Straits Settlements

The first settlement was the Penang territory, in 1786. This originally comprised Penang Island, then known as the 'Prince of Wales Island'. This was later extended to encompass an area of the mainland, which became known as Province Wellesley (now Seberang Perai). The first grant was in 1800, followed by another in 1831. Further adjustments to Province Wellesley's border were made in 1859, and with the Treaty of Pangkor in 1874. Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite the island of Penang, was ceded to Great Britain in 1800 by the Sultan of Kedah, on its northern and eastern border; Perak lies to the south. The boundary with Kedah was rectified by treaty with Siam (now Thailand) in 1867. It was administered by a district officer, with some assistants, answering to the resident councillor of Penang. Province Wellesley consisted, for the most part, of a fertile plain, thickly populated by Malays, and occupied in some parts by sugar-planters and others engaged in similar agricultural industries and employing Chinese and Tamil labour. About a tenth of the whole area was covered by low hills with thick jungle. Large quantities of rice were grown by the Malay inhabitants, and between October and February, there was snipe-shooting in the paddy fields. A railway from Butterworth, opposite Penang, runs into Perak, and thence via Selangor and Negri Sembilan to Malacca, with an extension via Muar under the rule of the Sultan of Johor, and through the last-named state to Johor Bahru, opposite the island of Singapore.[1]^: 981

Singapore became the site of a British trading post in 1819 after its founder, Stamford Raffles, successfully involved the East India Company in a dynastic struggle for the throne of Johore. Thereafter the British came to control the entire island of Singapore, which was developed into a thriving colony and port. In 1824 the Dutch conceded any rights they had to the island in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, and from 1832, Singapore was the seat of government of the Straits Settlements.

The Dutch colony of Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for the British possession of Bencoolen and for British rights in Sumatra. Malacca's importance was in establishing an exclusive British zone of influence in the region, and it was overshadowed as a trading post by Penang, and later, Singapore.

The Dindings — named after the Dinding River in present-day Manjung District — which comprised Pangkor Island, and the towns of Lumut and Sitiawan on the mainland, were ceded by Perak to the British government under the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. Hopes that its excellent natural harbour would prove to be valuable were doomed to disappointment, and the territory sparsely inhabited and altogether unimportant both politically and financially,[1]^: 981 was returned to and administered by the government of Perak in February 1935.[2]

The establishment of the Straits Settlements followed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, by which the Malay archipelago was divided into a British zone in the north and a Dutch zone in the south. This resulted in the exchange of the British settlement of Bencoolen (on Sumatra) for the Dutch colony of Malacca and undisputed control of Singapore. The Settlements were largely Chinese in population, with a tiny but important European minority.[3] Their capital was moved from George Town, the capital of Penang, to Singapore in 1832. Their scattered nature proved to be difficult and, after the company lost its monopoly in the china trade in 1833, expensive to administer.[4]

The Port of Penang in George Town during the 1910s

During their control by the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners,[5] earning them the title of the "Botany Bays of India".[6]^: 29 The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang.[7]^: 91 Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857 the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament[8] asking for direct rule; but the idea was overtaken by events—the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

When a "Gagging Act" was imposed to prevent the uprising in India spreading, the Settlements' press reacted with anger, classing it as something that subverted "every principle of liberty and free discussion".[9] As there was little or no vernacular press in the Settlements, such an act seemed irrelevant: it was rarely enforced and ended in less than a year.[10]^: 6

On 1 April 1867 the Settlements became a British Crown colony, making the Settlements answerable directly to the Colonial Office in London instead of the government of British India based in Calcutta. Earlier, on 4 February 1867, Letters Patent had granted the Settlements a colonial constitution. This allocated much power to the Settlements' Governor, who administered the colony of the Straits Settlements with the aid of an Executive Council, composed wholly of official (i.e., ex-officio) members, and a legislative council, composed partly of official and partly of nominated members, of which the former had a narrow permanent majority. The work of administration, both in the colony and in the Federated Malay States, was carried on by means of a civil service whose members were recruited by competitive examination held annually in London.[1]^: 980

