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Hewers and Haulers: A History of Coal Miners and Coal Mining in Malaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Amarjit Kaur
Amarjit Kaur
Affiliation:
University of Malaya
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Extract

The history of coal mining in Malaya is synonymous with the history of Malayan Collieries and Batu Arang town since coal was only ever economically mined in this small area in Ulu Selangor. The town of Batu Arang, the Malayan Collieries and the mines left an indelible mark on Malayan history. Previous accounts of the history of coal mining are restricted to mentions in general works on labour and the labour unrest of 1936–37 and 1946–47. This paper outlines the role of coal mining in the Malayan economy in the first half of the twentieth century. It also focuses on the history of labour at the collieries and the significant role that labour played in the development and growth of industrial activism in Malaya.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 1990 , pp. 75 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

1 ‘Messrs J. A. Russell and Co. Ltd—A short History of the Firm and the Russell Family compiled by the Remaining Survivor’, Private Papers, J. A. Russell and Co. Ltd, n.d.; Malayan Collieries Ltd, Proceedings at the First Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, 22 August 1914, reprinted in Malay Mail, 27 August 1935, p. 1. J. A. Russell and Company owned 538,800 shares in Malayan Collieries.

2 Malayan Collieries Ltd, A Description of the Property, Operations and at Batu Arang Colliery (Kuala Lumpur, Charles Grenier and Sons Ltd: 1950) p. 1;Google ScholarRenwick, A. and Rishworth, D. E. H. (comp.), Fuel Resources (Coal Lignite and Petroleum) in Malaya (Ipoh, Geological Survey, Ministry of Lands and Mines: 1966), pp. 60–5.Google Scholar

3 Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Second Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, 30 September 1916, reprinted in Malay Mail, 2 October 1915.

4 Memorandum on Regular Collieries Inspections necessary for Safety of Mine and Future Operations, dated 23.6.1937, encl. in Selangor Secretariat Government Files (SSGF) General 192/1937.

5 Malayan Collieries Ltd, Description of the Property (1950), p. 3.Google Scholar

6 Malayan Collieries acquired a colliery in Northern Borneo known as the Pamoekan Bay Colliery in 1921. Only bunker coal was produced at this colliery. It was shut down in 1931 when it proved uneconomic to operate.

7 Straits Times, 24 March 1933.

8 Malayan Collieries Ltd, Proceedings at the Nineteenth Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, 29 March 1933, pp. 3, 4, 7.Google Scholar

9 Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Twenty-Eighth General Meeting of Shareholders, 17 December 1946, pp. 1–5.Google Scholar

10 Powell Duffryn Technical Series Ltd, Report 1954, Private Papers, J. A. Russell and Co. Ltd.

11 Description of the Property (1950), pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

12 Introduction by John Drysdale, Chairman, Malayan Cement, in Malayan Cement Limited Souvenir of the opening of the Rawang Works by H. E. Sir Gerald Templer, High Commissioner, Federation of Malaya, on 6 July 1953 (Kuala Lumpur: Charles Grenier and Sons Ltd, 1953).

13 Description of the Property (1950), pp. 8–9Google Scholar. Most of these amenities were either upgraded or provided after the Second World War.

14 Elliott, J. W., ‘Malayan Collieries Ltd, Review of Conditions and Proposals for Working Underground Mines at Batu Arang’ typescript, December 1956, pp. 34–7. (Private Papers, J. A. Russell and Co.).Google Scholar

15 Letter, J. A. Russell, to E. G. Broadrick, British Resident, Selangor, dated 14 03 1916, encl. in SSGF 2046/1916.

16 Annual Report State Labour Office Selangor 1948, encl. in SSGF 106/1948, p. 10.

17 Lodging houses were located at the ports and key distribution centres. The lodging house owners, or employment brokers, supplied free food and board, the cost of which was recovered from the first employer to whom the labourer's debt was then transferred.

18 See Blythe, W. L., Methods and Conditions of Employment of Chinese Labour in the Federated Malay States (Kuala Lumpur: Government Printers, 1938).Google Scholar

19 The Kongsi was a communal wood and thatch hut provided by the contractor in which the contractor and his labourers ate and slept.

