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British influence in Perak, a state in northwestern Malaysia, began in 1818
when trading agreements were first made with local chiefs. The Pangkor Treaty of
1874 allowed Britain to send its first resident, James W.W. Birch (d. 1875), to
take charge of governmental administrative affairs. Soon after his arrival later
in 1874, Birch changed many old-fashioned and inefficient procedures and
policies, especially those concerning revenue collection and slavery. The sultan
of Upper Perak and other Malay chiefs met secretly in July 1875, and decided to
get rid of Birch, whose ways of modernization they opposed, and to end all
foreign influences. While in Upper Perak on tax business, Birch was murdered by
one of the chiefs and his warriors. British troops were promptly sent into Perak
and quickly stamped out all resistance. By mid-1876, the dissident chiefs were
arrested, and later tried and punished; the sultan was deposed. The Malayans had
failed to halt the increasing British political and economic influence;
subsequent British residents, however, did not try to make changes on their own
but instead operated jointly with the native Malay rulers.
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