Rencana-Rencanal ArticlesLinggi, Klang had become an important Bugis settlement. For slightly more...

16
Rencana-Rencanal Articles Klang District and Town: History and Historical Sources Khoo Kay Kim* Abstrak: Makalah ini meninjau terutama sekali sejarah Kelang - termasuk kedua-dua kawasan daerah dan bandar - dari awal 1870an hingga ke tahun 1930an. Walau bagaimana pun sejarah bukan menjadi fokus utama. Petunjuk diberikan kepada sumber-sumber sejarah yang berguna untuk menyusun semula sejarah Kelang dari masa ianya berfungsi sebagai pelabuhan utama bagi negeri Selangor sehingga Kelang dan persekitarannya menjadi pusat utama bagi pertanian. Akhirnya penyentuhan dibuat kepada satu perkembangan yang penting yang pada masa ini kurang diketahui iaitu, permulaan penempatan perindustrian di Malaya. Industri utama pada waktu itu ditempatkan di Kelang oleh kerana kedudukannya yang berhampiran dengan Pelabuhan Swettenham. Abstract: This paper deals primarily with the history of Klang - both the district and the town - from the early 1870s to the 1930s. But history is not the main focus. References are made to historical sources which are useful in helping to reconstruct the history of Klang from the time it functioned as the principal port of the State of Selangor to the period when 'greater' Klang and its surrounding territories became a major agricultural centre. Finally, mention is made of an important development hitherto little known, namely, the beginnings of industrialization in Malaya. The major industries were located in Klang because of the proximity to Port Swettenham. Early History Klang has a history, although stillvaguely known, which dates back to ancient times. RO. Winstedt tells us that: In the Nagarakrtagama Klang is men- tioned along with Sungai Ujong, then Sang Hyang Ujong, as subject in the middle of the XIVth century to Maja- pahit. Reputed to have been used by the eunuch Cheng Ho who seven times visited the overseas "barbarians" be- tween 1405 and 1433 A.D., Chinese charts mention Langkawi, Kedah river, Pinang Island, Pulau Sembilan, South Shoals (at the mouth of the Klang), Selangor highlands, Klang river, Tu- masik (or Singapore) and many other places round the Malay Peninsula.' A more meticulous scholar -- Paul Wheatley -- writing much later, and using primarily Portu- guese sources, provides a little more information about Klang as well as other territories under Melaka hegemony. He says: Northwards beyond the Linggi River was a succession of settlements which were under the direct rule of Malacca and which, in addition to paying an annual tribute of tin, en- gaged in a coastal trade in foodstuffs for that city. Most of these were mere villages. Sungei Ujong ..., Klang (Clam) and Perak ... each had about 200 per- sons, Selangor ...was somewhat larger, while Bernam had 400. 2 Klang was, apparently, important to Melaka largely because of tin for it was one of those territories with which Melaka concluded treaties by the terms of which they had to supply the Melakan sultans with a certain amount of tin each year. 3 Throughout the succeeding centuries, after the fall of Melaka in 1511, Klang continued to • Professor of Malaysian History. University of Malaya Kekal Abadi 8(2) Jun 1989

Transcript of Rencana-Rencanal ArticlesLinggi, Klang had become an important Bugis settlement. For slightly more...

  • Rencana-Rencanal ArticlesKlang District and Town: History and Historical Sources

    Khoo Kay Kim*

    Abstrak: Makalah ini meninjau terutama sekali sejarah Kelang - termasuk kedua-duakawasan daerah dan bandar - dari awal 1870an hingga ke tahun 1930an. Walau bagaimanapun sejarah bukan menjadi fokus utama. Petunjuk diberikan kepada sumber-sumber sejarahyang berguna untuk menyusun semula sejarah Kelang dari masa ianya berfungsi sebagaipelabuhan utama bagi negeri Selangor sehingga Kelang dan persekitarannya menjadipusat utama bagi pertanian. Akhirnya penyentuhan dibuat kepada satu perkembangan yangpenting yang pada masa ini kurang diketahui iaitu, permulaan penempatan perindustrian diMalaya. Industri utama pada waktu itu ditempatkan di Kelang oleh kerana kedudukannyayang berhampiran dengan Pelabuhan Swettenham.

    Abstract: This paper deals primarily with the history of Klang - both the district and the town- from the early 1870s to the 1930s. But history is not the main focus. References are madeto historical sources which are useful in helping to reconstruct the history of Klang from thetime it functioned as the principal port of the State of Selangor to the period when 'greater'Klang and its surrounding territories became a major agricultural centre. Finally, mentionis made of an important development hitherto little known, namely, the beginnings ofindustrialization in Malaya. The major industries were located in Klang because of theproximity to Port Swettenham.

    Early History

    Klang has a history, although still vaguely known,which dates back to ancient times. RO. Winstedttells us that:

    In the Nagarakrtagama Klang is men-tioned along with Sungai Ujong, thenSang Hyang Ujong, as subject in themiddle of the XIVth century to Maja-pahit.

    Reputed to have been used by theeunuch Cheng Ho who seven timesvisited the overseas "barbarians" be-tween 1405 and 1433 A.D., Chinesecharts mention Langkawi, Kedah river,Pinang Island, Pulau Sembilan, SouthShoals (at the mouth of the Klang),Selangor highlands, Klang river, Tu-masik (or Singapore) and many otherplaces round the Malay Peninsula.'

    A more meticulous scholar -- Paul Wheatley --writing much later, and using primarily Portu-

    guese sources, provides a little more informationabout Klang as well as other territories underMelaka hegemony. He says:

    Northwards beyond the Linggi Riverwas a succession of settlementswhich were under the direct rule ofMalacca and which, in addition topaying an annual tribute of tin, en-gaged in a coastal trade in foodstuffsfor that city. Most of these were merevillages. Sungei Ujong ..., Klang (Clam)and Perak ... each had about 200 per-sons, Selangor ...was somewhat larger,while Bernam had 400.2

    Klang was, apparently, important to Melakalargely because of tin for it was one of thoseterritories with which Melaka concluded treatiesby the terms of which they had to supply theMelakan sultans with a certain amount of tineach year.3

    Throughout the succeeding centuries, afterthe fall of Melaka in 1511, Klang continued to

    • Professor of Malaysian History. University of Malaya

    Kekal Abadi 8(2) Jun 1989

  • feature in the history of the Malay Peninsula, asan important source for the supply of tin. It was, ofcourse, also a dependency of the kingdom ofJohor, Melaka's successor. By the early years ofthe 18th century, together with Selangor andLinggi, Klang had become an important Bugissettlement. For slightly more than a centurythereafter, Klang was, to a significant extent,overshadowed by Sungai Selangor.

