5.

Relations with the Malay

States~ 1867-71

IN Malaya, 1 Sir Andrew Clarke's impact was immediate and lasting.

Before Wolseley's Kumasi expedition had even reached its objective,
Clarke appointed the first British Residents in the Malay States. His
action marked a completely new departure in British policy in South-
East Asia. The Residents were intended as advisers to the Malay
sultans. In subsequent years they became the instruments of British
political control in the Malay States. Clarke's governorship is still
regarded as one of the watersheds in Malayan history.
Why did Britain intervene, in this way, in Malaya? The answer
may be found in a searching reappraisal of British policy in the Malay
Peninsula which Lord Kimberley conducted in the period I 870-3,
the same years in which he had to reconsider Britain's role in West
Africa. The traditional function of the small colony of the Straits
Settlements was that of a strategic seaport and trading centre, which
stood as a guardian on the trade route to China. Kimberley decided it
was the base for something more. Britain was 'paramount power' in
the Malay Peninsula, and he instructed Clarke to find a way of con-
solidating the position.

THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS AND THE MALAY STATES

BEFORE I 867
The Straits Settlements had not plagued and perplexed the Colonial
Office for decades like the West African Settlements. If Kimberley's
reappraisal of Britain's role in West Africa stemmed from his failure
to follow the Cardwell policy, in Malaya he was searching for a policy
I 'Malaya' was not officially used to describe the British colony of the

Straits Settlements and the protected states of the Malay Peninsula until the
late nineteenth century. During the I 86o's and I 87o's the normal usage was
'Malay States' or 'Malay Peninsula'. However, there is a letter to the
prime minister in the Disrae/i Papers, dated 28 Dec. 1875, in which Car-
narvon used the word 'Malaya'. BjxxJHeJsz.
I 52

W. D. McIntyre, The Imperial Frontier in the Tropics, 1865–75

© W. David McIntyre 1967
Relations uJith the Malay Statts, I867-7I 1 53
to follow. The Straits Settlements were formerly an outpost of the
East India Company. The Colonial Office did not take them over

tot• 103"

6"-

P.TIOM~

0 10 2030 40 50
miles

101"

THE MALAY STATES and THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS

from the India Office until 1867. They then became responsible
for a colony consisting of three settlements. The island of Penang had
been ceded by the Sultan of Kedah in 1786, and Province Wellesley
on the mainland opposite was added in 18oo. The island of Singapore