A Prison in Tanjong

Sultan Zainal Abidin III (1881-1918)was given the posthumous title of Marhum Haji. He was, by all accounts, a devout man whose policy of non-commitment whilst maintaining friendly relations kept both the British and the Siamese at arm's length. Sir Frank Swettenham found him to be "an extraordinarily reserved man, very silent".

Swettenham also noted that for a Sultan, he had little wealth, and he went on to tell a story that he had heard in Trengganu, that on the Sultan's second visit to Bangkok (Zainal Abidin visited Bangkok twice) where he was lavished with presents by the King of Siam –

"he had been told that the Siamese government would lend him $2,000,000 and that he could have $500,000 as advance. This was a large sum to a poor man and it is a credit to him that he declined it."

Things were different then.

In a way the Sultan's other-worldliness also disadvantaged his subjects. He left the affairs of state to trusted men, and although himself a just man, he was unaware of many things that were carried out in his name. The administration of justice was entrusted to one Tengku Musa, and in this he was assisted by Tuan Hitam, a Sayyid who also acted as the Sultan's treasurer, and Encik Abdul Rahim, the Sultan's trusted adviser.

Clifford reported that justice was rough, people were imprisoned on scant evidence, and fines were imposed to punish as well as to collect revenue for the court. On April 22nd, 1895, Clifford went to Kedai Tanjong, not to buy fruits or fish, but to visit Kuala Trengganu's penjara (prison). He was appalled by its condition.

"It consists of an enclosure, built in the very centre of the Kedai Tanjong - one of the most crowded positions of the town - surrounding the cages in which the prisoners were confined. The prison is built of heavy slabs of wood, some 3 inches thick, a feet broad and 10 feet high, which are fitted together so as to form a solid wall. Inside this fence, and at a distance of 30 inches from it, are two rows of cages placed back to back, which are made of heavy bars of wood with intervals of a couple of inches or so in every eight for the admission of light and air. These cages are raised about 6 inches from the ground, and measure some 6 feet in length, 2 feet in width, and 5 feet in height."

He reported that there were 20 cages in all and during his visit, the penjara was 'fairly full'.

Prisoners were not permitted to leave their cages and sanitary arrangements were non existent. "[T]he space between the floor and the ground, and the interval which separates the cells from the surrounding fence, is therefore a seething mess of excrement and maggots," Clifford wrote.

The closeness of the cells, poor ventilation, and the solid wooden walls all added up to something appalling. "To add to this misery," he added, "no bathing appliance of any kind are supplied to the prisoners, and the filthy persons of the inmates of these cells beggar all description."

Reference:
M. C. ff. Sheppard, "A Short History of Trengganu", JMBRAS Vol. XXii Part 3, June 1949.

Little Old Town

Walter William Skeat, an anthropologist who visited Kuala Trengganu in 1899, was impressed by Sultan Zainal Abidin III's urbane humour. From his library the Sultan produced Wood's Natural History to pick out 'some of the beasts we were discussing'. And then, looking out at Kuala Trengganu, Skeat said, it was 'a hive of industry'.

The capital was composed of many kampungs and the shops

“were well-supplied with bread, light beer, soda, cheroots and similar European wares, as well as with an extensive assortment of Malay goods and, above all, Chinese and Indian articles. The streets, except around the istana, were ill-kept and destitute of drains. Yet even here the local talent for craftsmanship showed itself clearly in the well-built bridges across the creeks. We also saw a few wooden lamp-posts, which must have been unique among the east coast states at the time of our visit.”

Skeat would have seen Kuala Trengganu very much as it was seen below, in a photo taken nine years before his visit and published in the Illustrated London News.In 1846, during the reign of the illustrious Sultan Baginda Omar, an anonymous visitor gave a description of Kuala Trengganu that wasn't far removed from the photo that we see above. Looking from the river, the visitor said, the town of Tringanu

“has a very pretty appearance...the houses line the south bank for a couple of miles and are built very close, on piles; in the back ground are two hillocks, on one of which the standard of Tringanu is hoisted on great occasions, and behind the hills is a forest of cocoanut trees; on the north bank there are a few isolated houses , built in groves of cocoanuts.”

The Kuala Trengganu of the picture above was the Trengganu of Sultan Zainal Abidin III, and of Tok Ku Paloh, one of Trengganu's many scholar-saints. Hugh Cliffford, then British Resident in Pahang, met the man and was apprehensive about the rabble-rousing speeches that he directed at the natives. Tok Ku Paloh was, in other words, a totally unreasonable character who was dead against British rule. This 'saint', he said (and you can almost sense the sneer here), 'lives secluded in the retirement of a shady, sleep-steeped village.' He was 'powerful, magnetic...a little, shrivelled, glassy-headed man from out of whose deep-sunken eyes there glares a soul of a fanatic.'

Looking at the photo now, more than a hundred years later, I think I can still recognise the houses and the boats in the water, but is that really Bukit Putri in the background with what looks like the fortress above? Are we looking from Pantai Teluk, or is this a view form the river? What do you think?