A wealth of information is uncovered about the Larut Wars through the detailed account of the life and time of Chung Keng Quee, the first Kapitan China of Perak by his great grandson Jeffery Seow.
Author: Jeffery
Date: 04-19-07 00:44
Chung, Keng Quee (Chinese:鄭景貴) (Zheng Jinggui 1827 to 13 December 1901) was a millionaire philanthropist and leader of a Chinese secret society in British Malaya. He was born into a peasant Hakka (客家 Kèjiā) family in Xin Cun (新村) village, Cheng Sheng (Zengcheng 增城) county (县 -- see Guangzhou 广州), of Guangdong (广东 Kwangtung) province (省), China (中国).
He was 16 years of age when he came to British Malaya in 1843, sent by his mother, Madam Lai, to look for his father, Chung, Hsing Fah (Chung, Xingfa -- 鄭興發), an indentured labourer who had come to Malaya in order to make a living, during a time of great turbulence in China (see Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion).
His Name
His name has been spelt many different ways probably due to the dialect of the interpreter. Chung has also been spelt Chang, Chan, Cheng, Cheang. Keng has also been spelt Chin, Kung, King etc. Quee has also been spelt Kooi, Kwee, Kwi, Kuei and Kui. He has also been known as Teh Keng Quee (Zheng4 is Teh in Hockien), Ah Quee, Ah Kwi, Ah Kooi etc. Upon receiving his honorary title from the Chinese Imperial Court, he took to using the names Cheng Sheng Chih, Cheang Shin Thong and Cheng Ssu-Wen.
The Larut Wars
According to Chung Keng Quee in his evidence provided to the Straits Government, the development of the Larut tin fields was initiated by Malay Chief 'Che Long Ja'afar by advancing money to the Chinese miners in his district to work the mines and it was only in his son's time (c. 1858-74) that the Chinese worked the mines with their own money (Evidence of Ah Kwee, Report of Larot Commissioners, 21 February 1874, Swettenham papers, No 72.)
At a time when Ngah Ibrahim was administrator of Larut the Chinese had increased in number and in early 1860 two large groups were formed by the Chinese, the "Five Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Pauh and the "Four Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Baharu.
Mining rights were given to the Hakka "Five Associations" or Go-Kuan (Chinese:五館 or 五群) and the Cantonese "Four Associations" or Si-Kuan (四館). Chung, Keng Quee (Chinese:鄭景貴) was leader of the Hakka Go-Kuan and the Hai San (Chinese:海山) society they belonged to and began to operate his tin mines in Larut (see Larut, Matang) in 1860.
Many Hakka fled China when the Taiping Rebellion broke out there and found work in the mines of Chung, Keng Quee establishing his position over the mining area in Larut as leader of the Hai San from 1860 to 1884.
Larut was destined to be plagued by four major wars between members of the Ghee Hin Society (Chinese:義興私會黨) that owned the Cantonese Si-Kuan on the one hand and the Hakka Hai San and Hokkien Tua Pek Kong societies on the other hand. While the first of the Larut wars broke out over land and water rights, the rivalry between the two groups already existed in Ujong Salang, Selangor, Penang, Singapore and Kwangtung itself where both groups fought with each other between 1855 and 1868.
It appeared that the trouble in Larut was merely a continuation of the trouble between the Ghee Hin and Tua Pek Kong societies in Ujong Salang in 1859 which later spread to Penang.
The First Larut War began in July 1861 when arguments over control of watercourse to their mines escalated and led members of the Hai San Society to drive the members of the Ghee Hin society out of Klian Bahru (now known as Kamunting). The Governor of Straits Settlement, Colonel Cavenagh intervened and the Mentri of Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, was made to compensate the Ghee Hin with $17,447 on behalf of the Sultan of Perak.
The Second Larut War took place in 1865 and was sparked off by a gambling quarrel in June of that year between members of the two opposing secret societies. According to Parkinson in his book British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 the "Hysan or Tokong" leader in Penang was "Chan Keng Kwi", with "Lew Ah Sam" as leader in Larut.
The Hai San members took 14 Ghee Hin as prisoners, 13 of whom were killed. The 14th escaped to inform his clan and the the Ghee Hin retaliated by attacking the Hai San village, razing it to the ground and killing 40 men in the process.
The battle continued back and forth and spread to Province Wellesley and the island of Penang and other secret societies joined the fray. Both sides, exhausted, finally came to terms. An official inquiry took place and both the Hai San and Ghee Hin societies were fined $5,000 each for violating the peace of Penang and their leaders, banished.
So Ah Chiang, leader of the Ghee Hin was captured by Ngah Ibrahim at Teluk Kertang (Port Weld) and executed.
By around 1870 there were a combined total of about 40,000 Hakka and Cantonese mine workers in the Larut district and the mining areas between the two groups were near to each other. It is this proximity that might explain how the next battle began.
The Third Larut War erupted in 1872 over a scandal involving the Lee Ah Kun, the attorney at Larut (for the Ghee Hin leader Ho Ghi Sui) and the wife of a nephew of the Hai San leader, Chung, Keng Quee. Upon discovery, the adulterous couple was caught, tortured, put into a pig basket (Chinese:豬籠) and thrown into a disused mining pond where they drowned.
Avenging the death of their leader, the Ghee Hin had 4,000 professional fighting men (imported from China via Penang) attack the Hai Sans and for the first time, the Hai Sans were driven out of Larut. About 10,000 Hai San men sought scantuary in Penang. In months, the Hai Sans, supported by Ngah Ibrahim recovered their Matang and Larut mines.
