zzzz
ODIANG
A Loving & Speculative Chronicle of
Francis Joseph Pillay (My Dad),
told against the long and colourful passage of the Chetty Malacca community through the
history of Malacca.
By Gerald F Pillay
Chapter Two
The Chetty Malacca History
-
Beginnings: Chetty Malacca
Who are the Chetty Malacca1? As near as may be surmised, we are the product of the
monsoons and human nature, the outcome and survivors of history. The famous geography
dictum applies: at the Equator, the seas unite and the jungles divide.
1
There are many derivations and spellings of the name. I use the Malay-language format, with
the adjective following, and my own choice of spelling. For some reference to the origins of the
name, see page 11
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
2
The first strike must go to the monsoons. These steady winds blow across the Indian Ocean
from India to South East Asia for six months, and then reverse direction. They do exactly the
same thing across the South China Sea, creating a parallel history, but we are not concerned
with that here. What is pertinent is that the monsoon winds were responsible for generating
continuous streams of Indian merchant traders from the Coromandel coast to and fro South
East Asia and beyond, from as far back as the first centuries of the last millennium.
The second strike goes to history. When the prince of Srivijaya, Parameswara, founded the
port of Malacca in 1402, in the sheltered waters of the straits, it immediately attracted the
monsoon traffic from both sides of the peninsula, the Chinese and the Indians. For the latter it
was in fact the nearest safe port of call. Among the earliest Indian arrivals were wealthy and
influential Tamil Hindu merchant traders, identified in some sources as coming from Panai in
(now) Tamil Nadu. It is reported that these successfully gained comparative advantage, were
much respected, and in time became the largest and most influential Indian community in
Malacca. One of them even served as Dato Shah Bandar (harbour master).
The third strike goes to human nature. By custom of those times, Indian women were not
allowed to travel abroad. Soon, our Tamil forebears discovered the monsoon to be
unseasonably long, while the charms of our beauteous Malay damsels grew utterly irresistible.
The influence and wealth of the foreigners may or may not have provided some attraction.
Religion was no barrier as Malay culture at that point had grown from Hindu roots.
Commentators seem to suggest that the ruling powers gave their blessings to the unions. So,
our ancestors happily married each other, setting up local domicile. These were the
beginnings of our community. I formed the impression they occupied the higher positions on
the social ladder.
More Beginnings: Birth of Malacca
When we come to Malacca, we owe it all to a mouse deer. But before that we must briefly
mention Srivijaya, which provided the human agency for the founding of both Temasek and
Malacca through the scions of its illustrious royal house.
In the mid-seventh century, there arose in Sumatra, centred in Palembang, the mighty
Buddhist-Malay Kingdom of Srivijaya. By the end of the same century, it embraced most of
Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula up to Siam, and parts of the Malay Archipelago. By the eleventh
century it had extended its suzerainty to West Java, and thence across the islands to Manila,
embracing the Moluccas, the Sulu Archipelago and the Visayas – the last were named after it.
Arab accounts state that the empire was so large that in two years the swiftest vessel could
not travel round all its islands. Located astride the Straits of Sunda and Malacca, it controlled
all traffic between India and China, and exacted a toll on all shipping passing through. Its
capital was the première trade emporium of its time. Srivijaya became renowned for Buddhist
scholarship and learning, and it was the source-springs of Malay culture. Srivijaya maintained
diplomatic and tributary relations with China, and friendly relations with among others the
Chola Kingdom of the Coramandel. But, relations with the latter deteriorated in the twelfth
century, and the Cholas went to war against Srivijaya, eventually conquering Kedah. Decades
of internecine warfare with the Javanese Kingdom of Majapahit also weakened it, and its
vassal states broke away. Finally, it was vanquished by the latter in 1368.
In 1324, a prince of Srivijaya, Sri Maharaja Sang Utama Parameswara Batara Sri Tribuwana
(also known as Sang Nila Utama) founded the Kingdom of Temasek2, which he ruled for 48
years. He was confirmed as ruler over Temasek by an envoy of the Chinese Emperor in 1366.
He was succeeded by his son (1372–1386), grandson (1386–1399) and lastly his greatgrandson Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara (1399-1411) In 1401, Parameswara was
expelled from Temasek following its destruction by the Majapahit. He travelled north to Muar,
then Ujong Tanah and Biawak Busuk, before founding Malacca in 1402. According to the
2
The Sejarah Melayu (translated Leyden, 1821) states that Sang Nila Utama named it
“Singhapura”.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
3
Sejarah Melayu, the prince saw a mouse deer outwit a dog when he was resting under a
Malacca tree. He took what he saw as a good omen and decided to establish the capital of his
kingdom there. He called his kingdom Malacca.
Malacca: Sultanate & Empire
At the foundation of Malacca, the people were virtually all Hindu. According to the Sejarah
Melayu, Parameswara dreamt that Mohammed came to him, proclaiming the Islamic creed.
Afterwards, Parameswara dreamt again, this time of a man named Sayyid Abu Al-Hassan who
lectured him about the religion. Later the same man arrived and converted him, whereon he
adopted the name Sultan Iskandar Shah. An alternative report states that In 14093, the prince
(now king) became a Muslim due to his marriage to a Muslim princess from Pasai. His
marriage encouraged a number of his subjects to embrace Islam.
Sultan Iskandar Shah (or Parameswara as he was still referred to) carried out far-reaching
reforms. These enhanced Malacca as a peaceful destination and centre of trade. Traders from
the surrounding region and from as far away as India, Arabia and China traded in the port. He
also laid down the formalities of the Malay court ceremonials and regalia that have been
adopted by succeeding Malay royalties all over the peninsula, including the Nobat, and the
white and yellow umbrellas for royalty. He also started the system of administration based on a
hierarchy of court officials. With this stream-lining, trade and commerce rapidly developed in
Malacca.
The Official Website of Malacca records that in 1403, the first Chinese trade envoy led by Admiral Yin
Ching arrived in Malacca. In 1409, Admiral Cheng Ho, Commander of the Chinese Imperial fleet, arrived
in Malacca on the first of his seven voyages to the Indian Ocean. And, in 1411, Parameswara journeyed
to China with an entourage of 540 and met the Ming Emperor Yung Lo. Parameswara maintained the
highest level relationship with China. I can do no better than quote the following in full to
explain this:
At the same time, Malacca had a good relationship with Ming, resulting in Zheng
He's visits. Parameswara had met the Ming emperor to receive a Letter of
Friendship, hence making Malacca the first foreign kingdom to attain such
treatment. In 1409, the sultan paid tribute to the Ming emperor to ask for
protection against Siam and Malacca was made as protectorate of Ming China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacca_Sultanate
In 1414, his son visited China, when he informed the Emperor that his father had died. His was
recognised as the second ruler of Malacca by the Chinese Emperor. His adopted the name
Sultan Megat Iskandar Shah, and he ruled Malacca from 1414 to 1424.
The third ruler of Malacca was Raja Tengah or Radin Tengah. According to the Sejarah
Melayu, he embraced Islam and took the title Muhammad Shah. Other scholars believe this
could also have been due to him marrying a Tamil Muslim wife. On his decease In 1444, he
was succeeded by Raja Ibrahim.
By this time, there could have been some tension in Melaka between the
growing Tamil Muslim community and the traditional Hindu Malays, for Raja
Ibrahim does not seem to have embraced the new religion but instead adopted
the title Sri Parameswara Dewa Shah. He ruled for less than seventeen months
- in 1445, he was stabbed to death. He had an elder half-brother, by a Tamil
Muslim common woman, called Raja Kasim. He assumed the throne (in 1456),
3
The Official Website of Malacca gives this date as 1414, but this seems improbably .
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
4
taking the name Sultan Muzaffar Shah. - signalling a new golden era for the
Melaka Sultanate4.
http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/parames.htm
The small city state would now become a Sultanate and an Empire. Sultan Muzaffar Shah
appointed the famous Tun Perak as his Bendahara, styled Bendahara Paduka Raja - a man
deeply respected by the Sultan's Malay subjects and a man he knew had the charisma, ability
and courage to build his Empire. Tun Perak would shape the history of Malacca for the next 40
years and serve as Bendahara under four Sultans. Malacca quickly mounted a series of
military campaigns subjugating the surrounding states and in east coast Sumatra. In 1459, on
his decease, he was succeed by his son Sultan Mansur Shah, The latter successfully attacked
and conquered Kedah and Pahang, both vassal states of Siam, which launched several
attacks on the new kingdom previously. The list of the other states who were conquered or
became vassals included Johor and Muar in the Peninsula, and Jambi, Siak and (briefly) Pasai
in Sumatra. At its height, Malacca ruled most of Peninsula Malaya and a great portion of
eastern Sumatra. Like its predecessor Srivijaya, it controlled the Straits of Malacca. It was also
the centre of Islam. Muslim missionaries were sent by the Sultan to other communities in the
Malay Archipelago, such as in Java, Borneo, and the Philippines. Most of South East Asia at
that time was Hindu.
Mansur Shah's reign was the peak of Melaka's meteoric rise to Empire and
became the golden age of Malay folklore and culture. It was recorded that by
this time, Melaka alone, had 40,000 inhabitants, including almost all the known
races in the world.
It was during Mansur Shah's reign that Hang Tuah, the ultimate Malay hero and
symbol of honour, courage and loyalty was made Laksamana or Admiral
http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/parames.htm
The Chinese relationship continued and strengthened under the new sultan.
In the year 1459, a princess Hang Li Po (or Hang Liu), was sent by the emperor
of Ming to marry Malacca Sultan Mansur Shah (ruled 1459–1477). The princess
came with her entourage 500 sons of ministers and a few hundred
handmaidens.They eventually settled in Bukit Cina, Malacca. It is believed that a
significant number of them married into the local populace. The descendants of
these mixed marriages are locally known today as Peranakan and still use the
honorifics Baba (male title) and Nyonya (female title).
In Malaysia today, many people believe it was Admiral Zheng He (died 1433)
who sent princess Hang Li Po to Malacca in year 1459. However there is no
record of Hang Li Po (or Hang Liu) in Ming annals. She is mentioned only within
Malacca folklore and Malay annals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He#In_Malacca
4
Raja Ibrahim was also known as Sultan Abu Syahid Shah. He was a practicing Hindu. His
taking a Hindu title represented a traditionalist reaction in Malacca against Islam, the new
religion. After his death, he was given the title Sultan Abu Syahid, which means the Martyred
King.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
5
In 1477, Sultan Mansur Shah died, and his son succeeded him as Sultan Alauddin Riayat
Shah. But he mysteriously died 11 years later, of poisoning. There was a resurgence of Tamil
Muslim politicking, led by Tun Mutahir, the son of the previously deposed Tamil Muslim
Bendahara Tun Ali. Sultan Alauddin's elder son was by-passed in favour of his younger half
brother, the son of Mutahir’s own sister. This young man became Sultan Mahmud Shah in
1488. When Tun Perak died in 1498, his brother, Tun Puteh, succeeded him, only to pass
away soon after. Finally, in 1500, Tun Mutahir assumed the post, with the title Bendahara Seri
Maharaja. He became the grandest and most powerful of all the bendaharas, accordingl to the official
Malacca website..
We might conclude this episode with another quote commenting on the state of affairs in
Malacca then:
Melaka's State continued to flourish but the court was now thronged and
dominated by Tamil merchants, ready to buy their way to royal favour. Their
monopoly in trade made them despised by other traders and the Malay chiefs
and common people hated the arrogant and greedy "Jawi Pekan" strutting like
rulers.
http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/parames.htm
But Malacca’s greatest glory was in the flowering of Malay culture, literature and society. It
was a remarkably cosmopolitan society. Malays, Muslim Indians, Hindus, Chinese, Javanese,
Turks, Arabs, Burmese, Siamese, all flocked to share in its peace, stability and prosperity.
Malacca became the focal point and entre-port for the smaller regional boats to exchange
goods and discharge their spices and local produce, and for long haul ships to collect and
discharge their cargo for India and China – and beyond
I will conclude with the following statement from the same source
It was the first and most memorable civilisation to have emerged from the
peninsula - and none have equalled it since.
http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/parames.htm
Then, on 1 September 1509, a Portuguese fleet under Admiral Diego Lopez De Sequeira
sailed into Malacca.- the first European fleet to have ever dropped anchor into Malay waters.
That moment was to become a dramatic crossroads in the history of the Malay Peninsular
and, ultimately, the fate of all eastern Asia. More of this later.
Life in the Malacca Sultanate
The following description conveys the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the port and city, of which
our ancestors formed a resident and constituent part:
“As a centre for trade, the port of Melaka (Malacca) was a good harbour
complete with godown facilities to store goods. Foreign traders from different
countries lived in separate residential areas. As a result, the port drew
Chinese junks, Moslem merchants, Javanese, Bengalis and Arabs.
Merchants from Persia, India and the Indonesian regions also flocked to
Melaka every year. Goods from the East and the West were sold in Melaka
through out the seasons
”There were also Armenians, Venetians and Turks who came through the
Indian ports of Surat and Cambay, which were major markets linked to
Melaka.”
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
6
“The long journey from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and then to Melaka
took 18 months and the trips were full of danger. The Venetians were aware
of these dangers. Their trade between Indian ports, and Melaka, was
conducted mainly by Indian merchants, and only a few Venetians were able to
penetrate the Melaka trade. Occasionally Indian merchants persuaded the
Venetians to carry their goods in European ships; they also formed
companies of merchants to sail to Melaka. In these companies, Gujeratis and
Western traders sailed for Melaka in March. On their return journey they
stopped in the Maldives Islands to trade with the locals”.
http://eprints.usm.my/9045/1/EUROPEAN_TRADERS_IN_REGIONAL_TRAD
E_OF_MALAY ARCHIPELAGO,_1681_to 1792.pdf
YEOH LIAN HEOH
It may be noted from the preceding that there was continuous Tamil involvement in the affairs
of Malacca, by way of business, religion and politics. It was common for both international and
local alliances, whether for political or religious purposes, to be forged by marriage. More than
one Sultan had Tamil ancestry. I suspect that If Tun Sri Lanang, the compiler5 of the Sejarah
Melayu, had had an Hindu chronographer to assist him, we might have had an equally
intriguing recital of involvement of the Hindu Tamils, the ancestors of our Chetty Malacca, It
seems that at the beginning they were in the ascendant. There is mention that one of our
ancestors was made Shah Bandar or port-master of Malacca – probably at the beginning in
the time of Parameswara when he depended on them. The Sejarah Melayu narrative also
makes reference to prominent Klings 6 who were wealthy and well thought of. From the
context, they seemed to be Hindu Tamils. Among those mentioned was a “kelinger who
settled in Malacca. and became Shahbender or chief of port, and he was named Raja
Mudeliar,” I could not ascertain whether this was one and the same as the earlier report.
Another “kelinger”, Ilu Menu Nayen by name and a shopkeeper by trade, generously
distributed gifts on festive occasions There is no explicit reference anywhere that the Tamil
Hindus did actively support the Malay Hindu opposition. However, what seems clear is that
their rivals, the Tamil Muslims, swept the field politically and tried to dominate trade. It is not
hard to imagine that our ancestors were quite cheesed off in the end.
There is no specific information available, but it may be imagined that our ancestors continued
to engage in their maritime trade during the Sultanate, still plying between the Coramandel
and Malacca as the Hindu royal fleets still controlled the Indian Ocean at this time. They might
or might not have been carrying on regional entre-port activities as well. They probably also
controlled a fair share of the shore-based infrastructure having been first in the field, including
the supplies and services involved in chandlering. There is no reason to suppose they did not
continue to form an important backbone of the commercial strength of Malacca. The Sejarah
Melayu references certainly suggest that some at any rate were financially influential.
Despite the loss of leverage, as the rivals merchants (Muslim Tamils and Gujeratis) dislodged
our ancestors from their former positions of political influence, it would appear that the Chetty
Malacca survived, thrived and shared in the prosperity of the sultanate. We may note that
notwithstanding the hot-house religious atmosphere permeating political and business affairs,
by and large the ancestors of the Chetty Malacca they kept their faith. It has remained the
cornerstone of their identity to this day.
The question arises whether with the advent of Islam our ancestors began to experience
difficulty in marrying Malay ladies. I go along with the tenor of various descriptions of the time
that the new religion may have taken many years to penetrate the population, from royalty
down to the common folk. Customary norms and practices would have continued much as
5
The Sejarah Melayu is said to have been compiled around in 1621 in Johore at the behest of
the Sultan, descendant of the last Malacca royal family, and was completed in Aceh where Tun
Sri Lanang was a prisoner.
6
See Footnote 17 on Page 25 for a full note on “Klings”.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
7
they were before. The Official Website of Malacca states that Islam was made the official
religion only in 1446, Thus, we may suppose that our ancestors continued to marry locally with
the Malay population in parallel with the growing nucleus of their own Chetty Malacca women.
Loss of their political position may have reduced their clout, but they would still have been
sufficiently well-off to support their charms. Inter-marriage seems to have been quite the thing
at all levels in Malacca, judging by the Sejarah Melayu, and has continued to be popular ever
since. We may observe that the Chinese Peranakan would also have grown over the same
period, As has been well established over the years since, our ancestors have never been
adverse to the charms of Peranakan women and married them freely. And so our ancestry
would have continued to enrichen during the time of the sultanate. There were as yet no
Eurasians.
Portuguese Malacca: The Chetty Malacca prosper
The first contact by the Portuguese with Malacca was in 1509, as mentioned earlier. They
would not have inspired joy and celebration among the Malays, because the Portuguese’s
ships were loaded with cannon and their men armed to the teeth. It was perhaps already
common seafaring knowledge that they had appeared still smoking from their capture of Goa
not many months before, and that their mission was conquest of strategic trade routes. In any
case the Gujerat merchants are said to have instigated against them. They would have
reported the Portuguese’s hostility to Islam from their warfare they conducted on the west
coast of India. Thus, while the visit was overtly exploratory and to open trade relations, the
Malays had every reason to look with suspicion upon them. In the upshot, the expedition was
captured and imprisoned.
In June 1511 Alfonso d'Albuquerque, Viceroy of all the Portuguese in the East, arrived at
Malacca from Goa with the entire army and navy of Portuguese India, made up of 19 ships,
800 European men and 600 natives (Indians).
“Albuquerque on arrival immediately demanded the rescue of the Portuguese.
The Sultan tried to gain time to strengthen the town defenses. He was well
aware of the small number of Portuguese troops and was confident on his
powerful army of 20.000 men and 2.000 guns.
Albuquerque wasted no time. At dawn of 25 July 1511 the Portuguese
attacked the town concentrating the assault on the bridge on the river dividing
the town. After a fierce battle the bridge was conquered, but at nightfall they
were forced to retreat. After some days of preparations, on 10 August 1511,
the Portuguese renewed the attack. Albuquerque had the assistance of some
Chinese junks that were anchored in the port. The use of a junk offered by the
Chinese merchants was decisive, as this junk was used as a bridgehead. This
time the attack was successful in establishing a bridgehead in the town. There
were then several days of siege in which the Portuguese bombarded the city.
On 24 August 1511 the Portuguese again attacked only to discover that the
Sultan had escaped. With Malacca now in Portuguese hands, they sacked the
town, but following Albuquerque’s orders, they respected the property of
those who sided with them.
B. W. Diffie and G. D. Winius in the book "Foundations of the Portuguese
Empire 1415-1580" write: "the capture of Asia's greatest trading city by a
mere 900 Portuguese and 200 Indians must rank as an event in the history of
European expansion no less stunning than the better known conquest of
Tenochtitlan by Hernando Cortés".
http://www.colonialvoyage.com/eng/asia/malaysia/malacca/portuguese.html
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
8
As has been said before, whoever controlled Malacca controlled the Straits. Malacca became
a key guardian of the Portuguese’s spice route. This strategic function was the principal
reason for its capture, besides the prize of a glittering port and the capital of the then greatest
empire in the region.
Over the next one hundred and thirty years, Malacca continued to reign in this role, but now
under the Portuguese It was not by any means a peaceful time. From his base at Johore, the
former Sultan of Malacca and his successors repeatedly attacked Malacca in 1517, 1520,
1521 and in 1525. At last, in 1583, a peace treaty was signed. Malacca was also repeatedly
under siege in 1550, 1567, 1571 this time by Johore and Aceh. A major sea attack by Johore
in 1587 was only overcome by re-enforcements from Goa. The prize and obsession that
Malacca was to the Dutch may be gathered by the fact that with only its third voyage out, the
VOC launched an attack on it in 1606, in alliance with Johore - just four years after the
company’s formation. It would be the first of many.
To defend themselves from the surrounding Malay kingdoms, who were still smarting from the
loss of their prized port to the infidel Christians, the Portuguese immediately set about building
a citadel on the east bank of the Malacca River, the site of the Sultan’s former istana. This
fortification was called "A Famosa" meaning The Famous), and was finished in November
1511 On the hill, rising behind the fort, the Portuguese built their houses, the governor's palace
and their churches, while the Asian population of traders of many nations lived on the opposite
bank of the river.The Portuguese proceeded to surround their settlement with a walled fortress
(Fortaleza de Malacca). This encompassed the hill and over-looked the harbour. This fortress
in its final form had 6 Bastions and 4 Gates. It was completed in 1588. Soon after the
conquest, Ruy de Brito Patalim was appointed Captain of the "Fortaleza de Malacca" and
about 500 Portuguese soldiers were left as garrison.
Albuquerque established a new administration, minted a new currency and built a wooden
chapel on the hill. Adjoining the citadel, a stone church dedicated to "Nossa Senhora da
Anunciada" was erected in 1521, and later re-dedicated to "Nossa Senhora da Assumpção".
On 4 February 1558 this church was consecrated as a Cathedral. Many Portuguese
"casados", mostly artisans, merchants or farmers, settled in Malacca. In 1532, the Confraria da
Misericórdia (Confraternity of Mercy) was founded and a wooden hospital for the poor was
also built. In 1545, Saint Francis Xavier visited Malacca on the first of his five sojourns in the
city. Malacca was used as his base in the East and from there he attempted to get permission
to travel to China. In 1548, he set up the first school in Malacca, named St Paul's College, for
the Portuguese Catholics and newly converted locals. 1552, the "camara" (Municipal Council)
of Malacca was set up. In 1553, Saint Francis Xavier died on Sancian island. His body was
