THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

26 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
5
Remaking Matang:
Bound Feet and Rubber Tappers
At the beginning of this century, and during my childhood, the population
of Matang was already a multiracial mix, mostly of Malays and Chinese,
with a small number of Indians. They fished (kerja laut) in Port Weld
(now Kuala Sepetang), worked in treacherous mangrove swamps (kerja
kayu), tapped rubber and did odd jobs. Only a handful, including my
father Haji Hussain bin Haji Aminuddin, served the British Government.
The series of Larut (Tin) Wars between two Chinese factions, Ghee
Hin (Cantonese) and Hai San (Hakkas), had forced thousands of Chinese
immigrants to flee from tin-rich, but tumultuous Taiping to tranquil
Matang. Many Chinese mercenaries imported specifically to fight in the
Tin Wars did not return to China after hostilities ended with the 1874
signing of the Pangkor Treaty. Consequently, the Matang Chinese population
multiplied by leaps and bounds.
The construction of Malaya’s first railway line, running from the
mining town of Taiping to the coastal town of Port Weld in 1885, swelled
the number of South Indian immigrants in Matang, which was midway
between the two endpoints.
As a child, I had the privilege of seeing many shops run by Malays,
including a songkok (Malay velvet headgear like a fez without a tassel)
shop owned by an Indonesian Syed (Arab), who later became a family
member by marriage. But as I got older, I saw Malay shops folding up
and being taken over by Chinese proprietors. In addition to the Chinese,
there was an astute Indian-Muslim shopkeeper who managed to attract
Indian workers from three British estates (Jebong Estate, Matang Jambu
Estate and Sungai Mati Lauderdale Estate) to patronise his shop rather
than the shop at Simpang Empat, which was actually much nearer to two
of the estates.
After Independence in 1957, two of the three estates were bought
out by Chinese entrepreneurs. Consequently, thousands of Indian estate