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Yap-Douglas letter of 1877

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Water disruption at Pangkalan Lumpur On 29 March 1877, Captain Yap Ah Loy wrote a Arkib Negara 1957/0000387 letter to Captain W. B. Douglas (r. 1875 - 1882, Acting Resident of Selangor) to relay a water-related grievance at Pangkalan Lumpur tin mine. This letter is important because it contains several important data points: Yap Ah Loy addressed himself with the Indic title (श्री इन्द्र प्रकाश विजय भक्ति = Sri Indra Perkasa Vijaya Bakti), and This shows that back in 150 years ago, it was perfectly reasonable for Malay courts to install their subjects with Indic titles and decorations, similar to the practices recounted in Sejarah Melayu. However, the way Yap addressed himself was not consistent, for instance, in 1881, he called himself Kaptan Cina Kuala Lumpur and not Kaptan Klang dalam Kuala Lumpur but he used his Indic title consistently. See Arkib Negara Document Number 1957/0001366W . called himself Captain Klang in Kuala Lum