    It was at Sungai Selangor that the Bugis, in1766, founded a new kingdom. Kuala Selangorbecame a major trading centre along the Straitsof Melaka. Despite Dutch attempts to impose amonopoly on the tin trade, English countrytraders succeeded in purchasing tin at KualaSelangor even before the founding of Penang.4

    For almost a century, Kuala Selangor re-mained the capital of the new kingdom of Sela-ngor. However, when the third ruler, Sultan Mu-hammad, passed away in 1857, significant devel-opments had taken place to boost Klang'sposition to a level never again to be overtaken byKuala Selangor.

    The Klang valley was the major tin producingarea in the kingdom of Selangor by the mid-nine-teenth century and the Klang estuary becamethe main gateway for the valley. The main town,situated at the estuary, was, until the 1870sknown as Pengkalan Batu. It is from this periodonwards that Klang's history becomes more'visible'.

    Klang in the 18705

    One of the earliest descriptions of Klang thatwe have was given by Muhammed Ibrahim, sonof that famous Malay literator, Munsyi Abdullah.He visited Klang in 1871 and again the followingyear. Unfortunately, his record of his earlier visitcannot be located. His second visit to Klangtogether with his visits to other parts of thewestern Malay states were also recorded.These were printed in 1919 and the book wasgiven the title - Kisah Pelayaran MuhammadIbrahim Munsyi.5 On his second visit to Klang,Muhammad Ibrahim recorded:

    At five o'clock the next morning, Satur-day 20th April [18721 we raised anchorand sailed through the straits until, athalf past six, we entered the mouth of

    2

    the Klang. When I went there before,had seen many attap houses on the leftas one enters the river-mouth. Now theywere derelict and tumbling down, andonly one or two remained intact. On theright as you enter the river-mouth,Tengku Khia'uddin [Kudinl had recentlybuilt earth-works in the swamp, with awooden stockade. As we passed, thefort fired a salute to welcome the Pluto;6however we did not put in there but wenton upstream?

    The village or town of Klang, according to Mu-hammad Ibrahim, "is situated on the right as yougo upstream, and about eleven miles from theriver-mouth." Within a period of about two yearsthe town, apparently, had changed somewhatfor C.J. Irving, the British officer whom Muham-mad Ibrahim accompanied also remarked that"When I came here two years ago there wasnothing but jungle. All you could see was two orthree attap houses. Now there are all thesehouses," and Irving gave the credit to TengkuKudin. Muhammad Ibrahim himself testified that,in 1872, "The town of Klang had many newly-built attap houses, and quite a large number ofinhabitants, but only two or three older houseswith tiled roofs. "8

    After these preliminary remarks, Muhammadtbrahirn then proceeded to give a more detaileddescription of the town:

    I saw many newly-built attap houses inrows along both sides of the streets.There were many Chinese and Malayshops, and there were large numbers ofpeople about. A number of roads hadjust been constructed, while others wereplanned but had not yet taken shape,and the roads intersected and branchedoff in various places. There was onelong, straight road, stretching from thefort to the village, called China Street.At the end of the street there was astation and a bridge. At that time therewas still no mosque, only an attapprayer-house which had not yet beenrepaired. Similarly, the gaol, police sta-tion and hospital etc., were all built ofattap, except for a large limas9 house,which had a tiled roof; the lower part ofthe walls was stone and above this thewalls were of wood.!?

  • Klang then was obviously being developedby Tengku Kudin. In earlier years, it could nothave been more than a sparsely populated set-tlement with simple attap houses. It was certainlynot a town in a modern sense. Tengku Kudinproceeded to introduce modern ideas. Apartfrom erecting new buildings he planned andnamed the streets as well. According to Muham-mad Ibrahim:

    The regulations decreed by TengkuKhia'uddin, and the street names, wereall modelled on English usage, but theresult was only a superficial approxima-tion of the original. Thus, the streetnames employed were as follows: KingStreet, Beach Street, Market Street,Wharf Street, China Street, Chulia Street,Hospital Street and Mosque Street.11

    All these names were reminiscent of streetnames in Penang. It is plain where TengkuKudin's ideas originated from. MuhammadIbrahim was more than a little upset by whatTengku Kudin had done and did not hesitateto put on record that he thought "It would be anexcellent idea to employ Malay names."12

    Klang was in the early 1870s a flourishingsettlement even though when Muhammad Ibrahimwas there, the civil war which had commenced in1867 had not ended. "Many houses", in his words,"had been built along the streets to be let out ata high rental." And even before the houses hadbeen completed, "people were renting them, ata cost of from three to five or six dollars a month."He estimated that there were about four hundredhouses in the village of Klang at that time. Thetotal population of the village or town, includingyoung and old of both sexes, and taking intoaccount all races and the sepoys who were sta-tionedthere, numbered approximately 3,000 per-sons. Typical of the modern Peninsular town, thepopulation was made up of numerous races:Malays, Chinese, Arabs, Eurasians, SouthernIndians, Bengalis as well as local-born persons ofStraits Settlements origin. There were not a fewEuropeans too - drifters who could not get jobs inSingapore and were employed by Tengku Kudinas officers of his sepoys. Already, Klang had alarger proportion of immigrants than those whowere born in that settlement itself.13

    The civil war had adversely affected Klang sothat the presence of Tengku Kudin who hadobviously made it his base marked the begin-

    ning of a new phase in the history of the settle-ment. It would not be too far wrong to say thatmodern Klang began in early 1872. Atthat pointin time, apart from those living off Tengku Kudin,there were also those who earned their living bypoling boats, making palm-frond thatch and soforth. Muhammad Ibrahim testified that:

    Previously, there had been people withsome money who lived by trading in tinand sailing, but they had all fledelsewhere due to the unrest in thesettlement, which was in a state ofconstant upheaval and war; and theprevious rulers had been particularlyoppressive. During my walk, I saw onlynine or ten bullock-carts and two orthree horses. A large number of cattlewere being reared by Tengku Khia'ud-din, but as yet there were no horse-carriages.

