Treaty of Perak

Engagement entered into at Pangkor Island by the Headmen of Chinese Secret Societies from Perak (Draft)

20 January 1874
Tuesday

A This photograph is tagged as 2001/0025983W by Arkib Negara. The photograph is tagged as GBR/0115/RCS/BAM 3/11 by Cambridge University Library.view looking along a street in Kĕlian Bahru 新吉輦 (present-day Kamunting) lined with the premises of Chinese shopkeepers, and with an The elephant story of Larut has many versions. The following version was recounted by Wilkinson and Winstedt (1934) in The History of Perak: . . . at a later date and elephant that was being used by the miners escaped into the Kamunting jungles and when recaptured was found to be covered with mud rich in tin. The prospecting done by this elephant led to a rush to Kamunting - to the “new mines," or Kĕlian Baharu as the place came to be called (see p. 78).elephant in the foreground (circa 1890?) by August E. Kaulfuß. Kĕlian (كليان) is the See R. J. Wilkinson (1901) Malay-English Dictionary, p. 38, p. 560. See also R. J. Wilkinson (1908) An abridged Malay-English dictionary, p. 101.

Siti Hawa Salleh (1970) pointed out that "ک" and "ݢ" are often interchangeable in Kedah Malay. Siti Hawa Salleh (1970) Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, p. 243.Kedah pronunciation of galian (ݢاليان) = a surface mine or a mining site of precious mineral in general. Kĕlian Bahru was the second Larut site and it was dominated by Huizhou 惠州 Hakka tribe (and later by Xinning 新寧 Hakka tribe). The older site, Kĕlian Pauh 吉輦包, was managed by another Hakka tribe from Zengcheng 增城. The Zengcheng Hakka was the first Hakka tribe brought in to work in Larut from Penang by Long Ja‘far.

Whereas, differences have existed among the Chinese employed as miners and otherwise at Larut in the Kingdom of Perak, which differences have been referred to the decision of His Excellency the Governor of the Straits Settlements, and whereas, His Excellency the Governor has examined into the matter and has decided thereon as follows:—

1. That both the said contending parties shall be disarmed and On 23 February 1874, Dunlop, Swettenham and Pickering reported that this item is honored by the Hakka tribes.the stockades destroyed.
2. That both shall be at liberty to return to their work at Larut.
3. That one or more Officers of the Government of the Straits Settlements together with two Chinese to be chosen for that purpose by the parties bounden in this Bond, shall be employed as Commissioners to settle all claims as to the mines occupied and business conducted by both the contending parties, their decision or the decision of a majority of them to be final.
4. That all future arrangements as to the supply of water for the several mines shall be subject to the orders and regulations of the British Residents to be stationed in Perak and Larut, and their decision shall be final.
5. That the Sultan of Perak shall be a party to this arrangement, and may exercise any function necessary in the Government of his country in Larut by an Officer to be deputed for that purpose by him, and whereas, the parties hereto have accepted the said decision and agreed to be bound by it under the penalty of this Bond;

鑒於在霹靂王國拿律，务于礦场及其他職業的中國人之間存在的异见与分歧。事已交由海峽殖民地總督定夺。经審查后，總督閣下決議See Pek Wee Chuen (2016) State and Industry in Shaping of Local Society: The Changes of Chinese Society in Larut, a Mining Frontier of Malaya (1848-1911), PhD Thesis, National Taiwan Normal University. See p. 197.如下:

1. 兩大陣營必頇解除武裝以及拆除武裝柵欄。
2. 兩大陣營將可以自由地回到拿律的礦場工作。
3. 一名或多名海峽殖民地官員連却兩名華人將作為專員，解決拿律礦地所有權等各禑問題。該兩名華人由兩大陣營中選出，這些英國及兩名華人專員的決定或他們之中的大多數決定，將被視為是最終定案。
4. 未來礦區內的引水孜排，將依據霹靂參政司和拿律副參政司所制訂的規則和指示進行，他們的決定將被視為是最終定案。
5. 此一孜排具有霹靂蘇丹的認可，並經由他所委派的官員來加以執行。出席此會議並認却此一孜排的人也頇却意交出保證金，確保上述孜排的有效性。

