PLEASE READ THE APPENDIX FIRST!

When J.W.W Birch, the British Resident of Perak, was murdered by the Malay nobility on 2 November 1875 in Pasir Salak, it was of course clear that the British Empire had to hit back. The result was the Perak War. Not a real war, more a series of skirmishes. The Colonial Office just wanted to catch the people responsible for the killing (and of course also show its strength). In July 1876 the last perpetrators were caught or surrendered. In December the trial took place in the fort of Ngah Ibrahim and in January 1877 three of them, Maharaja Lela, Dato’ Sagor and Pandak Indut, were hanged in Matang.

Two years later British explorer Isabella Bird arrives in the Malay peninsula and writes a fascinating travelogue The Golden Chersonese And The Way Thither about her visit. I am a big fan and have written a post about her, Isabella BIrd & Taiping. When she arrives 16 February 1879 in Kuala Kangsar to meet the Resident Hugh Low, he is not yet back home. His Sinhalese clerk suggests that she could make a trip (by elephant) the next day to a nearby village. He says “”I’m going to take you to Koto-lamah; no European has been there since the war. I’ve never been there, nor the Resident either.” Read my blog about her adventure. Or even better, read letter XX from her book as she writes very well.

Kota Lama (as it is spelled nowadays), is a small village , a few km north of Kuala Kangsar. Wikipedia in its article about the Perak War mentions very briefly the Battle of Kota Lama Kanan .

I am also a fan of Captain Speedy and have read Gulick’s monograph Captain Speedy of Larut (1953). Speedy took part in the Kota Lama expedition, here is what Gulick wrote about it (page 71):

On 4 January 1876 troops of Ross’s column moved into the two halves of Kota Lama, which straddled the Perak River. Speedy, despite his differences with Ross, was in charge of the political side of the operation. He called on the inhabitants to surrender their arms and the troops then began a home-to-house search. At first there was no resistance and the British relaxed their watchfulness. Ross and a group of headquarters staff officers came up to watch the search. They were attacked by a party of Malays. There was a short but exciting melee in which Ross’s Brigade Major was killed. The attackers were quickly driven off.

In August 2020 I visited Kota Lama Kanan, now a peaceful kampung. Kota Lama Kiri is on the other side of the Perak River. A cannon is the only remnant of the battle.

Until a few weeks ago this was what I knew about the Battle of Kota Lama. Then Marianne Pillai, a friend of mine with an interest in heritage, sent me a link to an article about Captain Speedy, published in the Singapore Daily Times of 17 April 1878. Speedy, after years of being thwarted by the Straits Government had, had finally resigned and left the Malay Peninsula in December 1877. The article is a fierce defence of Captain Speedy. Here is the article outlined in red.

Not easy to read, I converted the text into a readable format and wrote a separate post about it : In defense of Captain Speedy where I also add some comments.

The description in the article does not differ a lot from the one given by Gullick in his book, with a few exceptions. One of them is the description of the battle of Kota Lama. The description given by Gullick is short: Speedy is in charge of the political side of the operation. According to the article the situation is much more complicated.

Captain Speedy was actually against an attack on Kota Lama. They might be notorious people, cattle-stealers and robbers, but they had nothing to do with the killing of Birch. However, Brigadier General Ross, who was cross with Speedy (Gullick p 68-69), forced him to join the expedition.

The description of the expedition in the article is different from other reports I have seen. The main difference is that apparently there where TWO parts of Kota Lama, on both sides of the Perak river. Kota Lama Kiri on the left right bank and Kota Lama Kanan on the right left bank. (also nowadays there are two kampungs!). Therefore the British troops are split in two parts. Colonel Cox commanding the troops on the left bank with Maxwell as Commissioner, and Captain Speedy proceeding on the right bank.

Captain Speedy, not being one of the Commissioners, and having been telegraphed for the previous evening from Larut to participate in the proceedings, saw no alternative before him but to submit; and was desired by the Brigadier General to accompany the party who were to advance along the right bank of the river. The troops who proceeded to the village on the left bank, were commanded by Colonel Cox, accompanied by Mr. W.E. Maxwell, Asst. Queen’s Commissioner, and the course which was pursued was as follows.

Here is what happened in Kota Lama Kiri Kanan. A violent encounter! Gullick writes that Ross was disappointed not to have a fight. Might this fight have been provoked? The report below suggests it.

