Modular Infotech Pvt. Ltd. - DSpace

C.80
Mr. W. E. SPEERS was called.
21)69. Chairman.-What is your full name 1-WIU.IAM EDMUND SI'DRS.
2970. You are now Commissioner of Police in Kedah 1-Yes.
2971. Does that cover Perlis as well or not 1-No.
2972. You first joined the Federated Malay States Police Force, I
think 1-Yes, in 1902.
2973. And you have been in Kedah, how long 1-18 years.
2974. Is Kedah well roaded; are all parts of Kedah easily accessihle 1-
Yes, except the Baling and Padang Trap districts. There is a road to Baling,
but in the UI", there are no roads, though there is one under construction.
2975. Have those two districts you have just mentioned got many
Chinese residents ?-No, the residents are principally Malay and Siamese.
2976. Mr. lelf.-But the mines are worked by Chinese, are they not 1-
They are only abandoned mines which are very small.
2977. Chairman.-Have you any ideas on the 8ubjer.l of the opium
habit, as practised in Kedah? Do you notice that it brings about an unruly
population ?-No, it does not.
2978. So far as you are aware, from your experience, opium smoking
has very little connection with crime ?-Very little, if any.
2979. With your knowledge of Western countries, would you say that
opium smoking has as much connection with crime as alcohol, for instance
in a Western country?-I. do not think opium smoking has any connection
at all with crime.
zgBo. I would suggest to you that the one excites and the other is'
a soporific ?-Yes.
2981. Mr. lelf.-Don't you get petty thefts, and so on, attributable
to people wanting to get money to buy opium; you have not come across
that ?-No, the Kedah Malays who smoke opium are rather of the better class.
Of course, the bulk of our population is Malay.
2982. Chairman.-We are told that a good many Siamese in Kedah
smoke opium, is that so ?-Yes.
2983. And a good many Malays?-Yes, a great many Malays.
2984. One of the proposals that is referred to us and is supposed to
be the settlement of all this opium question is a proposal to regiloter and
licence every opium smoker. Have you ever heard of a proposal of that
nature ?-Yes, I have heard of it.
2985. And you know the rough outlines of a proposal of that
nature ?-Yes.
2986. 1 will just run through them, and then ask you to apply your
local knowledge to the problem. Nobody can buy opium unless he is
registered, and even if registered, he cannot buy any more than the amount
that is put on a permit which is issued to him allowing him to buy. Those
are the primary features of such a scheme. Would you see any practical
difficulties in the way of working such a scheme in Kedah ?-I certainly think
there would be great difficulty.
2987.-1 will suggest to you, for example, that the Chinese of Kedah
are not pel manent residents ?-They are. not, and that would be one of the
principal difficulties as regards the Chinese.
2988. They are perpetually going to and fro China?-Yes.
2989· The Siamese that you refer to, they are what one would call
a residential population ?-. Yes.
2990· So that, the migration factor would not apply to them ?-Of
course, we have a tremendous frontier with Siam, from Perlis right up to