Background of 18th century Malay peninsula (A History of Malaya Andaya &

Andaya):
Dutch was overexploiting the land, some Malayans resorted to piracy and the Thais
were trying to take over the Malay peninsula (Whenever the Thai army was
assembled, it boded ill for the Malay vessels who were required to contribute their
quota of men and weaponsSiam not only ordered greater material assistance than
ever before, but also commanded that the rulers of Kedah, Patani, Kelantan and
Trengganu leave their capitals and make personal obeisance in Siam. The Malays
were outraged: from the immemorial such a thing had never been asked. The
sending of money, supplies, men and arms was as much as any overlord should
properly demand. No Malay ruler should be required to prostrate himself before the
Siamese king as Thai court protocol in Siam required. P106)

Despite the improvement in Melakas trading figures, the growing weakness of the
VOC as a whole was slowly becoming obvious to Malays. Hamstrung by financial
difficulties and problems in VOC organization, Dutch administrators faced almost
impossible odds in any attempt to keep pace with rising prices. 99
The English were able to gain a dominating commercial position over other
Europeans for several reasons (100)
1. English East India Company gained a tighter control over the cloth-producing
areas of India. English traders were able to squeeze out most of their Indian
rivals in the vital piece-goods trade
2. English controlled principal poppy growing areas of India and vould thus
dominate supply of opium to SEA and China.
3. Imporved maritime techniques English shipping was fast overtaking other
Europeans.. Navy was larger and better administered and English was also
superior in skill such as ship-building and cartography
4. English has no compunction about selling armaments, which was forbidden
by VOC

116
In the early 19th century the Malay view of the British as a potential friend assumed
particular importance because the Thais has once again begun to push southwards
into the peninsula.

122
The Treatty of 1824 provided the raionale for the later colotnial division down the
Melaka Straits and is thus the basis for the contemporary boundary bet. Indonesia
and Malaysia. At the time, British gov had no intention of territorial expansion
beyond the existing settlements aim of guarding British interests while avoiding

direct c
country.

ommitment was to dominate imperial policy fot eh greater part of the

Conversely, all foreign dealings associated with Westerners before the British were
purely economic. The interests of the Portuguese and the Dutch (competitors in
maritime navigation and trade) towards the peninsula was based on how
economically beneficial these Malayan ports are to their spice trades. The British, on
the other hand, not only had the purpose of economic and trade advantages but
also of extension of British powers over the whole peninsula. In this sense, the
British meddled with the political affairs of the peninsula with the intention of wholly
colonizing it. With the coming of the British the once politically scattered Peninsular
Malaya became politically unified under one imperial rule (Murphy, 2014).