So It Seems That A Most Queerly Muddled System Of Law Prevails Under
Our Flag, Mohammedan Law, Modified By Degenerate
And evil custom, and
to some extent by the discretion of the residents, existing alongside
of fragments of English criminal
Law, or more perhaps correctly of
"justice's justice," the Resident's notions of "equity," overriding all
else.* Surely, as we have practically acquired those States, and are
responsible for their good government, we ought to give them the
blessing of a simple code of law, of which the residents shall be only
the responsible interpreters, modified by the true "Malay custom" of
course, but under the same conditions which are giving such growing
satisfaction to the peoples of India and Ceylon.
[*A Colonial friend tells me that he asked an English magistrate in one
of the native States, by what law - English, Colonial, or Malay - he had
sentenced some culprits to three years' imprisonment, and that the reply
was a shrug, and "The rascals were served right."]
The oaths are equally inscrutable, and probably no oath, however
terrible in formula, would restrain a Chinese coolie witness from
telling a lie, if he thought it would be to his advantage.*
[*Sir Benson Maxwell, late Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements, to
whose kindness I am much indebted, wrote to me lately thus: "In China I
believe an oath is rarely taken; when it is, it is in the form of an
imprecation. The witness cuts off a cock's head, and prays that he may
be so treated if he speaks falsely." "Would you cut off a cock's head to
that?" I once asked a Chinese witness who had made a statement which I
did not believe. "I would cut off an elephant's head to it," he replied.
In the Colonial courts, Chinamen are sworn by burning a piece of paper
on which is written some imprecation on themselves if they do not speak
the truth.]
I went to see the jail, a tolerable building - a barred cage below, and
a long room above - standing in a graveled courtyard, surrounded by a
high wall. Formerly there were no prisons, and criminals were punished
on the spot, either by being krissed, shot, or flogged. Here they have
a liberal diet of rice and salt fish, and "hard labor" is only mild
work on the roads. The prisoners, forty-two adult men, were drawn up in
a row, and Mr. Syers called the roll, telling the crime of each man,
and his conduct in prison; and most of those who had conducted
themselves well were to be recommended to the Sultan for remission of
part of their sentences. "Flog them if they are lazy," the Resident
often said; but Mr. Syers says that he never punishes them except under
aggravated circumstances. The prisoners are nearly all Chinamen, and
their crimes are mostly murder, gang-robbery, assault, and theft.
About half of them were in chains. There is an unusual mortality in the
prison, attributed, though possibly not _attributable_, to the enforced
disuse of opium. We went also to the hospital, mainly used by the
police, a long airy shed, with a broad shelf on each side. Mr. Klyne,
the apothecary, a half-caste, has a good many Malay dispensary
patients.
On our return, four Malay women, including the Imaum's wife, came to
see me. Each one would have made a picturesque picture, but they had no
manners, and seized on my hands, which are coarsened, reddened, and
swelled from heat and mosquito bites, all exclaiming, "chanti!
chanti!" - pretty! pretty! I wondered at their bad taste, specially as
they had very small and pretty hands themselves, with almond-shaped
nails.
In the evening the "establishment" dined at the Residency. After
dinner, as we sat in the darkness in the veranda, maddened by mosquito
bites, about 9:30, the bugle at the fort sounded the "alarm," which was
followed in a few seconds by the drum beating "to quarters," and in
less than five minutes every approach to the Residency was held by men
with fixed bayonets, and fourteen rounds of ball-cartridges each in
their belts, and every road round Klang was being patrolled by pickets.
I knew instinctively that it was "humbug," arranged to show the
celerity with which the little army could be turned out; and shortly an
orderly arrived with a note - "False alarm;" but Klang never subsided
all night, and the Klings beat their tom-toms till daylight. I am
writing at dawn now, in order that my letter may "catch the mail."
I. L. B.
LETTER XVI
A Yachting Voyage - The Destruction of Selangor - Varieties of
Slime - Swamp Fever - An Unprosperous Region - A "Deadly-Lively"
Morning - A Waif and Stray - The Superintendent of Police
STEAM-LAUNCH "ABDULSAMAT" February 7.
You will certainly think, from the dates of my letters, that I am
usually at sea. The Resident, his daughter, Mrs. Daly, Mr. Hawley, a
revenue officer, and I, left Klang this morning at eight for a two
days' voyage in this bit of a thing. Blessed be "the belt of calms!"
There was the usual pomp of a body-guard, some of whom are in
attendance, and a military display on the pier, well drilled, and well
officered in quiet, capable, admirable, unobtrusive Mr. Syers; but
gentle Mrs. Douglas, devoted to her helpless daughter, standing above
the jetty, a lone woman in forlorn, decayed Klang, haunts me as a
vision of sadness, as I think of her sorrow and her dignified
hospitality in the midst of it.
Now, at half-past eleven, we are aground with an ebb-tide on the bar of
the Selangor river; so I may write a little, though I should like to be
asleep.
Bernam River, Selangor, February 8th. - "Chi-laka!" (worthless
good-for-nothing wretch), "Bodo!" (fool). I hear these words repeated
incessantly in tones of thunder and fury, with accompaniments which
need not be dwelt upon. The Malays are a revengeful people. If any
official in British service were to knock them about and insult them,
one can only say what has been said to me since I came to the native
States:
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