Tag: Malaya stamp

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Kelantan 1911, the British peal away Siam, for the benefit of Malaya

The British and their trading posts. Still today we work with the deals struck. 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.

The script on todays stamp may be a little bit of a non sequitur. It is Arabic script but the Jawi language. The Jawi language is more common in Kelantan than elsewhere in Malaysia. The emblem on the stamp is no longer used but the area is still ruled by the same line of Sultans as when this stamp was new.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1 Sen stamp issued by the Sultanate of Kelantan in 1911. It shows the then symbol of the new status of the old government. The stamp was issued over many years in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 in its used state.

Kelantan is on the coast of northeast Malaysia. It is ruled by the Pantani line of Sultans for the last 500 years. Over that time they have had to pledge loyalty to Malaya, Siam, Great Britain, Japan, Thailand, Great Britain again, Malaya again, and now Malaysia. This show a certain flexibility. It is a rural, agricultural area that is among the poorer in the region, although Malaysia today passes through a good deal of petroleum  revenue.

With the same government so long, it is understandable that the region is conservative and traditional. It is a bastion of the most traditional Muslim political party. It is one of the most strict areas for movies et al. This might explain some of the attitude of Thailand toward it.

The late and the first half of the 20th century  Siam gradually shrunk as Britain and France encroached. A treaty was signed between Siam and Britain  in 1910 that gave Kelantan and a few other provinces to Malaya. The British sent in an advisor to the Sultan and did not formally federate the area in the then colony of Malaya.

Kelantan Sultan Mohammad V

The King of Siam Rama V said at the time that he had no interest in these dominions. This may be bluster but the deal helped Siam in several ways. The debts due Siam from Sultanates like Kelantan were now to be paid by Britain. It also included a British guarantee of Siam independence. Siam has also faced a Muslim insurgency virtually continuously and an area with such traditional Muslims would have only strengthened it if it were part of Buddhist modern Thailand.

King Rama V. Now he is more celebrated for ending slavery in Siam

It was Kelantan where the Japanese landed in their Malayan invasion in 1941. They quickly transferred Kelantan to Thailand, an ally. It reverted back to Great Britain post war and was gradually integrated more fully into Malaya in preparation for independence as Malaysia.

As of now, the modern Malaysian state has not moved to remove the regional Sultans. In fact they serve on a commission from which is elected the ceremonial head of state of Malaysia, the Yang di Pertuan Agong. The current head of state Muhammad V is from Kelantan. While serving in this capacity, his younger brother serves Kelantan in a Regency.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Pantani line of Sultans and their longevity. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Singapore 1947, Getting toward self rule

After Singapore did not stand with the Empire when under Japanese attack, there was little possibility of staying a colony long term post war. The complicated part was transferring to self rule without acquiring a new master in the form of China or Malaysia. The Chinese majority city can thank David Marshall, a Sephardic Jew from Baghdad and Lim Yew Hock a Chinese Muslim convert, for getting them down that path. 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.

Notice that this fairly standard King George VI issue is now labeled Singapore rather than Straits Settlements. Singapore was now realized to be a quite important city distinct from the Malayan majority area around it. It had also proved to be disloyal, so a Monarch stamp issue is appropriate to remind British still there that the home country is looking out for them.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Singapore in 1947. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Singapore was founded on previously unoccupied land acquired by George Raffles from a Malayan Sultan. Raffles was in the employ of the privately owned British East India Company. The site was intended as a trading post but also housed an Indian penal colony. This was after slavery and when the work habits of Malayans were found wanting, large numbers of Chinese were brought in as contract workers. The Chinese were overwhelmingly male and sometimes called coolies. Many stayed on after their contracts expired. British were never more than 2 percent of Singapore residents. At the time of the Japanese attack in 1942, the British Indian Army deserted leaving only a few British and Australian defenders. The mostly male Chinese population did not join the cities defense. Worrying about the water supply being cut meant the British gave up without much of a fight. Churchill described it as their worse defeat in the war and even Hitler said it was a sad day in the cause of white supremacy. Singapore was only returned to Britain post war.