Episode 1. The seed of conflict was planted on one fine The exact day was 4 July 1861 (咸豐十一年五月廿七日), approximately 49 days before Emperor Xianfeng 奕詝 died at the Summer Resort in Chengde. To run away from the Anglo-French forces, Emperor Xianfeng left the Old Summer Palace 圓明園 on 22 September 1860 (about one month earlier before Lord Elgin burned down the Old Summer Palace on 18 October 1860). Thursday in Kĕlian Pauh when a certain Zengcheng uncle named CO273-5, pp. 463 - 464Yang Kew 楊茍伯 was bullied by a group of Huizhou men (10 ~ 15). This event quickly spun into manslaughter of a Huizhou man and burning of Huizhou residences. In the end, Ngah Ibrahim emerged as the winner in this Episode when Larut was declared his fiefdom and he was given the title of ‘Mantri' by Sultan Ja‘far on 21 October 1863 for he helped to the Sultan to resolve monetarily the compensatory demand ($17,447.04) by the Huizhou tribe. Episode 2. The short-lived peace was punctured in 600 days when smouldering ember from the previous Episode flared up again on the night of 15 June 1865 (同治四年五月廿二日), this time, in a Huizhou gambling den in Kĕlian Pauh. The result: Red viscous liquid was drained out from a group of Huizhou men (14) with bamboo pipe thrust into their neck + Huizhou residences in Kelian Baharu were looted and arsoned. Huizhou leader So Ah Chiang 蘇正祥 and his men tried to escape to Penang with a Malay boat (owned by Pandak Korek) sourced in Kuala Kurau, but his entourage was shipped instead to Matang on Ngah Ibrahim's So Ah Chiang's Siamese wife, Chew Neoh, was imprisoned by Ngah Ibrahim. She and some other Huizhou women were released on 26 September 1865, after repeated pressure from the British (e.g. Deputy Police Comissioner, P. W. Earl).

Chew Neoh was physically in Pangkor when the 1874 document was signed and she recounted the story of her ill-fated husband to Governor Andrew Clarke.order. So Ah Chiang was later So Ah Chiang's story was recounted by Chin Ah Yam to Swettenham on 17 February 1874: . . . they reached the place late at night and Ah Yam after seeing the prisoners, went to the Mantri, and asked him to spare them. Ah Yam says that Soh Ah Tseang was very brave and said he did not mind if the Mantri killed him, for he said, that if he were dead he would haunt the Mantri for the rest of his (the Mantri's) life . . .

The Mantri (together with Sultan Abdullah) was shipped and exiled to Seychelles on 21 July 1877. executed at Telok Kertang. Interestingly So was Initially Huizhou tribe set up only an altar for So, but he later was upgraded to a local deity.

Another Huizhou man named Seng Meng Lee 盛明利 was deified in Titi. Sheng was captured and beheaded by the opposing tribe in the 1860 Sungei Ujong civil war.deified by the local people and his temple 太平馬登蘇藍卓廟 can be found near the confluence of Sungai Larut and Sungai Jebong Kanan. Episode 3. Chin Ah Yam 陳聖炎 was the leader of the Xinning tribe in Kĕlian Baharu and he was our lead actor in Episode 3. Note that Huizhou tribe was replaced by Xinning tribe at the end of Episode 2. Episode 3 started with a scene in which a pair of pig-baskets 猪笼 was thrown into a mining pool on 16 February 1872 after a Zengcheng man was cuckolded. The drowning of Wilfred Blythe (1969) The Impact of Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya, Oxford University Press, London, p. 176.Lee Ko Yin 李遇賢 and the Zengcheng woman was then the standard operating procedures for handling adultery-related businesses. The first scene was quickly followed by a series of violent clashes between the Xinning and Zengcheng tribes. See Straits Times Overland Journal, 11 April 1872, p. 5. Straits Times's death statistics was quoted from the Penang Gazette.

. . . by the steamer Yangtsze we have later advices from Penang. The disturbances at Laroot have ended, and the miners are resuming work. The Gazette says that some thousands of the Chinese have lost their lives during the riots, no less than 1,000 having been beheaded in one day by their opponents. Some 4,000 refugees from Laroot were quartered upon the kongsees in Penang, who found some difficulty in maintaining such a large number of idlers. Four Chinese junks were, it is said, blockading the entrance to the river when the steamer Deli last went there, and threatened to fire into her if she went that way again. The Rajah has not force enough to keep the miners in order, they numbering some 30,000, whilst there are not one-tenth that number of Malays . . . This time the death count climbed exponentially to few thousands, and this number includes 1,000 beheadings executed by opposing factions. Survivors of the last Episode of Larut Wars such as Chan Sow Lin 陳秀連 (of Panyu 番禺 tribe = Zengcheng-friendly) and Loke Yew 陸如佑 (of Zhaoqing 肇慶 tribe = Xinning-friendly) later went to Kuala Lumpur and built successful business empires there.

The primary function of numerical notation is to communicate numerical values. One cannot even lie effectively about how many enemies were killed in battle if the numerals being used are incomprehensible to the intended audience.*

*Stephen Chrisomalis (2010) Numerical Notation: A Comparative History, Cambridge University Press, New York, p. 401.