    There were no fruit trees, crops ororchards in the hinterland, only forestand primary jungle; and there was noth-ing very much across the river apartfrom a few banana trees, some sugar-cane and vegetables, which had onlyrecently been planted. There were nopaddy-fields there nor anything whichcould serve as a basic foodstuff, andeverything was purchased and broughtin from Malacca and elsewhere.l+

    Still, as Muhammad Ibrahim had observedearlier, Klang was developing. Indeed, just abouttwo years later, it became the new capital of thestate of Selangor when British administrationcommenced. But, in Selangor as well as in Perakand Sungai Ujong, the early years of Britishintervention brought little constructive change.Even though Selangor experienced none of thedisturbances which occurred in Perak and SungaiUjong, there was widespread opposition to TengkuKudin, the outsider, and whose good friend,James Guthrie Davidson, had been appointedthe first Resident of Selangor. Davidson wastransferred to Perak in 1876, not long after Birchhad been assassinated there. Bloomfield Dooglasbecame the second Resident of Selangor.

    In early 1879, a second visitor came to Klang:someone who had travelled widely even beforecoming to the Malay Peninsula and who had

    3

  • many more years of travelling to come. Her des-cription of the town conveys the impressionthat since Muhammad Ibrahim's visit in 1872,despite being officially established as the statecapital, Klang experienced little significant trans-formation. Isabella l. Bird, alert and observant,missed little as she surveyed the scene aroundherwhen the boat approached Klang.She noted:

    At daybreak the next morning we weresteaming up the Klang river, whose lowshores are entirely mangrove swamps,and when the sun was high and hot weanchored in front of the village of Klang,where a large fort 15 on an eminence,with grass embankments inwhich gunsare mounted, is the first prominentobject. Above this is a large woodenbungalow with an attap roof, which istheBritish Residency. There was no air,and the British ensign in front of thehouse hung limp on the flagstaff. Belowthere is a village, with clusters ofChinese houses on the ground, andMalay houses on stilts, standingsingly, with one or two Governmentoffices, bulking largely among them.A substantial flight of stone steps leadsfrom the river to a skeleton jetty with anattap roof, and near it a number of attap-roofed boats were lying, loaded withslabs of tin from the diggings in theinterior, to be transhipped to Penang.16

    She next proceeded to give her impression ofKlang:

    The village of Klang is not interesting. Itlooks like a place which has "seenbetter days," and does not impress onefavourably as regards the prosperity ofthe State. Above it the river passesthrough rich alluvial deposits, welladapted for sugar, rice, and otherproducts of low-lying tropical lands; butthough land can be purchased on asystem of deferred payments for twodollars an acre, these lands are stillcovered with primeval jungle. Steam-launches and fiatt ish bottomed nativeboats go up the river eighteen milesfarther to a village called Damarsara [sic]from which a good country road hasbeen made to the great Chinese villageand tin-mines of Kuala Lumpur."?

    4

    Returning to her evaluation of Klang, she said:

    Klang looks as if an incubus oppressedit ....At all events Klang, from whatevercause, has a blighted look, anddeserted houses rapidly falling intodecay, overgrown roads, fields chokedwith weeds, and an absence of life andtraffic in the melancholy streets, havea depressing influence. The peopleare harassed by a vexatious anduncertain system of fees and taxes,calculated to engender ill feeling andthings connected with the administra-tion seen somewhat "mixed". 18

    Her final remarks on Klang presaged the misfor-tune which was to befall Klang hardly one yearafter she left. She wrote:

    Klang does not improve on furtheracquaintance. It looks as if half thehouses were empty, and certainly halfthe population is composed of Govern-ment employees, chiefly police cons-tables. There is no airof business energy,and the queerly mixed population saun-ters with limp movements; even the fewChinese look depressed, as if life weretoo much for them. It looks too as ifthere were a need for holding down thepopulation (which I am sure there isn't),for in addition to the fort and its bar-racks, military police stations are dottedabout. A jail, with a very high wall, is inthe middle of the village.

    The jungle comes so near to Klang thattigers and herds of elephants, some-times forty strong, have been within halfa mile of it.19

    Isabella Bird would not have been surprised, ofcourse, if in 1880 she was told that KualaLumpur had replaced Klang as the state capital.Although she had not visited Kuala Lumpur, shewas aware that it was a bustling trpding centre.But, in 1880, Kuala Lumpur too was no more thana village of numerous attap huts. Its growth,however, was phenomenal especially since italso became the capital of the Federated MalayStates in 1896. Itwent on to become the Malayancapital after World War II and it is now the capitalof Malaysia.

  • The Centre of Commerce

    Klang had been eclipsed since 1880; yet, thetransfer of the state capital to Kuala Lumpur didnot lead to its demise. Klang had long replacedKuala Selangor as the chief port of the state ofSelangor. Beginning from the early 1880s, it wasin constant touch with the ports of Penang andSingapore. Steamships called reguarly at Klangas shown below:

    As everybody knows Klang is the princi-pal port of Selangor and Kuala Lumpurthe chief town. Instead, however, ofrunning the railway from Kuala Lumpurto Klang, the wise men of Selangor haverun it only to Bukit Kuda about threemiles further up the river, with the naturalresult that the river is still preferred to therai~ay for the transit of goods. Mr. Rodgerhas made up his mind to stop this, and

    Steamers Arrival (from) Departure (for)

    S.S. Bentan Singapore and Penang Penang and Singaporeonce in two weeks once in two weeks

    S.S. Billton - do- - do-S.S. Spaniel - do- - do-S.S. Mayflower Singapore every week Singapore every weekS.S. Rainbow - do- - do-S.S. Louisa - do- - do-

    Goods brought into Selangor via Klang in-cluded oil, rice, tobacco, salt, opium, etc. andSelangor's export was confined solely to tin. Untilrailway services commenced operation in 1886between Kuala Lumpur and Bukit Kuda, commu-nication between Klang and the mining depot,Kuala Lumpur, in the interior, was dependent onthe Klang river, as Isabella Bird explained.

