A National Serviceman was intrigued by the colonial architecture of Kuala Lumpur, finding it the most beautiful city he had ever seen. Among some old Malayan hands, the trees of the rainforests, with their majestic proportions, aroused more admiration: as if in a cathedral, man was truly cut down to size. And for Tristan Russell there was something awesome in Malaya’s mountain views:
On almost any clear day from Cameron’s you can see Ipoh … you can see Taiping and the islands, Pangkor and Pangkor Laut. Of course, looking east, it’s much further from the sea, but on very, very clear days you seem to be able to see forever … and just at the very furthest distance you may see a silvery gleam, which I think is the South China Sea.27
On a lesser scale, a planter sketched an emotional vignette: ‘Beating Retreat on a village padang at dusk by the Malayan Police Band. Colour, spectacle, British tradition adapted to Malayan requirements.’28 At the end of his long police service, many scenes stood out for René Onraet:
The golden rain of angsena trees. Blue distances from Fraser’s Hill. Being awakened by the scent of pigeon orchids, miniature fairy-white birds spreading their wings in the moonlight. Swimming in phosphorescent water. Quiet evenings at home … Wonderful days out shooting. Polo … Happy parties in the pleasant open rooms of spacious, airy houses. All our happy life … 29
And it was the happy life which many British expatriates remember when they look back: not war, imprisonment, hardship, danger or tropical disease, though over decades those scourges filled the Christian cemeteries on Penang and Singapore, in Taiping, Tapah and Kuala Lumpur, and at God’s Little Acre in Batu Gajah. Here and there, too, were the isolated graves of Britons who would not leave, like Oliver Holt, who came out to Malaya in the 1930s, survived imprisonment and a spell on the Burma-Thailand railway, and settled on the east coast, where he died ‘much loved by the local people’.30 Another: who saw Malaya as his final home was the barrister John Woods. After the war He built himself a fine house in Ipoh with wide views eastward to the mountains, to the Cameron Highlands where he intended to retire. ‘He loved the country, the people and the climate,’ wrote a friend.31 Mrs Savage-Bailey also loved the East, and bought a plot in the Highlands for her retirement, so her daughter Dulcie Gray recalled. Penang was another place where the British felt comfortable. In 1950 William and Mabel Price of Whiteaways bought a small property to the north of Georgetown. The Rawcliffes of Port Swettenham built two bungalows in Penang: one for renting; the other, at Batu Ferringhi, for their retirement. After twenty-seven years out East, ‘I was more at home in Malaysia than in the U.K.,’ an experienced General Manager of plantations revealed – a not uncommon emotion.32 Hugh Bryson left in 1950 after nearly thirty years, feeling ‘that I was leaving many old friends – in fact for a time I was almost a stranger in England, I had lost so much touch with the country and with the friends of my younger days’.33 More commonly, however, in the end expatriates felt they had no choice but to return to Europe: ‘having enjoyed our sojourn there the time had come to move on’.34
As time lends perspective to the European colonial record, British Malayans are for the most part confident that their contribution will be seen as constructive and humane. Malaysia belongs to the Commonwealth and to the family of common-law nations. Features such as appeal to the Privy Council in London and the use of the English language for court proceedings (until the mid-1990s) indicated a subtle British influence.35 The timing of Merdeka and the manner of disengagement indicated British respect for the Malayan people.