At this time, Raja Abdullah a claimant to the throne of Perak and an enemy of Ngah Ibrahim, took sides against the Hai Sans and Ngah Ibrahim and the wars between the Chinese miners transformed into civil war involving the Malay chiefs of Perak.
On the 26th of September, 1872 Chung Keng Quee signed a petition together with 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 Fourth Larut War occurred in 1873, merely a year after the previous battle. Weeks after the Hai Sans regained Larut, the Ghee Hin, supported by Raja Abdullah, counter-attacked with arms and men from Singapore and China. Ngah Ibrahim's properties in Matang were destroyed. Local Malay residents were also killed and their property, destroyed. Trouble spread to Krian, Pangkor and Dindings.
The quarrelling Malay chiefs who had taken sides in the Larut Wars were now alarmed at the disorder created by the Chinese miners and secret societies. The Straits Settlement Penang Chinese seeing their investments destroyed in the Larut Wars sought intervention form British. Over 40,000 Chinese from the Go-Kuan and Si-Kuan were engaged in the fratricidal war involving the Perak royal family.
In August 1873, Anson the Lieutenant-Governor of Penang sought to bring about a ceasefire between the two parties and convened a meeting at the beginning of the month attended, apart from Anson, by Chung Keng Quee (Hai San), Ho Ghi Sui (Ghee Hin), Foo Tye Sin (pro-Hai San), Ngah Ibrahim (pro-Hai San), Abdullah (pro-Ghee Hin), Tengku Kudin (pro-Abdullah) and a British Naval Captain.
Both sides agreed to keep the peace pending British arbitration with Ngah Ibrahim taking responsibility for the Hai San and Abdullah taking responsibility for the Ghee Hin. Abdullah failed completely in his task in ensuring the Ghee Hin kept the peace that the British were prompted to back Ngah Ibrahim and the Hai San.
On the 3rd of September 1873 outgoing Straits Settlements Governor Sir Harry Ord recognised Ngah Ibrahim, through a proclamation, as the independent (i.e. independent of Perak rule) ruler of Larut. On 5th September he temporarily lifted an arms embargo (imposed since February) just long enough for the Hai San in Larut to receive munitions. In the middle of that month a British vessle got into an entanglement with some Ghee Hin junks and this led to British bombardment and capture of Ghee hin stockades at Matang and Kuala Selinsing.
Ngah Ibrahim's Penang residence was blown up and a week later Abdullah and his Ghee Hin cohorts were arrested at sea and brought back to Penang where they were eventually released but forbidden to return to Perak.
Abdullah's Mission To Singapore
Meantime the Perak sultanate, involved in a protracted succession struggle was unable to maintain order. Things were increasingly getting out of hand and chaos was proving bad for the Malays, Chinese and British. In her book "The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither" (Published 1892 G.P. Putnam's Sons) Victorian traveller and adventuress Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904) describes how Raja Muda Abdullah as he then was turned to the head of the Ghee Hin in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching.
Abdullah Met with Tan in Singapore in October 1873. He was accompanied by accompanied by Raja Dris, the Shahbandar and a Penang lawyer. Tan offered to put Abdullah on the throne in return for five elevenths (5/11) of of all duties collected between Telok Serah and Krian for a period of ten years.
Tan Kim Ching introduced Abdullah to W. H. M. Read and Read in turn introduced Abdullah to Sir Henry Ord on the eve of Ord's retirement as Governor of the Straits Settlements. A letter was drafted by Tan and Read on Abdullah's behalf to new incoming Governor Sir Andrew Clarke seeking British recognition of Abdullah as ruler of Perak, British protection and the provision of "a man of sufficient abilities to live with us in Perak... and show us a good system of government for our dominions..."
The letter dated 30th December 1873 did not reach Clarke's hands till 9th January 1874 by which time he had already taken the first steps towards bringing Perak under British control.
Sir Andrew Clarke Takes Charge
Parkinson tells us in British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 that Sir Andrew Clarke decided to summon the Chinese factions to a conference following a meeting on or about 9th January 1874 between Chung Keng Quee and Pickering (together with McNair and Dunlop) who had been sent to meet him.
In British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 Parkinson tells us that Sir Andrew Clarke, just weeks after his arrival in Singapore, had already found evidence of the continuing disturbances in Perak and Selangor. Apart from his executive council, he talked to Tan Kim Cheng.
Clarke decided that both the Hai San and Ghee Hin should have access to Larut with neither side being excluded, a complete reversal of the policy of his predecessor, Sir Henry Ord. Tan Kim Ching agreed and wrote to the Ghee Hin on Penang to put this to them and advocate peace.
Clarke then sent Pickering to Penang to talk to the respective headmen in Penang. Pickering gave Tan Kim Ching's letter to Chin Ah Yam. Twenty Ghee Hin headmen met through the night at the Ghee Hin Kongsi house considering Tan Kim Ching's letter. In the morning they met with Pickering and agreed to surrender their forces in seven days time.
Following that outcome and the outcome of a meeting with Chung Keng Quee whom Pickering also met, Sir Andrew Clarke then gathered the main Chinese leaders (principally Chung Keng Quee and Chin Ah Yam and some Malays – including Abdullah – at Pulau Pangkor where the ‘Pangkor Engagement’ was formulated and signed, recognising Abdullah as Sultan, and getting the Chinese to agree to settle their differences in Larut under British arbitration.
The Pangkor Engagement
The need to restore law and order in Perak gave cause for a new British policy concerning intervention in the affairs of the Malay States which resulted in the Treaty of Pangkor.
