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MALAY STATES (BRITISH)
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See also:MALAY STATES (See also:BRITISH) . The native states of the Malay See also:Peninsula under British See also:protection are divided into two See also:groups: (1) federated, and (2) non-federated. I.—FEDERATED STATES The federated states, under the protection of See also:Great See also:Britain, but not British possessions, are See also:Perak, See also:Selangor and the See also:con-federation of small states known as the See also:Negri Sembilan (i.e. Nine States) on the See also:west See also:coast, and the See also:state of Pahang on the See also:east coast. Each state is under the See also:rule of a See also:sultan, who is assisted in his legislative duties by a state See also:council, upon which the See also:resident, and in some cases the secretary to the resident, has a seat, and which is composed of native chiefs and one or more See also:Chinese members nominated by the sultan with the See also:advice and consent of the resident. The council, in addition to legislative and other duties, revises all sentences of See also:capital See also:punishment. The administrative See also:work of each state is carried on by the resident and his See also:staff of See also:European officials, whose ranks are recruited by successful candidates in the competitive See also:examinations held annually by the See also:Civil Service commissioners. The sultan of each state is See also:bound by treaty with the British See also:government to accept the advice of the resident, who is thus practically See also:paramount; but great deference is paid to the opinions and wishes of the sultans and their chiefs, and the British officials are pledged not to interfere with the religious affairs of the See also:Mahommedan community. In the actual See also:administration of the Malay See also:population great use is made of the native aristocratic See also:system, the peasants being governed largely by their own chiefs, headmen and See also:village elders, under the See also:close supervision of British See also:district See also:officers. The result is a benevolent See also:autocracy admirably adapted to See also:local conditions and to the See also:character and traditions of the See also:people. A recognition of the fact that the welfare of the See also:Malays, who are the people of the See also:land and whose sultans have never ceded their territories to the British, must be regarded as the first See also:consideration has been the guiding principle of the administration of the Malay States, and this has resulted in an extraordinary amelioration of the See also:condition of the natives, which has proceeded con-currently with a notable development of the See also:country and its .resources, See also:mineral and agricultural. To the work of development, however, the Malays have themselves contributed little, See also:sound administration having been secured by the British officials, enterprise and capital having been supplied mainly by the Chinese, and the labour employed being almost entirely Chinese or Tamil. Meanwhile the Malays have improved their ancestral holdings, have enjoyed a See also:peace and a See also:security to which their past See also:history furnishes no parallel, have obtained easy See also:access to new and important markets for their agricultural produce, and for the See also:rest have been suffered to See also:lead the lives best suited to their . characters and their desires. Each See also:principal See also:department of the administration has its federal See also:head, and all the residents correspond with and are controlled by the resident-See also:general, who, in his turn, is responsible to the high See also:commissioner, the See also:governor of the Straits Settlements for the See also:time being. The estimated aggregate See also:area of the Federated Malay States is 28,000 sq. m., and the estimated population in 1905 was 86o,000, as against 678,595 in 1901. Of these only about 230,000 are Malays. The See also:revenue of the federation in 1905 was $23,964,593 (about (£2.795,000), and the See also:expenditure was $20,750,395 (about £2,460,000). The imports for the same See also:year were valued at $50,575,455 (about £5,900,000), and the exports at $80,057,654 (about £9,340,000), making a See also:total See also:trade of nearly 154 millions See also:sterling. The principal See also:sources of revenue are an export See also:duty on See also:tin, the rents paid for the revenue farms of the right to collect import duties on See also:opium, See also:wine and See also:spirits, and to keep licensed gambling-houses for the exclusive use of the Chinese population, railway receipts, land and See also:forest revenue and postal revenue. The tin is won from large alluvial deposits found in the states of the western seaboard, and the mines are worked almost exclusively by Chinese capital and labour. Since 1889 the Federated Malay States have produced considerably more than See also:half the tin of the See also:world. Recently there has been a great development in agricultural enterprise, especially with regard to See also:rubber, which is now grown in large quantities, the estates being mainly in the hands of Europeans, and the labour mostly Tamil. The states are opened up by over 2500 m. of some of the best metalled See also:cart-roads in the world, and by a railway system, 35o m. of which, extending from the mainland opposite See also:Penang to the See also:ancient See also:town of Malacca, are open to See also:traffic. Another 150 m. of railway is under construction. The government offices at Kuala Lumpor, the federal capital of the states, are among the finest buildings of the See also:kind in See also:Asia. The whole of this extraordinary development, it should be noted, has been effected by careful, sound and See also:wise administration coupled with a courageous and energetic policy of expenditure upon public See also:works. Throughout, not one See also:penny of See also:debt has been incurred, the roads, See also:railways, &c., being constructed entirely from current balances. This of course has only been rendered possible by the extraordinary mineral See also:wealth which the states on the western seaboard have See also:developed in the hands of Chinese miners amid the peace and security ment was first made by Malays in Perak at Bruas, and the capital which British rule has brought to these once lawless lands. The value of the tin output for the year 1905 amounted to $69,460,993 (8,Io4,I99). Although agricultural enterprise in the Malay States is assuming considerable proportions and a growing importance, the total value of the principal agricultural products, including See also:timber, for the year 1905 only aggregated $2,435,513 (289,I43). The whole of the Malay Peninsula is one vast forest, through which flow countless streams that See also:form one of the most lavish See also:water-systems in the world. The See also:rivers, though many of them are of imposing See also:appearance and of considerable length, are uniformly shallow, only a few on the west coast being navigable by See also:ships for a distance of some 40 M. from their mouths. In spite of the notable development above referred to, only a very small fraction of the entire area of the states has as yet been touched either by See also:mining or agricultural enterprise. It is not too much to assert that the larger half of the forest-lands has never been trodden by the See also:foot of See also:man. (For See also:information concerning the See also:botany, See also:geology, &c., of the Malay States see MALAY PENINSULA. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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