FRIM: THE UNTOLD STORY OF GUTTA PERCHA

This is the real origin story of FRIM — and of modern forestry in Malaysia. It starts with a tree.

FRIM's untold story: Gutta Percha

FRIM's history is closely linked to a tree called gutta percha or nyatoh taban merah, which was once very valuable to the British Government. The high demand and extreme exploitation of this tree forced the British Government to initiate forest management and forestry research in British Malaya at the end of the 19th century, which eventually resulted in the establishment of FRIM in 1985.

1. What is Gutta Percha?

The name ‘gutta’ means ‘getah’ in Malay - latex/gum; while ‘percha’ is the local name of the tree.

Scientific name: "palaquium gutta", family Sapotaceae. It's a medium timber tree up to 35m tall, found in lowland forests of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.

It's a lightweight hardwood for interior panels and decor. Its leaves are yellowish-green / rusty green with copper veins. It starts producing white rubber after 15 years old. At room temperature gutta percha latex is hard, but when heated it can be moulded into various shapes.

2. Why the world went crazy for it

Long before the West knew it, Orang Asli and Malays used it for knife handles and walking sticks. But in 1840s Europe discovered it was perfect insulation for submarine telegraph cables — flexible, waterproof, withstands high pressure and cold.

This was the internet boom of the Victorian era. By 1907, some 200,000 nautical miles of cable criss-crossed the oceans, all insulated with gutta percha.

Demand exploded. And Johor became the centre:

"Apart from pepper and gambier there was gutta percha -- valuable for coating the undersea cables being laid to link up the British empire by telegraph.."

Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim, who built modern Johor, exploited mainland Johor's natural resources for export through Singapore. He posted Malay agents to rely on 'orang asli' and Malays to gather gutta-percha for export to Europe. Revenue at the end of the 1840s was estimated between $150,000 to $200,000 per annum — huge then.

One account says his business was so successful he harvested all the gutta-percha trees in one year, and he was even said to have engaged in piracy to monopolise the trade.

3. The ecological disaster

The problem: latex could only be collected by felling the tree.

The result was catastrophic:

• Latex extraction by felling led to concerns over population decline
• 'Palaquium gutta' has vanished from Singapore and parts of the Malay Peninsula by the 1880s
• An estimated 3 million trees were felled in just one region of Sarawak over a span of 20 years
• Concern towards timber destruction started in the Gutta percha era where "Palaquium gutta" (Nyatoh taban) was heavily felled and finally very difficult to obtain

This is why forestry research started. Harvests in early Malaya were initially very selective, focused on felling of gutta percha and durable hardwoods like Chengal.

4. How it led to FRIM

The crisis forced the colonial administration to act:

• 1895-1901: Forest management under Land Officers in Federated Malay States
• Since 1901: Chief Forest Officers appointed in Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan
• 1920: First Forest Department established in Johor, followed by Kedah (1923), Kelantan and Brunei (1933), Terengganu (1936) as the ‘Malayan Forest Service’
• 1929: Forest Research Institute (FRI) established as research arm
• 1985: Became FRIM as a statutory body

In the 1880s, due to dwindling supplies, there were already attempts at planting nyatoh taban (Palaquium gutta). The oldest surviving gutta percha trees in the FRIM main campus in Kepong were planted in 1927 — now 27-32m tall, 33-46cm dbh.

FRIM Director General Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod said it well: “Forestry research is crucial for ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources for the conservation of our country’s forests.”

So FRIM — now listed in July 2025 as Malaysia's 6th UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's oldest and largest re-created tropical rainforest from a former tin mine — was born because we almost cut down all of one species for telegraph cables.

Today gutta percha latex is still used, but in tiny quantities: as golf ball coating, in dental root-canal filling, pistol grips and jewelry.

References:

1. FRIM: Gutta Percha, The Untold Story.
2. MBJM:Gutta Percha.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 5.08 pm

GHOST STORY : KOKLIR

Benedict Sandin - This is one of his most famous — the Kok-lir ghost story.