buried in St. Paul's Church for nine months then transferred to Goa. .
An early report during this period suggested that Malacca continued to be a cosmopolitan
metropolis under the Portuguese, with a population of over 50,000; some 84 languages could
be heard according to one count (Pires, 1510 Summa Oriental). It should be mentioned that
Malacca also had a slave population. A report somewhere suggested that previously the
Sultan had had about 3,000 slaves. Slaves were a widespread and marketable commodity.
They comprised those captured as the prize of war, jungle tribes and unprotected microcommunities captured by raids, people sentenced to slavery, and of course people bought and
sold in the slave markets. They served in a wide range of jobs, from domestic servants to
agricultural and menial workers. No doubt The Portuguese captured a good handful of slaves
at the fall of Malacca.
When the Portuguese attacked Malacca, the Tamil Hindus stayed neutral. But one faction led
by Naina Chetty supported the invaders against the local Muslim alliance. It is because of this
that the Portuguese did not destroy their property and generally showed the Chetty Malacca
favour. It is further reported that Naina Chetty was granted the appointment of Bendahara
(Chief Minister), but with less power than his predecessors under the Sultans. This office was
held by his family for some time. I read no specific reports, but we may imagine that the Jawi
Pekan lost their positions of influence. In fact they seem to fade from the history of Malacca.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
9
In this milieu, the ancestors the Chetty Malacca prospered. We may begin to say that the
community had by now established their identity as Chetty Malacca, and we shall begin talking
of them as such. There is no indication that they owned slaves, but it could be expected at
least the more well to do and those in business did. Slavery was common in India, and they
could have brought their own slaves over. It is reported that the Chetty Malacca grew in
wealth, and owned and occupied the best residential properties in preferred suburbs across
the river from the fort including what was later to be named Hereen Street by the Dutch, and in
adjacent Tranquerah. Here’s peep into what it was like:
“Tranqueira
Tranqueira was the most important suburb of Malacca. The suburb was
rectangular in shape, with a northern walled boundary, the straits of Malacca to
the south and the river of Malacca (Rio de Malaca) and the fortaleza's wall to the
east. It was the main residential quarters of the city. However, in war, the
residence of the quarters would be evacuated to the fortress. Tranqueira was
divided into a further two parishes, São Tomé and São Estêvão. The parish of
S.Tomé was called Campon Chelim (Kampung Keling in Malay). It was
described that this area was populated by the Chelis of Choromandel. The other
suburb of São Estêvão was also called Campon China (Kampung Cina). (Chelis
= Chetty Malacca)
Erédia described the houses as made of timber but roofed by tiles. A stone bridge
with sentry crosses the river Malacca to provide access to the Malacca Fortress
via the eastern Custome House Terrace. The center of trade of the city was also
located in Tranqueira near the beach on the mouth of the river called the Bazaar
of the Jaos (Jowo/Jawa i.e. Javanese).
Emanuel Godinho de Erédia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Malacca
While the community took identity fully as Chetty Malacca and grew, as surely as the
Portuguese Eurasians and the Chinese Peranakans did, there was also attrition, for in
individual cases some would have converted to Christianity or Islam to win their lady of choice.
It is in fact reported that the mosque in Temple Street, alongside the Chetty Malacca Hindu
temple, was built by Chetty Malaca converts to Islam.
It has to be remembered that all the above happened in the distant past – well before the
British East India Company (EIC) or the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische
Compagnie or VOC) were born, in 1600 and 1602 respectively!.
There were other visiting Indian traders. They included a sizeable number of merchants from
Gujerat, a Muslim state in West India, the original traders in spices supplying Europe through
Venice. I was curious not finding communities of local domicile of these Indians, counterpart
to the Chetty Malacca. My own take on this is that they did indeed marry and were easily
assimilated into the local Malay Muslim communities. Even up to today, Indian Muslims marry
freely with Malays, and their children more often than not identify themselves as Malay.
Mohamed Mahathir, the former Prime Minster of Malaysia, was I am told of Indian ancestry but
called himself Malay. The one reference I did find was a reference - again - to the Jawi Pekan.
They were Indian Muslims who married Malay women but maintained a separate identity.
Apparently they were affluent, retained their own culture and practised their own form of Islam.
Apart from their role in sultanate times, they arose mainly in Penang in British times, some two
hundred years in the future. .
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
10
As might be expected, over time, the Tamil Hindu community brought over their artisans,
domestics and menial workers, who themselves built local families. This accounted for the
stratification by economic class and wealth of the Chetty Malacca community, even
discernable these days. While slaves were caught and sold in abundance in India to slave
traders, I have so far not heard that it was the practice for families and businesses to have
domestic slaves working for them. The caste system did pretty well in their place. So I
conclude they did not bring slaves over to Malacca. A factor consolidating the local
community was that local wives and families were not assimalable into the structure of Indian
society even if brought back to India. There was therefore no point. The two worlds remained
happily apart. Finally, history intervened again, to seal the processes, with the conquest of the
last Coramandel Hindu Kingdom (Vijayanagar) by Muslim conquerors in 1642. Contact with
their homeland, was progressively severed, their ships not longer enjoyed the protection of the
Hindu royal fleets, and they lost their maritime trade. The Hindu merchants in fact began to
lease or sell their ships to the Muslims, and looked for solace in the ready arms of their local
partners and landwards for their economic future. This did not mean some of them did not
sneak back to enjoy double marital bliss. But even before this strand of events could reach its
termination, Malacca was conquered by the Dutch in 1641. That event was to truncate and
transform everything.
According to the Tamil-English Dictionary by .V Visvanatha Pillai, the word setu means
merchant. This is thought to be the genesis of chitty Our ancestors therefore became known
as Chitty Malacca - Chetty Malaca in our more natural local Malay colloquial language. This
has been supported by the fact that the Gujeratis called their higher echelon merchant classes
“sertjis” This is no doubt to measure up socially with the Chetty Malacca. There is no better
proof of human nature than human vanity. We in turn always take pains to point out that we
are totally different from (albeit much poorer as a whole than) the Tamil chettiars who came in
at a later time and who were and still are familiar to our brethren in modern Malaysia as their
clients in their professional business of money-lending.
At the turn of the century, the population of Malacca was variously estimated at 20,000. Eredia
estimated that the Christian population in 1613 was as around 7,400, Most of these would
have been Eurasians (mestiços), or Orang Serani (Christangs) as they came to be called. The
Portuguese married easily into the local communicates as they were about to do in Brazil,
facilitated by the Catholic Church, which would in any case have insisted upon baptising the
children. Conversion and marriage was also the route for slaves to attain freedom. By this
time, the Eurasians had had 100 years to create their own community. There were eight
parishes in the town. I have no figures, but judging by the fact that our ancestors had a
hundred years head-start on the Eurasians, we can conclude that the Chetty Malacca
population should have been at least not less than that of the Christians, taking into account
that the Eurasians would be more advantageously placed by their affinity to the ruling power in
securing brides. Most of the others would have been Peranakans Chinese. I have not checked
out the parallel history of the Peranakan Chinese, but I would say their numbers were always
greater than that of the Christians. It is probably true that the Malays by and large stayed out
of town and were mostly not counted as part of the city’s population. I did not find any
reference to any Malay elite in upper colonial society. If during Portuguese times, our
ancestors found it harder to marry Malay ladies, it could have been because of the latter
reason, and also because the Malays had by and large moved out of town into the kampong.
The figures I quote are from different sources, were estimates, and don’t add up. My aim is
solely to give an impression of the broad ranges and relative proportions of the people,
including the Chetty Malacca.
Enter the Dutch
Formed in 1602, The Dutch East India Company or VOC was a joint stock company operating
under the protection of the Dutch Republic. From the outset, the VOC set out to capture the
monopoly of the spice trade. The meant the source territories, the trading posts, entre-ports
and the international route. Among their prime targets was Malacca.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
11
One of their first actions was to take over the Portuguese fort of Ambon, in the heart of the
Moluccas, in 1604. They founded the first Dutch permanent trading post in Bantem, West Java
in 1611, and in 1619 it established Batavia (now Jakarta) as their permanent capital. After an
initial scramble for trading posts, the newly formed British East Indian Company (EIC)
withdrew and left the islands to the Dutch. The latter proceeded to complete their conquests of
the ocean routes in style. They captured Galle and Colombo in Ceylon7 from the Portuguese in
1640 and 1658, respectively. In 1641, after 6 months’ siege, in alliance with the Sultan of
Johore, they captured Malacca, ”the Pearl of the Portuguese Crown” as they called it. In 1643,
they replaced the Portuguese on Dejima island in Nagasaki Bay, Japan. In India they took
Negapatnam (Coromandel) in 1657 and Cochin (Malabar) in 1663. However, repeated efforts
to take Goa failed. The Dutch were to go on to establish control of Formosa and Mauritius, and
set up other trading posts in Persia, Siam, and China. In passing they established a victualling
out-post at the Cape of Good Hope. The last, together with Mauritius, enabled their ships to resupply and opened up their own direct access from and to Europe. The VOC also developed a
growing intra-Asian trade, as well as plantations in Formosa and the East Indies. The VOC
was enormously successful and became the largest and most powerful trading company in the
world.
Battle of Cape Rachado
Ever since I was small I had heard tell that, once upon a time, there was a great big sea battle
just over the horizon, slightly to the west off Tanjong Kling,. Indeed this was the Battle of Cape
Rachado. It is a tale close to my heart, so I make no bones about describing it in detail here.
Those not interested may skip this section. But I can tell you it was a spectacular battle,
overshadowing the other famous battle in this area, the Sinking of the Prince of Wales and the
Repulse, on 10 December 1941.
On 12 May 1605 the third fleet of the VOC to visit the archipelago sailed out of Holland.
Comprising an armada of 11 ships commanded by Cornelis Matelief de Jonge, its mission,
kept secret even from the sailors, was to seize Malacca. They passed Malacca on 30 April
1606 and arrived at Johor on 1 May 1606 where de Jonge proceeded to negotiate terms of
alliance with Johor. The pact was formally concluded on 17 May 1606 in which Johor agreed
to a combined effort to attempt to dislodge the Portuguese. Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch
and Johor agreed to respect each others religion; the Dutch would get to keep Malacca and
the right to trade in Johor.
On 4 August 1606 de Jonge started the offensive, by besieging the fortress and city. However,
the Dutch, with only a small force, could not afford a land offensive, while their Johor allies
were unsure of their ability against Malacca and did not fully commit their resources. Events
took a turn when on 14 August 1606 a Portuguese fleet from Goa arrived, led by the Viceroy of
Goa, Dom Martim Afonso de Castro, with a flotilla of 20 ships. The siege was lifted when they
engaged the VOC fleet off the Malaccan waters. The two fleets traded cannon fire and the
Portuguese ships began to move northward drawing the Dutch away from Malacca. On 16
August 1606, off the Portuguese lighthouse at Cape Rachado, the battle between the two
fleets was joined. After a couple of days of cannon duels, on the morning of 18 August, with
the wind in favor of the Portuguese, de Castro ordered the Portuguese to sail forth for the
grapple. De Jonge ordered his ships to turn and sail away to evade boarding. However, the
VOC ship Nassau, failed to turn quickly, and ended up isolated. The Portuguese dashed forth
and boarded the Nassau. De Jonge ordered his own ship, the Oranje, to quickly turn around to
rescue the hapless Nassau, but the awkward maneuver sent the Oranje into a collision with
the Middelburg. While the Dutch captains were busy disentangling their ships, de Castro's
ship, the Nossa Senhora da Conceicão boarded the Nassau from the other side.
In the meantime, another Portuguese ship, the São Salvador, drove towards the entangled
VOC ships and pierced headlong into the Middelburg, but was immediately itself grappled by
7
Conforming to editorial policy mentioned earlier, I have kept the old place and country names
wherever applicable.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
12
the Oranje from the side, which was in turn rammed from its open side by the Nossa Senhora
das Mercês. The entangled duo had now become a quartet. A furious battle raged between
the hopelessly entangled ships, with point-blank cannonades quickly setting the ships ablaze,
Into this confusion entered the galleon of Dom Duarte de Guerra, who sought to toss a line to
help tow the des Merces away from the burning Oranje. But the winds were unfavorable and
instead the rescuer found itself drifting straight across the bows of the entangled ships. Just
then the Mauritius decided to join the fight and pierces Dom Duarte’s ship from the other side.
The battle had reached its height in the sextet of burning, interlocked ships. Jonge deemed
that the losses suffered were too much and ordered the Dutch fleet to disengage and abandon
the fight. The battle was won by the Portuguese, but marked the beginning of a serious threat
to their dominance.
The Dutch arrived at the Johor River on 19 August 1606. Overall the Dutch lost Nassau and
Middelburg. 150 Dutch were killed and more wounded, Johor allied losses amount to several
hundred. The Portuguese lost São Salvador and Dom Duarte de Guerra's smaller galleon
while suffering 500 deaths (Portuguese and allies).
It was the biggest naval battle in the Malay Archipelago, just off my hometown, between two
naval superpowers of the time with 31 ships involved (11 of the Dutch VOC and 20 of the
Portuguese). Although the battle ended with a Portuguese victory, the ferocity of the battle
itself and the losses sustained by the victor convinced the Sultanate of Johor to provide
supplies, support and later on much needed ground forces to the Dutch,
The Portuguese victory came to naught when the Dutch, having repaired their ships, returned
to Malacca two months later to find the Portuguese fleet having left, leaving only 10 ships
behind. The Dutch subsequently sank all 10 ships. The last must have been clear writing on
the wall of what was to come, coupled with the news of the Dutch activities in the region. One
commentator has remarked that had de Jonge won, Malacca would have become the VOC
capital, not Batavia.
Fall of Malacca: Near Extinction of the Chetty Malacca.
The Dutch made several fruitless attacks on Malacca between 1623 and 1627. It would be
less than 10 years on that the Dutch would begin their final blockage, from about 1633. This
led to the siege and assault which started in Jun 1640, and the capture of Malacca on 15
January 1641. I did not read anywhere that there was a Portuguese naval rescue forthcoming,
nor indeed did one arrive.
By the time of the final blockage, it may be presumed that the visiting population of traders
would have come down to a trickle, and most expatriates and wealthy foreign-domiciles such
as the Chinese, Indians and Arabs, would have left, At that point the local population would
have concluded on their own that there was not going to be another Portuguese armada to
rescue them. Perhaps some wealthier and better connected Chetty Malacca left as well. It is
hard to imagine where the average Chetty Malacca would have gone. If they did go, it must be
presumed that they insinuated themselves into the surrounding Malay states; while those with
shipping and influence might have emigrated to other parts of the archipelago, belonging to
the Portuguese, Dutch or Malays; perhaps to India. But there are no historical records or
traces of them being elsewhere. In a century from now, micro-research around Malaysia,
Indonesia and perhaps India may unearth linguistic and other connections. Overall, I have
always felt that the Chetty Malacca have strong cohesion and respond to good leadership.
There is no reason to suppose this was not the case then. Their community leaders, backed
by the Hindu establishment, would have protected them and guided them how to evaluate and
respond to the coming invasion. If they stayed, they were in for apocalyptic levels of
experience of war, starvation, disease and devastation, which would in the end eradicate and
exterminate most of them, as far as I can see.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
13
At the time of the final Dutch attack, it is reported that there were in Malacca, a garrison of
about 50 Portuguese soldiers, more than 300 Portuguese "casados" (Portuguese men settled
in Malacca) with their families and 2.000 or 3.000 “mestiços” (Eurasians) and Native
inhabitants. It must be presumed that the last would have included our dear ancestors and the
Chinese Peranakans, probably again in proportionate numbers of about 1,500 to 1,000. It may
be presumed that slaves were not invited into the garrison.
The last attack on Portuguese Malacca was begun in June 1640. The Dutch force consisted of
2,063 men, including over 400 natives, 12 Dutch ships and 6 sloops. At first the Dutch
bombard from the sea and cut off seaward communications.
Twelve ships and six boats in half-moon formation blockaded the shore to cut
off supplies, keeping a cannonade to which the Portuguese Governor of
Malacca, Manuel de Souza Countinho replied bravely and patiently with his
heavy guns. At the end of July 1640, Johor sent a fleet of 40 sails carrying
about 1,500 men, and on 2nd August, the Dutch commander Antonissoon,
having as many men again, partly Dutch, partly German, landed his combined
forces north of Tranquerah. They expelled several hundreds of the
Portuguese troops from the first bastion, entered Tranquerah and drove the
defenders back into the Fortress. Within a pistol shot of A' Famosa, the Dutch
erected two batteries with sixteen 24 pounders, which made breaches in the
strong bastion and damaged the great Keep. St. Paul's Church and many
other large buildings within the Fortress were damaged beyond recognition. In
reply, the heavy Portuguese guns on St. Paul's Hill left not one house in the
Dutch occupied zones in Tranquerah intact. During the battle, the Johor
forces destroyed the paddy fields, fruit and vegetable gardens in Malacca,
and helped maintain a constant blockade at sea so that they frustrated the
repeated attempts of Portuguese boats to get through.
http://www.colonialvoyage.com/eng/asia/malaysia/malacca/portuguese.html
Some supplies did come through and Malacca survived the siege, but the situation was
growing desperate. There was no food. The hounds of famine and disease were upon them.
The ensuing famine inside the walled settlement and fortress as well as in
Melaka’s sprawling suburbs was severe: house pets, rats, and mice – dead or
alive – fetched exorbitant prices, as did chicken and uncooked rice, providing they
could even be obtained. So did leather from shoes and discarded tools. One story
even has women digging up the bodies of their dead babies from the graveyard
for food. Those who managed to survive starvation were swept away in the
hundreds by dysentery and the plague. Just days before the surrender, the
Portuguese expelled women and children, the sick and the old, outside the city
gates. The expellees quickly found their way into the camp of VOC, infecting the
Dutch soldiers with the plague. Within weeks, the fatal disease had carried away
two leading military officers, unleashed confusion in the military campaign,
demoralized Dutch troops and inevitably threatened the very success of the
protracted and costly military enterprise.
http://www.borschberg.sg/index_files/Melaka1641.pdf
On 14 January 1641, Dutch commander Willmsoon Kartekoe ordered the last desperate
assault. The Portuguese defenders made a fierce final resistance in the Fortaleza Velha and
the Dutch were finally driven back. The two commanders then sued for an honourable truce,
with Malacca falling to the Dutch, while the Portuguese gained safe passage to Nagapatnam,
then still in their hands.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
14
The price (to the Dutch) of the conquest was high in almost every respect. The
damage to the city from artillery shelling was considerable. The suburbs to the
north and south of the fortress were almost completely destroyed by fires
(deliberately set by the Portuguese). Within the walled settlement, many, if not
most of the buildings suffered serious damage. As Special Commissioner Joost
(Justus) van Schouten’s detailed report completed in September 1641 bluntly
remarks: “All the houses have suffered from leakages and many including some
very fine buildings will soon come down entirely if they are not repaired quickly.
For some buildings it was too late. Several structures caved in during repair and
salvaging works burying and killing Company slaves on site.
http://www.borschberg.sg/index_files/Melaka1641.pdf
Over half of the Dutch forces were lost through the war, but mainly through malaria,
dysentery and the plague.
Portuguese Melaka was not so much brought down by Dutch military might
and the bravery of soldiers fighting under the Company’s command, as what I
shall refer to here as the “Black Trinity”, namely war, famine and disease.
http://www.borschberg.sg/index_files/Melaka1641.pdf
On the Portuguese side, the number of survivors was small and the statistics were
chaotic.
Dagh-Register Batavia (1640-41), entry for 28 February 1641, p. 201, estimated
an original population “inside and outside the city” at twenty thousand and the
number of survivors at about 1,500-1,600. The concrete figures provided by the
official VOC census are as follows: 52 Portuguese casados and their families and
seven members of the Roman Catholic clergy (ominously listed as clergymen with
their family!); a total of 261 Portuguese subjects and mestiços remained within the
city walls. Added to the population of Melaka’s suburbs and the household slaves,
the figure rises to 863 souls. But these figures are hardly reliable, as the official
VOC documentations speaks of Dutchmen marrying Portuguese widows, and
more widows being taken slaves by the “Malays”. It is lamented that the “Malays”
have received more than they deserve, besides the big profit made by
appropriating thousands of Christian slaves during and after the siege, while the
saletes (orang laut) are blamed for enslaving a great number of “Malaccans”.
http://www.borschberg.sg/index_files/Melaka1641.pdf
Hardly anyone was left alive of the individual local communities. If we interpret the VOC
census figures correctly, the headcount of survivors was 1,123, of whom 261 were within the
walls and 863 in the suburbs. Of the former, 59 were Portuguese and clergy, leaving 202 who
were apparently mainly mestiços (Eurasians).This leaves us to divide the 863 outside the walls
into mainly Peranakan Chinese, say 500, Chetty Malacca say 300, and so as not to lose sight
of them, 63 slaves. Of the Chetty Malacca, we cannot tell whether they were merchants,
artisans or domestics. What we can tell is that we are all descended from these few survivors,
the equivalent of some 30 families of 10 each, who paid hell for their right to be our forebears.
The later infusions, if any, would have been few and far between as far as I can make out. It
may be presumed that the better connected Chetty Malacca were able to get themselves
behind the walls of the Fortaleza; the rest would have perished if they had not taken to the
bushes and been saved by their fellow-Malaccan Malay friends, perhaps relatives of wives and
daughters-in-law, perhaps grand-parents..
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
15
Dutch Re-Construction of Malacca
The Dutch took Malacca not for its entre-port trade, but to secure control of the Straits. But,
there was also the trade of Asia’s biggest port to look forward to. And, there were its fabled
riches to be plundered, and slaves to be picked up. Except for the strategic location, the final
cost was beyond calculation and probably beyond the benefits. Here’s an account:


