October 2026 – The-Philatelist

Malaysia 1969, The Tunku promotes a policy of racial unselfishness

The demographics of Malaya had changed a great deal under the British colonial period. No not British people, but people from India, Ceylon, and especially China had poured in and now were the majority of the economy if not the population. This makes proceeding toward independence difficult. Unless the Chinese could find a Malayan figurehead, a guy with local titles but had gone British. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp was issued in honour of solidarity week. This was to promote unity among Malaysia’s ethnic communities. The portrait of Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman shows that it was really about politics with the Tunku’s party up for reelection and new Chinese parties threatening the old alliance.

Todays stamp is issue A22, a 15 cent stamp issued by the Federation of Malaysia on Febuary 8th, 1969. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Abdul Rahman Putra al Haj was born in Kedah the seventh son among 45 children of the Sultan of Kedah. He married a Thai girl of Chinese ancestry and then was sent to Cambridge University. His studies went badly and even after hiring and moving in with him an English tutor he was unable to pass the bar exam. He did strike up a friendship with Violet Coulson an English girl who ran a coffee shop where many of the Malayan students took their meals. When his first wife died after the birth of his second child, Abdul wrote to Violet and she hired a manager for the coffee shop and left immediately for Singapore. Abdul was working as a civil servant and by now had the title of Tunku. She officially converted to Muslim and they married in a Mosque but it was many years before the Sultanate or the British administration recognized the interracial marriage. Finding so little acceptance and finding Malayan women uncivilized, Violet spent most of her time with British official’s wives. This enhanced the Tunku’s career but angered him personally. Violet eventually went back to London without him.

What didn’t help Tunku’s career was the Japanese invasion. He stayed at his job under the Japanese but that came to an end at the end of the war. He went back to London to try one last time to pass the bar and to give Violet her divorce. Upon returning to Malaya, Tunku went into politics. He understood the British policy was to leave Malaya as soon as possible and they were going to turn it over to the political group that looked most likely to hold the country together with it’s different ethnic groups. Tunku realized that would have to be an alliance party supported by Chinese money but with a Malayan face, his face. He marketed this as a policy of racial unselfishness. He was appointed Prime Minister by the British in 1955 and stayed on after independence in 1957. A rival Chinese party under Harry Lee in Singapore threatened to lure Chinese away from Tunku’s Alliance Party and so Singapore was allowed to break away from Malaya. The country was renamed Malaysia to take into account the Asian ethnic groups that made up the new country. The Chinese minority gradually became dissatisfied with Tunku’s mismanagement and formed separate Chinese only political parties. Their success in the 1969 election made Tunku’s position unmanageable. The Alliance party decided if Tunku could no longer bring along the Chinese, what good was he. A more ethnically Malay Alliance Party forced Tunku to resign and promoted a more Malay First economic agenda. Malaysia greatly fell behind the economic progress of Chinese run but with a British based system Singapore.

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

The island of Bahrain has a long history and was the ancient home of the Dilmun Empire. However over the years the trading post attracted the attention of Assyrians, Persians, Omani, Ottomans, Egyptians, and even those farther afield like the Portuguese and the British. Through it all the Sheiks of the House of Khalifa have been able to stay by knowing who to befriend and who to oppose. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

So here we have new Sheik Isa bin Salman and the ever expanding Bahrain International Airport. Implicit in this stamp was that the Sheik was responsible for the airport. Well not exactly, but that might be too much to say aloud what everybody knows. The airport, the airline, the education and judicial systems and for that matter the discovery of the oil that paid for it all were the result of British advisor Charles Belgrave. No, there is no stamp for him.

Today stamp is issue A6, a 30 Fils stamp issued by the British Protectorate of Bahrain on January 1st, 1966. This stamp is the first issue of the independent postal authority of Bahrain and showed the new currency as the area had just given up the Indian Rupee. The road to independence is pretty clear on this stamp, but things were much more murky for Bahrain in 1966. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

The native Dilmun Empire prospered in Bahrain around 1000BC and was an ally of Babylon. Later many nations passed through. The first Europeans that colonized the area were the Portuguese who built the fort there that still stands. A repeat foreign visitor is the Persians. In the early 18th century AD their Empire was weak after an attack by Afghans, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/06/iran-1950-a-new-young-shah-takes-credit-for-an-old-palace-in-former-capital-isfahan/ . This weakness was enough for the Sheiks of the House of Khalifa to establish themselves in Bahrain. The line of rulers aligned themselves over time with Ottomans, Omanis, and private traders of the British East India Company. The port on the trade routes began to expand beyond the pearl diving that had been the main activity. Indian and Persian trading families established for themselves long term operations.

In the early 1920s the British were concerned the area was being held back in development by the power of an elderly Khalifa Sheik. They convinced him to retire in favor of his son. The British also saw the need for a fairly permanent advisor to guide the new Sheik forward as foreign office types just past through without building relationships. The new Sheik agreed as long as the man recruited was an employee of his and not the British. The below ad was run in The Times of London seeking applicants.

“Wanted: Young gentleman, age 22 to 28, public school and/or university education, required for service in an Eastern State; good salary and prospects to suitable man, who must be physically fit; highest references; proficiency in languages an advantage. — Write, with full details, to Box S.501, The Times, E.C.4.”
The Times, 7 August 1925

Charles Belgrave was hired and accepted because the salary 720 pounds annually was enough to allow him to marry. Belgrave oversaw the construction of the airport and expanded port facilities and put in place the beginnings of a both sex education system and a judiciary. He also supported the search for oil and Bahrain found theirs first in 1932. The was of course some push back against all of this by traditionalists who didn’t like change or Belgrave riding around the place wearing his pith helmut.

Starting in the 1950s a more leftist opposition was stoked by Egyptian President Nasser who was a big supporter of Pan Arabism. Riots in 1956 specifically targeted for death Belgrave and the now aged Sheik. The riots were put down with either hundreds or five dead depending on who you believe. The Sheik tried to keep Belgrave around in a more behind the scenes role but he quit and returned to the UK. It was up then to new Sheik Isa bin Salman to guide Bahrain as the British faded.

The other Emirates were in the same boat and there was talk of joining the UAE, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/12/03/dubai-1971-coming-from-nowhere-to-be-a-tv-powerhouse/ . Into this, the Shah’s Iran also made a claim for Bahrain. Sheik Isa was able to convince the United Nations that the people of Bahrain would prefer to go it alone and become independent still under Sheik Isa adding the title Emir. There was no vote on this. Sheik Isa was still troubled by Islamists and leftists and he dissolved the Parliament in 1974. After that he ruled by Decree and his son continues that less than fine tradition today.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Charles Belgrave. People like him will never get the credit they deserve. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.