and Unfederated States have one Governor and High Commissioner. They have now one Civil Service, the transfer of whose officers to the various parts of the country has resulted in the removal of old misunderstandings and the pooling of experience. They have joint services for Education, Forests, Surveys and Agriculture. Members of the Police, the Medical and the Public Works Departments are moved from one local administration to another, and the whole Peninsula is served by one Railway system. The Malay Rulers of to-day are friends with many common interests instead of the jealous exclusive feudal potentates of half a century ago.

II. The Restrictions which hamper that tendency explained.

4. But there is also a centrifugal tendency, which in practical politics emerges especially in the marked aversion of the Unfederated States to enter the Federation. The causes of that aversion require explanation.

5. When in 1874 the Residential system was introduced, the Rulers and Chiefs of the States that now form the Federation were autoorate with little sense of responsibility to their people and no modern education. This in effect forced the British officers of that day to gather the reins of Government into their own hands." Owing to their tact and the material development of the States the Malays accepted bureauroy the new regime without much resentment. Unfortunately the rapidity of that material development outstripped the education of the Malay. Asistio subordinates, different in religion and manners from the people of the Peninsula, were employed in all departments of Government and monopolised the most prized posts in the subordinate service. To-day many of the younger generation of Malays have learnt English and are led by economio pressure and changed ideals to seek Government employment.

developing

to an "Amalga- mation

ather than a" Federa- tion" of

these States.

6. Federation and the pooling of the capital of the four States first protected tightened the reins of their efficient non-Malay bureaucracy: the claims of commercial interests became so insistent that it was no longer convenient to leave even to the Residents any real powers to exercise: and the demand for uniformity handed all authority to the Resident-General.

7. As far back as 1903, the most enlightened of the Rulers, the late Sultan Idris Past warning of Perak, had publicly protested against over-centralisation as follows:--

unsuccessful

against, and

A Malay proverb says that there cannot be two masters to one vessel. attempt to Neither can there be four Rulers over one country.

chook, over- contralisa.

"It is my hope that the affairs of each State may be managed by its own tion. officers, so that the Governments may be separate entities.

"The appointment of a wise and prudent Resident-General is of great advantage to all these States united in friendship; and I therefore sincerely hope that he will bear in mind the duties and powers of the Residents, because it is provided by the Pangkor Treaty that the Residents are the advisers of their Sultans.”

Later Sir John Anderson also saw the danger.

8. As I wrote eighteen months ago :--

"Sir John Anderson knew that when the States now forming the Federation came under British protection, the intention was that administra- tion should still be carried on by the Malay Rulers aided by British Residents, whose advice the Rulers agreed to follow in all matters other than those of Malay religion and custom.

"He knew that up to 1896 the State Councils had taken an active part in the general control of public affairs and in legislation. He realised that under Federation the control had gradually passed into the hands of the Resident-General, that the power of a State Council had become in matters of administration nominal, and that as regards legislation, owing to the policy of aiming at uniformity as between the different States, its functions had declined into those of a registering body.

46

Sir John Anderson admitted that the conditions attaching to Federation had, at the date of its introduction, been agreed to by the Rulers and Residents of the day, but six years' experience as High Commissioner had convinced him that both Rulers and Residents were dissatisfied with its working: that the Residents felt the loss of their authority and effective power and control, and that both Rulers and Residents would welcome any measure which brought His Majesty's representative, the High Commissioner, directly into the administration and associated them with him."

the

9. The changes introduced by Sir John may be summarised as follows: establishment of a Federal Council with the High Commissioner as President, the institution of Conferences between the High Commissioner, the Residents and the Chief Staff Officer in the Federated States, and the alteration of the title of the Chief Staff Officer from Resident-General to "Chief Secretary to Government." Sir John's objects were twofold. In the first place he aimed at making the High Commissioner the real responsible Head of the Administration, in close touch with the Rulers and Residents, and in that he largely succeeded. But he also hoped that an indirect result of the changes would be (to continue the quotation from my despatch of eighteen months ago)-

"to restore to the Rulers and Residents the fuller powers and responsibilities which they exercised before Federation.

"In this respect his hopes were not realised. Administration gradually became more and more centralised in the office of the Chief Secretary. The process was probably partly unconscious, but whatever the cause, the result is clear. The powers and influence of the State Councils and the Residents gradually diminished, and increasing efficiency and uniformity under the Central Government have been purchased at the price of the individuality and legitimate independence of the States." 10. Sir John's hopes were not realised for two reasons.

In the first place, though he had recognised that " Federation and a "Resident-General had become two mutually exclusive ideas, the former connoting co-ordination and the latter amalgamation, he did not go far enough. He concentrated on the adjust- ment of the relative positions of the High Commissioner and his Chief Staff Officer, and by the change of the latter's title to "Chief Secretary to Government," he emphasised the principle that he is an officer of the High Commissioner, his principal adviser and mouthpiece in the Federated Malay States, and not the quasi-independent

"