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Perak: 300 Early Postcards
This collection of rare picture postcards displays an insightful view of the Malaysian state of Perak from the 19th and 20th Centuries.
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2009
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April 6, 2017
This interesting volume consists of a well-organized selection of picture postcards featuring images from the second largest province of Malaysia, called Perak. The essays and captions provide a great deal of fascinating historic information on the rapid growth and development of the region and insight into the country of Malaysia in general. I found the book very informative - an eye-opener really - perhaps reviewing books of collections of historic picture postcards is really a great way to acquire information and knowledge on a subject.
Perak began its development journey in the 19th C when tin was discovered, triggering a tin rush. Chinese miners from S. China, the US, and Australia, descended on the region, some becoming very wealthy men. However, secret society turf wars between competing groups - the Hakkas and the Cantonese - resulted in chaos, which was finally settled by a treaty negotiated by the British. At that point, the British more or less "colonized" the area by having local rulers or chiefs accept a British Resident. The British introduced many Western facets of life to Perak, such as a postal and telegraph service, railways, the establishment of clubs, the introduction of various sports, the construction of various government buildings, schools, mosques and churches, housing and so forth. Society ran along ethnic lines, though. Rubber trees were introduced by the British and at one point, Malaysia was a major global producer of latex; it still produces a great deal of rubber. The tin market collapsed in the 1980s at which point many tin mines in Perak closed; however, the economy in Perak is diversified enough, and a couple of new universities were started in the province, as well as the construction of a new auto manufacturing plant (producing the Malaysian car, the Proton) so that the end of tin mining didn't spell the end of the economy in Perak. About half of the residents in Perak today are Malay, about 25% are of Chinese extraction, 12% of Indian origin, some aboriginal peoples and other ethnic groups as well. The population of Chinese laborers skyrocketed in the 19th C as tin mining expanded. At one point, Perak - which means "silver" in Malay, referencing the color of tin - produced 55% of the world's tin. The Indian workers were brought in from S. India to work in the rubber plantations (called "estates" by the British). The area's progress was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during WWII. The capitol of Perak was bombed at the time, and many of the prominent government buildings, schools, and so forth, were commandeered by the Japanese for use as military headquarters, barracks, and so forth. Reference in the book was made to the emergency of 1950 -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan.... Weirdly enough, I never heard of this war, nor that the war led to the creation of modern-day - and evidently British-backed - Malaysia.
Long ago - I mean, over 50 years ago, when I was a kid, I had a Chinese pen-pal in Kuala Lumpur named Frankie Foong. I've often wondered what became of him. I didn't realize that at the time, which would have been in the 1960s, his country was actually at war (during the Emergency). I remember that he sent me a photograph of himself and seemed very anxious to be friendly and so forth. Perhaps he was looking for a way out of his country - I was really only a child at the time. I enjoyed receiving letters from Frankie and the other two pen friends I had (one in San Francisco and one in Nigeria) and finding out about my correspondents' lives etc. I eventually lost track of all three (although I did eventually meet the pen-pal in SF). It's so strange how times have changed since the 60s. At that point, communication was limited to mail and phone. Phone-calls from abroad were expensive and rare. At one point, we would send correspondence audio tapes back and forth. Mail was really the key means of communication and everything about a letter was seemingly valuable. I remember we would (at least think we could) catch the scent of a far-off place by sniffing the stationery, which was often very thin given the price of air mail postage. Everything having to do with a letter seemed to convey some meaning and mail from overseas was rare and infrequent. The stamps would be studied and saved, and meaning could be derived from every word in a letter. Today, at least one generation has grown up with the ease of e-mail, and its relative uniformity, almost, anonymity, vs the personal nature of actual hand-written mail. There's a surfeit of information and communication today in contrast to 50 years ago and means and ways of communicating that couldn't be imagined back then, such as social media. Since e-mail is essentially free - aside from subscribing to an IP - people can send all the e-mail they want and this has possibly "cheapened" communication, made it less valuable or meaningful. Or maybe not. And think of facebook - which is also free except that the viewer/user is constantly exposed to advertising. There was no advertising with real mail - other than the gov messages conveyed in postage stamps, extolling the fauna or flora of a country, or some historic event or personage. I can't say I regret having experienced the earth-shaking change wrought by computers since the advent of