In 1874, on the 20th of January, the Straits Settlements governor Sir Andrew Clarke convened a meeting aboard the H. M. S. Pluto anchored off Pangkor island. Documents were signed on 20 January 1874 aboard the ship The Pluto at Pangkor Island to settle the Chinese dispute, clear the Sultan succession dispute and pave the way for the acceptance of British Residency - Captain Speedy was appointed to administer Larut as assistant to the British Resident. Abdullah was recognised as Sultan by the British and was to be installed on the throne of Perak in preference to his rival, Sultan Ismail.
In actuality there were two distinctive agreements made. The primary agreement was intended to ensure an end to the fighting between Ghee Hin and Hai San and pave the way for peaceful coexistence in future. The second, to settle the issue of succession in Perak.
Tate in The Making of Modern South-East Asia says of these that "the first one, which had been ready for over a week prior to the signing, concerned Larut and provided for a settlement between the Hai San and Ghee Ghin which both sides respected and carried out satisfactorily. The second (more recently drafted) agreement concerned the succession dispute around the Perak throne and was unsatisfactory from the very beginning."
The Chinese Engagement
Chung, Keng Quee was one of the two main signatories to the treaty known as the Pangkor Engagement entered into aboard the H.M.S. Pluto at Pangkor Island by twenty-six headmen of the Chinese Secret Societies. Chung, Keng Quee and Chin, Ah Yam, leaders of the Hai San and Ghee Hin, respectively, were ennobled by the British with the title of Kapitan China (華人甲必丹 or the leader of the Chinese community) and the town of Larut was renamed Taiping ("太平" in Chinese, meaning “everlasting peace”) as a confirmation of the new state of truce.
The Malay Engagement
There were three possibilities for the Perak throne and of these only one was present at the meeting - Abdullah. Sultan Ismail who was the crowned ruler, had refused to attend. The British did not appear to know of the existence of the third possible claimant, Raja Yusof, who was naturally not invited.
The agreement that was signed recognised Abdullah as Sultan giving Ismail the status of Sultan Muda, and provided for a British officer called Resident whose advice must be asked and acted upon on all questions other than those touching on Malay Religion and Custom. Ngah Ibrahim's position in Larut as granted by Sultan Ja'afar and confirmed by Sultan Ali was recognised.
However, as far as the chiefs of Perak (who were not present) were concerned (with this agreement made between the British and Abdullah or the British's recognition of Abdullah as Sultan) - the issue of succession was settled three years earlier with the election of Sultan Ismail. To these Chiefs the British nay have proclaimed Abdullah Sultan but his accession was not valid in their eyes and indeed in Malay eyes if he did not hold the (royal) regalia which was at that time in the hands of Sultan Ismail, all attempts at recovering these from him having failed.
The Pacification Commission
Three days afterwards, Chung, Keng Quee was appointed a member of the Pacification Commission headed by Captain S. Dunlop and Messrs. Frank Swettenham and W. A. Pickering, whose terms of reference, among others, was to arrange for an amicable settlement relating to the Larut tin mines.
The Commissioners after due investigation and deliberation decided to hand the mines in Klian Pauh (Taiping) over to the Hai Sans and the mines in Klian Bharu (Kamunting) to the Ghee Hins.
The Perak Council
Kapitan Chung, Keng Quee was appointed a member of the State Council of Perak (there were six members of the council, four Malays and two Chinese) which held its first meeting at Kuala Kangsar on 10th September, 1877. His magnanimity is manifestly clear from the Council Minutes of Perak in "Papers on Malay Subjects" by R. J. Wilkinson, F. M. S. (Federation of Malay States) Government Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1908.
An Anecdote
Chung Keng Kwee, when reminded of the Larut Wars by an inquiring visitor, dismissed the subject with an expression of distaste - 'Banyak rugi!' (meaning 'Big loss!) -- vide The Protected Malay States: 1874-1895.
Sir Hugh Low's Letter Vindicates Chung, Keng Quee
In their September 1891 issue of their monthly magazine (Volume 83, Issue 489) Harper's carried an article on Chinese Secret Societies and credited Chung Keng Quee with wealth amounting to two million Sterling. The article also stated that Chung, Keng Quee was tried for murder an accusation that was refuted following the publication of a letter to the editor from Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, in the December issue (Volume 84, Issue 499) of the same magazine.
In his letter Sir Hugh refers to Chung, Keng Quee as "my friend Captain Chang Ah Kwi, of Perak" and "my old friend" and urges the editor to take steps to correct the inaccuracies published earlier which he says do great injustice to his friend.
Sir Hugh Low acknowledged that Chung, Keng Quee was leader of the "Go Kwan faction" in the disturbances that preceeded the British intervention under Sir Andrew Clarke, in 1874. He also acknowledges that long after that time when Chung, Keng Quee visited China he was accused of piracy by his rivals in the tin mining business and while he was initially arrested and brought before the mandarins in Canton he was triumphantly acquitted of the charge.
Sir Hugh goes on to state categorically that "Captain Ah Kwi" who was at that time a long standing member of the State Council, had never ever been "arrested on criminal charges where British influence prevailed", and had in fact from the very beginning "been a strenuous supporter of the settlement of the State of Perak".
The insertion ended with an apology from the editor of Harper's Magazine, Frederick Boyle.
The relationship between Sir Hugh Low and Chung Keng Quee goes all the way back to Sir Hugh's arrival in Perak. At that time Chung Keng Quee was getting frustrated with the management of the revenue farm that had been given over to him and it was Sir Hugh Low who, as he recalls in his journal
"laughed him out of the nonsense about giving up the farm" (Hugh Low Journal Entry 15th May 1877).
The two of them had many long and frank discussions about the mining business in general as well as revenue farming and the system of "advancers".