Benedict Sandin Anak Attat (1918-1982) — grandson of a Native Chief of Lower Paku, first Curator of the Sarawak Museum who was Iban — was the first person to collect and document Iban oral history in English. A lot of it he published in The Sarawak Gazette.

His piece "Ghost Story" was published in The Sarawak Gazette, September 30, 1964.

This is the summary Sandin recorded:

“The indigenous people of Borneo believe that every unfortunate woman who "dies in child-birth," inevitably is converted into the kok-lir. At this sort of death, before any antidote can be applied, the deceased’s nails have already been rapidly growing very sharp and long. The traditional way to prevent this from happening is to prick the soles of the deceased’s feet with thorns of a citrus tree.” — Benedict Sandin, Ghost Story

The kok-lir is the Iban name for what Peninsular Malaysians call Pontianak — so feared that the city of Pontianak in Indonesian Borneo is said to have got its name from her.

The story inside the story

Sandin continues with an account of two of the kok-lir's victims:

A widower and his son had been fishing and took shelter for the night in a hut owned by two beautiful women. The women were perfectly hospitable — they cooked for them, gave them a place to rest.

As the son sat naked on the floor, one of the women suddenly pointed at his testicles and shouted "Haii-waii-wai! It's the sweet stuff!" — and her nails began to grow long and sharp.

The father and son ran for their boat while the two women chased them screaming "kok-kok-kok" — that's where the name comes from.

In desperation the widower overturned their boat and hid underneath it in the water. The two kok-lir jumped on top and started boring through the hull with their nails.

Just before they broke through, the sun rose and the two women vanished. The men survived, badly shocked and cold.

Sandin documented it as an example of Iban adat around death — the citrus-thorn ritual was a real protective practice to stop a woman who died in childbirth from turning.

WADD MEDIA (2023) - LEGEND OF KOKLIR

Here's the Wadd Media (2023) - Borneo's Folklore: Legends of Kok-lir version:

Wadd.asia published it as a modern retelling that directly credits Benedict Sandin's 1964 Ghost Story in The Sarawak Gazette.

"Once upon a time, in the mystical land of Borneo, there existed a legendary female spirit known as Kok-lir. This ghostly entity was notorious for its unsettling act involving men's testicles. The native Borneans had their name for it, Pontianak, which was believed to have influenced the naming of Pontianak in Indonesia."

"It is also known as Antu-anak in Malay folklore; this evil spirit targeted its former husbands or any men it had bewitched during its mortal existence.."

The origin rule:

"According to local folklore, women who died during childbirth were said to transform into Kok-lirs. Their nails would grow sharp and long, an eerie sign of their presence. To prevent this transformation, a traditional method involved pricking the deceased's feet with thorns from a citrus tree.."

Story 1 - The one from Sandin:

"recounts the plight of two victims who fell prey to the Kok-lir. The tale tells of a widower and his son seeking shelter in a hut owned by two beautiful women after a long day of fishing."

"As the widower and his son sat by the fire... Then suddenly, one of the women pointed at his testicles, exclaiming, "Haii-waii-wai! It's the sweet stuff!"

"At that moment, her nails began to grow longer. Filled with terror, the widower swiftly took his son and fled to their boat, with the two women hot on their heels, screaming "kok-kok-kok."

They hid under the overturned boat while the women clawed the hull, until dawn made them vanish

Story 2 - Wadd adds a second tale not in the 1964 Gazette excerpt:

"Another eerie account tells the story of a newly married couple embarking on a customary visit to the bride's ancestral home... Desperate to save himself, the husband swiftly climbed a tree, leaving his breathless wife behind.."

"As she sat in fear at the foot of the tree, a strikingly beautiful young maiden appeared... Engrossed in their conversation, the wife asked the maiden if she could remove lice from her hair.."

"While the wife diligently picked the lice, her husband descended from the tree, clutching a knife. Swiftly and decisively, he severed the maiden's head... In a bizarre twist, she transformed into a creature known as "Enturun," an eerie amalgamation of a bear and a cat.."

Wadd closes with:

"Even today, echoes of this ghostly presence can be heard around Dayak houses, especially at night, as it continues its relentless hunt for male victims.."

