21 persons or more than 50 per cent over the 1891 figure.
106 16,000 acres were given out for coconuts and 4,000 acres for padi.
Much of the padi cultivation was a temporary activity indulged in while the peasants were waiting for the coconut trees to bear fruit,
and much of the padi area was subsequently converted to coconut land. In contrast to its attitude towards other peasant cash cropping developments, the administration's attitude towards coconut was distinctly favourable. This was mainly because the crop in no
way interfered with the peasant 'food production' plan; although
having a commercial value, coconut, like padi, was a major subsistence food whose expanded cultivation was desirable. Most of the efforts by the administration to extend coconut cultivation were directed at Lower Perak where a liberal policy was successful in attracting peasants from the Archipelago and from other parts of the Peninsula. The chief feature of the liberal policy was land - cheap land given
out with a minimum of administrative processing. The administration also cut some paths, and lands opened up in this manner were quickly
107
snapped up, in lots two and three deep. The accessibility provided
105 In Kuala Kangsar in 1903, for example, there was a total of
6,175 acres under padi and 4,820 acres under coconut. AR L ands, Mines and Surveys FMS 1903.
106 Ibid.
107 MR Lower Perak September 1897, PGG 1898, p. 763. It was
estimated that the access paths cost $500 a mile, a comparatively cheap facility for the government to provide.
was v e r y welcome a s i t e n a b l e d t h e p r o d u c e t o r e a c h t h e m a r k e t
q u i c k l y . Some w a t e r w o r k s a l s o w e r e c o n s t r u c t e d , and p r o v e d
e s p e c i a l l y u s e f u l a s Lower P e r a k was a c o a s t a l a r e a and s u s c e p t i b l e
t o f l o o d i n g . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e a d m i n i s t r a t i o n l e g i s l a t e d a g e n e r a l e n a c t m e n t w h i c h s o u g h t t o p r e v e n t t h e s p r e a d o f c o c o n u t p e s t s and e s t a b l i s h e d a s p e c i a l s e r v i c e t o i n s p e c t a n d a d v i s e c o c o n u t s m a l l h o l d i n g s P e a s a n t F o r e s t Economy A l a r g e p a r t o f t h e l a b o u r o f many p e a s a n t s i n t h e F e d e r a t e d Malay S t a t e s was d e v o t e d t o t h e g a t h e r i n g o f p r o d u c e f ro m f o r e s t s . T h i s a c t i v i t y f a l l s o u t s i d e t h e s t r i c t d e f i n i t i o n o f
p e a s a n t a g r i c u l t u r e . Howe ver , i t i s s o much a n i n t e g r a l p a r t o f t h e
p e a s a n t a g r i c u l t u r a l economy d u r i n g t h i s t i m e t h a t t o i g n o r e i t woul d be t o l e a v e a gap i n o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e p e a s a n t a g r i c u l t u r a l i s t . The Ma la ya n f o r e s t s c o v e r t h e g r e a t mass o f t h e P e n i n s u l a and h a v e
b e e n a l i a b i l i t y t o t h e i n h a b i t a n t s i n s e v e r a l ways . But i t was a l s o
t u r n e d t o b e n e f i c i a l u s e . I t was t h e mai n n a t u r a l s o u r c e o f s u p p l y f o r many o f t h e s u b s i s t e n c e r e q u i r e m e n t s o f t h e i n d i g e n o u s p o p u l a t i o n , p r o v i d i n g f o o d , m e d i c i n e , f u e l and r aw m a t e r i a l s f o r t h e h o u s e s , b o a t s , u t e n s i l s and o t h e r p r o d u c t s o f t h e i n d i g e n o u s e c o n o m i e s . The f o r e s t , a s a s o u r c e o f f o o d , was e s p e c i a l l y i m p o r t a n t t o t h e a b o r i g i n e s t o whom f o r a g i n g i n t h e f o r e s t was c e n t r a l t o t h e h u n t i n g
and c o l l e c t i n g e co n omy . I t was o n l y s l i g h t l y l e s s i m p o r t a n t t o t h e
Malay p e a s a n t s t o whom f o r e s t food was a s u p p l e m e n t t o t h e i r a g r i c u l t u r a l p r o d u c t i o n , b u t was t h e main i n g r e d i e n t when n o r m a l c r o p s f a i l e d , a s t h e y d i d f r e q u e n t l y .
