On A Single Chinese Plantation, Near Kwala Lumpor,
There Are Over Two Thousand Acres Of Tapioca Under Cultivation, And The
Enterprising Chinaman Who Owns It Has Imported European Steam Machinery
For Converting The Tapioca Roots Into The Marketable Article.
Whatever
enterprise I hear of in the interior is always in the hands of
Chinamen.
Klang looks as if an incubus oppressed it, and possibly the
Chinese are glad to be as far as possible from the seat of what
impresses me as a fussy Government. At all events, Klang, from whatever
cause, has a blighted look; and deserted houses rapidly falling into
decay, overgrown roads, fields choked with weeds, and an absence of
life and traffic in the melancholy streets, have a depressing
influence. The people are harassed by a vexatious and uncertain system
of fees and taxes, calculated to engender ill feeling, and things
connected with the administration seem somewhat "mixed."
You will be almost tired of the Chinese, but the more I see of them the
more I am impressed by them. These States, as well as Malacca, would be
jungles with a few rice clearings among them were it not for their
energy and industry. Actually the leading man, not only at Kwala
Lumpor (now the seat of government), but in Selangor, is Ah Loi, a
Chinaman! During the disturbances before we "advised" the State, the
Malays burned the town of Kwala Lumpor three times, and he rebuilt it,
and, in spite of many disasters stuck to it at the earnest request of
the native government. He has made long roads for the purpose of
connecting the most important of the tin mines with the town. His
countrymen place implicit confidence in him, and Mr. Syers, the
admirable superintendent of police, tells me that by his influence and
exertions he has so successfully secured peace and order in his town
and district that during many years not a single serious crime has been
committed. He employs on his estate - in mines, brickfields, and
plantations - over four thousand men. He has the largest tapioca estate
in the country and the best machinery. He has introduced the
manufacture of bricks, has provided the sick with an asylum, has been
loyal to British interests, has been a most successful administrator in
the populous district intrusted to him, and has dispensed justice to
the complete satisfaction of his countrymen. While he is the creator of
the commercial interests of Selangor, he is a man of large aims and of
an enlightened public spirit. Is there no decoration of St. Michael or
St. George in reserve for Ah Loi?* So far, however, from receiving any
suitable recognition of his services, it is certain that Ah Loi's
claims for compensation for losses, etc., have not yet been settled.
[*The months after my visit, Ah Loi received the Sultan of Selangor for
several days with great magnificence, and in July, 1880, he entertained
the Governor of the Straits Settlements and his suite with yet greater
splendor, erecting for the occasion a fine banqueting-hall with open
sides.]
Sir F. A. Weld writes of this visit - "At Kwala Lumpor, besides the
reception and a dinner at the Capitan China's, a Chinese theatrical
performance was given representing a sultan and great rajahs,
quarreling, but laying aside their quarrels on the appearance of a
'governor,' who pacifies the country.
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