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 4.47 p.m

KOKLIR - PONTIANAK VERSI BORNEO

Semalam ada sahabat hadiahkan saya sebuah buku berjodol "Koklir, Chindaku & Balan-Balan", beliau adalah pengarang buku tersebut.... dia hadiahkan saya buku itu setelah dia membaca blog saya mengenai Alam Mistik, Mitos dsbnya.....

Bila terlihat perkataan 'Koklir', ingatan saya kembali ke tahun 1983/84 semasa saya membuat tugas rondaan sungai di Sungai Rejang, Sibu, Sarawak....

Dah lama saya tak dengar nama itu - "KOKLIR"

Dulu bila membuat rondaan di sungai terutama waktu malam, keadaan sungai yang gelap gelita dikelilingi hutan tebal dan tebing sungai yang kelam.... dengan pelbagai bunyi - bunyi haiwan rimba adakala menaikkan bulu roma....

Dalam bot saya masa itu ada seorang anggota Renjer berbangsa Iban yang mengendalikan bot getah Dingy, dia attached kat bot kami untuk sebarang tugas yang diperlukan ketika operasi....

Waktu sedang meronda itu, mata kami sentiasa liar memerhati di sekitar tebing sungai, mana tahu ada anasir-anasir subversif yang menunggu di tebing sungai....

Adakala kami terdengar seperti suara jeritan atau mengilai....

Aku dah mula panik, tapi budak Iban tu relak je.... dia nampak aku gelisah, terus dia kata itu bunyi haiwan .... jangan risau.... baru aku rasa lega..... dia orang Iban... hutan dan sungai tu mainan dialah kan..... dia tahu bunyi apa, suara apa....

Tiba-tiba dia tanya aku, "kamu pernah dengan bunyi Koklir tak"

Aku tergamam, "haa... apa ... Koklir ?.. apa tu?"

"Kalau kat Semenanjung orang panggil 'Pontianak', tapi di Sarawak ini kami panggil 'Koklir"....katanya...

"oooo.. pontianak versi Sarawak lah ye? balas saya.....

Dia ketawa.... sambil tu dia cuba menyakat saya.... "nanti selalu-selalulah tengok atas pokok-pokok tu ye... mana tau ada koklir...."

Saya punya bengang masa tu.... masa ni pula dia nak bergurau....tak kelakar lah.....

Terus dia menyakat lagi , "Cantik apa Koklir itu..... kenapa mau takut?"

Aku terus bangun.... masuk bahagian dalam bot dan baring atas bunk...malas nak layan.... terus layan mata sebelum tiba waktu giliran aku berjaga malam....

Harapan aku nanti bila giliran aku pula bertugas.... janganlah pula si Koklir tu datang bertamu sudahlah..... kot-kot nak berkenalan dengan orang Semenanjung....

Serba sedikit yang saya belajar dari sana tentang koklir ini....

Dinamakan koklir kerana dia dikatakan mengeluarkan bunyi berkokok seperti "kok...kok....kok"...seperti ayam jantan ditengah malam yang pekat apabila menghampiri manusia......

So kat sana... kalau malam-malam bunyi macam ayam berkokok, jangan pula kita relax je.... kerana kalau malam itu bukan bunyi ayam... tapi bunyi koklir.... Koklir adalah jelmaan wanita yang mati ketika bersalin... samalah macam pontianak di semenanjung....

Kalau mengikut catatan Benedict Sandin dalam "Ghost Story, Sarawak Gazette, 20 Sept .1964).... Koklir akan berupa gadis Iban yang muda dan cantik dan berpakaian pakaian tradisi Iban penuh....

Berbeza dengan pontianak, kalau di Semenanjung tu yang selalu kita tengok dalam filem-filem Melayu mesti pakai baju warna putih... pelikkan, macam tak ada baju warna lain....dulu masa hidup berbagai fesyen berbagai warna baju....