On our troops landing and advancing through the village, the Malays fled into the jungle, taking their arms with them, and it was then deemed advisable to put an end to the settlement by burning the village. Accordingly one or more of the houses were set fire to. Almost at the same time the General and his party landed, and one of the houses being soon after entered, it was discovered to be filled with the women of the village. These women being naturally alarmed began to scream, when the men who had been lying in ambush in the jungle, thinking their women were being insulted rushed in, and fired a volley upon our men, following this up by charging with their spears. In this skirmish the Brigade Major Hawkins, two Goorkhas, and some others met their deaths and one of the Queen’s Commissioners was carried of the field hors de combat although unwounded.

And here is what happened in Kota Lama Kanan Kiri. A peaceful solution, managed in a diplomatic way by Captain Speedy. “Not a shot was fired” ,

Meanwhile on the right bank of the river the scene presented an aspect of rather a different nature. Captain Speedy had requested to form a cordon with this men round the village. This being done, Captain Speedy, accompanied by a few men, entered the village and advance to the houses of the head men, and told them that the British Government demanded that they should deliver up their arms. To this they demurred, but Captain Speedy represented that as their village was surrounded, submission would be their wisest course, and he guaranteed that no harm should be done them were they to yield, and the men eventually submitted. Not a shot was fired, not a threat used, and no ill feeling whatever had been displayed on the part of the Malays; on the contrary a friendly feeling was at once established, and while waiting for the party on the other side of the river to complete their proceedings, Captain Speedy occupied his Kota Lama allies in getting them to show him how they had trained their monkeys to climb, and gather the fruit from the coconut palms.

The writer ends his report as follows:

Yet for this successful policy he from first to last received no word of approbation, or gracious acknowledgment; on the contrary, the unsuccessful leaders of the other party, evidently stung by jealousy and dissatisfaction, persistently declared on any reference to the event that the men on the right bank of the river were of a peaceable disposition, and not hostile to the Government, and that no difficulty was to have been expected with them. Captain Speedy’s name was, moreover, invariably suppressed in all letters regarding the Kota Lama attack, a fact in itself sufficiently significant of the petty feeling which prevented a fair statement of the facts.

Reading this report I was of course very surprised. What is the true story? I started searching the Internet for more information. Soon I found a webpage, created by Sabri Zain, titled The Battle of Kota Lama, part of a collection of web pages about The Perak Civil War. Here is the introduction of Sabri’s webpage

McNair’s book Perak and the Malays is available online and interesting to read. In chapter XXXII he describes the attack on Kota Lama. He took part in the expedition himself, as he was the Commissioner and Maxwell the Deputy-commissioner (p 384) Here are a few quotes from the chapter.

Kotah Lamah — a place that had long been noted as a resort for the worst characters, and freebooters of the vilest description

On the arrival of the troops at Qualla Kungsa these people were not openly hostile

... it was determined to disarm the people

… the demand for arms to be given up was acceded to on being made by Captain Speedy

.. armed men were seen rushing off, in two or three instances, to the jungle.

General Ross and his party landed at the middle of the village, and were searching the various houses to see that they contained none but women and children

… they were assailed by a body of fifty or sixty spear-armed Malays, who had been hidden amongst the trees.

Compare these quotes with Gullick’s description, They are quite similar, possibly because Gullick used McNair’s book. But why does McNair not mention that the troops proceeded on both sides of the Perak River?

I searched further and finally found what I was looking for in the London Gazette, the journal of the British government, where the official dispatches are published. I found two that are relevant to the topic of this blog (there may be more).

The first one is a dispatch in issue 24296 written by Brigadier-General Ross, while the second one, in issue 24298, has been written by by Edmund.Garforth, the Commander of the Naval Brigade attached to the Laroot Field Force. Both dated 5 January 1876, one day after the battle. Here are the two dispatches, click on them to open the link where you can enlarge the image to make it readable. Garforth’s dispatch (right) starts actually on page 4 of the 24298 issue.

Here are a few quotes from the report by Ross, with my comments.

For long this village has -been the haunt of all the worst disposed and turbulent Malays. The Queen’s Commissioner, deeming it necessary to disarm the inhabitants and to destroy the houses of certain known leaders, I made the following arrangements.

The village is Kota Lama. From the start of the expedition the target was clear: punish the village and destroy it.

The village of Kota Lama is on the left bank of the river. Lieutenant-Colonel Cox crossed
with his party in boats, and moved up the bank a little more than a mile, when he extended the men, the left of the line keeping close to the river, and skirmished through the village.
Mr. Maxwell, Deputy-Commissioner, accompanied Lieutenant-Colonel Cox.