20 R. N. Broome, Assistant Protector of Chinese, Selangor and Pahang, ‘Report on a Visit to Batu Arang on 23 11 1936’, dated 30 11 1936, encl. in SSGF G698/1936.

21 See Wah, Yeo Kim, ‘The Communist Challenge in the Malayan Labour Scene, September 1936–March 1937’, JMBRAS XLIX, 2 (1976): 36–79.Google Scholar

22 The demands of the workers were:

1. Fifty percent increase in rates and wages

2. No cutting for tubs and no fines

3. Eight hours work per day

4. Roadways and road sides to be cleared by the Company

5. No coolie to be banished

6. Safety of representatives to be guaranteed.

H.R.H., ‘A Resumé of the Happenings at Batu Arang over the period 7.00 a.m. Sunday the 15th 11 and 7.00 a.m. Saturday the 21st 11 1936’, dated 28 11 1936, encl. no. 5a in SSGF G 698/1936; see also Wah, Yeo Kim, ‘Communist Challenge’, p. 47Google Scholar; Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Twenty-Third General Meeting of Shareholders, 30 March 1937, pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

23 See Report by Director, Criminal Intelligence, FMS, undated, and Report by the Commissioner of Police on Strikes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, encls. to S. Thomas to W. G. Ormsby-Gore 20 05 1937, in CO 273/632/50336/1937.See also Wah, Yeo Kim, ‘Communist Challenge’, pp. 60–8.Google Scholar

24 Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Twenty-Fifth General Meeting of Shareholders, 31 March 1939, p. 2.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., pp. 2–3.

26 Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Twenty-Sixth General Meeting of Shareholders, 29 March 1940), pp. 2–3Google Scholar; Malayan Collieries, Directors' Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 1939 to be presented at the Twenty-Sixth General Meeting of Shareholders, p. 1.Google Scholar

27 Memorandum to the Shareholders of Malayan Collieries Ltd, 1 July 1946, pp. 4–5Google Scholar; ‘Policy of the Working of the Collieries’, 1946, pp. 7–8; in Private Papers J. A. Russell and Co. Ltd.Google Scholar

28 Earlier, in 09 1946, the men struck after their demand for increased wages was rejected by the Company. The pump-men and the loco drivers struck first. This action threw the local hewers out of work although they had no desire to strike. The coal hewers, after having been out for two days, staged a denomstration demanding their wages for the days they had been unable to work. The Management paid them on the advice the Labour Department.

29 R. G. Pash, Managing Director, Malayan Collieries, to the Chairwoman, Pan-Selangor Woman's Union, 20 12 1946; R. G. Pash, to the Chairman MPAJA Association and the Chariman, the Selangor New Denocratic Youth League, 20 Dec. 1946—Private Papers. J. A. Russell and Co. Ltd.

30 Minutes, Board of Directors Meeting, 2.4.1947, para. 238; 22.2.47, para. 223—Private Papers J. A. Russell and Co.

31 Labour Department, Kuala Lumpur, In the Matter of an Arbitration Board between the Malayan Collieries Ltd. and the Colliery Workers' Trade Union, The Award, 26 02 1947; Private Papers, J. A. Russell and Co.

32 Minutes, Board of Directors Meeting, 2.4.1947, para. 239; 9.5.1947, para. 258; Directors' Report and Accounts for the Year ended 30 June 1947 to be presented at the Twenty-Ninth General Meeting of the shareholders on 8 December 1947, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar

33 Description of Property (1950) p. 6.Google Scholar

34 Annual Report of the Trade Unions Registry 1949 (Kuala Lumpur, Government Printer: 1950), p. 24.Google Scholar

35 Annual Report State Labour Office Selangor 1948, p. 20.Google Scholar

36 Ibid., p. 10.

37 Annual Report of the Trade Unions Registry 1960, p. 22.Google Scholar

38 Straits Times, 8 Feb. 1960.

39 Malayan Collieries, Proceedings at the Twenty-Nineth General Meeting of Shareholders, 8 December 1947, p. 4Google Scholar; Directors Report and Accounts for the Year ended 30 June 1952, p. 1; FMS Chamber of Mines, Year Book 1959, p. 43.Google Scholar