Firstly, the citadel ‘A. Famosa’ was completely destroyed and the Fortaleza Velha
was almost wholly erased by the Dutch bombardments. As the guardian of the Straits,
Malacca was neutralized. One commentator described the scene as “like Jerusalem
after the Romans”. The Dutch had to virtually rebuild the fort. In fact they did just that,
and expanded it. They added two more Bastions and raised and completed the walls
in many places. The crest that one sees on the only remnant portion today, namely
Porta de Santiago, is the VOC crest. They even re-named the parts of the fortress.
The job was not completed until 1688.
Secondly, when the Dutch landed in Tranquerah, the Portuguese applied a scorched
earth policy. They put fire to everything – and that would have included all the wood–
and-tile homes of our ancestors. To complete what the fire did not do, the Portuguese
then bombarded the suburbs to rubble, when the Dutch encamped in Tranquerah and
proceed to surround them. As a result of their blitzkrieg “The suburbs are entirely ruined. There is hardly a house standing. All the
dwelling places on both sides of the [Melaka] river are also totally destroyed.”
Leupe, “The Siege and Capture of Malacca”, p. 113.
A modern commentator might have said “just like Sendai after the Tsunami.” The
population had to rebuild their homes from the ashes. This was not made easier by the
fact that the Dutch commandeered all the slaves for re-building the fortifications and
other civil works. The latter would have included purging the town clean, restoring
public health support, getting the port working again and putting the administration in
place. They did so with remarkable expedition, for the Stadthyus, the government
offices and the Governor’s residence, was completed by 1651 and it still stands today
among Malacca’s proudest historical monuments.