    The Kuala Lumpur-Bukit Kuda line was thesecond to be established in the country; the firstwas the Taiping-Port Weld line which was openeda year earlier. J.P. Rodger, the Acting Residentof Selangor (1884-1888), played a major role inlinking Kuala Lumpur to Bukit Kuda by rail.21 BukitKuda is situated at a point on the Klang riverabout 12 1/2 miles from its mouth. The originalscheme was to connect Kuala Lumpur with thecoast. The port at Bukit Kuda was establishedpurely as a temporary measure. It was soonfound to be unsuitable. But, since Rodger haddeclared that the Selangor railway was an abso-lute necessity and that it would soon pay well, hewas determined that he should not be provedwrong.22

    The Pinang Gazette, usually critical ofBritish policies in the Malay states, explainedhow Rodger proceeded to help the Selangor rail-way succeed:

    very effective means he has taken. Hehas raised the tax on each boat takingcargo up the river from $2 to $5! Theboatmen now find that they cannotmake a living and are leaving Klang forTeluk Anson.23

    A further comment was even harsher. The papersaid:

    ... I cannot help again calling attentionto Mr. Rodger's action in Selangor inraising the boat duty from $2 to $5, withthe intention, which he avowed at thetime, of driving the trade from the river tohis pet railway. From what I hear, hehas succeeded beyond his most ardenthopes. He has not only ruined the boat-men, but has made the railway, whichmany people said would be a failure, amost paying concern. For this he will nodoubt get kudos. To my mind any amountof loss would be preferable to such wickedtyranny.24

    Not only was Bukit Kuda poorly situated, the jettythere was apparently said to be "a wretchedaffair, and the steamers that go there can onlydischarge at high tide". It was unavoidable thata decision had to be made to abandon BukitKuda. The town of Klang, three miles lower down

    5

  • the river, was considered a more suitable place.So the Klang river was bridged at a cost of$94,600 and the railway line opened to Klang inAugust 1890.26

    For the next ten years, Klang was again thechief port of Selangor. Before World War II, therewas a document in the files of the District Officewhich defined the port limits of Klang as beingfrom a point opposite the railway station to asawmill which existed on the Bukit Kuda Road.Steamers called there and even in the 1930s, thesteps of the old landing jetty could be seen nearthe railway gate in the old Riverside Road.27

    Klang, as a port, succeeded beyond expec-tation. Soon "the abnormal increase of bothimports and exports ... so multiplied the railwaytraffic that, in 1895, it was decided to extend theline right away to the mouth of the river, at a pointwhere there is a capital land-locked harbourcapable of affording anchorage for far largerships than those which now manage to get up theKlang river". 28 With regard to this new plan, it wasstated in the Annual District Report for 1895 that:

    The object of this extension ... is toconnect Klang, the present port termi-nus of the State, with the mouth of theKlang River, where it is proposed toconstruct better wharfage accommo-dation than at present exists at Klang.The line is 5 1/2 miles long, and is esti-mated to cost $157,000. It starts atKlang Station by an extension of thepresent main line across Rembau andMarket Streets and Klang creek, then itcurves to the west round Fort Hill forabout a mile, from which point it goesdirect in a straight line to the west of theKuala Klang Police Station. The landtraversed by the line is partly swampand partly agricultural. At Kuala Klangit is wholly swamp and not in the leastsuitable for building purposes. The wholeof the earthwork, bridges (with oneexception), plate-laying, etc., was doneby the Railway Department. The labouremployed was Chinese, Javanese andTamil. The line is now practically com-pleted with the exception of one bridge,and will, in 1896, be used for transport-ing the greater part of the material usedfor the construction of the wharves.29

    6

    Thus was born Port Swettenham which re-placed Klang as the principal port of Selangor.The beginning of Port Swettenham was moreeventful than is generally known. According toone account in the papers:

    An event of great importance to theState and the shipping trade was theopening of Port Swettenham, whichtook place on the 15th of September[1901]. During the months of Octoberand November malaria was rife all overthe coast districts, and Port Swetten-ham and Klang both suffered severely.Owing to sickness among the cooliesand the staff generally, there was forseveral weeks considerable difficultyand delay in discharging cargo, and ina good many instances steamers had toleave the wharves with a part of theircarqo undischarqed.P?

    But this setback was only temporary and by theend of the year, there was a general decrease inmalaria, and steamers were again able to run totheir proper times. Nonetheless, the sanitarycondition of the port and its surroundings gavereason for concern. The Resident-General(W.H.Treacher) appointed a Commission, con-sisting of the Director of the Institute for MedicalResearch (as Chairman), the State Surgeon, theDistrict Surgeon (Klang). the General Managerfor Railways, the State Engineer and the Resi-dent Engineer for Railways, to enquire into thecauses of the unhealthiness of the place, andto make recommendations for improving thesanitary conditions.j"

    The Port Swettenham problem helped tomake one man famous - Sir Malcom Watson. Hewas then the District Surgeon in Klang. Experi-mental work in Klang and Port Swettenhamhelped him to ascertain that by clearing thejungle and secondary growth and undertakingdrainage construction at the same time, the inci-dence of malaria could be drastically reduced. In1903, he published an account of the mode offormation of the sexual form of the malariaparasite. The next year he described a case ofblackwater fever followed by an account of cer-tain complications of quartan malaria which pre-viously had not been recognized to be of malariaorigin. To devote more time to the study of