On May 15th 1877 in a casual meeting between the two, Chung Keng Quee advocated the granting of land leases for the mines for periods of 21 years arguing that this would make it easier for miners to raise money. On the 11th of September the same year, Sir Hugh Low made this so (PCM, 11 September 1877).
For Sir Hugh Low, Chung Keng Quee represented a stabilizing factor in mining communities that had yet to settle down following the Larut Wars. His was the voice of reason, admonishing the towkays who had stirred up a riot in 1879 and it was a voice that Sir Hugh trusted and backed up.
Chung Keng Quee's Business
Tin Mining
By 1879 there were 80 mines in operation in Larut, owned by 40 firms, with an average of nearly 86 men per mine. The largest mine of all in the country was owned by the Kong Loon Kongsi, directed by Chung Keng Quee whom Doyle in Mining In Larut describes as:
an enterprising Chinese gentleman... ...whose appreciation of European appliances is envinced by a centrifugal pump and engine, in supercession of the cumbrous and comparatively useless, Chinese water-wheel.
The Kong Loon mine employed 300 coolies, more than any other mine at that time.
In "Generations: The Story of Batu Gajah" By Ho, Tak Ming (Published 2005 by Ho, Tak Ming ISBN 983405565X) Chung, Keng Quee is described as a wealthy miner who (circa 1889 - 1895) was granted big mining consessions including 1,000 acres in Kinta (page 105).
By 1887 Chung Keng Quee was the largest tin producer in Perak accounting for almost 29,000 pikuls or 1,700 tons out of a total state output of about 220,000 pikuls or about 13,000 tons -- larger than the total out put of all foriegn mines.
Innovating And Leading The Way
Chung Keng Quee was the first miner to experiment with hydraulic machinery. He was a progressive miner, farsighted and innovative and this together with his close relationship with Sir Hugh Low helped spur on the economic development of the territory.
On a visit to Larut, Secretary of State, Sir William Robinson was impressed to see that steam pump, installed by the Perak Government at Chung Keng Quee's request on the undertaking that if successful it would be taken over and rented by the mine (Robinson Secretary of State, No 78 of 26 March 1878).
In A History of the Peninsular Malays with Chapters on Perak & Selangor we are told how Sir Hugh Low introduced the portable steam pump for draining mines in the the protected states in 1887 by first demonstrating its usefulness in Chung Keng Quee's mines. Convinced by the practical results of a real demonstration, owners of large mines in Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong soon had similar pumps installed, overcoming the periodic problem of flooding that used to bring work at the mines to a virtual standstill.
Revenue Farming
In 1889, after the Pangkor settlement of 1874, Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, gave over most of the Larut and Kurau opium, gambling, spirits, pawnbroking and tobacco farms to Chung, Keng Quee and his business partner, Khoo, Thean Teik. In Penang, Chung, Keng Quee and his friends and relatives made up one of three similar syndicate groups that dominated the Opium Farms there.
Chung Keng Quee apart from being a man of vision was also a great risk-taker. Sir Hugh Low in his own notes describing negotiations over the leasing out of the Perak revenue farms compares Chung Keng Quee and Khoo Thian Teik. Chung Keng Quee had told him that he needed five thousand more coolies in order to make the venture successful while Khoo Thian Teik had talked of two or three hundred more. (A History of the Peninsular Malays with Chapters on Perak & Selangor)
His exceptional management of the revenue farms entrusted to him helped bring fresh capital into Perak and helped him to become, by 1886, the largest financier in Larut.
While he obviously was making a lot of money from revenue farming, in 1897 Sir Hugh Low, then the Resident, negotiated with Chung, Keng Quee, who was at that time owner of the largest mine in the country and probably the most influential financier of tin mines in the country, to abolish the supply of opium in return for greater protection of tin mine employers from their absconding coolies and for longer working hours.
His Reputation For Business Success
Chung Keng Quee formed close relationships with the many British Residents of Perak and built a reputation for making mining operations a success. E. W. Birch (Ernest Woodford Birch), seventh British Resident to Perak, left in February 1897 to take up the post of Acting British Resident, Negeri Sembilan and on March 15 1897, while paying visits of inspection to various parts of the Negri Sembilan, recorded in his papers "I wish we could induce Captain Ah Kwi, of Perak, to enter Lukut and Labu" (The Selangor Journal: Jottings Past and Present, Vol V, Page 254).
Chung, Keng Quee And Khoo, Thean Teik
Chung, Keng Quee and Khoo, Thean Teik were connected both politically and commercially, the politics of the day being commercially motivated in any case. Apart from the the monopolies for tobacco, liquor, opium and gambling revenue farming in Perak that these two jointly obtained from Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak in 1889, they were both heads of their respective secret societies which were allied against their common foe, the Ghee Hin. While Chung, Keng Quee was head of the Hai San his ally Khoo, Thean Teik was head of the Tua Pek Kong or Kien Tek Society. Chung, Keng Quee and Khoo, Thean Teik together represented the allied Haisan-Khianteik group of Perak Hakkas and Penang Hockiens.
Both Chung and Khoo were in the business of procuring, supplying or employing coolies. Khoo, Thean Teik aided by Koh, Seang Thye on one occasion supplied goods, money and ammunition to Chung, Keng Quee and Tan, Yit Hoon for their mining activities and for their military activities against the Ghee Hin in return for seven-tenths of the percentage of the tin they produced."
