An Account of Affairs in Larut Leading to British Intervention

Ed. Note: This issue of the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society includes an account of the situation in Larut prior to British intervention in 1874. The following is an account based on first-hand reports of the period immediately prior to 1874, prepared by Leonard Wray, Jun. (1852–1942), who joined the Perak civil service in 1881 and was Curator of the Perak Museum.

Source: Leonard Wray, Jun. The Tin Mines and the Mining Industries of Perak and Other Papers (Taiping, Perak: Government Printing Office, 1894: 9–13).

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Captain Speedy, the first Assistant Resident of Perak, gives the following account of the beginning of the mining industry in Larut. 'But although the wealth of this kingdom [Perak] was thus early recognised, Larut appears to have been totally unexplored until 1848. During that year an enterprising Malay named Che Long Jaffar,¹ while bathing in a stream had his attention arrested by some black sand, which, when assayed, was found to be tin. He immediately took steps for obtaining coolies, and with twenty Chinese from thee Chin Seah district, opened a mine at a place called Galian Pao [Klian Pau, near where the Museum now stands], which proved to be extremely lucrative.

'As the report or this success reached China, a large number of other emigrants, comprising the men of many districts (generally, but erroneously, designated "tribes"), flocked to Larut, and the mineral resources of this country then first began to be in some measure developed.²

'In 1862 quarrels relating to the ownership of the mines arose between the Chin Seah and the men of another district—viz., the Fui Chin, which ended in the expulsion from the country of the latter.

'In consequence of the representations of some of the Fui Chins, who were naturalised British subjects, the then Resident Councillor of Penang, Colonel Mann, sent a man-of-war to demand compensation from the Raja or Larut for the serious losses which the complainants had sustained.

'The Raja, in his turn, demanded this of the Chin Seah, and the sum of $17,500 was accordingly obtained.

'During the ten succeeding years, affairs in Larut appear to have been tolerably peaceful, but early in 1872 disturbances again broke out among the miners, which soon assumed a most serious aspect.

'Two factions were formed, called respectively,—after the districts in China from which the men came—Sih Quan and Goh Quan—viz., Five Districts and Four Districts.³

'The government or the country was at this time in the hands of the resent Mantri, Ngah Ibrahim (son of the above-mentioned Che Long Jaffar), and it was in great measure owing to the weakness and vacillation shown by him in siding alternately with each faction, together with the inability of his police force to render effectual assistance to either, that he lost the confidence of both parties, at this time comprising nearly four-fifths of the entire population of Larut.

'So complete was the ruin brought about by this most disastrous warfare, that the country became almost depopulated—villages were demolished wholesale, thousands of people were massacred, the destruction to property was enormous, the land was laid waste and not only did Larut itself thus suffer, but the returns of the value of imports at Penang during the years 1872 and 1873 showed a decrease of nearly 1,000,000 dollars, owing to the cessation of the importation of tin to that island from Larut.

'This distressing state of affairs continued to exist until the beginning of the year under review (1874), when it was most happily ended by the judicious policy of His Excellency [Colonel Sir Andrew Clarke, the then Governor of the Straits Settlements], whereby peace and prosperity were once more established.'

This requires a little explanation. Captain T. C. S. Speedy, formerly of N.M. 18th Regiment, and during the Abyssinian Expedition of 1867 interpreter to our forces on Lord Napier's staff, and subsequently Commissioner of Police in Penang, resigned the latter appointment in July, 1873, and made an agreement with the Mantri of...