  • THE RAILWAY EXTENSION FROM KLANG TO KUALA KLANG

    JARAM 1898

    P KLANG

    MAP I7

  • PORT SWEETENHAM

    P KLANG

    TANJONGS.AGAR

    ---_TANJONG LUMUT

    P LUfv1UT

    1913

    8

    T11\P .II

  • malaria he resigned from Government serviceand, in 1908, became medical adviser to therubber estates which were being opened all overSelangor. Around 1909, there was again an out-break of malaria, this time in estates situated inhilly regions hitherto thought to be the healthiest.Watson decided to attack the problem at the root- the elimination of mosquitoes. The crucial ex-periment was carried out on Seafield Estate nearKlang. The work of draining the streams beganin 1911 and, when it was completed in 1918,malaria had been successfully brought undercontrol.32

    The Centre of Agriculture

    It was indeed not by accident that Watson choseto carry out most of his work in the Klang areaafter his retirement from Government service.Malaria was a problem in the estates rather thanthe tin mines. Since the 1880s, Klang, in particu-lar, and the surrounding districts became thecentre of agriculture in the state of Selangor.James C. Jackson, discussing with meticulouscare the development of commercial agriculturein Malaya, showed that European estates firstestablished in the Klang District were confinedto pepper cultivation. Coffee which becameincreasingly important in Selangor since the1880s was first grown largely in the vicinity ofKuala Lumpur.33

    Gradually, however, in the course of the 1880s,coffee was planted on most of the former pepperestates in Klang. In 1892, a planter expressedhis view that the soil of the Klang District wasmore suitable for coffee than any other district inSelangor. Coffee planting on new estates initiallybegan in the Klang District in 1893. Within thenext two years, large areas were acquired byEuropean planters in Klang which rapidlybecame the most important coffee plantingdistrict in Selangor.34

    The number of European-owned estates inSelangor increased from 35 in 1894 to 72 in 1896and half of them were located in the Klang Dis-trict. As Jackson put it: "The Malayan coffeeboom had found its greatest expression in theKlang District of Selangor."35

    Two reasons led to the concentration ofagricultural activities among Europeans in theKlang District. The Selangor Government di-rected the planters to the coastal area leaving theinland districts practically free for miners. Acces-sibility also contributed to the preference for thecoastal districts.36 It should be remembered thatin the late 19th century the system of transportwas still largely based on the rivers.

    The coffee boom was of very short duration.By the late 1890s, the decline of coffee prices onthe world market, resulting from increased pro-duction in Brazil, adversely affected Malayancoffee. Although many coffee planters remainedoptimistic that the situation would improve, thelast three years of the 19th century "witnesseda noticeable growth of the desire to plant Rubber"in Perak and Selangor.37

    In Jackson's words:

    Rubber was interplanted with coffee onmany estates in Selangor during thelast years of the century, particularly inKlang. In most cases, however, thesecoffee planters merely planted rubberwhilst they waited 'for better times forcoffee' for in general they remainedunconvinced that the prospects ofthis new and untried crop were brighterthan those of coffee; indeed, rubberplanting was still 'considered by sober-minded people as a hopeless gamble'.38

    But, coffee never recovered and rubber pro-ceeded to become the most important aspect ofthe country's economy. Klang together with PortSwettenham served an increasingly expand-ing agricultural area in Selangor which, apartfrom the Klang District itself, included the sur-rounding territories of Kuala Selangor and KualaLangat. Indeed, Klang was important to KualaLumpur as well, for the District of Kuala Lumpuralso continued to develop as a rubber-growingcentre. It was pure coincidence that Port Swetten-ham was opened at a time when more seriousattention was being given to rubber planting.But, the existence of Port Swettenham was togive Klang an advantage over other towns whenthe manufacture of rubber goods began afterWorld War I.

    9

  • Development of Klang Town

    Little attention hitherto has been given to thehistory of Klang town. Visitors to Selangor wereeasily drawn towards Kuala Lumpur, the federalcapital, with its magnificent Sultan Abdul Samadbuilding and the splendid railway station, secondto none in the world, from an aesthetic point ofview. Compared to Kuala Lumpur, Klang wasdrab, perhaps even dirty. But a visitor there in1886 who was more kind than Isabella Bird,wrote:

    Klang is rather a pretty place; it has aneat, clean, an orderly appearanceabout it which is very pleasant. There isa large substantial building near thewater's edge called "the Godowns"which is used for the same purposes asthe Public Office at Kuala Lumpur;there is a prison, a hospital, and policestations, all of which are well kept up,there are anumber of brick shop-housesall of which are occupied, but there arealso a great many houses built of woodand roofed with attap. The grassy slop-ing banks of the old fort are mountedwith a dreadful array of venerable gunsof different shapes and sizes, a curioustype of 4. pounder being the mostfrequent specimen; some of the gunshave quietly slipped down from theircarriages in search of a softer couch,and lie stretched at full length on thebeautiful turf. A sense of sweet securityreigns supreme within the precincts ofthis fortification. The Magistrate andCollector of Klang, Mr. Tiernay [Turney],lives in a roomy bungalow perched on ahigh hill commanding the town, of whichthe salient features have been thussimply describeo.P?

    Klang was already a thriving commercial centreat this juncture. Just outside the town, sago wasgrown on one plantation, pepper on another andgambier a third. There was also a steam sawmilla little way out of the town. The revenue for thedistrict during the first half of 1885was $62,803.For the first six months of 1886, the figure stoodat $78,736, an increase of $15,935.40

    10

    Many years later, two general accounts ofKlang at the beginning of the 20th century werepublished by theMalay Mail. The first, somewhatbrief, referred largely to a few buildings in Klang inabout 1903:

    About thirty years ago the District Officewas housed in the present police stationand the building now being used, was aChinese temple which was removed to,and still remains in, Simpang Lima.41

    The Chartered Bank started its Klangbranch inthe D.O.'s office, the Treasurybeing removed to the top floor and thestrong room being made use of by thebank whose first manager was Mr.C.L.Chapman, now of Whittall and Co.,Kuala Lumpur.