Not o n l y was t h e f o r e s t w e l l i n t e g r a t e d i n t o t h e i n d i g e n o u s ec on omi c s y s t e m b u t t h e r e a l s o a p p e a r s t o h a v e b e e n a b a l a n c e d
r e l a t i o n s h i p e x i s t i n g b e t w e e n t h e p e a s a n t and t h e f o r e s t . T h e r e was
o n l y a s m a l l i n d i g e n o u s p o p u l a t i o n , and a l t h o u g h some o f t h e i r demands on t h e f o r e s t w er e e x c e s s i v e , t h e y d i d l i t t l e damage t o t h e i r
p r i n c i p a l n a t u r a l r e s o u r c e . I n t h e p r a c t i c e o f s h i f t i n g c u l t i v a t i o n ,
f o r e x a m p l e , v i r g i n f o r e s t was s l a s h e d , b u r n e d and a b a n d o n e d when t h e
s o i l ha d l o s t i t s f e r t i l i t y . But t h e damage was o n l y a t e m p o r a r y one
108 See E n a c t m e n t f o r t h e p r o t e c t i o n o f C o c o n u t T r e e s f r o m t h e
R a v ag e s o f c e r t a i n B e e t l e s . I n 1902 a F e d e r a l I n s p e c t o r was
a p p o i n t e d u n d e r t h e e n a c t m e n t . A c t i n g S e c r e t a r y t o RG t o
and was soon corrected by the natural process of regeneration of the
forests. The forest component of the indigenous economic system was
to face a different set of forces during the period of colonial rule. The first was a potentially lethal one which threatened to upset the peasants' traditional equilibrium with the forests. The
initial wave of immigrants in the Malay States carved a swathe of
destruction through the forests in their endeavours to clear the
land for development. Subsequently normal human activity in the
mines, plantations, factories, households and other places accelerated 109
the process of denudation of the forests. Most of the early
administrators, however, were quite unperturbed by the destruction; on the contrary, they approved of it. The official view on forests was that they were a hindrance to economic development and had to be
eradicated in the quickest possible time The basis for this view
was examined earlier - land and forests were plentiful in the Malay States, population was sparse and development was the slogan on the lips of every officer who was worth his salt.
The results of this policy were soon very clear in many parts of the west coast states. Development had been secured but at great cost. Large and ugly scars marred the country, and blukar and lallang thrived where once forests had stood. A large part of the early destruction had taken place in unpopulated areas but, as the pace of development increased, it took a toll of forests on which peasants subsisted. At this point, anxiety began to mount among some
officers. It was given a sharp edge from an unexpected quarter. In
1899, the Colonial Office, before consenting to legislation to farm out forest produce rights in Perak, Selangor and Pahang, sought an assurance that the customary rights of the peasants to the produce of
forests would be protected In reply, the Resident-General
109 Tin mines and plantations especially consumed large quantities of forest timber and for many years they enjoyed the privilege
of free extraction of timber from the state's forests. See
BR Perak to RG, 27 February 1899, NSSF 1977/99 for some reference to the privilege .
110 See, for example, Acting BR Negri Sembilan to RG, 20 September
1900, NSSF 3165/00 where the argument was put forward that the state's forest resources were so enormous that free working should be permitted.
conceded that many forests had been wilfully destroyed during the process of development. However, he asserted that peasant rights had always been, and would continue to be, safeguarded 'as far as practicable and reasonable'. This correspondence can in no way be
regarded as significant; a higher authority queried, the local
administration gave a stock reply and the subject was closed. But
the fact that the subject was considered at all is indicative of the gradual awakening of official concern for the fate of the forests and of a change in attitude which eventually resulted in the
formulation of a rational forest policy.
The second disruptive force was less lethal , but it had no
less important consequences for many peasants . In the pre-colonial
period the forest had yielded raw material such as camphor, gharu, rattan and gutta percha. These products had an exchange value and their sale had constituted one of the few sources of commercial activity outside the normal scope of the Malay subsistence-oriented
economy. But this function of the forest had been relatively
unimportant when compared with its function as a source of raw material,
consumed directly by the gatherers; it was a small-scale and irregular
activity qarried out by small specialised groups . In the colonial
period commercialized forest activity rapidly grew in importance as the demand for forest produce expanded and the range of economic
activities based on the forest increased. The cutting of wood,
especially, became a popular and profitable activity. Therefore, whilst the function of the forest as a source of subsistence
requirements continued for some peasants, for many others the forest
112
became one of their main sources of non-subsistence livelihood.In this respect the forest can be seen to have fulfilled an important role in the phase of change from the subsistence Malay economy to the commercial colonial one.
A third disruptive force, related to the second, was the
over-exploitation of certain forest produce. Initially the colonial
administration had regarded the commercial exploitation of the forests
112 In some areas, large numbers of aborigines were in this position.
In Kuala Langat in 1899 it was reported that more than 1000 Sakai were employed in collecting rattan. AR Kuala Langat 1899,
SGG 1900. The collection of forest produce for sale was
with favour. The grant of forest licences brought revenue to the states' treasuries, and forest products formed an important item of export. However, as the states progressed, the administration experienced difficulty in controlling the numbers of collectors and in limiting the extraction of forest produce. The problem of
unlicenced collectors who smuggled produce out of the states was an 113
especially serious one. At the same time the administration began
to be concerned at the wasteful and often destructive manner in which valuable resources such as wild rubber and mangrove wood were
114
collected. This was related to a growing realization that the
forest could be a profitable asset to the state if it was properly conserved and developed .
For many years, however, the Federated Malay States administration had only a limited vision of what it should do with
its forests. The control of forests had originally been in the hands of the district administration. These local administrators, besides having little time to spare, generally had attitudes which were not
beneficial to the natural resource. They principally regarded
forests as a source of revenue and their forest duties, which
consisted of the collection of forest revenue and the administration of the rules regulating forest produce collection and timber cutting,
were related to this revenue outlook. In 1898, however, forest
departments were established in Perak and Selangor and gave rise to hopes that the administration was charting a new course in its forest
policy. Further evidence was the appointment of H „C . Hill, a high-
ranking forest officer in the Indian Civil Service, to report on the forest administration of the Federated Malay States .