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. Addresses and odes were also sung
and recited to me from the stage, and the performers representing the
great personages prostrated themselves and made obeisances. The
dresses were all real hand-worked gold and silver embroidery on thick
silks of the richest colors. The princes were attended by their
warriors, some of whose helmets and arms were magnificent, with banners
and feather standards, and coats of arms, or their equivalents, borne
aloft by heralds; ladies also appeared, one a prima-donna, other
actresses rode hobby-horses, only the head of the woman and hobby-horse
being visible in the clouds of silk and gold. Jesters jested; and
tumblers, in blue, loose tunics and wide scarlet trousers, shot across
the stage when there was any room in front of the crowd of actors with
the rapidity of meteors. The pace was too great to be even sure that
they were human beings. I have seen Kean's Shakespearian revival
pageants formerly in London, but I never realized what a mediaeval
court pageant might have been till in the heart of the Malay Peninsula
I saw the most gorgeous combination of color and picturesque effect
that I have ever set eyes upon."]
Klang does not improve on further acquaintance. It looks as if half the
houses were empty, and certainly half the population is composed of
Government employes, chiefly police constables. There is no air of
business energy, and the queerly mixed population saunters with limp
movements; even the few Chinese look depressed, as if life were too
much for them. It looks too as if there were a need for holding down
the population (which I am sure there isn't), for in addition to the
fort and its barracks, military police stations are dotted about. A
jail, with a very high wall, is in the middle of the village. The
jungle comes so near to Klang that tigers and herds of elephants,
sometimes forty strong, have been seen within half a mile of it. In
Sungei Ujong there was some excitement about a "rogue elephant" (i.e.,
an elephant which for reasons which appear good to other elephants, has
been expelled from the herd, and has been made mad and savage by
solitude), which, after killing two men, has crossed the river into
Selangor, and is man-killing here. A few days ago a man catching sight
of him in the jungle took refuge in a tree, and the brute tore the tree
down with its trunk, and trampled the poor fellow to death, his
companion escaping during the process.
Yesterday evening we had service in the hall, the whole white
population being "rounded up" for it; seven men and two women, three of
whom are Roman Catholics. The congregation sat under one punkah and the
Resident under another, both being worked by bigoted Mohammedans!
Everything was "ship-shape," as becomes Mr. Douglas's antecedents; a
union jack over the desk, from which the liturgy was read, and a
tiger-skin over the tiles in front, the harmonium well played, the
singing and chanting excellent. We had one of the most beautiful of the
Ambrosian hymns, and possibly Dr. Bonar may like to hear that his hymn,
"I heard the voice of Jesus say," was sung with equal enjoyment by
Catholics and Protestants in the wilds of the Golden Chersonese.
There is an almost daily shower here, and it is lovely now, with a
balmy freshness in the air.
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