Thirdly, there was the question of plunder. By custom, free plunder was allowed for
the first day, but it lasted for several days totally out of control, with solders and allies
killing one another for booty. In the upshot, little was officially recovered. It appeared
the Portuguese managed to take away much of their wealth. It was further presumed,
rightly I think, that much was hidden or buried. I am sure our ancestral grandmothers
buried all their gold and jewels and told one another and the temple priests where, in
case they died. Otherwise our ancestors could not have rebuilt themselves at all, and
would have been candidates to be slaves.

Fourthly, a port without trade and ships is a dead port. But the port facilities had to be
restored. Traffic resumed only slowly. The Dutch’s objective was that the new Malacca
should be encompassed within the regulations, restrictions and monopolies of the
Dutch system, but they were forced to allow continuity of some of the past free trade to
stimulate commerce. However, Malacca would not be allowed under any
circumstances to outdo Batavia. This set a natural limit to its recovery. Asian
continental and region ships did begin re-appear, but only a fraction of former
volumes.


And finally, there were the problems of the local population. On the one hand, the city
needed the locals to activate the functions of the port-city. On the other hand, each
group had separate needs.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
16
Dutch and the Portuguese Eurasians
Of first importance, the Dutch needed to win over the Portuguese Eurasians, to become their
natural allies and hand-mates in running the place. The former were of course Catholics, On
the other hand, the Dutch Reformed Church was intolerant of other religions, especially
Catholics. At first, the provisions against priests of other religions were rarely enforced in a
strict sense. But, the Catholic priests who visited Malacca still regarded the Dutch as the
heretical enemy and they encouraged their flock to resist. Due to continuing subversion, in
1665, the Dutch decreed that all Catholic priests were banned from entering Malacca and all
forms of public preaching for the Roman Catholic faith were to cease. By 1666, Governor
Balthasar Bort began to strictly enforce his anti-Catholic legislation.
The Portuguese Eurasians in turn formed the “Irmaos de Igreja” (Brothers of the Church), a
secret brotherhood of lay-people, to ensure the continuance of Catholicism in Malacca. A
French Jesuit bound for China who visited Malacca in 1698 wrote that "Catholics are obliged
to go far into the interior of the forest to celebrate the sacred mysteries (i.e. Mass)". Dutch
persecutions against Roman Catholics were still adhered to up to the end of the 17th century.
The Dutch did not look with contempt upon the Portuguese Eurasians. In fact, they regarded
them as "the natural Malaccans". The Portuguese Eurasians remaining after 1641 together
with their Portuguese-speaking slaves and their progeny subsequently became the backbone
of the “Portuguese” community in Dutch Melaka. From 1702, the Dutch administration began
to take on a more liberal outlook towards the Catholics there, applying a policy of regulated
tolerance. The Dutch were to adopt this throughout the islands. They also soon reversed the
policy of imposing the Dutch language, and accepted Portuguese and the local Malay patois
as the language of everyday life. Soon the divides became irrelevant as the Dutch intermarried with the Portuguese Eurasians and proceeded to create a loyal Dutch Eurasian
community, both Protestant and Catholic, in addition to the by now loyal Portuguese
Eurasians.
In the long years of Portuguese rule, every marching and missionary order of the Catholic
Church set up an outpost, monastery, convent, house, hospital or church in Malacca - which
became the springboard of missionary work in East Asia. The story of St Francis Xavier is
well-known. My father, I and Leslie bear his name. The following excerpt gives a realistic
picture of what the Dutch found:
“First, in view of the severely reduced size of the Catholic population surviving
in Melaka and its immediate surroundings, the majority of monasteries and
churches would be closed and converted to other functions...... The
Franciscan monastery and the monastery of Santo Antonio were singled out
for conversion to residences and a boarding house for Company slaves. The
two parish churches Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe and St. Jeronimo could be
repaired, “but are of no use to the Company unless they are made into
residences.” The Dominican monastery was slated to become a hospital, the
Jesuit monastery “a school and library, as it is in a secluded and quiet place”
and the church of the Misericordia was to be converted for future use by
Dutch Protestants. The Church of St. Paul’s had already been used by the
Dutch Protestant community. As for the main Cathedral, some of the walls
were reported to feature large cracks, thus rendering parts of the building
unsalvageable. For this reason, parts of the Cathedral were torn down and
the remainder transformed into an arsenal. This was an undignified end to
what was under Portuguese rule the undisputed centre of Melaka’s Roman
Catholic spirituality.”
“All these clergymen lived on alms, tolls, by burying the dead, performing
ordinary or requiem mass and other church services.” And “[T]he monastery
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
17
[of St. Paul] was very wealthy in houses and properties in and outside
Malacca which were rented to foreigners. It had also a few gardens, two very
big and beautiful orchards, part of which was let and the other part was
inhabited by its own slaves, who were working that estate. Considerable alms
were collected always from the quick and the dead and consequently it was
the wealthiest monastery in Malacca.”
http://www.borschberg.sg/index_files/Melaka1641.pdf
Soon after they won their “religious freedom”, around the year 1710, Catholics in Malacca built
the Church of St. Peter's at Bunga Raya, located just outside the town on land donated by the
Dutchman Maryber Franz Amboer. It is where my father and I were baptised. Around the same
time the Catholics in Malacca established the Chapel of the Holy Rosary, located along the
river bank in Bunga Raya. The Dutch for their part had taken over the church on the hill behind
the fort and re-named it St Paul’s Church, as well as another Portuguese church destroyed by
the was near the river. They built Christ Church in 1753.
Resettlement of the Chetty Malacca
Apart from religion, the Dutch grasped the need for fair treatment of the inhabitants, both
locals and foreigners, to revive economic life. One recommendation was: “To pacify the
Portuguese and black burghers, placards should be posted in the name of the Governor
General declaring that all inhabitants may retain their possessions and properties in safety.
Such a declaration will make them more confident and they will start working for their living
and the place will prosper.” This however, ran counter to another recommendation which read
“In our opinion, the best policy is to give all the houses, landed properties, and grounds on
loan to the inhabitants of Malacca without distinction of nationality for a certain period, after
which rent should be paid at the fair price. In this way the company would reap good benefit
from the conquest of Malacca”. It is not clear which they adopted. Judging from events, it
seems they did both. In the upshot, they re-settled the Chetty Malacca in an area off Gajah
Berang and just outside Tranquerah, designated as Kampong Tujoh (7th Precinct), where our
ancestors were encouraged to take up agriculture. Kampong Kling, their prestigious former
abode, which had been utterly destroyed, the Dutch re-named Kampong Belanda (Dutch
Village) encompassing Heeren Street and Jonker Street, for their own occupation. In time the
Chetty Malacca owned substantial tracks of Kampong Tujoh. They could have bought these or
been forced to trade their Kampong Kling properties for these. However, they had no tradition
of agriculture and we are told that most of them, both landowners and workers, soon
abandoned it and moved back into the town to pursue urban employment. (See Page 21)
Dutch and other Communities
Needless to say, our ancestors would not have buckled under the proscriptions of their religion
as at first meted out to the Portuguese Eurasians, nor indeed would the Peranakan Chinese.
There is a brief report by another Jesuit priest that the Dutch did not forbid the exercise of their
religions by indigenous peoples and other native groups
First cut Internet searches did not reveal the numbers of Peranakan Chinese in Malacca or
what they did by way of economic activity over the years both in Portuguese and Dutch times.
My impression is that they were always a larger and wealthier community than the Chetty
Malacca. Comparisons would have been interesting. It is however reported that plagued by
chronic shortages of skilled labour and personnel, the VOC set out to encourage the
settlement of Chinese craftsmen, artisans, shopkeepers and farmers. I notice one report that
the famous Cheng Hoon Teng Temple in Temple Street was built from as early as 1645, only
four years after the capture, and 136 years before our own Chetty Malacca Temple on the
same street. If nothing else, the Chinese must have had clout and hid their wealth well.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
18
My impression was that the number of Malay residents in Malacca town itself increased after
the Dutch captured the city in alliance with Johore. One commentator said that following this
the first plural society in Malaysia came into existence with people from the Malay, Chinese,
Indians, European and Eurasian communities mixing and living in harmony in Malacca. By and
large the Malays lived in the kampongs, outside the city. One difficulty in dealing with their
numbers is that it was never clear how far inland the territorial jurisdictions extended with both
the Portuguese and the Dutch. My overall impression was: not much beyond the town limits.
This issue would finally only be resolved with the British demarcation of the state.
Stock-taking 1667
By 1667, the population in the entire district of Melaka controlled by the Dutch had risen to
7,560 souls according to Van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, II. p. 334.
The following figures from a more official source give a less flattering picture:
European, Free Asian, and Slave Populations of Various Establishments of the Dutch East Indies
in the Late Seventeenth Century (Estimates in Italics)
Company
Servants
Total
European Free
Asian Slave
Population
Population
Population
Total
Ambon
(1689)
816
914
58,352
10,761
70,027
Batavia
(1699)**
3,853
6,119
44,820
25,614
72,700
Ceylon
(1684)
3,055
4,000
278,859
2,363
290,000
Malabar
(1686)
641
698
679
745
2,122
Malacca
(1680)
545
595
1,134 **
4,624
2,350*
* This figure was not given, and but has been calculated from the table by subtraction.
** Figures from another source give the total slave of Malacca as 1,853, of whom 168 were company
slaves. The total of slaves traded in Malacca was given as 90-180, of which 8-16 were the Company’s.
The total Dutch slave trade for the year (for the Dutch East Indies) was given as 66,346. Malacca was a
“slavenburg” ( slave market) but not a big one. The slaves came earlier from the Coramandel and later
the islands around.
http://www.historycooperative.org/cgibin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jwh/14.2/vink.html
Using the second set of figures, and setting aside the slave population, we had a population of
3,490 in 1667. This reflects a robust annual population growth rate of 4.57% pa in the
intervening 26 years. in fact this rate might be called a “rebound” rate after the catastrophic
losses from the siege, often the case in survivalist situations. It could also reflect that some
who fled began to return, including Malays. The latter would have been counted under the
Free Asian Population. Their numbers would have been small at this point in Malacca’s rebuilding, with its continuing orientation seawards and not landwards. We also have no way of
telling what the numbers might have been. Hence, this element is not accounted for and the
Free Asian Population is taken to mean the Peranakan Chinese and Chetty Malacca (who
would have made up most of the Indians then). The reported figures also clearly suggest that
the European population numbers included the Eurasians. On this basis and maintaining for
present purpose the survival proportions of 1641, the Free Asian Population would have
comprised some 1,645 Peranakan Chinese and 987 Chetty Malacca, making up 47.1% and
28.2% of the total population, The Chetty Malacca are deemed to have grown at the same
annual rate as the population.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
19
Temples & Mosques: Chetty Malacca & Others
The Dutch came to realize that the practice of different religions by the population could be,
and in this case was, conducive to harmonious living and positive work attitudes. It seemed
this was the answer to the need of the Chetty Malacca. And it seems our ancestors molded
themselves into a coherent community with good leadership, and were in the end much
appreciated by the Dutch. This may be evidenced by the fact that the Dutch granted the
community a piece of land, in the heart of the town at Temple Street8, for the purpose of
putting up a Temple. The Temple was built in the year 1781 and was and is known as 'Sri
Poyatha Venayagar Moorthi Temple’. The temple is dedicated to Vinayagar or Ganesha, It is
the oldest Hindu Temple in the Malay Archipelago..
They have since built the following other temples: 'Sri Muthu Mariamman Temple' in 1822, Sri
Kailasanathar Temple' (Saivan) Kovil) in 1887; Sri Kaliamman Kovil' in 1804, and 'Sri
Angalamman Paremeswari Temple' in 1888. All of them are in the Gajah Berang and Bachang
areas. There are also 'Grammangal Kovils' or Shrines built in the interior of the territory near
padi fields owned by the Chetty Malacca in Gajah Berang. The Shrines include
Linggadariamman Kovil, Amman Kovil, Dharma Rajah Kovil, Kathaiamman Kovil and Iyenar
Kovil. It kept them busy and happy. Many of the lands abandoned were given over to the
temple authorities as “Temple lands”.
Some of the Chetty Malacca had embraced Islam during the Dutch time and were also given a
piece of land to put up a Masjid (Mosque) on the same street, known as 'Masjid Kampong
Kling' which name still remains up to the present time9. There is one report which states that
at this time the Dutch generously offered to the Chinese (Babas) a piece of land to put up a
Chinese Temple, now known as 'Cheng Hoon Teng Temple'. (Another report suggests it was
built in 1645). All of these buildings are in the one and same straight road. That is why the
road was known as Temple Street.
The Masjid Kampung Hulu, built in 1748, is one of the still functioning mosques in Malacca
besides Masjid Kampung Kling and Masjid Tengkera (Tranquerah).
We are indebted for much of the information on the Chetty Malacca in the whole review, and
particularly in this section, on the History of the Malacca Chetti Community by Mr. B
Sithambaram Naiker, written in 1976 and posted posthumously in 2005 on the Internet
at http://chetti-malacca.blogspot.com/. Mr. B. S. Naiker, or Uncle Embong as I had always
known him, was a close friend and compatriot of my Dad. Eleven years apart, their careers
paralleled each other, and he died in 1986, at 75, exactly the same age as my Dad almost to
the day in 1975.
From the Ashes: The New Malacca
8
I have always known it as Temple Street, and so I name it. It seems others know it as Goldsmith
Street and later Jalan Tokong. That’s their privilege.
9
One historical thread on the Internet suggests that Indians from the kingdom of Kalinga on the
Coramandel Coast used to visit Kedah in the north of the Malay Peninsula in and about the third
to the seventh centuries; they were known as Klings. It seems the word crept into the Malay
language, so that our Tamil ancestors from Patna, Tamil Nadu, who arrived in Malacca later,
were referred to by this name. And it stuck. From my experience among my relatives when a
small boy, it was more common to hear the old folk say “kita orang Kleng” (we Kleng people )
than (kita orang Tamil). Certainly the Malays, the Peranakan Chinese and the Eurasians called
us “orang Kleng”. With the arrival of the new Tamil labourers for the rubber estates and for
public works, who were also called “orang Kling”, the term took on a derogatory connotation,
and our forebears, more so among the English educated, dropped the appellation in favour of
Chetty Malacca (and its variations), Baba Indians or Peranakan Indians.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
20
From the ashes of Portuguese Malacca emerged a “new” colony managed under the rule of
the VOC, and launched into the 18th century but much smaller, not much above one-tenth of
what she was in her heyday. There was no great resurgence of entre-port trade to earlier
levels. The Dutch were caught within the dilemma of enforcing their monopolistic restrictions in
favour of Batavia and bringing Malacca back to economic life for the benefit of its population.
Malacca did take life as a port again, but at a modest level. In an impressive piece of research
using the Malacca Port Shipping Lists as primary documents, one researcher found there were
4,615 incoming entries and 4,360 outgoing entries of European ships between 1681 and
1792.This worked out to 1 foreign-going ship movement per 4-5 days or 6-7 per month. This
was enough to sustain a reasonable level of complementary visits by local and regional ships.
The latter were many times more than foreign-going vessels, maintaining the lively second tier
entre-port functions that had always existed. They acted as an intra-regional and local
clearinghouse for non-designated produce and local needs.
“This evidence proves that the local trading community patronising Malacca's
port did not vanish even after it came under Dutch control. The local traders
were happy to return to the port because of its central position in the region. It
was a place where traders from both mainland and insular areas met in brisk
trade for many generations. In fact, local traders were an important source of
income for the Dutch in Malacca. Commodities such as rice, rattan, dried fish,
sago, salt, locally woven cloths, tobacco, tin, plates and cups, Chinese
ceramics and Chinese ceremonial gold paper, spices such as pepper,
nutmeg, clovers, and cinnamon among many other items to meet the
necessities of daily life, was traded here.
The majority of traders who visited Malacca were Malay and Chinese. There
were other groups of Asian traders, such as the Javanese and Indians, as
well as Arabs and Armenians and the Portuguese and Dutch traders
operating between Asian ports. But their number was small in comparison
with that of the Malay and Chinese traders who amounted to nearly two-thirds
of all traders. These two groups were engaged in a lively competition for trade
in the Indonesian archipelago.”
http://eprints.usm.my/9045/1/EUROPEAN_TRADERS_IN_REGIONAL_TRAD
E_OF_MALAY ARCHIPELAGO,_1681_to 1792.pdf
YEOH LIAN HEOH
Unfortunately, Malacca acquired no new functions, such as acting as the gateway for
exploitation of hinterland resources or participating in the handling of the new generation
market traffic except perhaps tangentially. It was not geographically in the new regions of
supply. Even the tin which the Dutch began to extract from the Malay Peninsula was being
taken out from Linggi and Pangkor, nearer the sources in the north, and from Siak in Sumatra,
So it seems Malacca and our ancestors settled down, perhaps with relief, to a stable state
between population growth and an essentially localized economic activity. There was time to