Singapore celebrates the wars end showing their loyalties

Well if the two percent of Singapore that was British was no longer supreme who would take their place. Neighboring Malaya was in a civil war with local communists and Chinese were looking more toward the Motherland also facing a civil war. The British put a lot of faith in David Marshall, born Mashal. He was a Jewish lawyer  that had immigrated to Singapore from Iraq and had volunteered for the defense of Singapore and was a POW. What they didn’t realize is how much he resented being labeled Asian and how far left he really was. Sensing a potential ally, Chinese Foreign Minister Chou Enlai invited Marshall to China. That didn’t go well because once there he took up the cause of White Russians of Jewish heritage not faring well in Shanghai. Not what the Chinese wanted to talk about. Back in Singapore he was appointed chief minister but then angered the British by demanding instant self rule while also refusing to crack down on the many leftists in his party.

Chief Minister David Marshall

Frustrated the British turned to Lim Yew Hock, a labor organizer who was more willing to crack down on communists and have a more staged process to self rule under the old system. The process worked but Lim Yew Hock became very unpopular in Singapore. So much so that he moved to Malaysia and became a diplomat for them in Australia.

Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock

Here there was a strange incident. He disappeared from Canberra to chase after a 19 year old stripper named Sandra at The Paradise Club in Sydney. He was lost for nine days and returned disoriented, disheveled, and unable to explain what happened. He was sent back to Malaysia and given retirement. His marriage broken down, he then made the strange decision to convert to the Muslim religion and move to Saudi Arabia. Sort of a strange cast of characters with which to get such a good result in Singapore.

Well my drink is empty and I don’t think this was much of a story of white, Jewish, or Chinese supremacy, rather the story of a city state getting lucky. Perhaps despite itself. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Trengganu 1910, No tribute is forthcoming, so sell it to the British

Malaya was divided into many small Sultanates like Trengganu, on the west coast. These Sultans required protection from bigger powers so paid the bigger power a tribute. Until they fell behind on their payments. 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 was the first stamp issue from Trengganu. Before the same Sultan we see was sending his tributes to King Rama of Siam. Or at least, I owe yous. It was the British great innovation to pay the Sultans to shut up and stay out of the way. A system Malaysia has continued.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1 Cent stamp issued by the Malayan Sultanate in 1910. This was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations featuring Sultan Zenalabidin. They say his name differently now. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 unused.

Trengganu lies on the trade routes so the local Malayans had contact very early on with both Chinese and Arab traders. According  to the Sultan, the name comes from when rich hunters from Pahang found a strange fang who they could not identify the animal from which it belonged. So the place was called the land of the fang of something. Chinese traders were a little rougher with their name. They called it the place where children are born who will be slaves. It was the first area of Malaya to become Muslim. In the 19th Century the same line of Sultans as Zenalabidin paid tribute to the Kingdom of Besut Darul Iman. That Empire was not able to cope with the level of piracy that afflicted the neighboring trade routes. As a result, Trengganu transferred it’s allegiance to King Rama of Siam. Zenalabidin took Basut with him with their Kings going into exile.

Siam was in a phase where it was attempting a modernization. They mostly had left the quite foreign Trengganu alone with it’s different language and religion. The Sultan was not prompt however with his annual tribute due to Siam. So when the British approached Siam King Rama about Trengganu,  he was willing to make a deal. In return for the Straights Settlements paying the debt owed  Siam and an additional loan and expertise to build railways in Siam, Terengganu passed to Britain. Zenalabidin was left in place and the British got along well with him. However when he died his sons failed to impress despite having had British educations. The first son Muhammed Shah II was forced to abdicate in favor of his little brother and the British then felt the need to install an official advisor. This then angered local religious leaders who fomented frequent uprisings. The Japanese occupation saw them try to give Trengganu back to Siam which was by now called Thailand. As the area was not Thai the change did not hold after the war.

