The Chinese Protectorate was an administrative body responsible for the well-being of ethnic Chinese residents of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the ...

during that territory's

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial period. Protectorates were established in each area of the Settlements, namely

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

and

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

. Each was headed by a Protector. The institution was established in 1877 to handle all matters related to the Straits Settlements' Chinese residents. In particular, it sought to mitigate the human rights violations of the

coolie Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th cent ...

trade, which had expanded to notorious levels by the 1850s in the region.

The coolie trade

Perhaps the most significant goal of the British colonial administration in the founding of the entity was to regulate and humanize the

trade and lessen the misery of the coolies, who were subject to merciless exploitation. First, coolie agents were required to register with Protectorate. Policing by the Chinese Protectorate freed up the labour market and firms (mainly British-run) seeking to hire Chinese workers, who no longer had to go through coolie brokers and secret societies. As a result of this improvement in conditions, the number of Chinese arrivals increased dramatically from the 1880s onwards.

Goals of the Protectorate

Likewise, agents of the Chinese Protectorate often visited domestic servants. Those found to be subjected to especially inhumane conditions were sent to Singapore's Home for Girls. The Protectorate sought to have all Chinese social societies (including the kongsi) - many of which were

secret societies A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

or bodies of

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

- register with the government. The institution also encouraged the Chinese to seek the government’s help instead of going to the secret societies, thus weakening the latter's influence among the Chinese. The protectorate also aimed to protect women and young girls, who were tricked into prostitution in brothels that were manned by secret societies, and remove all girls there under the age of 16 for immoral practices.

References

Law And Order

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20041113135011/http://www.hsse.nie.edu.sg/staff/kahack/singapore%20specimen.doc *{{cite web, url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes18771215-1.2.4, title=The Protection of Chinese and Chinese Interpretation, date=15 December 1877, work=The Straits Times, page=1
The Chinese Protectorate , Infopedia
British rule in Singapore British Malaya Chinese diaspora in Singapore Coolie trade

The coolie trade

Goals of the Protectorate

See also

References