build temples before the next colonial powers turned up. I like to think though that our
ancestors, being the descendants of the original monsoon merchants, did begin to take to the
sea again as the Dutch became distracted by their European pro-occupations, and did their
share of privateering in and around the region. Reports indicate that white burghers (Dutch
Eurasians) and “black burghers” began to do this out of Malacca; I can’t imagine the latter
referring to anyone else but our ancestors – and their Muslim counterparts. I like to think
further that perhaps in 150 years, if their forebears could find their way from India to Malacca,
some of them if not the whole community, could have found their way up the colonial social
pyramid to enjoy the status of black burghers, and perhaps thereby also reestablish
themselves in Tranquerah if not Heeren Street.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
21
Chetty Malacca: Social History
We have reasonable if romantic two-dimensional pictures of the lifestyles of the Chetty
Malacca during Sultanate and Portuguese times. But after the capture by the Dutch, things
were totally different. The small numbers that remained were those who could not get away.
They would have been by and large the lower working class families, not the rich merchant
and affluent families of Sultanate and Portuguese times. Over the 150 years of Dutch rule, we
might expect that some of these survivors would become successful and even prosperous,
creating a new elite. Perhaps, some of those who left might have returned, and there could
even have been new settlers of affluence, but the picture we are left to form is very few if any.
By and large, the history of the Chetty Malacca would have been that of the original group that
survived. They are the actual ancestors from whom we today are descended. There were like
thirty families.
There is scarcely anything on the Internet about the social history and occupational structure
of these ancestors. So, it is necessary to conjecture a little what it was like. It is good to
remember that over the spans of 150 years things would be different at the beginning and at
the end.
The public sector (in which may be included such Dutch enterprises as there were) would
have been run in Dutch, but the majority of their workforce had to be local. Probably the
standard colonial structure operated: Dutch manager, Eurasian administrators and clerks,
Chinese for accounts, and a mix of others as technical, craft and manual workers, with of
course a Malay syce and Sikh watchman - the model even in immediate post-war Singapore
On the other hand, the private sector would have been characterized by what is perhaps best
described as “ethnic” businesses or establishments. Whether these were urban property
owners, small-holders, money-lenders, traders, shop-keepers, ship-owners, or carpentry or
repair shops, they would be run in their own language, by their families and employed only
members of their own community. The rest of the populations would be casual or contract
labour.
When the Dutch first sought to turn the Chetty Malacca into agriculturalists, considering their
elevated social profile under the Portuguese, this seemed shocking. It suggests the mass of
the families who stayed behind and survived the siege were of low profile. However, the
Chetty Malacca were urban people. Not surprisingly, they drifted back into the town.
Initially, Chetty Malacca businessmen would have been few. Thus, many turned to the artisan
trades for an independent living. It is in fact reported that a good number achieved some fame
as goldsmiths The rest filled the menial rungs of public service employment together with the
less successful Chinese and those rural Malays who did leave their kampongs.
While the administration and public records of the government and the Dutch firms must have
been conducted in Dutch, the rest of the country would have operated in the languages of the
locals and in the Portuguese and Malay patois used in common by all locals. As they grew, we
can expect that some of the local firms would have “gone Dutch” in their records and perhaps
accounting, for easier inter-face with the government. Over 150 years, the Dutch must have
run some schools to supply the components of the workforce that had to be basically
educated. This meant at least primary school, with secondary school for the essential few –
the Dutch and Portuguese Eurasians at least. I could not find information to what extent they
provided this education for the Chinese, the Chetty Malacca and the Malays. I found no
reference to Christian or other mission schools existing in Dutch times – except for one
mission school set up in 1819 and closed down when the first English school opened in 1826.
It seems probable that the policy was that no education need be provided to the locals at
large; there was no need for them to be educated or educated to the same level as the Dutch
(or even the Eurasians). Education was not a social measure. This was the White South
Africa’s primary tool of suppression in Apartheid times just before its end – as I saw for myself
in Soweto in 1990 on a World Bank mission. At this point I therefore leave it as an open
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
22
conclusion that there was no access to public education for the Chetty Malacca. This meant
they had no access to employment in the government services except at the menial level
By the fact that the Portuguese Eurasians, the Peranakan Chinese and the Chetty Malacca
had lost functionality in their mother-tongues, it may be inferred that that they did not run
vernacular schools of their own, either. We know that the Catholic Church did carry out the
ministration and religious education of their flock in Kristang, their oral Portuguese Creole, It
may be presumed that the pastors of the Dutch Reform Church did administer and teach their
religion in Dutch. Both churches would have resorted to the patios as needed. The Peranakan
Chinese and the Chetty Malacca, who used their common Malay patois even in prayer, would
have relied on imported clergy to run their temples. There is no evidence that the temples
provided education for their people. The only group that would have done so would have been
the Malays, who would all have been Muslim. The Muslim authorities usually ran madrasahs
or religious schools for their children. I have no information whether in fact they did so at this
time, and if so whether the Dutch treated them differently and subsided their education. One
problem would have been that the outputs would not have fitted into the upper workforce
structure. The education would have been in the Malay language and orientated towards
religion. So, again, we have nothing here for the Chetty Malacca. .We are left to assume
therefore that the majority of the Chetty Malacca had no Dutch beyond street talk and armchair arithmetic
We may take it there were also no trade schools. Skills were basic in the economy of the
times. They would include iron-mongering, wood-working, cooking, tailoring, agriculture and
animal husbandry. These would have been handed down within the family and community,
perhaps through some form of apprenticeship. For the average Chetty Malacca, his best
prospects of advancement would have been through the trades, to self-employment and small
business. An outstanding example would have been their traditional jewelry and gold
craftsmanship for which the Chetty Malacca were well known.
As said before, the growth of the community’s leadership must have been mainly from within.
As the 150 years of Dutch rule rolled on, some grew wealthy and influential; The top percentile
would have become “black burghers”. They would have paid taxes which the Dutch could not
ignore. They would have arrived at the dining tables of the Dutch via the social ladder and
maybe even held some civic appointments. They would have had command of Dutch, even
education self-provided. These gentlemen would obviously become the leaders of the Chetty
Malacca community, and instrumental in protecting them and dispensing benefits. There would
be recognized community leaders. The only known person from the Malacca Chetty
community who fits this role we know of was the late Mr. Thaivanayagam Chitty, described as
the leader of the Chetty Malacca community, under whose trusteeship the 'Sri Poyatha
Venayagar Moorthi Temple’.was founded. But there must have been many strong leaders if
judging solely by the temple buioding programme of the next century.
We have not as yet mentioned slaves, who made up 34.6% of Malacca’s population in 1667
and still existed at the end of Dutch rule. We can conjecture that every successful employer
had them and most of the established families too. This would have included the more affluent
Chetty Malacca, and the church. However, the majority of the Chetty Malacca in Dutch times
would not have had slaves. We may assume that a slave under the Portuguese would have
remained a slave under the Dutch until the abolition of slavery by the British some years down
the road. Thus, at this time, there would also not have been Chetty Malacca ex-slaves.
The Chetty Malacca remained essentially a close society during Dutch times. Except for
returning members, there was no new influx of Tamil Hindus from India visiting or settling
down. Again I have no specific information, but conjecture that inter-marriage with the
Peranakan Chinese and the Malays continued. Like the latter, adoption among the
communities was freely practiced.
I close the account of the Dutch era by mentioning that when the Bugis attacked Malacca in or
about 1756, all the different local communities, the Eurasians, the Chinese, the Tamils and the
Malays came together and bore arms to help the Dutch in the defense of the city. I like to think
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
23
that this represented some success of their policies and measures to build the prosperity and
support of the peoples. In my review of Malacca I did not find this happening before.
The economic strength of the Dutch lay in two sources. One was the intercontinental shipment
of spices and other products to the European markets. The second was intra-Asian trade.
Their economic mode, like that of the Portuguese, for both streams, relied on supplying goods
of high-value and low volume in inelastic demand and not time-bound, safely collected or
extracted and safely delivered by the ships of the time. These were relatively small and saildriven. Most merchantmen carried more tonnage in cannon and arms, as well as soldiers, than
payload. Hence, their preoccupation with the capture of sources of supply and protection of
supply routes. As they sailed into the 18th Century, the VOC was blown along by strong cross
currents of change
Collapse of the Dutch
First, in 1647, the British East India Company (EIC) lost its monopoly of the eastern trade in a
court judgment. As a result, British privateers took to the eastern waters marauding against the
Dutch. From about the 1670s, due to external political factors, the latter lost their Japanese
and Chinese trade in silks. Then they lost their trading posts in the Near East. These eroded
their intra-Asian trade. At the same time, the European demand for the traditional spice
products declined. The markets of the world began changing. There began two-way and
cross-continental demand for new products. Among these were new raw materials like coffee,
tea, cotton and more sugar. These were low value high volume products, requiring new larger
ships with greater payloads and greater speeds. New sources of supply came on-stream, for
both traditional and new products. At the same time, there were new manufactured goods like
textiles, machinery, etc in search of markets. The Dutch lost their supremacy over world trade.
The third Anglo-Dutch War of1752-4 interrupted their trade with Europe. New competitors
entered the field, among them the French East India Company and the Danish East India
Company. In a mighty effort to re-orientate themselves, the VOC between 1680 and 1720
resized their ships and expanded their fleet, almost doubling the size of the company, during
what has been described as their Golden Age. They also cut other costs and losses, such as
by withdrawing from India. Basically, they were left with Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago.
But, with their large military establishment, their large fleet, and their far flung territories to
protect and administer, they were monstrously over-structured and unable to enjoy economies
of scale. They had become a behemoth. The marginal gains of the expanded operations were
less than the marginal costs. In all this, they stuck to their monopolistic restrictions which
required all designated products of the Indies to be shipped via Batavia. As a result, many new
outlets were opened in the region, by-passing the Dutch and trading with their competitors.
The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War 1780-1784 struck the mortal blow. Their fleet was halved. They
had borrowed money for the expansions and were unable to pay. It is said there was
corruption and payment of unjustified high dividends. The VOC went bust and ceased on 31
December 1800 – a mere 19 years after the 'Sri Poyatha Venayagar Moorthi Temple was built
by our ancestors.
Enter The British
But, before that, the French had invaded Holland in 1795, and the Dutch thought it best to
place Malacca, among their other trading posts in the East, in the hands of the British. During
these years Sir Francis Light founded Penang in 1791 and Sir Stamford Raffles founded
Singapore in 1819 At the end of the wars, by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 between Britain
and the new Kingdom of Netherlands, Malacca was ceded to the British and the Malay
Peninsula was recognised as their sphere of influence, in exchange for Bencoolen with the
East Indies recognised as the Dutch sphere of influence, the dividing line being the equator.
And with these developments our dear ancestors became British subjects and were catapulted
into the world of the British Empire.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
24
Malacca was joined with Penang and Singapore to form the Straits Settlements under the
East India Company (EIC). In 1826, the three Settlements were incorporated as the Fourth
Presidency of India. In 1830, the Presidency was abolished and the Straits Settlements were
placed under the Government of Bengal. In 1832, Singapore became the headquarters. In
1867, the Settlements became a British Crown Colony directly under the Colonial Office,
which was extended with the addition of Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands to Singapore,
The EIC had already ceased in 1858, and India had become a British Crown Colony in 1857.
Regrettably, one act of perfidy needs to be record here, which might well have terminated this
history of our ancestors if not halted. Malacca having lost its entre-port importance, the EIC
had decided also to erase it as a strategic threat - in case it fell into unfriendly hands (at that
time the French). In 1806, it ordered that the fort be demolished and the population be
transported to Penang. The brainless company lackey in charge of Malacca at the time, one
Major William Farquhar, proceeded to carry out the first part. Not surprisingly our ancestors
and others put up a stiff resistance to the second part. What they should have done is shoot
him out to sea in Dutch cannon. Fortunately, Sir Stamford Raffles who was visiting Malacca at
the time, wrote immediately against the order. By the time the decision to revoke it reached
Malacca, all that was left of the fort was one gateway (Porta de Santiago) Fortunately, he did
not blow up the Stadhys as well, as this nitwit might well have done thinking it was part of the
fort. This Farquahar (may his name live in infamy) was subsequently left by Raffles to start off
the new free port in Singapore in 1819, and made a fine mess of that as well, until Raffles
replaced him with Crawford.
New Horizons: Chetty Malacca in the British Empire
The journey of the Chetty Malacca through history is like a community of space travelers
alighting upon different planets through forces outside their control. Bearing in mind the timeslip of 300 years, they were in a future totally different from their previous two. They were
again in a free trade world. Their Malacca had become territorially one third of three parts, up
and down the Straits. Their own state was now a firmly delineated triangular piece of land
between Johore and Negeri Sembilan, with all the Malays living therein making up the new
total population, all equal citizens. As a port, Malacca fell under the shadow of Penang and
later Singapore. By the time the Settlements became a Crown Colony, Singapore was already
one of the biggest free-ports of Asia. On the other hand, as one of the three Straits
Settlements, Malacca enjoyed the entire civil, social and development benefits that the British
introduced in response to local needs, especially of Singapore, in proportionate if not equal
measure On the one hand, they were ruled from the Colonial Office in London. On the other
hand, they now were part of the largest empire in the world, “on which the sun never sets” as
they used to say. They could now peg their own opportunities with that of others in the world,
like Singapore and Penang for a start, and not remain holed up in Tranquerah. Whilst
everybody now had to ldarn a new language, English, this was the lingua franca of the world.
Previously, they were second class subjects as best. Now they were entitled to a British
Passport as a “Citizen of UK and the Colonies”. They could travel with unrestricted access to
Britain and throughout the Empire. Above all they were now protected by the Rule of Law for
which the British have been famous, in particular the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure
Code taken from British India. And they now enjoyed the freedom to appeal to the Queen
against any injustice of any court in the land. That’s a lot to wake up to on any Sunday
morning. It would take some years for them to appreciate their entitlements and for these to
emerge as realities of their daily lives. But, the Chetty Malacca had finally arrived.
British Malaya
With the Straits Settlements established and coursing along towards prosperity, the British
turned their attention to securing their stretched hinterland. This became the over-riding
priority, for it soon became abundantly clear that the fortunes of their free ports depended on
how successfully they cornered the tin boom on the mainland. The industrial revolution in
Europe was creating a large demand for tin, especially in Britain. Europe in turn was looking
for markets for industrial goods. The arrival of steamships and opening of the Suez Canal in
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
25
1869 transformed the speed and capacity of maritime trade. It was equally a question of how
efficiently the ports serviced the two-way needs of the mainland. The British concern was
further prompted by the increasing inability of the Malay states to cope with the growth due to
inadequate infrastructure, and particularly due to the chaos caused by the large influx of
Chinese miners and workers with their secret societies, triads, etc. So the British jumped in. In
short this is what happened:
Kedah
Kedah had no tin, but it had Penang. Under threat of invasion from
Siam, Kedah agreed to cede Penang to the British in 1791, in return for British help to
fight off the Siamese. In the event, the British failed to do so, and Kedah asked for the
island back. In the ensuing war, Britain invaded Kedah and captured Province
Wellesley as well (mainland opposite Penang) in 1800. In 1821, Siam conquered
Kedah and held it until the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 when it became an
Unfederated Malay State of British Malaya.

