A Pangkor Odyssey
The island had a dark past.
This was where the Pangkor Treaty of
1874 was signed between King Abdullah of Perak and the
British for protection. In-fighting among the Perakian
aristocrats and skirmishes between two Chinese secret societies
for the control of tin mines provided the British with
the opportunity to expand their political, and therefore,
their economical interest, in the Malay Peninsula.
It marked the beginning of British rule in the Malay Peninsula.
In 1875 JWW Birch, the first British Resident of Perak,
was assasinated while bathing in a river as a retribution. He
tried to outllaw slavery in the region.
Over 80 years, the once proud seafaring nation were gradually
forced to relocate inland to become industrial farmers
and tin miners.
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