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“Ends that we cannot foresee”: Malay Reservations in British Malaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Paul H. Kratoska
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Extract

Malaya at the start of the twentieth century, in common with much of the non-European world, had a peasant economy upon which a highly capitalized export economy was being grafted. The main export in the 19th century was tin, but tin took second place to rubber by 1916. There was, as is characteristic of export economies, a great disparity between the resources, particularly capital, available to the indigenous peasant population and those available to the export sector. There were, however, distinctive features to the Malayan situation, the most important being that the capitalist export economy did not draw on the subsistence sector for produce, labour, or food; food was imported, as was the labour used in mining and on estates. The output from rubber and coconut smallholdings, many of which were Malay owned, augmented Malaya's exports, particularly after 1910, but mines and estates operated independently from the indigenous rural population. There was a high level of coincidence between ethnic groupings and occupational specializations, and the economic division between peasant cultivation and the export sector also marked the ethnic division between Malays and non-Malays. Because the colonial administration nominally held power on behalf of the Malay population, the question of the welfare and economic role of the Malays had political implications disproportionate to its economic importance.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 149 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1983

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References

Research funds used in preparing this paper were provided by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia, and I am extremely grateful for this support. The staff of the Malaysian National Archives was of great assistance in helping assemble materials, and I also wish to express my appreciation to that institution. An earlier version of this paper was presented in August 1980, at the Eighth Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1 Memorandum entitled “Leases and Charges in Malay Reservations”, Ag. Commissioner of Lands, 9 Sept. 1930, in Negeri Sembilan Secretariat file (hereafter NSS) 1731/1930.

2 Early land policy in the Protected Malay States is discussed in Sadka, Emily, The Protected Malay States, 1874–1895 (Kuala Lumpur, 1968Google Scholar) and Ghee, Lim Teck, Origins of a Colonial Economy (Penang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 1976)Google Scholar. Extensive documentation of official discussion of the land code is found in Maxwell, W.E., Memorandum on the Introduction of a Land Code in the Malay Peninsula (Government Printing Office, 1894)Google Scholar. The best account of the history of land legislation in Malaysia is Wong's, David S.Y.Tenure and Land Dealings in the Malay States (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1975)Google Scholar. Das, S.K., The Torrens System in Malaya (Singapore: Malayan Law Journal, 1963)Google Scholar is also useful.

3 The Federated Malay States (hereafter FMS) were Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang.

4 The provisions for “Customary Land” were derived from a land code Maxwell prepared for Malacca in the 1880s.

5 District Officer, Klang, to Government Secretary, Selangor, 7 June 1892, in Selangor Secretariate file (hereafter Sel Sec) 4394/1892.

6 The registers were organized by sub-district, or mukim, hence their name. Technically Mukim Register lands were not brought under the Torrens System until passage of the 1926 Land Code, but arrangements under the earlier Land Enactment closely resembled Torrens titles. See Wong, Tenure and Land Dealings, pp. 81, 116, 119–20. The 1897 legislation also made provision for town lands; mining land was handled under a separate law.

7 The Legal Adviser, FMS, in Proceedings of the Federal Legislative Council (hereafter PFC) of the FMS 1926, p. B81.

8 The description is that of the Acting Superintendent of Revenue Surveys, Selangor (“Memorandum on the Allienation of Lands under Part III of the Land Enactment”, 20 Feb. 1095) in Sel Sec 1048/1905.

9 R.J.B. Clayton, Ag. D.O.Ulu Langat: Memorandum entitled “The Absorption by Large Land Owners and Estates of Native (Malay) Holdings”, in Sel Sec 3170/1910. In the same file, the British Resident of Selangor stated his agreement with Clayton's views. Similar arrangements were discussed in Perak but were not put into practice. See Ghee, Lim Teck, Peasants and their Agricultural Economy in Colonial Malaya, 1874–1941 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1977) p. 109.Google Scholar

10 District Officer (hereafter DO), Ulu Langat, to Secretary to Resident (hereafter SR), Perak, 4 Jan. 1912, and DO, Ulu Selangor, to SR, Selangor, 26 Mar. 1912, in Sel Sec 3170/1910. The history of the Malay Reservations policy is discussed in Lim, Peasants and Their Agricultural Economy, and also in Wong, Tenure and Land Dealings, and in Voon, Phin-Keong, “Rural Land Ownership and Development in the Malay Reservations of Peninsular Malaysia”, South-East Asian Studies 14, 4 (Mar. 1977): pp. 496–512Google Scholar. The law was approved by the Colonial Office with little comment. See CO273/399/23110 (H.C. Despatch 296 of 10 June 1913) and CO273/410/11437.

11 Similar laws were later passed in the Malay States outside the Federation but the material in this paper is confined to the FMS. The FMS law was Enactment No. 15 of 1913.