Johore.
This state also had no tin (to speak of) but it had Singapore. In 1819,
the British secured an agreement by which they acknowledged Tengku Hussein as the
legitimate ruler of Singapore (as against Tengku Abdul Rahman the younger brother
who held the throne of Johore) if he allowed them to establish a trading post in
Singapore. Tengku Hussein secretly reached Singapore, where he was quickly
installed as Sultan (of Johore). Thereafter, Johore worked closely with the British who
resolved major succession issues in 1855. But it remained an Unfederated Malay
State.

Perak.
This state had tin. Lots of it. It was found in fact to contain the larges
deposits of alluvial tin ore in the world. In 1826, the Siamese ordered Kedah to attack
it. The immigration of Chinese from Penang and elsewhere flooded the place. Again
there was a rivalry between brothers for the throne. The boiling conditions of the “tin
rush” were threatening the stability of the industry, the state and British interests. The
Straits Settlements Governor (Ord) was sacked because he failed to act effectively –
and chose the wrong brother. Finally, the new Governor (Andrew Clarke) got it right.
By means of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874, they acknowledged the right brother (Raja
Abdullah) as Sultan, and Perak accepted a British Resident and became a British
Protected State. Until 1874 the British restricted themselves to trade and avoided
becoming involved in Malayan politics. The treaty of Pangkor marked the beginning of
British political control of Malaya.

Selangor.
This state also had loads of tin, in widespread locations. The reigning
Sultan was fortunate to have capable relatives and help, whom he assigned to
develop several mining settlements, including Kuala Lumpur (with the help of Capitan
China Yap Ah Loy) and Klang. There were disturbances, a civil war and acts of piracy.
The Sultan asked for, the British appointed a Resident, and Selangor became a
Protected State in 1874.

Negeri Sembilan.
This state, a confederation of nine smaller states, was a major
producer of tin, and there was constant pressure for leverage among them. About
1873 a power struggle erupted at Sungai Ujong, when one of the popular chieftains
challenged the newly incumbent head of the state (Dato' Kelana). The latter sought
British aid. The British and he signed a treaty which required him to rule Sungai Ujong
justly, protect traders, and prevent any anti-British action there. In the same year, the
British sent an expeditionary force from Malacca, which defeated the challenger.
Sungai Ujong accepted an Assistant Resident and Negeri Sembilan eventually
became a British Protected State in 1876.

Pahang
This state had no tin. The British became involved in the
administration of Pahang after a civil war between two candidates to the kingdom's
throne between 1858 and 1863. Pahang accepted a Resident in 1888, when it also
became a Protected Malay State.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
26
By 1876 three Malayan States each had a British Resident or advisor, and the fourth did so in
1888. The Sultans remained and were duly respected. They continued to discharge formal
responsibilities as heads of state and over customary and religious matters. In all other
respects, the British were effectively given complete authority. In 1896, Perak, Pahang, Negeri
Sembilan and Selangor were formed into the Federated Malay States, in a move designed to
centralize administration for greater efficiency and coordinated development. By the AngloSiamese Treaty of 1909, Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis and Trengganu were relinquished to the
British sphere of influence. They had earlier accepted British advisors in 1904, and Johor
followed in 1914. These formed the Unfederated Malay States. The whole, including the
Straits Settlements, became known as British Malaya
Stock-Taking Again, 1795
Some 128 years down the road since the last estimate, it is time to establish how many Chetty
Malacca there were, whom it was the privilege of the British to receive into their empire.
In 1795, when British occupied the Settlement, they reported that Malacca had a population of
less than 20,000 and her trade and agriculture were at a low ebb, “while the writ of
government extended no more than a mile or two from the town”.
No other figures are available, but this estimate is timely. For one thing, it prompts us to
speculate what the population growth was like in the very long period of 128 years’
intervening, in fact the main component of Dutch rule. For another, it provides a benchmark
against which to see the future changes under British rule.
Bearing in mind that the whole of the following is hypothetical, firstly, we have to deal with the
slave population. For our purposes, we make an assumption that it remained the same over
the period. With this we arrive at our target population of 18,866 in 1795. This represented a
population annual growth rate of 1.32 % pa over the period. This is pretty sedate, and reflects
a stable population and a generally stagnant Malacca over most of Dutch rule. New arrivals
would be few and probably out-balance losses due to emigration (youngster leaving for jobs
elsewhere).
Next we need to identify a Malay component in this total, as our premise is that there would
have been a steady influx of Malays from the surrounding areas drawn by the employment
prospects of supporting the urban nexus. We arbitrarily set the total Malay component in 1795
at a timid 20% of the population, which works out to be 3,773. That leaves us 15.092 to
account for. Keeping the 1667 proportions unchanged, we arrive at a distribution of Europeans
& Eurasians 3,713 (19.7%), Chinese 7,113 (3.7%) Indians (4,268 (22.6%) - and Malays 3 773
(20%). Making one more assumption, that not less than 90% of the Indians were Chetty
Malacca, we finally and arduously reach the conclusion that the number of our revered
ancestors who joined the British Empire was 3,841 or thereabouts. At that point they made up
22.8% of the population, excluding slaves. They would have been near equal to the Eurasians
and slightly more than the Malays. Over a century, they would have become a mature and
settled community, probably with some pretensions to wealth. They were therefore a
significant minority group with some clout that had to be reckoned with. This explains why they
were given land to build their temple.
This seems a valid picture to go along with, until someone is able to offer alternative data and
insights to conclude otherwise. It should be mentioned here that at this point, within the
parameters applicable to it, the Chetty Malacca community had also reached the maximum
extent of its growth.. After this, its numbers in Malacca would decline, due to changes in the
variables affecting it. The Chinese population was the largest, but again we may postulate that
only a small percentage, like the Indians, were new imports. The large new arrivals of these
groups would happen only a century later.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
27
New Colonialism
Aghast alike at the levels of wealth amassed by the colonial powers and the excesses of
exploitation (raw materials, forced plantations and slaves), new attitudes took shape among
the growing educated public in the mother countries of the colonial powers about their
humanitarian responsibility to subject peoples. Concerns were heard about “the White Man’s
Burden” and their “debt of honour”. Slavery was abolished by the British in 1833 and by the
Dutch in 1863. In both their cases, the home governments took over the colonies from the
former companies, and they were susceptible to the new public opinion. Congruently,
industrialisation required new and more raw materials and export markets. In the new
economics, the capital investments involved were larger and more long-term. These factors
called for more secure and more comprehensive occupation, administration, and social and
infrastructural development of the colonies. These factors further happily called for and
justified proper attention to education, and to social services. Most cogently, the colonies were
and would be generating the money to pay for all this. Apart from their social uplifting, there
was a broad-based need to have adequate educated strata among the local population to
undertake. the various occupations of increasing diversity and levels of skill, whether in the
public service, the technical services, primary production, shipping, commerce, public health,
and even in education itself.
The Dutch did change their colonial orientation and practices, injecting greater responsibility
towards their subject peoples. It would be nearly a century late for our Malacca brethren, but
this extract provides a wholesome close to the Dutch episode of this history:
During and after the Dutch secured their hegemony throughout the
Indonesian archipelago, they systematically eliminated slavery, widow
burning, head-hunting, cannibalism, piracy, and internecine wars.[13] The
Dutch formed a privileged upper social class of soldiers, administrators,
managers, teachers and pioneers. They lived linked to their native subjects,
yet separately at the top of the rigid racial and social castes they set up in
Indies society.[24] The Dutch East Indies had two legal classes of citizens:
First the European class; second the Indigenous (Dutch: Inlander, Malay:
Bumiputra) class. A third class: Foreign Easterners (Dutch: Vreemde
Oosterlingen) was added in 1920.[25]
In 1901 the Dutch adopted what they called the Ethical Policy, under which
the colonial government had a duty to further the welfare of the Indonesian
people in health and education. Other new policies included irrigation
programs,
transmigration,
communications,
flood
mitigation,
industrialisation, and protection of native industry. [7] Although more
progressive than previous policies, the humanitarian policies were ultimately
inadequate. While a small elite of secondary and tertiary-educated
Indonesians developed, the overwhelming majority of Indonesians
remained illiterate. Primary schools were established and officially open to
all, but by 1930, only 8% of school-aged children received an education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_Indies#Social_history
In the new colonial world, labour was becoming the major constraint in the absence of slavery,
particularly for mineral extraction and large-scale plantation agriculture. This was followed by
the need for technical manpower. The latter were needed to survey the land, and engineer and
maintain the transport networks, etc. Later, more would be needed to support the posts &
telegraphs, the electrical grid and eventually the telecommunications infrastructure. The
colonies entered a new phase in which they experienced large-scale influx and imports of
external labour and technical workers, to support their rapidly expanding economies. In British
Malaya, including Malacca, the population structure would be totally changed.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
28
There was one commentator on the Internet who with a grand historic eye described the
“invasion” as he called it of the British into Malaya in the 19 th Century. I wished to quote it but
unfortunately I lost the reference. He conveyed the notion that they (the British) arrived in
waves and echelons. In the beginning came the administrators, the law-givers and the law
enforcers. These were followed by echelons of civil engineers, land surveyors, water and port
engineers, and probably the public health people. In the second wave would have come the
economic echelons and commercial interests. The first groups among these would have been
tin mining engineers, and subsequent echelons would include the planters. These would have
been followed by the entrepreneurs and bankers. In the third wave would have come the
medical, social and education professionals. The last among these would have been the
religious and missionary echelons. With the progress of time, a fourth wave would include
engineers to install and maintain the “national” networks like the post and telegraphs system,
the railways, the roads, the electrical system, and telecommunications network. The sequence
is of course poetic. The echelons and waves both overlapped in time and ran in parallel,
some merging into others.
Transformation
From Malacca’s transfer to the British to my Dad’s birthday (on 23 December 1900) was 76
years. The world and Malacca were dramatically transformed. The tin boom brought the
railways, the telegraph and electricity. The rubber boom brought roads, motor cars, and
bicycles, Both opened up the country, brought wealth and opportunity. Malacca became a part
of Peninsula Malaya, not just a backwater port. We may here briefly note some of the changes
which I had to check out to form my conclusions:

When my Dad was born, the modes of transport were the horse and carriage, the
rickshaw, the bullock cart, the buffalo cart, and the perahu (boat) for riverine
movement. The roads were not metalled. In the town the road surfaces were cobbled
and stone compacted. In the kampongs, they would have been earth compacted, and
farther afield, they would have been dirt tracks. I doubt there were any “trunk” roads. I
doubt one could have gone by land (presumably by stagecoach) from Malacca to
Penang or Johore Bahru - maybe to Kuala Lumpur, with a struggle. But, things were in
the process of change. These were already impacting Malacca’s neighbouring states
and would soon draw her in.