Sultan Mohammad Shah II when he was Rajah Muda. Nobody seems to have found him impressive

Trengganu, they have since changed the English spelling, has become one of the most un diverse areas of modern Malaysia and is still heavily rural. Malaysia has a rotational system where the local Sultans become a ceremonial Monarch. When it was the current Sultan of Trengganu’s turn, his wife became the first Malaysian Queen to always wear a hijab.

Well my drink is empty and Trengganu would perhaps not approve of me having another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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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 tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Malaya 1960, Sultan Ismail of Johore forgets about the rice farmer

The British left the Sultans in place to ease relations with locals as they put together one of there most successful multi racial colonies. This would have worked well if the Sultans remembered the interest of their subjects. Johore was not so lucky when it came to that. 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 is definitely modeled on British Empire stamp issues with Sultan Ismail looking on where Queen Elizabeth would be. The difference is most British believe Queen Elizabeth was working for them. Is this Chinese rice farmer expected to believe that Sultan Ismail is looking out for him. You really can’t expect him to be that stupid. The picture is even just repurposed from a Kedah issue from 1957 with Sultans changed out.

Todays stamp is issue A8, a four cent issue from the Sultanate of Johore in 1960 while the area was subordinate to the British colony of the Federated Malayan states. It was part of an eleven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

1960 was an exciting time in Johore with a new Sultan Ismail. Except that he was really nothing new. Ismail’s father Ibrahim had been Sultan since 1895 but lived as a European playboy. Starting in the late 1930s, Ismail had acted as Regent on his father’s behalf in Johore while Ibrahim married a string of European women, got caught cheating when he painted one of his thoroughbred horses to get better gambling odds, spend too much time in the red light districts of Vienna and chasing cabaret dancers. He did return once to Johore just in time to collaborate with the Japanese occupation. Seems the British couldn’t rely on him any more than the Malayans. Surely after his fathers death, Ismail could be his own man and an improvement?

1960 was a complicated time in Malaya. Independence was coming despite the Sultan of Johore writing an op-ed hoping for Strait Settlements forever. The independence groups were divided. Some wanted union with Indonesia and some were more militant Muslims who desired closer connections with the Middle East. Meanwhile thanks to the British, there were large numbers of Indians and especially Chinese. Just after the war, the British forced the Sultans to accept a new constitution that gave the Chinese and Indians citizenship. With the divisions among Malayans, they proved able to buy off the Sultans the way the British had. The Sultans thus still represent their areas and cost a lot, but are really at the fringe of political power.

Ismail proved to be ineffectual as his power decreased with independence. That in itself was an improvement. He was immediately faced with trouble from his first born son Iskandar. Ismail removed him as heir after having two policemen chained up in dog kennels for days after annoying him. Even after being removed there were several road rage incidents involving assaults by Iskandar. He then shot and killed a man for standing too close to his helicopter. Ismail was around to hush things up and issue pardons.

By 1981 Sultan Ismail was elderly and fell into a coma before death. When he went into a coma is up for debate as suddenly Iskandar appeared with documents restoring him as heir presumptive. Ismail never came out of the fatal coma to validate Iskandar’s documents but he still became Sultan. In 1987, a caddy laughed when Sultan Iskandar missed a putt. The Sultan then beat him to death right there on the golf course. As Sultan, he had immunity from criminal prosecution. The Malaysian government used the incident and others  to strip the Sultans of their criminal immunity.

Rice production it will surprise nobody was not one of Malaya nor Malaysia’s strengths. It is the third largest crop but is not run efficiently with up to date techniques. This might have been guessed from the stamp. Malaya had to import about one third of it’s rice consumption, That was true in 1960 and still true today.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the simple rice farmer. To the extent that Malaysia has gotten ahead it is built upon the labor of people like him. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.