While British intervention in Selangor went unchallenged, in Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Pahang it met with initial Malay resistance, led by chefs, but this was suppressed by British forces. The British Residents in Perak, J.W.W. Birch, was assassinated in November 1875 for introducing reforms designed to ban slavery and reorganise revenue collection. Under treaties signed with the Rulers of these four States, British Residents were to give advise on all matters except on Malay customs and Islam, but in actual fact ruled the states on behalf of the Malay Rulers. The first measurestaken by the Residents of each State were to establish law and order, to retain the services of the penghulu (village chiefs), to establish a treasury and organise the collection of revenue in the States and to establish a magistrates'court, a police force and prisons. States Councils were established in which Malay aristocrats sat with British officials and representatives of the business community to deliberate on economic development and matters of administartion such as finance, public works, customs mines and hospitals.
In 1896, the four States were federated and brought under the control of a British Resident-General, who was to be under the supervision of the Governor of the Straits Settlements. The Governer would also be known as High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States (FMS). Kuala Lumpur became the federal civil service with departmental heads. Railways, agriculture, education, forestry, labour, survey, public works and medical services all became Federal departments. All legislation was to passed, in similar terms, in each of the four State Councils. The principle was maintained that the powers of the four rulers within their own States, together with those of the individual State Councils, would not be curtailed. However, the State Councils began losing much of their importance and powers as separate units. Dissatisfaction over these matters was raised at the first Durbar (Conference of Rulers) at Kuala Kangsar in July 1897.
When Kuala Lumpur became the Federal capital, a building spree occurred, with new Government buildings constructed with an eclectic blend of Moorish and European styles. In the capital's ethnic quaters flourished a further variety of colourful architectural styles - in Malay houses and mosque. Chinese shophouses and Indian Temples. The Public Gardens, later named Lake Gardens, were officially opened in 1889 after the lake, named Sydney after the High Commissioner's wife, was crerated by damming the Bras Bras River.
Tennis, cricket, golf, football and horse-racing were introduce to the locals, and the Padang was the usual place for the colonial elite to play cricket. Football, in particular, was popular. At the second Durbar held in Kuala Lumpur in 1903, a team from the premier school, Vistoria Institution, played against a town team. Horse-racing attracted not only the colonial elite but also wealthy locals. Rase meetings were a great excuse socialising and wearing the latest fashion. The Malays, meanwhile, enjoyed football, wrestling andkite-flying, all of which were seasonal pursuits.
Sactorial fashions began to change as Western-styles dress started to influence Malayans, although most still wore traditional dress. Malay Governemnt officials, for instance, wore european shirts and trousers to work but those in the kampongs still wore their baju and sarong and their womenfolk either wore the baju kurung or baju kebaya. Most Chinese men had taken to wearing a tunic-like version of Western suits, while Chinese women dressed either in traditional growns (espacially for weddings) or in cheongsam or trouser suits. Straits Chinese and Indian women, espacially in Malacca, wore outfits similar to those of the Malays, with charateristic batik sarongs.
Development of the States under British protection forged ahead. Between 1875 and 1900, the total State revenues rose from well under half a million Straits dollars to $15 1/2 million. By the turn of the century, more than 300 miles of trunk railway and some 1,500 miles of road traversed the western side of the Peninsuka and there were 169 Malay vernacular schools in the FMS, attended by 6,494 boys and 234 girls. In 1898, a Malay teachers' training college was opened.
Fundamental changes began to occur in the social and economic life of the Malay States. The road and rail networks were expended greatly, as were ports and coastal steamship services. The tin-mining and tin-smelting industries grew tremendously in size, organisation and output, accompanied by large capital investment and modern mechanisation. Similarly, there was a vast increase of plantation agriculture, starting with coffee and sugar, which were replaced by rubber, all-like tin-destined to supply world markets. These developments in communications, industry and agriculture required vast number of workers and the Malay States in which they took place became lands of promise for many people.
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