12 The Chief Secretary, Sir E.L. Brockman, speaking to the Federal Council, in PFC, FMS, 1913, p. B24.

13 Ibid., p. B25.

14 Minute dated 21 July 1913, Sel Sec 2822/1913.

15 Hastings Rhodes, Ag. Legal Advisor, FMS, 1 Apr. 1912, in Sel Sec 3013/1912.

16 Minute, SR, Selangor, to DO, Ulu Langat, 23 June 1915, Sel Sec 148/1914.

17 Copy of a minute by the British Resident, Selangor (O.F. Stanor), 6 Dec. 1921, in Sel Sec 2790/1921.

18 F. W. Douglas, Ag. Commissioner of Lands, FMS, to British Resident (hereafter BR), Selangor, June 1921, in Sel Sec 2790/1921 and Conference of Residents, 20 and 21 May 1924, reported in Sel Sec 1238/1924.

19 Minute, DO, Klang to SR, Selangor, 24 Feb. 1920, Sel Sec 4859/1919.

20 DO Klang to SR, Selangor, 13 Mar. 1912, in Sel Sec 1359/1912.

21 Minute, BR, Selangor, 16 Sept. 1915, NSS 2396/1915. In Malayan usage a mortgage was referred to as a “charge” upon land. Minute, Do Ulu Selangor, 9 Jan. 1917, Sel Sec 4660/1916.

22 Most Malay Reservation land consisted of small holdings held by Entry in the Mukim Register and the discussion in this paragraph pertains to such holdings. For land under the Registration of Titles Enactment, some details were different.

23 Minute, Legal Advisor, 14 Jan. 1920, and Minute, DO, Klang, 18 June 1921, in Sel Sec 4859/1919.

24 Collector of Land Revenue, Kuala Lumpur, to SR, Selangor, 31 July 1924, in Sel Sec 2748/1923. In a variation on this method, a non-Malay could lease reservation land for three years and arrange a power of attorney that permitted him to renew his own lease. DO, Kuala Langat, to SR, Selangor, 27 July 1927, in Sel Sec file 3530/1927.

25 Alang Ahmad, Orang Kaya-Kaya Mahakurnia di-Raja, to SR, Preak, 19 Feb. 1920, in Sel Sec 4859/1919.

26 “Memorandum re evasion of the Malay Reservations Enactment No. 15 of 1913”, Ag. Commissioner of Lands, 11 Aug. 1924, in Sel Sec 2748/1923.

27 Memorandum by the Director of Co-operation, 17 Sept. 1927, in Sel Sec 1638/1927.

28 Collector of Land Revenue, Kuala Lumpur, to SR, Selangor, 22 July 1927, and passim, Sel Sec 3530/1927.

29 Sel Sec G1195/1930 and G2164/1930.

30 Minute by Legal Advisor, 14 Jan. 1920; BR, Selangor, to Chief Secretary, 22 May 1920, in Sel Sec 4859/1919.

31 Minute by Legal Advisor, W.S. Gibson, in Sel Sec 30 June 1927, 3793/1927.

32 Memorandum by the Ag. DO, Ulu Selangor, n.d., No. (4) in Sel Sec G739/1928.

33 Sel Sec G2164/1930 contains a precis of the proposals made during the 1920s and their outcomes.

34 Copy of a minute by the British Resident, Perak, W.G. Maxwell, 14 May 1920, enclosed as No. (6) in Sel Sec 4859/1919.

35 In Sel Sec 3530/1927 the DO for Ulu Selangor comments on this point. See Ag. DO, Ulu Selangor, to SR, Selangor, 23 Aug. 1927.

36 Copy of a minute by the British Resident, Perak (W.G. Maxwell), 14 May 1920, enclosed as No. (6) in Sel Sec 4859/1919.

37 “Memorandum re evasion of the Malay Reservations Enactment No. 15 of 1913”, Ag. Commissioner of Lands, 11 Aug. 1924, in Sel Sec 2748/1923.

38 Memorandum on “Malay Reservations” by H. Swan, Collector of Land Revenue, Rasa, 18 May 1928, in Sel Sec G739/1928.

39 Director of Agriculture, H. A.Tempany, 25 Apr. 1930, Reorganisation Proposals for the Department of Agriculture, in Sel Sec G1151/1930.

40 Report of the Rice Cultivation Committee, 1931, vol I, p. 4.

41 Ibid., p. 45.

42 “Statistics Relating to Land in the Federated Malay States”, enclosed as (9B) in Sel Sec G2164/1930.

43 DO, Kuala Kangsar (J.E. Kempe), to SR, Perak, 29 July 1932, in Sel Sec G2447/1931.

44 “Report of the Malay Reservations Committee”, p. 3, in Sel Sec G2164/1931.

45 Ibid., pp. 2–3. It had been suggested that a fund be created by collecting a cess of fifty cents an acre on the rent paid by smallholders, the money to be made available for loans to smallholders. “Report of the Committee Appointed to Consider the Question of the Relief of Small-holders”, NSS G1441/1931.