Letter signed by So Ah Chiang 蘇正祥 on 10 May 1864 (approximately 1 year before he was executed by Ngah Ibrahim in Matang) . . . an act made and passed in sixth year of the reign of his late majesty King William the fourth tihule an act to repeal and o of the present reaoin of Parliament instituted, an act for the more effec tual abolition of eachs and affirmer sione tatteer and made in various departments of the state and so t substitute declaration in lieu thereof and for the more entire suppession of voluntary and extrajudicial oaths and affidavito and to make ohe provisions for the abolition of unnecessary ??? 蘇正祥 Declared at anang?? the 10th day of May 1864 Before me XXXX?

Now these Present witness that the said parties, that is to say:—

1. Wong Ah Chong^🅖
2. Chin Ah Yam^🅖
3. Tan Ah Quay^ⓗ
4. Oh Kim Sin^ⓗ
5. Chiang Keng Bo^ⓗ
6. Lee Chim Foey^🅖
7. Ang Kang Sin^ⓗ
8. Ang Ah Kway^ⓗ
9. Yong Ban Kyet
10. Boo Ah Yen^🅖
11. Wong Teng Wai
12. Khoo Ah Chay^ⓗ
13. Leng Chap Siew
14. Chang Kang Quee^ⓗ
15. Yong Ah Ken
16. Lee Ah Fook^🅖
17. Li Ah Poh^🅖
18. Ho Ah Chew^🅖
19. Mah Yet Hin
20. Khoo Ah Quay^ⓗ
21. Wong Yang Po
22. Kok Ah Man
23. Lee Laye
24. Tan Ah Ug
25. Wung Sam Siew
26. Wong Kim Yew
27. Foo Chee Hoey

Headmen or undertakers of Tin mines or otherwise at Larut, do acknowledge themselves jointly as well as severally their and each of their Executors and Administrators, and any one or more of them their Executors and Administrators, to be bound to Her Majesty Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland in the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars, to be well and truly paid to Her said Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors, at any one or more of the Treasuries of Her said Majesty, in the Colony of the Straits Settlements.

In witness whereof, they have hereunto set their hands and seals this 20th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.

Now the condition of this Bond is such, that if the parties hereto, for themselves and for those employed by and dependent on them at Larut and elsewhere, in the business of Tin mining and otherwise, do conduct their said business at Larut and elsewhere peaceably and in accordance with Law, and do adhere to and as far as in their power cause those employed by and dependent on them to adhere to the terms of the arrangement above set out, and that this Bond may be put in suit on behalf of Her said Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors, in the name of the Attorney-General of the Straits Settlements, in any of Her Majesty's Courts having jurisdiction in the said Settlements, then this Bond to be void and of no effect, otherwise to remain in full force.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, at Pulo Pangkor, in the British Possessions, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, after having been explained in the Chinese language by me.

(The document signed in Pangkor carried only 26 signatures initially, which explains why this line says 26 signatures and seals. Ho Ghi Siu 何義壽 of Xinning 新宁 tribe, was not physically in Pangkor on 20 January 1874. He eventually put down his signature on 10 February 1874.Twenty-six Signatures and Seals).

(Signed) Chong Marcus, Chinese Interpreter.

In the presence of,

(Signed) W. A. Pickering, Witness.

(Signed) H. L. Randell, Witness.

文件的見證人如下：

1. Wong Ah Chong
2. 陳聖炎
3. 陳亞九
4. 伍庚辰
5. Chiang Keng Bo
6. 李占魁
7. Ang Kang Sin
8. Ang Ah Kway
9. Yong Ban Kyet
10. Boo Ah Yen
11. Wong Teng Wai
12. 邱鴻財
13. Leng Chap Siew
14. Actually Chang Kang Quee did not sign his name on the document, he only wrote 增城人 (Man of Zengcheng) on the agreement.鄭景貴
15. Yong Ah Ken
16. 李宗福
17. Li Ah Poh
18. 何義壽
19. Mah Yet Hin
20. Khoo Ah Quay
21. Wong Yang Po
22. Kok Ah Man
23. Lee Laye
24. Tan Ah Ug
25. Wung Sam Siew
26. Wong Kim Yew
27. Foo Chee Hoey

拿律的錫礦領袖或承包人，特此承認他們作為條約的聯合或個別執行人，以及代表他們中的任何一人或多人的條約執行人，應當向英國和愛爾蘭女王維多利亞陛下擔保五萬元，誠實地支付給女王陛下、女王陛下的繼任者和承繼人，在海峽殖民地的任何一個或多個國庫。