Date: 04-19-07 00:44
Chung, Keng Quee (Chinese:鄭景貴) (Zheng Jinggui 1827 to 13 December 1901) was a millionaire philanthropist and leader of a Chinese secret society in British Malaya. He was born into a peasant Hakka (客家 Kèjiā) family in Xin Cun (新村) village, Cheng Sheng (Zengcheng 增城) county (县 -- see Guangzhou 广州), of Guangdong (广东 Kwangtung) province (省), China (中国).
He was 16 years of age when he came to British Malaya in 1843, sent by his mother, Madam Lai, to look for his father, Chung, Hsing Fah (Chung, Xingfa -- 鄭興發), an indentured labourer who had come to Malaya in order to make a living, during a time of great turbulence in China (see Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion).
His Name
His name has been spelt many different ways probably due to the dialect of the interpreter. Chung has also been spelt Chang, Chan, Cheng, Cheang. Keng has also been spelt Chin, Kung, King etc. Quee has also been spelt Kooi, Kwee, Kwi, Kuei and Kui. He has also been known as Teh Keng Quee (Zheng4 is Teh in Hockien), Ah Quee, Ah Kwi, Ah Kooi etc. Upon receiving his honorary title from the Chinese Imperial Court, he took to using the names Cheng Sheng Chih, Cheang Shin Thong and Cheng Ssu-Wen.
The Larut Wars
According to Chung Keng Quee in his evidence provided to the Straits Government, the development of the Larut tin fields was initiated by Malay Chief 'Che Long Ja'afar by advancing money to the Chinese miners in his district to work the mines and it was only in his son's time (c. 1858-74) that the Chinese worked the mines with their own money (Evidence of Ah Kwee, Report of Larot Commissioners, 21 February 1874, Swettenham papers, No 72.)
At a time when Ngah Ibrahim was administrator of Larut the Chinese had increased in number and in early 1860 two large groups were formed by the Chinese, the "Five Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Pauh and the "Four Associations" whose members worked in the mines of Klian Baharu.
Mining rights were given to the Hakka "Five Associations" or Go-Kuan (Chinese:五館 or 五群) and the Cantonese "Four Associations" or Si-Kuan (四館). Chung, Keng Quee (Chinese:鄭景貴) was leader of the Hakka Go-Kuan and the Hai San (Chinese:海山) society they belonged to and began to operate his tin mines in Larut (see Larut, Matang) in 1860.
Many Hakka fled China when the Taiping Rebellion broke out there and found work in the mines of Chung, Keng Quee establishing his position over the mining area in Larut as leader of the Hai San from 1860 to 1884.
Larut was destined to be plagued by four major wars between members of the Ghee Hin Society (Chinese:義興私會黨) that owned the Cantonese Si-Kuan on the one hand and the Hakka Hai San and Hokkien Tua Pek Kong societies on the other hand. While the first of the Larut wars broke out over land and water rights, the rivalry between the two groups already existed in Ujong Salang, Selangor, Penang, Singapore and Kwangtung itself where both groups fought with each other between 1855 and 1868.
It appeared that the trouble in Larut was merely a continuation of the trouble between the Ghee Hin and Tua Pek Kong societies in Ujong Salang in 1859 which later spread to Penang.
The First Larut War began in July 1861 when arguments over control of watercourse to their mines escalated and led members of the Hai San Society to drive the members of the Ghee Hin society out of Klian Bahru (now known as Kamunting). The Governor of Straits Settlement, Colonel Cavenagh intervened and the Mentri of Larut, Ngah Ibrahim, was made to compensate the Ghee Hin with $17,447 on behalf of the Sultan of Perak.
The Second Larut War took place in 1865 and was sparked off by a gambling quarrel in June of that year between members of the two opposing secret societies. According to Parkinson in his book British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 the "Hysan or Tokong" leader in Penang was "Chan Keng Kwi", with "Lew Ah Sam" as leader in Larut.
The Hai San members took 14 Ghee Hin as prisoners, 13 of whom were killed. The 14th escaped to inform his clan and the the Ghee Hin retaliated by attacking the Hai San village, razing it to the ground and killing 40 men in the process.
The battle continued back and forth and spread to Province Wellesley and the island of Penang and other secret societies joined the fray. Both sides, exhausted, finally came to terms. An official inquiry took place and both the Hai San and Ghee Hin societies were fined $5,000 each for violating the peace of Penang and their leaders, banished.
So Ah Chiang, leader of the Ghee Hin was captured by Ngah Ibrahim at Teluk Kertang (Port Weld) and executed.
By around 1870 there were a combined total of about 40,000 Hakka and Cantonese mine workers in the Larut district and the mining areas between the two groups were near to each other. It is this proximity that might explain how the next battle began.
The Third Larut War erupted in 1872 over a scandal involving the Lee Ah Kun, the attorney at Larut (for the Ghee Hin leader Ho Ghi Sui) and the wife of a nephew of the Hai San leader, Chung, Keng Quee. Upon discovery, the adulterous couple was caught, tortured, put into a pig basket (Chinese:豬籠) and thrown into a disused mining pond where they drowned.
Avenging the death of their leader, the Ghee Hin had 4,000 professional fighting men (imported from China via Penang) attack the Hai Sans and for the first time, the Hai Sans were driven out of Larut. About 10,000 Hai San men sought scantuary in Penang. In months, the Hai Sans, supported by Ngah Ibrahim recovered their Matang and Larut mines.
At this time, Raja Abdullah a claimant to the throne of Perak and an enemy of Ngah Ibrahim, took sides against the Hai Sans and Ngah Ibrahim and the wars between the Chinese miners transformed into civil war involving the Malay chiefs of Perak.