Captain Young moved his party in a similar manner up the right bank, to a village of the same name; his orders were to collect any arms, but not to destroy or injure houses or property, as the inhabitants have been well disposed. Captain Speedy, Assistant – Commissioner, accompanied Captain Young.

Here is finally the true situation, there were two parties proceeding to the two parts of Kota Lama, left (kiri) and right (kanan). One led by Cox with Maxwell, the Deputy-commissioner, the other one led by Young and Speedy. Ross mistakenly writes that Speedy was the Assistant-Commissioner. But he was not a Commissioner , he was the Assistant-Resident of Larut! McNair and Maxwell were the two Commissioners

The people of Kota Lama Kiri Kanan are bad, the people of Kota Lama Kanan Kiri are “well disposed”. Does that make sense?

Major McNair, I, and my staff went with Captain Garforth’s party of the Naval Brigade. We landed on the left bank just above the village, and, leaving a few blue jackets in charge of the boats, we moved in the direction of the village, expecting there to find Lieutenant-Colonel Cox’s party.

So there were actually three parties. Ross himself with Garforth’s men, came by boat. Accompanied by McNair, the Commissioner.

… after about an hour and a half we came upon several houses .close to each other, the largest being occupied by women and children. It being necessary to ascertain whether any men also were in it, Major McNair sent in two of his Malay followers, and himself looked in. After satisfying himself that there were only women and children, he had just got down from the steps, telling those inside not to be alarmed as they would not be harmed, when we heard several shots, and from a jungle close by some 50 Malays rushed out upon us, a few with fire-arms and the rest with spears.

According to the newspaper article, the women started screaming, the men rushed out of the jungle to their rescue and the fight started. Doesn’t that make more sense?

The report by Edmund.Garforth is basically the same.

… at daylight on the 4th January, the following forces, under Brigadier-General Ross, left Qualla Kandsor for a village called Koto-lama, on the left bank of the Perak River, distant three miles.

Kota-lama is the village that the late Mr. Birch was stopped at by an armed force, and for some time has been harbouring the worst characters in this part of the country, and it was the intention to destroy the houses belonging to these men.

Again, from the start it was already the intention to destroy the village, “to teach them a lesson”

A portion of the force was marched up on both banks of the river, two villages being opposite one another, of the same name ; the one on the right bank was only to be searched for arms.

“Only searched for arms” because they were basically good people? It just doesn’t make sense. In the newspaper narrative Speedy’s diplomatic approach does. Speedy is not even mentioned in Garforth’s report.

Having landed with the Naval Brigade and rocket (leaving sufficient men to guard the boats), I was requested by the Brigadier-General commanding to search some houses for arms, which having accomplished I came up with him and his staff at the house of one of the chiefs, about 11. A.M.

In the report by Ross it is McNair who does the searching, telling the women not to worry.

About five minutes after this fifty or sixty armed Malays, who had evidently been hidden in the bush (which was very thick), made a sudden and most determined attack on our party. I had previous to this formed the Blue Jackets up as a guard to the Brigadier-General. The enemy immediately came to close quarters, using their fire-arms and spears, the latter with great effect.

According to Gullick (p 68) Ross was unhappy that there had not been any fight, blaming Speedy for the delay in reaching Kuala Kangsar from Larut. Now he gets his fight!

The two dispatches fit perfectly with the report in the Singapore Daily Times

My conclusions:

In my opinion the article in the Singapore Daily Times, based on the Pinang Gazette, is the most accurate description of what happened on the 4th of January 1876. There has never been a battle of Kota Lama Kanan Kiri, thanks to Captain Speedy’s diplomacy. The battle of Kota Lama Kiri Kanan may have been provoked by the British colonial powers.

Of course the intriguing question remains, who wrote the four articles in the Pinang Gazette? The details about what happened in Kota Lama Kanan Kiri, especially that the locals showed Speedy how they had trained monkeys to gather coconuts from the trees, suggest an eyewitness.

APPENDIX

Left and Right

What is the left bank of a river and what the right bank? That depends on whether you look upstream or downstream. Geography has “solved” this ambiguity by defining left and right bank of a river from the downstream perspective.

When you navigate the Perak River upstream. you will pass several villages that straddle the river and have a left (kiri) and a right (kanan) part. See the GE map.