46 “Report of the Committee Appointed to Consider the Question of the Relief of Small-holders”, NSS G1441/1931. The detailed data was drawn from the Jeram Malay Reservation. See the Memorandum by A.T. Newboult, DO, Kuala Selangor, 23 Nov. 1931, enclosed as (15 A) in Sel Sec G2164/1930.

47 Minutes of first quarterly meeting of Krian Staff, held at Parit Buntar on 6 Jan. 1938, in Agriculture Office, Krian, file 47/1938; H.W. Jack, “Rice in Malaya”, Agricultural Bulletin No. 35, Department of Agriculture, FMS, 1923, pp. 44–45.

48 PFC 19 Jan. 1931, p. B18.

49 DO, Kinta in Kinta Land Office file 322/1932.

50 E.B. Williams, Commissioner of Lands, to Under Secretary to Government, FMS, 23 Aug. 1932, in Sel Sec G2447/1931. See also comments in the same vein by the Chief Secretary to Government in this file, and the views of the British Adviser, Kedah, in Sel Sec G1476/1931. (A.C. Baker, Ag. British Adviser, Kedah, to the Secretary to the High Commissioner, 15 Aug. 1932.) The Colonial Office supported the Malay Reservations policy but offered little comment on it at this juncture. See CO717/66/62379, CO717/75/72454, and CO717/81/82380.

51 Excerpt from Minutes of 97th Conference of Residents held on 24 Jan. 1933, enclosed in Sel Sec G505/1933.

52 Ag. Resident-General, E.L. Brockman, to High Commissioner, 6 Nov. 1907, in High Commissioner's Office file 1670/1907. Much of the difficulty experienced with land law in the Straits Settlements in the 19th Century stemmed from the refusal of the government to rescind any right once granted.

53 Ag. Commissioner of Lands, F.A.S. McClelland, to Under-Secretary to Government, FMS, 14 Dec. 1922 and 19 Jan. 1923; and Memorandum by McClelland, 23 Jan. 1923, in Sel Sec 4139/1921.

54 Memorandum by the Chief Secretary to Govt., FMS, 7 Feb. 1923, in Sel Sec 4139/1921.

55 PFC, FMS, 1933, p. B132.

56 Minutes dated 23 Mar. 1934 and 6 Apr. 1934, on CO717/97/13332/42.

57 Minute dated 26 Apr. 1934 on CO717/97/13332/42; High Commissioner's Desp. No. 472 of 17 Aug. 1934, in CO717/97/13332/42.

58 Enactment No. 8 of 1934, The Malay Reservations Enactment Amendment Enactment; see CO717/105/33367/8.

59 High Commissioner Despatch No. 83 of 29 Apr. 1936, and Minute of 3 June 1936, in CO717/120/51738.

60 The files from the 1930s provide several examples; see, for example, NSS G256/1938.

61 Minute by BR Selangor (T.S. Adams), 29 Dec. 1930, in Sel Sec Confidential file 77/1930; Pahang Secretariat file G206/1935 and NSS G256/1938 deal with the problem of evasions of the Malay Reservations Enactment of 1933.

62 See, for example, Pahang Secretariat file G206/1935.

63 NSS G256/1938. The comment was made by G.E. Cator, BR, Perak.

64 The figure of 350,000 acres covers the 11 year period from Jan. 1930 to Jan. 1941, and was compiled from government gazettes. On two occasions during the 1930s entire mukims were made reservations and the gazette notifications did not indicate the size of the areas involved. Moreover, unused lands that were declared part of Malay reservations were not surveyed until they were settled. As of 1930, only 913, 156 acres of Malay Reservation land (29% of the total) was alienated, and figures for much of the remaining area were estimates. In 1948, a statement was submitted to the Legislative Council concerning the amount of land in Malay Reservations, but this set of figures was inconsistent with figures prepared in 1930. The figures are as follows (in acres):

* Excluding Kuala Langat and Sungai Bernam

+ Excluding Kuala Langat

Figures for Jan. 1930 are from Sel Sec G2164/1930. Those for 1931, 1941, and 1947 are from the Legislative Council Proceedings, Federation of Malaya, First Session (1948–1949), pp. B124-B125. The source of the figures given to the Legislative Council was not stated. In 1947 and again in 1953 the Federal Secretariat indicated that statistics on the areas of Malay Reservations were unavailable. Federal Secretariat files 2475/1948 and CS5377/1953.

65 Report of the Malay Reservations Committee, p. 3, in Sel Sec G2164/1930.

66 J.D.M. Smith, DO, Krian, in Kinta Land Office file 322/1932. Stress in original.

67 FMS Enactment No. 5 of 1936; also see Sel Sec G 831/1935.

68 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Economic Development of Malaya (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1955) p. 312Google Scholar.

69 PFC, FMS, 9 July 1913, p. B24.