Firstly there was a “tin rush” in the Peninsula hinterland. This put pressure on all
surrounding ports, to move the tin out and to deliver machinery and other supplies in.
While Singapore and Penang grew as the principal long-haul termini, Malacca among
others served as local entre-ports and points of collection and delivery. Malacca was
now back in the world of free trade. There would have been a resurgence of business
talk and a rising tempo of expectation

The original tin mining operations were orientated towards the rivers, used to convey
the payload to the nearest port. Global demand led to development of short railway
lines from the mining centres to the nearest ports. The first railway line in Malaya was
from Taiping to Port Weld, opened in 1885. This was followed by the Kuala LumpurKlang line in 1886. Next came the Seremban-Sungei Ujong to Port Dickson line in
1891, followed by the Tapah to Telok Anson line in 1893. Finally the connection from
Ipoh to Prai was opened in 1899. In 1901, the FMS Railway was formed by absorption
of the state companies. Following this the inland nodes were quickly connected up by
a trunk line down to Gemas by 1905. Eventually the line would be extended to Johore
Bahru by 1909.

On 1 December 1905, The Malacca State Railway (MSR) officially inaugurated the
FMS Malaca Branch line to Tampin. The following piece of history is well-worth
reliving:
“At 6.30 a.m. The Hon. Mr. Bland and Messrs. R. C. Fryer,
Firmstone, Lupton and Darbyshire (the constructing engineer)
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
29
met at Kubu station and proceeded thence to Tampin, the
junction with the trunk line, where they arrived at 7.40.
On the return journey they were joined by Messrs. Fleming, D. O.
Tampin, Goldthorpe, Jones and Reid, and the whole party, on
their arrival at Malacca, at 9.41 proceeded to the Residency to
breakfast.
After breakfast the Hon. R.N. Bland proposed the health of the
Queen, and then proceeded to congratulate Mr. Darbyshire on
the way the construction of the line had been expedited. Mr.
Fleming responded to the toast and the visitors after having a
short look around Malacca left by the 1 o'clock train.”
It was the Queen’s Birthday.
From the Straits Times, 4th December 1905.
The same newspaper trumpeted:
“It is now possible to leave Malacca at 1 p.m. and arrive in
Penang at 6.21 on the following day instead of taking two to
three days by steamer, also and this, I think, is the great
convenience. Passengers to Seremban and Kuala Lumpur from
Singapore can land at Malacca, catch the 6.30 a.m. train, and
arrive at their destinations at 9.5 a.m. and 11.12 a.m. respectively
by this greatly accelerating their arrival.”
Note 1: The MRS was absorbed by the FMSR in 1906.
Note 2: My friend, Ian McCubbin of Goosetrey UK and of the Great
Western Railway fame, would expect me to record that the
MSR had four locomotives, two Hunslets 850 & 851 Class A,
and two Kitsons 4289 & 4290, Class G)



At that time, my Dad was four years old, a few days short of five – about Christian’s
age at the writing of this (Jul11). He would grow up with the Blast and Woof-WoofWoof of the steam locomotives a familiar sound over the years. He loved the railway,
and I recall very many happy evening drives with him and Mummy to Kubu Station just
to see and hear the trains arrive and depart. We did the Tampin trip several times, but
I do not recall that either we or Dad alone travelled to Penang or Singapore by train.
The latter became possible when the Causeway was commissioned. The first train
carrying goods traveled across the Causeway on 17 September 1923, followed by the
first passenger train on 1 October in the same year. The Malacca line was ripped up
by the Japanese occupying forces during World War II to build the Burma Railway. It
was never replaced.
Among the related happenings we should mention the first motor car built by Daimler
& Benz in 1886. The modern (safety) bicycle was invented in the 1890s, and in 1889
John Dunlup invented the pneumatic tyre for both. In 1893 Ridley planted the first
seedlings of the Havea Braziliensis (rubber tree) in the Singapore Botanic Gardens,
and in 1902 bitumen or asphalt was first introduced in the world to “metal” a road.
Suddenly the world needed rubber. I am proud to trumpet the fact that the first man to
lead the response was Tan Chay Yan of Malacca. There is no better way to savour
this momentous development than to read this piece from the web:
“Tan Chay An was the first rubber planter in Malaya. Despite opposition, he
pioneered an industry which transformed the region’s fortunes and used his
enormous wealth to support worthwhile causes such as education.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
30
Tan was educated at Malacca High School. In 1891 he inherited from a
tapioca farm at Bukit Lintang near Malacca. He joined the Malacca municipal
commission aged twenty-one and three years later became a justice of the
peace, as his father and grandfather had been.
In 1896, Tan visited his friend Henry Ridley, director of the Singapore Botanic
Gardens, whose advocacy of commercial rubber cultivation was widely
scorned. Rubber forests in Africa and the Amazon were being exhausted and
Ridley saw opportunities in Malaya. Encouraged by his friend Lim Boon Keng,
Tan agreed that there was potential so Ridley gave him seedlings of the
indigenous Rambong (Ficus elastica) and the untested, imported Para rubber
tree (Hevea Brasiliensis). Tan planted these on 43 acres cleared from his
Malacca property, creating the first rubber plantation in Malaya and Asia’s first
Asian-owned one. He sought to convert hostile planters from comestibles,
offering them seeds from his pocket.
Two years later, seeing how the rubber plants flourished, he formed a
syndicate with other Chinese entrepreneurs to manage a 3,000-acre estate at
Bukit Asahan obtained under favourable terms from Malacca’s government.
His display of sheet rubber at that year’s Malacca horticultural fair won a
trophy and sparked wide interest. This exhibit and other factors such as the
demand for rubber arising from the worldwide growth of bicycling and
motoring prompted more planters to follow Tan’s lead.
His rubber won a gold medal at the 1903 Hanoi Exposition and the following
year he shipped the first one thousand pounds of rubber to be exported from
Malacca. By 1905, with rubber exempted from export duties, the settlement
shipped 18,500 pounds and Bukit Asahan was the world’s largest Hevea
plantation. Around 1905 Tan reached an agreement with the new Londonbased Malacca Rubber Plantations Ltd to sell for $2 million the Bukit Asahan
estate, which had been created with $200,000, while retaining an interest in
the new company.
This deal both convinced local growers that their future was in rubber and
attracted European companies to Malaya. By 1910 there were thirty-five
European and Chinese companies growing rubber on tens of thousands of
acres across Malaya. The industry which Tan had started despite opposition
produced around half the world’s rubber by 1920 and brought unprecedented
prosperity to Malaya and Singapore, through which most of it was shipped . “
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1628_2009-12-31.htmlNational
It is perhaps worth mentioning that Sime Darby, Malaysia’s flagship corporation, was
among the companies that first set up their plantations in Malacca.

Rubber was soon to overshadow tin and was far more widespread. It needed a
network of roads, metalled roads. The early roads served as feeders to connect to the
railway lines. Then they opened up the country, which allowed access to new
territories for occupation, agriculture, plantations and other economic activities. For the
first time, the whole population began to enjoy greater mobility within their jungle-clad
country. The first metalled road ran from Taiping to Port Weld, completed in 1901. I
could not find when the roads in Malacca were metalled. I also could not find out when
the first motor car was introduced in Malacca or Malaya. What we do know is that
Singapore enacted automobile registration legislation in 1903. This would presage
similar legislation in Malacca very shortly. The same year saw the establishment of the
Federated Malay States Automobile Club and, in 1907 the Singapore Automobile
Club. By 1908, there was a metalled road between Kulim and Province Wellesley.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
31
Similar extension took place along the Johore railway to the south. We may imagine
that the Malacca roads, the trunk roads at least, were well paved by the close of first
decade – while my Dad was still in primary school. Ford's first local advertisement in the
Straits Times appeared on 20 December 1909.

Samuel Morse invented the telegraph and his code in 1850. Most people are familiar
with the telegraph line as an ubiquitous item along the early railways as they were
developed, among other things because they were needed for signaling and
messaging. However, I imagine that public telegraph facilities happened when the first
public post offices were opened. This appears to have happened in Malacca in 1854.
In 1877 both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison submitted their patents for
the first telephone. The records show that the first telephone exchange (50 lines)
was installed in Singapore in 1879 and in Kuala Lumpur in 1891. Malacca probably
had at least one working telephone when Dad was born.