    The P.W.D. in those days was by theside of the present Federal Dispensary.Later, when the new Astana was builtthe Chartered Bank removed to thelate residence of His Highness which isopposite the present imposing bankpremises and is now occupied by oneof His Highness's sons.

    Many of the old buildings are still to beseen in Klang to the north of Belfieldbridge before the erection of whichpeople had to get across the river insampans.V

    The other account of Klang in about 1910 was atalk given to the Klang Rotary Club by a Rotarian,W.F.O. Stephens, who came to Klang in 1909.At that time, according to him:

    There were no buildings in front of the[railway] station and the Governmentoffices were housed in attap sheds inthe vacant land opposite the presentGovernment offices. The present courthouse was then the Resthouse. TheLabour Office was housed where thepolice station is at present and the po-lice station occupied the present site ofMessrs. Hock Ban Seong and Co.

    The evenings were generally spenteither at the station watching the trains

  • come and go or at the Klang UnitedAssociation which is now the SelangorCoast Club. Drinks were very cheap.Stakes for billiard games were pints ofchampagne, which was selling at $1.50a pint.

    People went to Port Swettenham eitherby rikisha or by hackney carriages at acost of fifty cents. Baju tutup either inkahki or in white was the main dress.The Chinese wore their cues, whichwere well plaited, and put them in thepockets of their bajus. If they were notmourning they had a red tape tied at theend of the cue. Slippers and Singaporehat completed the dress of the Ma-laccaChinese, who were then employedin the many European mercantile firmsin Klang. Swee Heng Leong and Co.was the first big Chinese firm, whenrubber was selling at $600 per pikul.

    There was a large Malay population inKlang in those days. The whole of PortSwettenham road was owned byMalaysand they cultivated coffee. Manyof them disposed of their land at the firstoffer and with the money bought abicycle and a black coat or spent it onmarriage festivities.

    On Hari Ray~ the Malays could be seenwith their black coats and black spec-tacles bought from Arab and Jewishpedlars, riding in rikishas, holding Eng-lish papers upside down.

    There were no churches or services toattend. Wayang Hassan and WayangInchePutehwere the two popular amuse-ments. The collection for a night oftenamounted to $500. Bullock cart was theonly means of travel between Klang andBanting. A Government coach ran fromKlang to Kuala Selangor.

    The richest Chinese was Towkay LimSweeKing,who owned most of the shop-houses in Rembau street. Dato BintaraKiri had a palatial house put up at thecost of $50,000 by the side of the pres-ent Chartered Bank, which was then oc-cupying the present Istana Bank.

    Gambling was very popular and duringthe racingon the Klangpadang the wholetown was present.

    There were no buildings beyond GuanHup Street and at night no one dared togo beyond that road for fear of tigers.

    Chineseladieswere neverseenout aloneand evenwhen males well known to thehusbands went to the houses answersto queries were given by the oldest ladyin the house from inside. If aMalay ladywent out alone shewas not looked uponas respectable.

    There were half a dozen cars in Klang.A trip to Kuala Lumpur cost $18 andone reached his destination after tenhours by a de Dion car.43

    One of the frequent complaints of Klang resi-dents in the early part of the 20th century war,the absence of a bridge over the Klang river.Agitation, however, did not go unheeded; theBelfield Bridge was officially opened by the HighCommissioner of theF.M.S., Sir John Anderson,on Saturday September 12, 1908. H. ConwayBelfield, the British Resident, in thanking theHigh Commissioner, said:

    This structure is according to local stan-dards a work of the first magnitude. It isby far the largest road bridge in theMalay Peninsula, and its dimensionsare such that I propose to ask yourpatience for a few moments while I giveyou some account of the history of itsorigin and the details of its construction.

    The first talk about a bridge over theriver at Klang started about ten yearsago at a time when Mr. DouglasCampbell was District Officer at Klang.At that time progress and developmenton the northern side of the river wascomparatively small, and for some yearsthe proposalwas negatived. Three yearsago, when the rubber industry hadattained larger proportions, Your Excel-lency paid a personal visit to the spotand decided that a pontoon ferry wassufficient. This having been provided,the planters set to work to obtain reliable

    11

  • statistics of the traffic across the river,and the dimensions of the traffic indi-cated by these statistics convincedYour Excellency and the Resident-General that a permanent bridge wasnecessary."

    The bridge cost $26,000 to build. The purpose ofthe bridge was indeed to facilitate developmentof the northern part of the river, including theterritory of Kuala Selangor where, by then, about10,000 acres had come under cultivation. In 1907,the Kapar District alone exported half a millionIbs. of rubber.45 Although the bridge was in-tended, initially, to serve the needs of rubberplanting, its existence made it possible in lateryears for industries to be located on the northernside of the river.

    Manufacturing Centre of Malaya

    Few are aware that, after World War I, Klanggradually emerged as the principal manufactur-ing centre in the country. Possibly the first personto establish a factory in Klang was Tan Kah Kee,the Singapore millionaire who, at one time, wasknown as the 'Henry Ford of Malaya'. In about1922, he opened a pineapple canning factory atKlang which gave the necessary impetus forthe planting of pineapples in the Klang and KualaLangat districts. About four to five thousandacres of pineapples were planted for the mostpart in small holdings. Soon the Klang factorywas unable to cope with the large deliveries. Asa result, the factory reduced the price paid tothe producers much to the disadvantage of thelatter.46It was only after Tan Kah Kee went bank-rupt ill 1934 that one of the pineapple producers- Goh Hock Huat - decided to participate directlyin the canning industry. He soon established anumber of factories under the name of MalayanPineapple company.F

    In 1928, the first rubber factory was started atKlang. This was Shum Yip Leong Rubber Workswhose manufacturing activities first began atTapah in 1921. When business expanded, alarger factory had to be built and Klang waschosen owing to its proximity to Port Swetten-ham.48 By 1935, two new factories were estab-lished at Klang - one a rubber factory and theother an oil factory. The Malayan Rubber Works

    12

    (owned by Ng Teong Kiat) bought themachinery of the rubber factory owned by TanKah Kee & Co. after the Singapore firm wentbankrupt. Most of the skilled operators cameoverto Klang from Singapore with the machinery.The factory produced large quantities of rubbershoes, bicycle tyres, rubber mats, toys, tubingrings, etc. The oil factory produced oil from ground-nuts. The oil found a ready sale locally.49 By May1937, Bata Shoe Company also commencedoperations in Klang.

