Why the British came to Malaya

1
Why the British came to Malaya?

• 1- Collect goods from the Malay states
• to monopolize spices in the East and tea from
  China
• Chinese merchants refused to exchange with the
  British goods and only interested to goods from
  the East i.e- tin pepper and spices.
• 2- Port - to get supplies and repair their ships
• 3- Navy base- to protect the British base in
  India from France attacked.

2
How the Malay states fell to the British?

• Penang
• Sultan Muhammad Jiwa appointed Tunku Abdullah as
  his successor and a royal family of Kedah against
  him.
• He requested protection from the British East
  Indian Company due to the Royal family and Bugis
  attack.
• He allowed the British to trade in Kedah and
  offered Penang but the treaty was cancelled when
  the British refused to help Kedah to attack Bugis

3

• In 1785- During Sultan Abdullah period, he
  requested assistance from the British
• He scared of Siamese attacked .
• As a reward, he agreed to give Penang to the
  British
• 11 August 1786- Penang was given to the British
  and Francis Light opened Penang officially
  without any formal agreement with British East
  Indian Company.
• The British refused to assist Kedah from Siamese
  attacked- therefore the Sultan asked F.Light to
  leave Penang.

4
Singapore

• During Napoleon war, King of Dutch agreed to give
  all his colonies states temporarily to the
  British but it must be returned when the war
  ended.
• British returned all the states included Java and
  Malacca- The British traders realized that it was
  affected their business.
• T/fore the British tried to find a new port to
  compete with Batavia and send Stamford Raffles to
  find a place in the Malay states
• Raffles found out that Singapoore as a strategic
  trading centre

5
Present for the British!

• Dutch complained about the foundation of Spore
  but didnt take military action- Because of the
  British help in Napoleon war and borrowed finance
  from the British.
• Where as the British needed support in fighting
  against common enemies
• - to solve this problem, Anglo-Dutch treaty
  /London treaty was signed in 1824. The Dutch
  agreed to cede all bases in Malay peninsula
  included Singapore to Britain
• British agreed to cede Bencoolen to Dutch
• - The British had 3 ports in Malay states

6
Non intervention policy

• British policy- To make profit through peaceful
  trading. No interference in local politics- could
  cause war.
• To a void more expenses.
• Out of 3 ports- only Singapore was profitable -
  involvement in local politics could led to war
  and more expenses to spend

7
Why the British changed the policy?

• 1- To protect the British route to the East
• - no friendly treaties with Malay states
• - possible its routes to the east could be
  threatened.
• 2- The threat of foreign intervention
• worried if other countries intervened to Malay
  states.
• Other powers abroad their territories such as
  Dutch,Spain and France.

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• 3) The state of anarchy in Malay states
• lawlessness in peninsular- succession disputes,
  piracy , secret society.
• - 1873- 248 Chinese merchants send petition to
  Lord Kimberly- complaining the unrest.
• 4) Change in the British leaders
• Lord Kimberly, secretary of State for the
  colonies, believed to spread the benefits of
  British rule throughout the world.
• He passed on the belief to Sir Andrew Clarke,
  Governor of Straits Settlement.

9
British administration before the world war 2

• 3 different administration
• Straits settlement (1826)
• Federated Malay States (1896)- Perak, Selangor,
  Negeri Sembilan and Pahang
• Non Federated Malay States ((1909) under the
  Bangkok Agreement, Siam handed over Kedah,
  Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu
• 1914- Johor accepted a British advisor

10
The impact of the British

• 1) Economy.
• a. System of transportation Road, Railway
• b. Post, Telephone and Telegraph
• - 1st post office was built in the Straits of
  Settlements
• - Telegraph to improve the efficiency of the
  administration
• - Telephone 1st used in the Straits of
  Settlements
• c. Modern Agriculture
• - British introduced rubber and palm oil around
  1900-1920s.

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• 2) Social
• a. Education
• - Introduced vernacular system of education
• 3) Multi ethnic Society
• Opening of tin mining, sugar cane and rubber
  plantations by the British contributed the influx
  of immigrants in Malaysia such as the Chinese and
  the Indians