In his final reflections recorded in 1961, one of the ‘old hands’ probably spoke for a majority of Britons who were attracted from their homeland to work overseas:
One often asks oneself would one do it all over again? Would one spend nearly a quarter of a century and the best part of one’s life abroad in the tropics? … Given the same sort of conditions again I am sure it was the correct thing to do and I’m glad I did it. Recently I met an ex-Malayan neighbour who had lived over thirty-five years in the country, and he said to me, ‘When I look round the world today I feel proud to have served in Malaya and call myself a Malayan.’ I feel exactly the same. Independence was granted and accepted in a logical and friendly way. Few multi-racial countries in the world can claim greater harmony than Malaya. Few countries in the world have emerged from colonialism in such a prosperous and peaceful way.36
This final judgement – tacit testimony to Malaysia’s inspired leadership in its emergent years, as well as to the British contribution – accords with Tunku Abdul Rahman’s courteous observation made in the twilight of his life, that ‘Whether we look East or West, we shall always be friends with England.’3
Glossary
adat custom or customary law
alor pool, channel
amah Chinese maidservant or nursemaid
attap nipa palm thatch
ayah Indian or Malaysian nursemaid
bahru, bharu new
baju Malay jacket or long-sleeved shirt
batu stone
boy male servant, houseboy
bukit hill
CT Communist terrorist
Dato title of respect conferred by a Sultan, elder or grandfather
dhobi washman, laundryman
gharry small horse-drawn vehicle
GOC General Officer Commanding
godown warehouse
gula malacca sweet pudding of tapioca, coconut milk and treacle
ikan molet ‘pretty fish’: baked fish dish with spices and coconut
istana palace of a Sultan
kampong village, rural settlement
kebun gardener
Kempeitai Japanese military secret police
Kling person from Kalinga or of south-Indian origin (the term later politically incorrect)
kongsi Chinese coolie lines
kota fort, fortified town
kris Malay curved dagger
kuala river mouth, estuary
lalang coarse tropical grass
latah a strange behavioural condition, now rare
maidan open space, playing field
makan food, meal, dinner
mem European woman (especially a married or mature woman)
Mentri Besar Chief Executive or Prime Minister
Merdeka freedom, hence independence
Missee European girl or unmarried young woman
negri state, hence Negri Sembilan or Nine States
Orang asli ‘original people’ – the aboriginal tribes of the Malay peninsula
orang puteh white man
padang parade ground, playing fields or grassy open space
padi rice, rice field, area growing rice
pagar enclosure, artificially enclosed area of water (usually the sea)
pahits cocktails (literally ‘bitter’)
penghulu Malay headman or village leader
pulau island
raja ruler, member of a Malay ruling family
ronggeng communal Malay dance
sarong wrapover skirt worn by Malay men and women
Sepoy Indian soldier, originally in East India Company service, as involved in the Indian Mutiny of 1857
Stengah a half measure of whisky, usually mixed with one half soda
sumatra a sudden storm with fierce winds, blowing across the Straits of Malacca from Sumatra
sungei river
syce driver, groom, chauffeur
tanjong cape, headland
tiffin lunch
topi helmet
tuan honorific title: sir, lord, muster, European man
Tuan Besar great gentleman, big shot, senior European, boss of a firm or company
Tuan kechil assistant, junior, European boy
tukan ayer water carrier
Tunku title of a member of a Malay ruling house, prince
ulu upcountry, remote area, upriver area, often indicating jungle
Yang di-Pertuan Besar title of the Sultan of Negri Sembilan, first among equals, hea
d of state
Bibliography
ABBREVIATIONS
BAM British Association of Malaya Papers, Royal Commonwealth Society Records, Cambridge University Library
PP Private papers
RHL Rhodes House Library, Oxford
UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
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— , Letters to Marjorie Soper, May 1942 to May 1943, PP
—, Malayan correspondence 1947-48, PP
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ORAL SOURCES
Author’s interviews with Dermot and Margaret Barton (August 1999), Ray Forsyth (July 1998), Margot Massie (June 1999), Norman Price (August 1998), Peggie Robertson (April 1998), Professor Peter Rowe (September 1999). Author’s conversations with Ken Barnes, the late Col. Christopher Barrett, Roger and Jette Barrett, Dr Erina Batt, Christopher Cannell, Elizabeth Cherian, Derick Cullen, Fenella Davis, John Davis, Anne Douglas, John and Deirdre Edington, Mary Elder, Dulcie Gray, Anne Graham, Maureen Heath, Edward Morris, Dr Michael Pallister, Anthony Pybus, Alastair Reid, James Robertson, Gordon Snell, Susan Tanner, William Vowler
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