On the 26th of September, 1872 Chung Keng Quee signed a petition together with 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 Fourth Larut War occurred in 1873, merely a year after the previous battle. Weeks after the Hai Sans regained Larut, the Ghee Hin, supported by Raja Abdullah, counter-attacked with arms and men from Singapore and China. Ngah Ibrahim's properties in Matang were destroyed. Local Malay residents were also killed and their property, destroyed. Trouble spread to Krian, Pangkor and Dindings.
The quarrelling Malay chiefs who had taken sides in the Larut Wars were now alarmed at the disorder created by the Chinese miners and secret societies. The Straits Settlement Penang Chinese seeing their investments destroyed in the Larut Wars sought intervention form British. Over 40,000 Chinese from the Go-Kuan and Si-Kuan were engaged in the fratricidal war involving the Perak royal family.
In August 1873, Anson the Lieutenant-Governor of Penang sought to bring about a ceasefire between the two parties and convened a meeting at the beginning of the month attended, apart from Anson, by Chung Keng Quee (Hai San), Ho Ghi Sui (Ghee Hin), Foo Tye Sin (pro-Hai San), Ngah Ibrahim (pro-Hai San), Abdullah (pro-Ghee Hin), Tengku Kudin (pro-Abdullah) and a British Naval Captain.
Both sides agreed to keep the peace pending British arbitration with Ngah Ibrahim taking responsibility for the Hai San and Abdullah taking responsibility for the Ghee Hin. Abdullah failed completely in his task in ensuring the Ghee Hin kept the peace that the British were prompted to back Ngah Ibrahim and the Hai San.
On the 3rd of September 1873 outgoing Straits Settlements Governor Sir Harry Ord recognised Ngah Ibrahim, through a proclamation, as the independent (i.e. independent of Perak rule) ruler of Larut. On 5th September he temporarily lifted an arms embargo (imposed since February) just long enough for the Hai San in Larut to receive munitions. In the middle of that month a British vessle got into an entanglement with some Ghee Hin junks and this led to British bombardment and capture of Ghee hin stockades at Matang and Kuala Selinsing.
Ngah Ibrahim's Penang residence was blown up and a week later Abdullah and his Ghee Hin cohorts were arrested at sea and brought back to Penang where they were eventually released but forbidden to return to Perak.
Abdullah's Mission To Singapore
Meantime the Perak sultanate, involved in a protracted succession struggle was unable to maintain order. Things were increasingly getting out of hand and chaos was proving bad for the Malays, Chinese and British. In her book "The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither" (Published 1892 G.P. Putnam's Sons) Victorian traveller and adventuress Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904) describes how Raja Muda Abdullah as he then was turned to the head of the Ghee Hin in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching.
Abdullah Met with Tan in Singapore in October 1873. He was accompanied by accompanied by Raja Dris, the Shahbandar and a Penang lawyer. Tan offered to put Abdullah on the throne in return for five elevenths (5/11) of of all duties collected between Telok Serah and Krian for a period of ten years.
Tan Kim Ching introduced Abdullah to W. H. M. Read and Read in turn introduced Abdullah to Sir Henry Ord on the eve of Ord's retirement as Governor of the Straits Settlements. A letter was drafted by Tan and Read on Abdullah's behalf to new incoming Governor Sir Andrew Clarke seeking British recognition of Abdullah as ruler of Perak, British protection and the provision of "a man of sufficient abilities to live with us in Perak... and show us a good system of government for our dominions..."
The letter dated 30th December 1873 did not reach Clarke's hands till 9th January 1874 by which time he had already taken the first steps towards bringing Perak under British control.
Sir Andrew Clarke Takes Charge
Parkinson tells us in British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 that Sir Andrew Clarke decided to summon the Chinese factions to a conference following a meeting on or about 9th January 1874 between Chung Keng Quee and Pickering (together with McNair and Dunlop) who had been sent to meet him.
In British Intervention in Malaya 1867-1877 Parkinson tells us that Sir Andrew Clarke, just weeks after his arrival in Singapore, had already found evidence of the continuing disturbances in Perak and Selangor. Apart from his executive council, he talked to Tan Kim Cheng.
Clarke decided that both the Hai San and Ghee Hin should have access to Larut with neither side being excluded, a complete reversal of the policy of his predecessor, Sir Henry Ord. Tan Kim Ching agreed and wrote to the Ghee Hin on Penang to put this to them and advocate peace.
Clarke then sent Pickering to Penang to talk to the respective headmen in Penang. Pickering gave Tan Kim Ching's letter to Chin Ah Yam. Twenty Ghee Hin headmen met through the night at the Ghee Hin Kongsi house considering Tan Kim Ching's letter. In the morning they met with Pickering and agreed to surrender their forces in seven days time.
Following that outcome and the outcome of a meeting with Chung Keng Quee whom Pickering also met, Sir Andrew Clarke then gathered the main Chinese leaders (principally Chung Keng Quee and Chin Ah Yam and some Malays – including Abdullah – at Pulau Pangkor where the ‘Pangkor Engagement’ was formulated and signed, recognising Abdullah as Sultan, and getting the Chinese to agree to settle their differences in Larut under British arbitration.
The Pangkor Engagement
The need to restore law and order in Perak gave cause for a new British policy concerning intervention in the affairs of the Malay States which resulted in the Treaty of Pangkor.
In 1874, on the 20th of January, the Straits Settlements governor Sir Andrew Clarke convened a meeting aboard the H. M. S. Pluto anchored off Pangkor island. Documents were signed on 20 January 1874 aboard the ship The Pluto at Pangkor Island to settle the Chinese dispute, clear the Sultan succession dispute and pave the way for the acceptance of British Residency - Captain Speedy was appointed to administer Larut as assistant to the British Resident. Abdullah was recognised as Sultan by the British and was to be installed on the throne of Perak in preference to his rival, Sultan Ismail.