    On the eve of World War II, a fourth rubberfactory was established at Klang. The followingwas an announcement in the local newspaper:

    This new factory will be a branch of theFung Keong Rubber Manufactory, thelargest manufacturers of rubber goodsin Hongkong, where Mr. Fung Keongstarted business almost a quarter of acentury ago.

    When the former Chief Secretary, F.M.S.,Sir William Peel, went to the CrownColony as Governor he visited the fac-tory there and was much impressed byall he saw. In course of conversation hementioned that there were similar fac-tories in Malaya and although at thetime Mr. Fung Keong had no intentionof extending his activities in Malaya, theSino-Japanese conflict forced him todose down his brandl at Canton, Honam,which had been in existence for twentyyears.

    Itwas then that he considered Malaya asa new field. Coming here a year ago hestudied conditions and, satisfied thatthere was a big future in this country formanufactured rubber goods, selectedKlang as a centre.

    He secured land in Kapar Road and onan area of 57,250 sq. ft., the factory andother buildings are now nearing com-pletion. The buildings were all designedby Mr. Yuen Shieu Kee.

    In addition to the manufacture of bootsand shoes and general rubber goods,the Fung Keong Rubber Manufactory(Malaya), Limited, intend to produce

  • tyres and tubes, machinery for whichpurpose is on its way to Malaya.Thehead office in Malaya will be at HighStreet, Kuala Lumpur, opposite the for-mer building occupied by the KwongYik Bank. It was completed recently andthe ground floor now houses the Bank ofChina till the bank's own premises areready.50

    Epilogue

    Klang's position as the premier industrial site inthe country remained unchanged until the eve ofindependence when plans were made to turnPetaling Jaya into a new industrial site. In theearly postwar years, when there was widespreaddiscussion of the possible site of the proposedUniversity of Malaya, there was at least oneperson cyv.S. Kao, a Research and DevelopmentChemist at Klang) who made out a good case forestablishing the university at Klang. His argu-ments were:

    The writer is of the opinion that the Uni-versity site should be so chosen thatthe future students would be able todevote more of their time and mind tolearn something really worth while tothem. If the site is chosen merely fromthe standpoint of beautiful scenery,cold weather, or even modern comfort,I doubt very much whether the studentscould actually be benefitted [sic] by theuniversity education in view.

    It might be true that if the University issituated in a big town like Singapore orKuala Lumpur, where facilities for re-search, survey and practice do exist, thestudents will be able to avail themselvesof all such facilities for their acquirementof experience and knowledge. But, inmy opinion, the prospect of their mak-ing use of such facilities is rather little,especially if the students still have plentyto learn in the University itself whiletaking up their undergraduate courses.

    I do not mean that the University, assuch, would consist of buildings alonewithout libraries, laboratories, workshops,

    and the like, and the professors wouldhave to bring the students around thetown so as to teach them something.What I do mean is a well-equipped, self-contained University not much inferior inscope than at least a university in China.

    Whether the University would bearplenty of [sic] fruits depends largely onthe organisation of the University itselfand the ultimate aims for which it is es-tablished. Malaya, as we know it, needsqualified physicians, technicians, scien-tists and agriculturists to undertakethe huge task of reconstruction, and inthis respect, there is no other place inMalaya better than Klang, the industrialcentre, as the site of the future Univer-sity of Malaya. It is not a place foramusement, but an ideal place for stud-ies.

    Here in Klang the students will have anice and quiet place to live in, plenty tolearn and to do. Being only twenty overmiles away from Kuala Lumpur, the pro-gressive students can easily make ar-rangements with the departmentalinstallations, research institutions, etc.,for practical training, and if occasionalvisits are considered necessary, thedistance should not be an obstacle.

    If Klang should become the future site ofthe University, it would also be develop-ed into a more potential industrial centreof Malaya because the local industriescould be constantly guided and as-sisted by the professors and researchfellows of the University, who, being awayfrom the capital, may devote most oftheir time and mind to research anddevelopment. 51

    Of course, Klang was not even considered. Inthe minds of Malaysians, then and now, Klangwas a town frequently enough heard of butelicited little excitement. Penang was the 'Pearlof the Orient' - long since considered the idealchoice of tourists all over the world; Ipoh was" the town that tin built" - rich, clean and well-planned; Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital, wassnobbish (the highest government officials con-gregated here) and it was also known as a

    13

  • 'Garden City'; and Melaka was 'the mother ofMalaya' - here time was said to stand still; historyoozed from every brick used to build the ancientPortuguese and Dutch monuments as well asother buildings. But, so few even today know that,until it was gradually replaced by Petaling Jayaand, in recent years, by Shah Alam, Klang wasindeed the premier industrial site in the country.It was Klang that first experienced the wholespectrum of development. Beginning from mari-time trade, it passed through a phase whenagriculture was the mainstay of the economyand, since the 1920s, industrialization becameincreasingly important there.

    This is not an attempt to write a comprehensivehistory of Klang, merely an attempt to introduce

    Notes

    1. A.O. Winstedt, 'A History of Selangor' in Jour-nal of the Royal Asiatic Society Malcryan Branch(JMBRAS), VoI.XII, pt.3, 1934, p.1

    2. Paul Wheatley, Golden Khersonese, Studies inthe Historical Geography of the Malay Penin-sula before A.D. 1500. Kuala Lumpur: Univer-sity of Malaya Press, 1966, p.317.

    3. MAP. Meilink-Roelofsz, Asian Trade and Euro-pean Influences in the Indonesian Archipel-ago be~een 1500 and about 1630, TheHague: M. Nijhoff, 1962, p.29.

