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The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was a treaty signed between Great Britain and the Sultan of Perak on 20 January 1874, on the Colonial Steamer Pluto, off the coast of Perak. The treaty is significant in the history of the Malay states as it legitimised British control of the Malay rulers and paved the way for British imperialism in Malaya. It was the result of a multi-day conference organised by Andrew Clarke, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, to solve two problems: the Larut War, and Sultanship in Perak.^[1]

Precedence

Sultan Abdullah of Perak

Perak was a major tin producer throughout the 19th century, leading Britain, which had already colonised Penang, Malacca and Singapore, to consider Perak of significant importance. However, local strife, collectively known as the Larut Wars (1861–1874), between the local Malay elites and frequent clashes between Chinese secret societies disrupted the supply of tin from the mines of Perak.

In 1871, Sultan Ali of Perak died. However, Raja Abdullah, the heir apparent, had not been present at his funeral. Raja Bendahara Sultan Ismail was proclaimed Sultan of Perak instead. At the same time, two Chinese secret societies, Ghee Hin (led by Chin Ah Yam) and Hai San (led by Chung Keng Quee), constantly waged battle against each other over control of the tin mines.

Raja Muda Abdullah later appealed to the British regarding these two problems. He turned to Tan Kim Cheng, his friend in Singapore who was a well-known businessman. Tan, together with an English merchant in Singapore, drafted a letter to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke which Abdullah signed. The letter expressed Abdullah's desire to place Perak under British protection, and "to have a man of sufficient abilities to show (him) a good system of government."^[2] On 26 September 1872, Chung Keng Quee had already presented a petition, signed by himself and 44 other Chinese leaders, seeking British interference following the attack of 12,000 men of Chung Shan by 2,000 men of Sen Ning. The British immediately saw this as an opportunity to expand its influence in Southeast Asia and to strengthen its monopoly on tin exports. As a result, the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was signed.^[3]

The Malay translation of the treaty was prepared by Frank Swettenham and Mohamed Said, the munshi for the Straits Settlements.^[4]

Summary of the conference

The Chinese chiefs arrived on Tuesday 13 January, the Hai San group was accompanied by Swettenham, while the Ghee Hins group was escorted by Pickering. Mantri Ngah Ibrahim arrived the next day (14 January), escorted by his lawyer R. C. Woods and his security chief T. C. Speedy. Raja Muda Abdullah and the Malay chiefs arrived on 15 January. The afternoon session (circa 3:30 p.m.) of Friday 16 January was a one-to-one meeting between Mantri Ngah Ibrahim and Clarke, in which Clarke highlighted to the Mantri that the problem in Larut is a direct consequence of his vacillating policy. The second day of the conference (17 January) was the meeting between Clarke and the Malay chiefs, whose opinions were individually considered before the candidate for the Sultanship was decided. 18 January was a Saturday and no business was conducted. On 19 January the draft treaty was discussed with the Malay chiefs. The Treaty of Pangkor was officially sealed in the afternoon session of the concluding day (actually in the morning session of 20 January, another agreement between Clarke and the Chinese chiefs was signed, i.e. Bond of $50,000 to Keep the Peace).

Agreement

Result

Raja Ismail did not attend the meeting arranged between Sir Andrew Clarke and Raja Abdullah. Raja Ismail obviously did not recognise the agreement but had no choice as he was faced with the alliance between Raja Abdullah and the British. As a result, Raja Abdullah was made Sultan, and Sir James W.W. Birch was appointed as Perak's first British Resident after the treaty came into force.

Following this precedent, the British actively became involved in three other Malay states: Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Pahang. These states, along with Perak, were later reorganised into the Federated Malay States.

Clarke arrived in November 1873 and he took Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong under British protection within a year, and it reached Pahang in 1888.^[6]: 75 In 1875, a British Resident was sent to Selangor. In 1874, a British Resident was sent to Sungei Ujong.^[6]: 74

See also

• British Malaya topics

References

Further reading

• Kim, Khoo Kay, and Andrew Clarke, "The Pangkor Engagement of 1874". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 47.1 (225) (1974): 1–12 online.