In actuality there were two distinctive agreements made. The primary agreement was intended to ensure an end to the fighting between Ghee Hin and Hai San and pave the way for peaceful coexistence in future. The second, to settle the issue of succession in Perak.
Tate in The Making of Modern South-East Asia says of these that "the first one, which had been ready for over a week prior to the signing, concerned Larut and provided for a settlement between the Hai San and Ghee Ghin which both sides respected and carried out satisfactorily. The second (more recently drafted) agreement concerned the succession dispute around the Perak throne and was unsatisfactory from the very beginning."
The Chinese Engagement
Chung, Keng Quee was one of the two main signatories to the treaty known as the Pangkor Engagement entered into aboard the H.M.S. Pluto at Pangkor Island by twenty-six headmen of the Chinese Secret Societies. Chung, Keng Quee and Chin, Ah Yam, leaders of the Hai San and Ghee Hin, respectively, were ennobled by the British with the title of Kapitan China (華人甲必丹 or the leader of the Chinese community) and the town of Larut was renamed Taiping ("太平" in Chinese, meaning “everlasting peace”) as a confirmation of the new state of truce.
The Malay Engagement
There were three possibilities for the Perak throne and of these only one was present at the meeting - Abdullah. Sultan Ismail who was the crowned ruler, had refused to attend. The British did not appear to know of the existence of the third possible claimant, Raja Yusof, who was naturally not invited.
The agreement that was signed recognised Abdullah as Sultan giving Ismail the status of Sultan Muda, and provided for a British officer called Resident whose advice must be asked and acted upon on all questions other than those touching on Malay Religion and Custom. Ngah Ibrahim's position in Larut as granted by Sultan Ja'afar and confirmed by Sultan Ali was recognised.
However, as far as the chiefs of Perak (who were not present) were concerned (with this agreement made between the British and Abdullah or the British's recognition of Abdullah as Sultan) - the issue of succession was settled three years earlier with the election of Sultan Ismail. To these Chiefs the British nay have proclaimed Abdullah Sultan but his accession was not valid in their eyes and indeed in Malay eyes if he did not hold the (royal) regalia which was at that time in the hands of Sultan Ismail, all attempts at recovering these from him having failed.
The Pacification Commission
Three days afterwards, Chung, Keng Quee was appointed a member of the Pacification Commission headed by Captain S. Dunlop and Messrs. Frank Swettenham and W. A. Pickering, whose terms of reference, among others, was to arrange for an amicable settlement relating to the Larut tin mines.
The Commissioners after due investigation and deliberation decided to hand the mines in Klian Pauh (Taiping) over to the Hai Sans and the mines in Klian Bharu (Kamunting) to the Ghee Hins.
The Perak Council
Kapitan Chung, Keng Quee was appointed a member of the State Council of Perak (there were six members of the council, four Malays and two Chinese) which held its first meeting at Kuala Kangsar on 10th September, 1877. His magnanimity is manifestly clear from the Council Minutes of Perak in "Papers on Malay Subjects" by R. J. Wilkinson, F. M. S. (Federation of Malay States) Government Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1908.
An Anecdote
Chung Keng Kwee, when reminded of the Larut Wars by an inquiring visitor, dismissed the subject with an expression of distaste - 'Banyak rugi!' (meaning 'Big loss!) -- vide The Protected Malay States: 1874-1895.
Sir Hugh Low's Letter Vindicates Chung, Keng Quee
In their September 1891 issue of their monthly magazine (Volume 83, Issue 489) Harper's carried an article on Chinese Secret Societies and credited Chung Keng Quee with wealth amounting to two million Sterling. The article also stated that Chung, Keng Quee was tried for murder an accusation that was refuted following the publication of a letter to the editor from Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, in the December issue (Volume 84, Issue 499) of the same magazine.
In his letter Sir Hugh refers to Chung, Keng Quee as "my friend Captain Chang Ah Kwi, of Perak" and "my old friend" and urges the editor to take steps to correct the inaccuracies published earlier which he says do great injustice to his friend.
Sir Hugh Low acknowledged that Chung, Keng Quee was leader of the "Go Kwan faction" in the disturbances that preceeded the British intervention under Sir Andrew Clarke, in 1874. He also acknowledges that long after that time when Chung, Keng Quee visited China he was accused of piracy by his rivals in the tin mining business and while he was initially arrested and brought before the mandarins in Canton he was triumphantly acquitted of the charge.
Sir Hugh goes on to state categorically that "Captain Ah Kwi" who was at that time a long standing member of the State Council, had never ever been "arrested on criminal charges where British influence prevailed", and had in fact from the very beginning "been a strenuous supporter of the settlement of the State of Perak".
The insertion ended with an apology from the editor of Harper's Magazine, Frederick Boyle.
The relationship between Sir Hugh Low and Chung Keng Quee goes all the way back to Sir Hugh's arrival in Perak. At that time Chung Keng Quee was getting frustrated with the management of the revenue farm that had been given over to him and it was Sir Hugh Low who, as he recalls in his journal
"laughed him out of the nonsense about giving up the farm" (Hugh Low Journal Entry 15th May 1877).
The two of them had many long and frank discussions about the mining business in general as well as revenue farming and the system of "advancers".
On May 15th 1877 in a casual meeting between the two, Chung Keng Quee advocated the granting of land leases for the mines for periods of 21 years arguing that this would make it easier for miners to raise money. On the 11th of September the same year, Sir Hugh Low made this so (PCM, 11 September 1877).