    4. See DK Bassett, 'British Commercial andStrategic Interest in the Malay PeninsulaDuring the Late Eighteenth Century' in JohnBastin & A. Roolvink (eds.), Malayan and In-donesian Studies. Essays presented to SirRichard Winstedt on his eighty-fifth birthday,Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

    5. The book was reprinted in 1956. It wassubsequently translated by Amin Sweeneyand Nigel Phillips and published under thetitle The Voyages of Mohamed Ibrahim Mun-shi (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press,

    14

    a subject hitherto neglected in Malaysian histori-ography - the history of Malaysian towns. Morethan that, it is also intended to emphasize theimportance of newspapers as one of the moreindispensable sources of Malaysian history.Valuable as official and archival materials are,their scope is inclined to be somewhatlimited because they provide, more specifically,only the administrative perspective. It is fromnewspapers that one is better able to obtaina deeper insight into a particular society, espe-cially the peoples' thoughts and views; often,also their feelings. Perception is so important inhistory writing. Therefore, the more varied hissources, the more likely it is that the historianwill be able to obtain a truly rounded view ofhis subject.

    1975). This was followed by a romanizedversion by Mohd. Fadzil Othman: KisahPelayaran Muhammad Ibrahim Munsyi, KualaLumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1980.

    6. The Pluto was a steamer which belonged tothe Straits Settlements Government.

    7. See Amin Sweeney & Nigel Phillips (eds.), op.cit., p.62. Muhammad Ibrahim was in Klangat a time when the Klang War was about toend. It had begun in 1867. Raja Mahdi (aSelangor prince) and Raja Abdullah (a Bugisprince from Riau) fought for control of theKlang valley. The civil war spread; eventually,it was clearly a contest between the localaristrocrats and outsiders. Chinese mer-chants and the Straits Government becameinvolved. An important protagonist in theearly 18705 was Tengku Kudin, a Kedah prince,who, in 1868, became the son-in-law ofSultan Abdul Samad (1857-1898). TheKudin faction comprised numerous merce-naries recruited from Singapore. In 1872,Tengku Kudin was in control of Klang villageand he used it as his headquarters.

    8. Ibid.

    9. A house where the four sides of the roof run upto a point.

  • 10. Amin Sweeney & Nigel Phillips (eds.), op. cit.,p.71

    11. Ibid., p.72-73.

    12. Ibid., p.73.

    13. Ibid.

    14. Ibid., p.74.

    15.This was Raja Mahdi's fort which TengkuKudin managed to capture at the time whenMuhammad Ibrahim visited Klang. See hisdescription of the fort in ibid., p.63-64.

    16. See Isabella Lucy (Bird) Bishop, The GoldenChersonese and the Way Thither, London,1883, p.217. .

    17. Ibid., p.219.

    18. Ibid., p.21 0-220.

    19. Ibid., p.221-222.

    20. Colonial Office Records 273/119, Gov. toSec. of State, 12 Mar. 1883, with enclosures.

    21. Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle 19 April1887, p.5.

    22. Ibid.; see also The Straits Times, 23 Sept.,1896, p.3.

    23. Pinang Gazette, 19 April 1887, p.5.

    24. Ibid., 26 July, 1887, p.5.

    25. Ibid., 19 April 1887, p.5.

    26. The Straits Times, 23 Sept., 1896, p.3.

    27. 'When Klang Was A Port', in The Malay Mail,26 Sept., 1933.

    28. The Straits Times, 23 Sept., 1896, p.3.

    29. 'Kuala Klang Railway Extension', in The StraitsTimes, 7 July 1896.

    30. 'Selangor in 1901', in The Malay Mail, 15 July1902.

    31. Ibid.

    32. 'Sir Malcolm Watson' in The Malay Mail, 11April 1928. See also Chai Hon-Chan, TheDevelopment of British Malaya 1896-1909,Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1967,p.222-223.

    33. See James Charles Jackson, Planters andSpeculators: Chinese and European Agricul-tural Enterprise in Malaya 1786-1921, KualaLumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1968,p.181.

    34. Ibid., p.192.

    35. Ibid.

    36. Ibid., p.1 93.

    37. Ibid., p.220.

    38. Ibid., p.221.

    39. 'Selangor: A Sketch of Kuala Lumpur andKiang', in The Straits Times, 15 Oct., 1887.

    40. Ibid.

    41. A brief description of Simpang Limaappeared in the Penang paper - TheStraits Echo & Times of Malaya - of 19 Aug1950 (vide: "Suburb of Historic Kiang"). Theauthor, styling himself 'Simpang Lima', wrote:

    An interesting and peaceful suburb ofhistoric Klang is Simpang Lima (centreof five junctions), originally so namedafter the five roads that converge at thespot.

    15

  • Today in reality, Simpang Lima shouldbe renamed Simpang Annam for, thebirth place of the writer, has seen theaddition of another road since the earlydays.

    Simpang Lima is interesting in that itcontains a hospital, a graveyard, temples,churches, schools, a kramat and aSultan's palace, all within a stone's throwof each other.

    The kramat at the foot of the hospitalhill has been venerated for as manyyears as the writer can remember. Itcontains the tomb of a Menangkabauman who was supposed to have comefrom Sungei Ujong and of whose swords-rnanship and courage the Malays of theneighbourhood speak to this day. Thekramat is sacred not only to Malays butto Chinese and Indians as well.

    42. 'When Klang Was A Port', The Malay Mail, 26Sept., 1933.

    16

    43. 'Memories of Klang Thirty Years Ago', Ibid, 20Dec., 1940.

    44. 'The Belfield Bridge', in The Malay Mail, 14Sept. 1908.

    45. Ibid.

    46. The Malay Mail, 2 July 1924, p.16.

    47. 'Mr Goh Hock Huat', in The Straits Echo, 6Dec.,1936.

    48. 'Progress and Development of a MalayanRubber Firm', in Singapore Free Press, 1Oct., 1949.

    49. 'New Factories at Kiang', in The Malay Mail(Supplement), 1 Aug., 1936.

    50. 'Industrialisation of Klang', in The Malay Mail,17 Aug. 1940.

    51. 'Klang As The University Site', in The MalayMail, 19 April 1947.