the pc about 30 years ago or so. I was once an enthusiast myself. But now, as I look back, I probably would prefer a less frenzied pace of life, and perhaps look forward to receiving mail the conventional way, written in a considered manner, from which meaning might be "puzzled" or derived. Life seems to have "cheapened" in general. Why bother communicating to individuals when you can post memes on facebook? I think the dismissive quality of simply posting for all to see - rather than individually addressing letters to correspondents - is what's most distressing, in a way. For all the progress enabled by the digital revolution, it's depersonalized human relations. I actually dream of disconnecting myself from the machine - the pc - by now, but I know this is hardly possible. There are too many alluring apps such as GR and FB, much less the "necessity" of e-mail, given subscriptions to various services and automated bill-paying etc. Our lives are inextricably intertwined with the computer, and will never be the same as they once were. Still, I imagine or try to plan a way out of the digital "trap" - could I ask various companies to start sending me actual bills in the mail as in the "olden days?" Could I inform my fb friends that they can stay in touch with me individually either by ph or through the mail? I know I'd "miss out" on so many interesting posts and information, so I doubt I'd really disconnect - but it's interesting contemplating breaking with the computer definitively (from the internet - fb etc - except for e-mail). You also have to wonder how the mail was efficiently delivered prior to the age of computerization. Although international mail might take a long time - especially if it was sent via sea mail - it did eventually arrive. How did society function prior to computers - I guess that's where the masses of workers came in. Anyway, enough of this digression. The present volume under discussion was indeed fascinating and educational in the best sense. I thought the commentary and discussions were illuminating and respectful of the various ethnic groups, even handling the issue of pre and post colonial Malaysia sensitively (noting how so many street names and place names were de-Anglicized, for example, and some colonial era buildings were re-purposed, plaques updated, and so forth). In general, I got the sense that Perak, following the disorder of the 19th C, developed steadily and rather peacefully, probably thanks to some extremely able and decent British administrators. I suppose the colonial legacy in Malaysia was in general positive - but it did take a long insurgency, the emergency, to finally free Malaysia of British rule (which I had no idea of - while I was corresponding with Frankie in the 60s and since then). Perak has beautiful sights, peaceful rivers, limestone caves and hills, breathtaking scenery, as well as elephants, tigers, crocodiles, the jungle. It's located close to the Equator so it's tropical and lush with greenery including many different kinds of beautiful trees, including various palm trees. All in all,the book represents a fascinating trip back in time - from the dawn of the picture post card era in Perak at around the turn of the 20th C (1897) - to the 1960s - and to a fascinating, far-away place.
Perak began its development journey in the 19th C when tin was discovered, triggering a tin rush. Chinese miners from S. China, the US, and Australia, descended on the region, some becoming very wealthy men. However, secret society turf wars between competing groups - the Hakkas and the Cantonese - resulted in chaos, which was finally settled by a treaty negotiated by the British. At that point, the British more or less "colonized" the area by having local rulers or chiefs accept a British Resident. The British introduced many Western facets of life to Perak, such as a postal and telegraph service, railways, the establishment of clubs, the introduction of various sports, the construction of various government buildings, schools, mosques and churches, housing and so forth. Society ran along ethnic lines, though. Rubber trees were introduced by the British and at one point, Malaysia was a major global producer of latex; it still produces a great deal of rubber. The tin market collapsed in the 1980s at which point many tin mines in Perak closed; however, the economy in Perak is diversified enough, and a couple of new universities were started in the province, as well as the construction of a new auto manufacturing plant (producing the Malaysian car, the Proton) so that the end of tin mining didn't spell the end of the economy in Perak. About half of the residents in Perak today are Malay, about 25% are of Chinese extraction, 12% of Indian origin, some aboriginal peoples and other ethnic groups as well. The population of Chinese laborers skyrocketed in the 19th C as tin mining expanded. At one point, Perak - which means "silver" in Malay, referencing the color of tin - produced 55% of the world's tin. The Indian workers were brought in from S. India to work in the rubber plantations (called "estates" by the British). The area's progress was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during WWII. The capitol of Perak was bombed at the time, and many of the prominent government buildings, schools, and so forth, were commandeered by the Japanese for use as military headquarters, barracks, and so forth. Reference in the book was made to the emergency of 1950 -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan.... Weirdly enough, I never heard of this war, nor that the war led to the creation of modern-day - and evidently British-backed - Malaysia.