Penang and Malacca were administered, directly under the governor, by resident councillors.[1]^: 980

In 1886 the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (which were settled and once owned by a Scottish family named Clunies-Ross) and Christmas Island, formerly attached to Ceylon, were transferred to the care of the government of the Straits Settlements in Singapore. In 1907 the former Crown Colony of Labuan, in Borneo, which for a period was vested in the British North Borneo Company, was resumed by the British government and was vested in the governor of the Straits Settlements.[1]^: 980

The governor was also High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States on the peninsula, for British North Borneo, the sultanate of Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo. British residents controlled the native states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang, but on 1 July 1896, when the federation of these states was effected, a resident-general, responsible to the (governor as) high commissioner, was placed in supreme charge of all the British protectorates in the peninsula.[1]^: 980

During World War II, the Japanese invaded Malaya and the Straits Settlements by landing on Kelantan on 8 December 1941. On 16 December Penang became the first Straits Settlement to fall into Japanese hands. Malacca fell on 15 January and Singapore fell on 15 February, following the Battle of Singapore. The Straits Settlements, along with the rest of the Malay Peninsula, remained under Japanese occupation until the end of the war (August 1945).

After the war, the colony was dissolved with effect from 1 April 1946, with Singapore becoming a separate Crown colony (and ultimately an independent republic), while Penang and Malacca joined the new Malayan Union (a predecessor of modern-day Malaysia). Labuan was briefly annexed to Singapore, before being attached to the new colony of British North Borneo.[11]

Malacca, 1860–1900

Penang from Tie Sin's Tower, 1860–1900

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World War II Japanese occupation of Malaya / Borneo 1941–1945 Malayan campaign 1941–1942 Bornean Campaign 1941–1942 Battle of Muar 1942 Parit Sulong Massacre 1942 Battle of Singapore 1942 Sook Ching 1942 Syburi 1942 Sandakan Death Marches 1942–1945 Si Rat Malai 1943–1945 Jesselton revolt 1943–1944
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Barisan Nasional era Federal Territory of KL 1974 Pedra Branca dispute 1979–2008 South China Sea dispute (Spratly Islands) 1980–present Federal Territory of Labuan 1984 Memali incident 1985 Operation Lalang 1987 Constitutional crisis 1987–1988 National Development Policy 1990–2000 Vision 2020 1991–2020 Royal Immunity Amendments 1993 Financial crisis 1997–1998 1998 Commonwealth Games 1998 Reformasi Movement 1998–present Malaysia Nipah virus outbreak 1998–1999 Twin Towers Grand Opening 1999 Federal Territory of Putrajaya 2001 H1N1 pandemic in Malaysia 2009–2010 1Malaysia 2009–2018 1MDB scandal 2015–present Malaysian Citizens' Declaration 2016
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Early history (pre-1819) Srivijaya 650–1377 Temasek, Long Ya Men, Ban Zu c.14th century Kingdom of Singapura 1299–1398 Malacca Sultanate 1400–1511 Johor Sultanate 1528-1819
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Post-war period (1945–1962) First Legislative Council 1948–1951 Maria Hertogh riots 1950 Second Legislative Council 1951–1955 Anti-National Service Riots 1954
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Merger with Malaysia (1963–1965) Singaporean referendum 1962 Operation Coldstore 1963 Race riots in Singapore 1964 MacDonald House bombing 1965
Republic of Singapore (1965–present) ASEAN Declaration (ASEAN) 1967 1969 race riots of Singapore 1969 Singaporean haze crisis 1972–present Laju incident 1974 Operation Spectrum 1987 1997 Asian financial crisis 1997 Embassies attack plot 2001 SARS outbreak 2003 H1N1 pandemic 2009-2010 Little India riot 2013 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit 2018 Coronavirus pandemic 2020–present
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