For Sir Hugh Low, Chung Keng Quee represented a stabilizing factor in mining communities that had yet to settle down following the Larut Wars. His was the voice of reason, admonishing the towkays who had stirred up a riot in 1879 and it was a voice that Sir Hugh trusted and backed up.
Chung Keng Quee's Business
Tin Mining
By 1879 there were 80 mines in operation in Larut, owned by 40 firms, with an average of nearly 86 men per mine. The largest mine of all in the country was owned by the Kong Loon Kongsi, directed by Chung Keng Quee whom Doyle in Mining In Larut describes as:
an enterprising Chinese gentleman... ...whose appreciation of European appliances is envinced by a centrifugal pump and engine, in supercession of the cumbrous and comparatively useless, Chinese water-wheel.
The Kong Loon mine employed 300 coolies, more than any other mine at that time.
In "Generations: The Story of Batu Gajah" By Ho, Tak Ming (Published 2005 by Ho, Tak Ming ISBN 983405565X) Chung, Keng Quee is described as a wealthy miner who (circa 1889 - 1895) was granted big mining consessions including 1,000 acres in Kinta (page 105).
By 1887 Chung Keng Quee was the largest tin producer in Perak accounting for almost 29,000 pikuls or 1,700 tons out of a total state output of about 220,000 pikuls or about 13,000 tons -- larger than the total out put of all foriegn mines.
Innovating And Leading The Way
Chung Keng Quee was the first miner to experiment with hydraulic machinery. He was a progressive miner, farsighted and innovative and this together with his close relationship with Sir Hugh Low helped spur on the economic development of the territory.
On a visit to Larut, Secretary of State, Sir William Robinson was impressed to see that steam pump, installed by the Perak Government at Chung Keng Quee's request on the undertaking that if successful it would be taken over and rented by the mine (Robinson Secretary of State, No 78 of 26 March 1878).
In A History of the Peninsular Malays with Chapters on Perak & Selangor we are told how Sir Hugh Low introduced the portable steam pump for draining mines in the the protected states in 1887 by first demonstrating its usefulness in Chung Keng Quee's mines. Convinced by the practical results of a real demonstration, owners of large mines in Perak, Selangor and Sungei Ujong soon had similar pumps installed, overcoming the periodic problem of flooding that used to bring work at the mines to a virtual standstill.
Revenue Farming
In 1889, after the Pangkor settlement of 1874, Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak, gave over most of the Larut and Kurau opium, gambling, spirits, pawnbroking and tobacco farms to Chung, Keng Quee and his business partner, Khoo, Thean Teik. In Penang, Chung, Keng Quee and his friends and relatives made up one of three similar syndicate groups that dominated the Opium Farms there.
Chung Keng Quee apart from being a man of vision was also a great risk-taker. Sir Hugh Low in his own notes describing negotiations over the leasing out of the Perak revenue farms compares Chung Keng Quee and Khoo Thian Teik. Chung Keng Quee had told him that he needed five thousand more coolies in order to make the venture successful while Khoo Thian Teik had talked of two or three hundred more. (A History of the Peninsular Malays with Chapters on Perak & Selangor)
His exceptional management of the revenue farms entrusted to him helped bring fresh capital into Perak and helped him to become, by 1886, the largest financier in Larut.
While he obviously was making a lot of money from revenue farming, in 1897 Sir Hugh Low, then the Resident, negotiated with Chung, Keng Quee, who was at that time owner of the largest mine in the country and probably the most influential financier of tin mines in the country, to abolish the supply of opium in return for greater protection of tin mine employers from their absconding coolies and for longer working hours.
His Reputation For Business Success
Chung Keng Quee formed close relationships with the many British Residents of Perak and built a reputation for making mining operations a success. E. W. Birch (Ernest Woodford Birch), seventh British Resident to Perak, left in February 1897 to take up the post of Acting British Resident, Negeri Sembilan and on March 15 1897, while paying visits of inspection to various parts of the Negri Sembilan, recorded in his papers "I wish we could induce Captain Ah Kwi, of Perak, to enter Lukut and Labu" (The Selangor Journal: Jottings Past and Present, Vol V, Page 254).
Chung, Keng Quee And Khoo, Thean Teik
Chung, Keng Quee and Khoo, Thean Teik were connected both politically and commercially, the politics of the day being commercially motivated in any case. Apart from the the monopolies for tobacco, liquor, opium and gambling revenue farming in Perak that these two jointly obtained from Sir Hugh Low, British Resident at Perak in 1889, they were both heads of their respective secret societies which were allied against their common foe, the Ghee Hin. While Chung, Keng Quee was head of the Hai San his ally Khoo, Thean Teik was head of the Tua Pek Kong or Kien Tek Society. Chung, Keng Quee and Khoo, Thean Teik together represented the allied Haisan-Khianteik group of Perak Hakkas and Penang Hockiens.
Both Chung and Khoo were in the business of procuring, supplying or employing coolies. Khoo, Thean Teik aided by Koh, Seang Thye on one occasion supplied goods, money and ammunition to Chung, Keng Quee and Tan, Yit Hoon for their mining activities and for their military activities against the Ghee Hin in return for seven-tenths of the percentage of the tin they produced."
Chung Keng Quee founded the Tseng Lung Association in Taiping (where 3 generations of my family beginning with my grandfather, a haka from Macun village, Paitan town, Zengxian county which became Zengcheng city in 1993, Guangzhou, were/are members) and Gopeng in 1895. Earlier, together with others he also founded the Kwantung Association of Taiping in 1887. His 4th son Chung Thye Pin was instrumental in endowing the Taiping Lake Gardens to the townfolks there.
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