A Story Of Life: Friday, July 26, 2013

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.

16 June 1865

In a gambling house in Klian Pauh, a quarrel between a Fui Chew Hakka and a Chung Shan Hakka. In Perak the Fui Chew Hakka were members of the Ghee Hin society and likewise the Chung Shan Hakka there were members of the Hai San Society.

The disturbance esclated when 1,000 armed Chung Shan Hakka men turned up and attacked the Fui Chew taking 14 Fui Chew men prisoner.

The Malay Clerk (Kerani) and police did not interfere. Loh Chong and Lim Seng, both Hockiens from Penang who were merchants trading in Larut attempted to find a peaceful settlement. They went to the village and approached Chong Chong the head of the Fui Chew Hakka, asking him to restrain his men till a peaceful settlement could be achieved.

Chong Chong agreed and asked Loh Chong to get Lau Sam, head of the Chung Shan Hakka at Larut, to apply to the Raja for 200 Malays to keep the peace. The two merchants approached Lau Sam at Klian Pauh who, having agreed to this course of action, requested the Jemadar (the ranking police officer) at the Balai (police station) to send a Malay guard to keep the peace till negotiations could be effected.

Judge and Magistrate Abdul Jabbar shortly arrived at the Balai with 200 armed Malays. About 20 to 30 of these were then sent to Klian Bahru with Abdul Jabbar's proclamation that no Fui Chew be allowed to leave and that no one be allowed to take them any provisions. In the afternoon some Hockien men went to negotiate a settlement to the quarrel. They arrived back at about 9pm with news that a settlement was agreed and that an agreement would be drawn up at 8am the following day.

17 June 1865

At about midnight the Chung Shan took out their 14 Fui Chew prisoners, thrust sharpened bamboo into the necks of each, painted their flags with the blood and executed all but one of their prisoners who managed to escape to Klian Bahru. In the early morning of the 17th June 1865 about 300 to 400 armed Fui Chew Hakka from Klian Bahru arrived at Klian Pauh and attacked the Chung Shan. Once again those Chinese not a party to dispute i.e. the Hockiens attempted to affect peaceful settlement.

19th June 1865

Loh Chong and his party negotiated with the Fui Chew and proposed that they pay a fine of $1,000 to the Chung Sang Hakka and while this was ultimately agreed it left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Fui Chew who had already lost many of their people in the fighting that took place. Loh Chong left at about noon that day but shortly after his departure another fight broke out between the two sides. Abdul Jabbar with 200 armed Malays and a large gun attempted to disperse the parties concerned and eventually opened fire.

20 June 1865

The Fui Chews then retired to Klian Bahru. Under the direction of Ngah Lamat and Kulop Mat Ali, two groups then set out in pursuit of the Fui Chew Hakka, one party of Malays led by Penghulu Sunu and another group of Malays accompanying the Chung Shan Hakka. By noon 20 June 1865 the Fui Chew were utterly defeated.

How It Ended

Their houses of the Fui Chew Hakka were destroyed completely. Their provisions seized. Their tin taken to the Balai and most of the ore taken to Chung Keng Quee's smelting house. So Ah Chiang, leader of the Ghee Hin was captured by Ngah Ibrahim at Teluk Kertang (Port Weld) and executed. 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.

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.

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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Larut_War

Larut War was a series of four wars started in July 1861 and ended with the signing of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. The conflict was fought among local Chinese secret societies over the control of mining areas in Perak which later involved rivalry between Raja Abdullah and Ngah Ibrahim.

First war (1861-1862)

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 Settlements, 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.

Second war (1865)

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. The Hai San members took 14 Ghee Hin as prisoners, 13 of whom were killed. The 14th escaped to inform his clan and the Ghee Hin retaliated by attacking a 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 while other secret societies started to join the fray. Both sides were later exhausted and finally decided to come 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.
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.

Third war (1871-1874)

The Third Larut War was rumoured to have erupted in 1871 over a scandal - an extra-marital relationship involving the Ghee Hin leader 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 and thrown into a disused mining pond where they drowned. Avenging the death of their leader, Ghee Hin had 4,000 professional fighting men imported from mainland China via Penang attacked the Hai Sans and for the first time, the Hai Sans were driven out of Larut. About 10,000 Hai San men sought refuge in Penang. In months, 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.

Final war and the Pangkor Treaty

The Fourth Larut War occurred in 1873, merely a year after the previous battle. Weeks after Hai Sans regained Larut, 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.

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 his friend in Singapore, Tan Kim Ching. Tan, together with an English merchant in Singapore drafted a letter to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke which Abdullah signed.

The letter expressed Abdullah's desire to place Perak under British protection, and "to have a man of sufficient abilities to show (him) a good system of government." On the 26th of September, 1872 Chung Keng Quee had already presented a petition, signed by himself and 44 other Chinese leaders, seeking British interference following the attack of 12,000 men of Chung Shan by 2,000 men of Sen Ning^. (The Petition)
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 Pangkor Treaty. In 1874, the Straits Settlements governor Sir Andrew Clarke convened a meeting on Pulau Pangkor, at which Sultan Abdullah was installed on the throne of Perak in preference to his rival, Sultan Ismail.

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.

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 Chinese Kapitan and the town of Larut was renamed Taiping ("太平" in Chinese, meaning "everlasting peace") as a confirmation of the new state of truce.

Three days later, Chung Keng Quee was appointed a member of the Pacification Commission headed by Captain S. Dunlop and Messrs. Frank Swettenham and William A. Pickering - one of the objectives of the commission was to arrange an amicable settlement of the squabbles over the tin mines at Larut.
The Commissioners decided to allocate the mines in Klian Pauh (Taiping) to the Hai Sans and the mines in Klian Bharu (Kamunting) to the Ghee Hins.

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^{~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larut_War}
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^{~ http://sembangkuala.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/the-larut-war/}
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^{~http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/perak.htm}