Long ago - I mean, over 50 years ago, when I was a kid, I had a Chinese pen-pal in Kuala Lumpur named Frankie Foong. I've often wondered what became of him. I didn't realize that at the time, which would have been in the 1960s, his country was actually at war (during the Emergency). I remember that he sent me a photograph of himself and seemed very anxious to be friendly and so forth. Perhaps he was looking for a way out of his country - I was really only a child at the time. I enjoyed receiving letters from Frankie and the other two pen friends I had (one in San Francisco and one in Nigeria) and finding out about my correspondents' lives etc. I eventually lost track of all three (although I did eventually meet the pen-pal in SF). It's so strange how times have changed since the 60s. At that point, communication was limited to mail and phone. Phone-calls from abroad were expensive and rare. At one point, we would send correspondence audio tapes back and forth. Mail was really the key means of communication and everything about a letter was seemingly valuable. I remember we would (at least think we could) catch the scent of a far-off place by sniffing the stationery, which was often very thin given the price of air mail postage. Everything having to do with a letter seemed to convey some meaning and mail from overseas was rare and infrequent. The stamps would be studied and saved, and meaning could be derived from every word in a letter. Today, at least one generation has grown up with the ease of e-mail, and its relative uniformity, almost, anonymity, vs the personal nature of actual hand-written mail. There's a surfeit of information and communication today in contrast to 50 years ago and means and ways of communicating that couldn't be imagined back then, such as social media. Since e-mail is essentially free - aside from subscribing to an IP - people can send all the e-mail they want and this has possibly "cheapened" communication, made it less valuable or meaningful. Or maybe not. And think of facebook - which is also free except that the viewer/user is constantly exposed to advertising. There was no advertising with real mail - other than the gov messages conveyed in postage stamps, extolling the fauna or flora of a country, or some historic event or personage. I can't say I regret having experienced the earth-shaking change wrought by computers since the advent of the pc about 30 years ago or so. I was once an enthusiast myself. But now, as I look back, I probably would prefer a less frenzied pace of life, and perhaps look forward to receiving mail the conventional way, written in a considered manner, from which meaning might be "puzzled" or derived. Life seems to have "cheapened" in general. Why bother communicating to individuals when you can post memes on facebook? I think the dismissive quality of simply posting for all to see - rather than individually addressing letters to correspondents - is what's most distressing, in a way. For all the progress enabled by the digital revolution, it's depersonalized human relations. I actually dream of disconnecting myself from the machine - the pc - by now, but I know this is hardly possible. There are too many alluring apps such as GR and FB, much less the "necessity" of e-mail, given subscriptions to various services and automated bill-paying etc. Our lives are inextricably intertwined with the computer, and will never be the same as they once were. Still, I imagine or try to plan a way out of the digital "trap" - could I ask various companies to start sending me actual bills in the mail as in the "olden days?" Could I inform my fb friends that they can stay in touch with me individually either by ph or through the mail? I know I'd "miss out" on so many interesting posts and information, so I doubt I'd really disconnect - but it's interesting contemplating breaking with the computer definitively (from the internet - fb etc - except for e-mail). You also have to wonder how the mail was efficiently delivered prior to the age of computerization. Although international mail might take a long time - especially if it was sent via sea mail - it did eventually arrive. How did society function prior to computers - I guess that's where the masses of workers came in. Anyway, enough of this digression. The present volume under discussion was indeed fascinating and educational in the best sense. I thought the commentary and discussions were illuminating and respectful of the various ethnic groups, even handling the issue of pre and post colonial Malaysia sensitively (noting how so many street names and place names were de-Anglicized, for example, and some colonial era buildings were re-purposed, plaques updated, and so forth). In general, I got the sense that Perak, following the disorder of the 19th C, developed steadily and rather peacefully, probably thanks to some extremely able and decent British administrators. I suppose the colonial legacy in Malaysia was in general positive - but it did take a long insurgency, the emergency, to finally free Malaysia of British rule (which I had no idea of - while I was corresponding with Frankie in the 60s and since then). Perak has beautiful sights, peaceful rivers, limestone caves and hills, breathtaking scenery, as well as elephants, tigers, crocodiles, the jungle. It's located close to the Equator so it's tropical and lush with greenery including many different kinds of beautiful trees, including various palm trees. All in all,the book represents a fascinating trip back in time - from the dawn of the picture post card era in Perak at around the turn of the 20th C (1897) - to the 1960s - and to a fascinating, far-away place.
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