The earliest record of power generation has been traced back to a small mining town
in Rawang, Selangor. Two enterprising individuals Loke Yew and Thamboosamy Pillai
(Chetty Malacca?) installed an electric generator in 1894 to operate their mines,
marking the first use of electric pumps for mining and the beginning of the story of
electricity in Malaya. In the same year, private supply for street lighting purposes was
extended to Rawang town, and in the next year to the railway station in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1905, the Singapore Electrical Tramway Limited built the first power station at
MacKenzie Road. It not only provided power for its network of services but also
supplied electricity for municipal needs. The Tanjong Kling Power Station in Malacca
is one of the oldest power stations in Malaysia but I could not find the date it began.
From all this I conclude that Malaca would have been at least partly electrified by the
end of the decade, in the public places and perhaps streets but probably not down to
household supply; definitely not at Meringu Lane – judging from later evidence.
With the many landmark developments taking place, Malacca would have experienced
a resurgence of spirits and fortunes. One might well speculate that the people,
including our Chetty Malacca, would have been buoyant and ready to take part and
find a place for themselves in the scenario expanding before them. Certainly, it would
dawn on young Odiang as he grew up that the world was full of promise, and he
should not miss the boat. Nenek Kathai would have realized that the passport to the
new world was an education.
Education: Passport to the New World
At the beginning, the EIC’s interests were purely commercial. One did not run educational
programes for people at trading centres. There were however different pressures at work
on the British on the spot.
Firstly, they found an increasing need for an English-educated middle-level workforce to
help run the country. The need was of much larger dimensions than facing the Dutch
before, for the latter were in no way involved in opening up the Malayan hinterland. This
was complemented by an upsurge of demand for such education. Underlying the latter
was the realization that, learning their mother tongue apart, an English education was the
prerequisite for employment, social mobility and well-being.
Secondly, the British were under pressure from diverse Christian groups to carry out
missionary work. It was the new policy to allow them to do so. Education was always the
first step to enlightenment, So the missions built schools. The Straits Settlements, and
Malacca in particular, had already evolved what we would these days call a plural society.
The education system had to cut across all local communities. Because of the multi-racial
composition of population (and no doubt because of the ready availability of religious
materials in the language), they built English-language schools. This suited the British.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
32
Thirdly, as the British penetrated the Peninsula, they found themselves with a majority
population of an homogenous indigenous people, the Malays, who already possessed a
royal court language and culture and a tradition of education through informal and formal
schools, including religious schools. The Malays were overwhelmingly in agriculture, lived
in the rural areas, and were Muslim. The British needed to evolve a policy to support
Malay vernacular education as a separate and special exercise. In time this would become
the major issue of British Malaya.
Fourthly, there was the parallel demand for vernacular schools from the other ethnic
groups, particularly the Chinese, who formed the majority of the populations in the Straits
Settlements. The British allowed them to provide their own vernacular schools.
It was only with transfer to Crown Colony status in 1867, did the British confront education
as a full responsibility. In 1870, a Select Committee of the Straits Settlements
recommended as follows:
1.
2.
3.
To appoint an Inspector of Schools, Straits Settlements.
To reform the existing Grants-in-aid system, which mainly applied to English
schools whether they be missionary or privately run.
To greatly extend and improve vernacular education, especially Malay
vernacular education.
The primary focus was on the English schools. There were two types: the first was the
government English school managed by the government where all expenses were paid for by
the government; the second was the government-aided English school which received grantsin-aid and was controlled by its own governing body. Mission schools fell under the second
category. Both categories admitted pupils regardless of race or religion, from primary one up.
The mission schools usually charged a small school fee. Over time there would be privately
initiated English schools, and they were accorded the same treatment as mission schools
The Anglican mission led the field. They opened the first three English schools, namely the
Penang Free School in 1816, the Malacca Free High School in 1826 and the Singapore Free
School in 1823, then commonly called “Protestant Free Schools.”. Here’s an insight into how
things went in Malacca:
The school was professedly an English school, but classes were also held in
Portuguese, Chinese and Malay. After instruction in their own language, the
pupils were transferred to the English classes. In 1875 the trustees came to
the conclusion that they could no longer carry on with the funds at their
disposal and decided to hand over their school funds and property to the
Straits Settlements government. Three years later (1878) the Government
took over the school and renamed it “The Malacca High School”.
Note 1:
All three became government schools in time, the first government school in
each case and in time the première educational institution in their states and countries
respectively. The last became Raffles Institution. Incredibly, before 1870, there were no
government English schools
.Note 2:
It is noteworthy that after the Dutch government took over from the VOC they
did begin to provide schooling – as they proceed to do in the Indies. The startup of Malacca
High School was directly related to the closing of the Dutch-Malay school which was
established in January 1819 by a Christian missionary during the Dutch reign.
Note 3.
Munshi Abdullah relates in the Hikayat Abdullah10 that in 1818 an English
missionary, W. C. Milne, set up an Anglo-Chinese College near the Tranquerah Gate, which
provided education in English and Chinese, He was closely associated with it teaching Malay
10
Munshi Abdullah, Hikayat Abdullah, translated by A. H Hill, JMBRAS, June 1955,
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
33
and doing translation work. The college was moved to Hong Kong in 1843 to become a
seminary.
Next we come to the educational highlight of this history. I make no apology for reproducing in
full the article in the Star on-line of 20 Jun 2010 about St Francis Institution (SFI), the alma
mater of my Dad and myself:
THERE are two key years in the colourful and chequered history of St Francis
Institution (SFI) - 1872 and 1902.
The humble origin of SFI is traced back to the opening of the attap-roofed St
Mary’s School, close to Praya Lane along Jalan Banda Hilir, in 1872.
Managed by the then parish priest of St Francis Xavier Church, Fr Maximillian
De Souza, this school ran on funds from the French Missions. Students who
had to pay a nominal monthly fee of three cents, in adherence to the
government of the day’s ruling that grant-in-aid schools should charge fees.
In 1880, St Mary’s was relocated to bigger premises and renamed St Francis
School. However, financial difficulties forced the school to shut down in 1902,
but not for long.
Within months, encouraged by the then bishop of Malacca, the LaSalle religious
brother community revived the school with a pioneer batch of 102 students.
American cleric Maurice Josephus, who had served the school for a year
previously, became the new principal.
From then on, it was a story of moving from strength to strength in various
aspects including student enrolment and upgrading of school facilities.
Banda Hilir, which had a seafront, was chosen as the ideal site and in 1906
rose the old “U” building which forms the nucleus of SFI today.
In 1914, a three-storey block of classrooms and a dormitory were built”
The Dames of St Muar had earlier established the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) in
1860. The Italian Canossian Institute founded the Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1905. The
Methodist Episcopal Mission established the Malacca Anglo Chinese School in 1910. The
sister school, the Methodist Girls’ School, had been established six years earlier in 1904; in
the year following, in 1905, the mission had also founded the Suydam Girls’ School. So, when
my Dad was ready to consider an education in English (c.1906), there was only the one
government boys’ school (High School) and the one mission school (St Francis’ ). Not to be
left out, the Government would go on to establish the Bandar Hilir English School in Malacca
in 1908 and the Tranquerah English School in 1925. A research paper reported that in 1932
Malaca still had only 3 government and 2 aided (English) boys’ schools; there were 3 mission
girls schools, but even at that date no government girls’ school..
We should close this review of the English schools in my Dad’s time by reporting that the
University of Cambridge Location Examinations was introduced in Singapore in 1892, but
Senior Cambridge classes were only initiated in St Joseph’s Institution in 1927. It is therefore
not possible to say conclusively whether my Dad would have taken the exam, round about
1917-18. In normal circumstances, pupils would have to complete the run up syllabi in the
earlier secondary classes over a 3-4 year period, not counting the teacher training to take the
pupils through and the availability of textbooks. High School was likely to have started first.
From EIC times, the Malay schools had received some support, and from 1858 they were
monitored. Although the Select Committee Report related to the Straits Settlements, it had a
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
34
profound impact on the educational development of the Malay States, as many of the officials
in the Malay States during the first decade of residential rule were either seconded or
transferred from the Straits Civil Service. The Report recommended a large extension of Malay
schools. This did take place. However, for reasons explained further on, they only provided 4
years’ primary education..
The British were concerned with the de-stabilising effects of “over-education” on the traditional
way of life of the Malay peasantry. With no appropriate means of employment for secondary
school-leavers in the kampongs there would be urban drift. It could also lead to the emergence
of political discontent. They even saw no need to provide English. In the upshot, they
introduced a secular school system of four years’ primary education. The package included
some academic subjects like history and geography, and arts and crafts suitable for their
world. Over time, the Roman script (Rumi) got introduced alongside the Arabic script (Jawi).
Incredible as it may sound, there was no secondary tier, caput. The British planners actually
meant for the Malays to remain in their rural world, this in a new century that was already
changing dramatically and with their urban non-Malay counterparts enjoying increasing
opportunities of secondary education and employment in government and business. Any
decent thinking Malay or local would have said “Mana Boleh? (How can!)” Be it as it may, such
was the policy implemented. The British set up several teacher training centres throughout the
country, trained the teachers at the primary level and posted them to the rural schools. In
1922, the Sultan Idris Training College was established, as the apex and resource centre of
the system – but again at the primary level. in 1926 it acquired a Malay Translation Bureau
tasked with the preparation, revision reprinting and translation of books and the training of
translators11. The only available option for the Malays to further their education beyond the
rudimentary level was by switching, at the fourth grade for boys and third grade for girls, to the
Malay Special Classes in government English schools. After two years of intensive coaching
in English, they were then allowed to proceed to secondary education in English. However,
such opportunities were not many. Malays were further fearful of conversion to Christianity in
the mission schools.
“Thus, education of rural Malays was largely confined to four years of
rudimentary education. Many Malays remained entrapped in rural areas
without any possible means of upward social mobility.
The response was poor. so much so that the British had in 1890 to introduce compulsion
through the Malay rulership. Thus, by 1900, while the Straits Settlements had a total of 29
English boys’ schools with a combined enrollment of 6,155, there were 141 Malay boys’
schools with an enrollment of 6,591. The corresponding figures for girls’ schools were 10
English with an enrolment of 1,373 and 28 Malay with an enrolment of 753. Figures for 1916
indicate that as against 191 schools overall in the Straits Settlements there were 365 in the
Federated States but still only 137 schools in the Unfederated States. The schools in the latter
two would have been predominantly Malays schools.
As a quite independent strategy, the British started the Malay College at Kuala Kangsar in
1905. It was a residential school for the Malay nobility and elite. It provided a distinctly English
education, leading to the Cambridge exams. The object was to prepare the pupils with an
11
Dussek. He was not only committed to educate teachers as well as train them, but also to raise the
standard of Malay vernacular schools gradually until secondary education was possible and to press
for the use of the Malay language as the language of the government. Though his proposal to
establish Malay secondary schools and to increase the use of Malay in the government failed to
materialize. Dussek‟s Malay policy at the SITC was possibly the most significant British contribution
to the growth of Malay nationalism prior to World War II.
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
35
English orientation, draw them into the structure of colonial administration, and so cement
British control of the Malay population.
The Chinese vernacular schools were left to develop independently by the clans and
associations. These relied on China imported textbooks and teachers, and later had to be
regulated with political developments in China. The British extended grant-in-aid to them
where they qualified. The Pay Fong School, established in Malacca in 1910 is an outstanding
example of an eminent Chinese school. I did not find reference to any Tamil vernacular
schools established in Malacca at that time. In time Tamil education would emerge as a
concern for the new generation which would grow out from the influx of Tamil labourers for the
rubber estates and public works.
By my Dad’s time, the value of education would have been fully apparent to the local
population. I have no doubt that if the Chetty Malacca understood one thing with any clarity, it
was to send their children to school. When they boiled down their options, we can see that
they would not be interested in Chinese education. There were no Tamil schools to speak of,
and they would not be particularly interested in them in any case having lost the language. The
Malay schools were in the rural areas and only up to primary four. The choice would have
been the English schools. These were in the urban areas. They admitted pupils of every colour
and creed, from age K1 up, with no language or other pre-requisites, and free.. They took
them through to secondary, and opened the doors to employment. The situation would have
been the same for the Peranakan Chinese who would similarly have preferred the English
schools to the Chinese schools. It is no surprise therefore that my Dad went to an English
school.
When Nenek Kathai took that decision, there were already 8 cohorts of children, Chetty
Malacca kids among them, who would have completed 10 years of schooling, some less. The
first cohort (from High School).would have completed 10 years in 1836, and would already be
over 60 years in the workforce and near 80 years old. When Dad stepped into SFI, there
would have been 4 levels of seniors ahead of him. Of course not all Chetty Malacca children
would have gone to school. There would be many too poor to afford the alternative cost of not
working at home, in the field or in the shop. But perhaps over the same 80 years, the
proportions would have increased, as incomes in the community rose. During the Japanese
Occupation, when we lived among the Chetty Malacca community, I noticed that probably a
majority of my Dad’s peers had been to school up to varying levels.. Among his seniors, it was
less, and among his juniors more. A few had gone for further or professional education. I
could not tell about the children, because there was only Japanese school. A good number did
not seem to be going to school. It was a time for survival, with all hands to the plough.
Chetty Malacca Women
And finally, what about the women? In my observations during the above period, I found the
Chetty Malacca ladies ranged in roles from simple housewives to consorts and matriarchs. In
their first role, they formed the core of the family. They ran a tight ship at home, enforced
frugality and ensured practice of the religion. As matriarchs, they collectively decided the
community norms and pronounced judgment upon individual behavior. What offended the
matriarchs was infradig. They never met in committee, but always seemed to know what the
other wass thinking. As consorts, they carried themselves off with all the comely elegance for
which they were justly known. When both were dressed in their fineries, they stood up to their
counterparts, the Peranakan ladies, In fact both sets of ladies dressed remarkably alike. I
never got the impression that these ladies needed an education. They were in complete
mastery of their domains. Their functions overlapped of course, with different weightages for
the various age groups, and accordingly to wealth. As a small boy my criterion for judging
them was simple: by the excellence of their kitchen and by the excellence of their cakes. The
kitchen of Achi Manga was tops.
But, education of the women folk was creeping in. Some of the young girls were already being
sent to school about my time, and it would become progressively standard in the post-war
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
36
world. We would progressively see them as clerks, sales-girls, nurses and teachers, etc. They
would fill the professional ranks, and some become politicians. What we ought to point out is
that the opportunities for them to attend school already existed. There were in fact more girls’
English schools than boys’ schools from before my Dad’s time.
Stock-Taking 1877-91
Finally, it is time again to do a headcount of the Chetty Malacca.
The first British population tally of Malacca was the Census 1871. I have not been able to view
this document. It is reported as being flawed in classification, methodology and other features,
and it was not used as a basis for subsequent census. But one thing was fixed: whereas
earlier its boundaries barely extended beyond the town and suburbs, in 1877 the area of
Malacca was established as 648 square miles, more or less what it is today. Extrapolating
from different secondary sources, I managed to reconstruct some probable figures. The total
population of Malacca at that time was probably 77,056, of which 17,132 12 were Chinese
(22.0%), 3,168 were Indians (4.1%), 50,659 were Malays (65,2%) and 6,797 Other Malayans
(8.7%). The annual rate of growth was a respectable 1.82 pa over the intervening 76 years
Spectacularly, the Malay population grew by 13.4 times to 50,659. It now made up 65.2 % of
the total population. We can at once say this was largely due to incorporation of the
surrounding rural area into the state. The Chinese population also grew, but dropped to
22.0%. We have to note that the Indian population dropped both in absolute numbers from
4,268 to 3,168, by a thumping 25.8%, and by proportion. They now constituted only 4.1% of
the population. There were no appreciable changes in the make up of the Indian population;
so we may take the total as comprising mainly Chetty Malacca. The Chetty Malacca
population therefore declined, and they lost position as a significant minority community.
For a better perspective of what was happening, we need to look at the figures from the
Census 1881 and 1891. The first was an improved state-only exercise, while the second was a
comprehensive one covering the Straits Settlements. I have had the opportunity to see the
latter, which contained the comparative data for 1881. The figures are in the table below:
Abstract of Population - Settlement of Malacca 1881-1891
Serial
Nationality
1881
1891
1891
Town
%
Total
%
Total
1
Europeans
40
0.0
134
0.1
88
65.7
2
Eurasians
2,213
2.4
1,756
1.9
1,684
95.9
3
Chinese
I. Straits-born
5,264
(5.6) 4,971
(5.4)
3,425
68.9
2.Total
19,741 21.1
19.7
8,409
46.3
Malays & Other
Natives
of
Archipelago
1. Malays
67,513 (72.1) 68,127
(73.9)
5,025
7.4
2. Jawi Pekans
3. Total
76.3
107
5,359
7.6
4
867
69,390 74.3
18,161
183
70,325
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
5
6
6
37
Tamils & Other
Natives of India
1 Tamils
1,728
(1.8) 1471
(1.6)
797
54.2
2. Total
2.0
1.8
877
53.2
53
55.8
1,891
Other Nationalities
1. Arabs
220
1,647
95
2. Total
304
0.3
Grand Total
93,579 100
147
0.2
86
58.5
92,170
100
16,503
17.9
We may note the following:








The population peaked at 93,579 in 1881 at an annual growth rate of 1.82% pa, and
then it dropped slightly to 92,170, giving a overall annual growth of 1.50% over 96
years.
The Chinese population grew up to 1881 reaching 19,741, and then dropped to
18,161 in 1891, finally arriving at a reduced 19.7% of the total population. .
The Indian population continued its drop, from 4,268 in 1795 to 1,891 in 1881
and 1.647 in 1891. The Tamil component is now identified separately. It also
dropped to 1,728 in 1881 and 1,471 in 1891. All the Chetty Malacca folk would
have declared themselves as Tamil. There were no significant changes yet in the
demography of the Tamils. So, we can comfortably conclude that the Tamils
recorded were mainly Chetty Malaca. Both Nenek Kathai and my Grand-pa
Sangaran Pillay would have been counted in both census. Our ancestors now
represented a mere 1.8% of Malacca’s population.
The Malay population grew normally to 67,513 I 1881 and 68,127 in 1891, the latter
forming 73.9% of the population.
For the first time, the two census identified the Straits-born Chinese. In 1891 there
were 4,971 Straits-born (Peranakan) Chinese, 2,213 Eurasians, and 1,471 Tamils
(Chetty Malacca. These proportions confirmed the relative sizes of these communities
from historical deduction.
For the first time, the Jawi Pekan were also identified. They were the counterparts of
the Chetty Malacca (the Tamils Muslims who inter-married and settled down as
locals). They were relatively small in number, 183 in 1891.
The Europeans apart, all Non-Malay local communities showed a decline between
1881 and 1891, both in absolute numbers and proportions.
The Census 1891 showed that the majority of the non-Malays lived in the town while
the overwhelming majority of the Malays lived outside. The Eurasians were highly
concentrated in the town. The Peranakan Chinese were also more in the town. Nearly
half of the Chetty Malacca had moved out of the municipal area.
The big question is why the historical communities of Malacca were declining. Among the
factors affecting them in common, the most probable were the rise in educational levels and
the inadequacy of employment opportunities in Malacca. The young people simply needed to
move out to find their fortunes. Malacca simply could not sustain its educated, Singapore and
Penang on the other hand were bursting with growth as the modern generation kingpin entreports of the new world economy. Kuala Lumpur and the other Malayan towns offered
opportunities to partake of the tin boom and the resultant economic activity. It should be noted
that at this point the rubber boom and the road system had not yet happened, while the
railways were just being put into place. The Chetty Malacca, being small and overall not too
wealthy, would not have had the kinds of business nuclei in Malacca that could retain their
Odiang: Chapter Two - The Chetty Malacca History
38
young, and so would tend to lose more. It is also possible that having lost their wealth and
social position, the Chetty Malacca as a whole found it harder to acquire recruits to inter-marry
into their community. On the other hand, there may have been seepage and loss of identity
through conversion to Christianity or Islam and subsequent marriage within their new religion.
With the education of men outpacing women, the education disparity between the sexes may
have contributed further to this seepage. It is clear that at the turn of the century the Chetty
Malacca were a dispersing community
1891 is a good point to take a last back-bearing. Thereafter, with the opening up of the land,
Malacca would experience the inflows and outflows of Chinese, Tamils, Malays and others as
part of the new economy of Malaya. It would not be possible to identify the historical
communities of Malacca any longer. Suffice it say, to close this chapter, that the Chetty
Malacca then proceeded over the next century to migrate to Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore
In the latter, they settled in numbers and now have a community there larger and more
prosperous in Singapore. From there, a good number have migrated overseas.
* * * *
2nd edition
17 Jul 2013