Selain Koklir di Sarawak juga cukup popular dengan Hantu Bangkit, yang ini lebih kurang macam zombie Kampung Pisang tu lah.... yang lain-lain yang saya pernah dengar waktu bertugas di Sarawak dulu seperti Antu Anak / Indai Abang, Antu Buyu... Antu Berowok (Bidayuh) dan macam-macam lagilah..... tak kurang juga manusia yang berangai Hantu....yang ini kat mana-mana ceruk rantau pun ada, lebih hantu dari hantu.....

Begitulah antara pengalaman suka duka bertugas di Bot Ronda di Sungai Rejang di Sarawak.....

Kata orang jauh berjalan luas pemandangan dan luas pengalaman.... untung saya kerja Navy dulu dapatlah berjalan ke negeri orang dan dapat belajar sejarah dan budaya orang lain....

Di Sarawak memang banyak budaya etnik entik yang tidak kurang menarik untuk kita pelajari.... begitu juga dengan kepercayaan-kepercayaan mereka.... yang penting kita sentiasa menghormati budaya, Agama dan kepercayaan mereka ... jangan kita persendakan Agama, budaya dan kepercayaan orang lain.....

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 1.38 p.m

PERBEZAAN ANTARA MITOS, MISTIK, MISTERI, SERAM, URBAN LEGEND DSB.

Walaupun istilah-istilah ini sering digunakan secara bersilih ganti dalam perbualan harian, setiap konsep mempunyai takrifan, latar masa, dan fungsi budaya yang sangat berbeza.

Berikut adalah ringkasan perbezaan utama untuk rujukan pantas anda:

Istilah	Elemen Utama	Latar Masa & Tempat	Status Kepercayaan	Contoh Populer
Mitos	Dewa-dewi, penciptaan alam, asal-usul makhluk.	Zaman purba kuno / pra-sejarah.	Dipercayai benar (sakral) oleh masyarakat asal.	Mitos Kejadian Sang Kelembai, Mitologi Yunani (Zeus).
Lagenda	Tokoh manusia, peristiwa sejarah yang ditokok tambah.	Masa lalu yang ada rujukan geografi.	Dipercayai ada asas kebenaran sejarah.	Mahsuri, Hang Tuah, Puteri Gunung Ledang.
Mistik	Kerohanian, alam ghaib, penyatuan jiwa dengan tuhan/kuasa.	Tiada had masa (bersifat rohani).	Melibatkan amalan/pengalaman peribadi.	Amalan sufi, ritual tapa, ilmu kebatinan.
Misteri	Teka-teki, tanda tanya, tiada jawapan pasti.	Boleh berlaku bila-bila masa.	Realiti yang belum terungkai.	Kehilangan MH370, Segitiga Bermuda.
Seram	Ketakutan fizikal/psikologi, hantu, entiti menyeramkan.	Bebas (biasanya waktu malam/gelap).	Direka untuk hiburan atau cerita lisan.	Hantu Kak Limah, The Conjuring.
Urban Legend	Cerita moden, disebarkan sebagai "kisah benar rakan".	Zaman moden (bandar/lebuh raya).	Diragui, tetapi disebar untuk pengajaran/amaran.	Hantu Lebuhraya Karak, Volkswagen Kuning.

---

Perincian Setiap Konsep

1. Mitos (Myth)

Mitos ialah cerita rakyat yang mengisahkan tentang asal-usul kejadian alam semesta, manusia, atau sesuatu bangsa. Watak utamanya biasanya terdiri daripada dewa-dewi, makhluk ghaib, atau makhluk luar biasa. Bagi masyarakat tradisional, mitos dianggap suci (sakral) dan benar-benar berlaku pada masa lampau yang sangat silam. [1, 2, 3, 4]

2. Lagenda (Legend)

Berbeza dengan mitos, lagenda berpusatkan kepada tokoh manusia biasa yang mempunyai sifat luar biasa atau kepahlawanan. Cerita lagenda mempunyai latar tempat atau geografi sebenar yang boleh dirujuk (contohnya Makam Mahsuri di Langkawi). Masyarakat mempercayai kisah ini benar-benar terjadi dalam sejarah, walaupun jalan ceritanya telah ditokok tambah dengan unsur magis dari zaman ke zaman. [1, 3, 4]

3. Mistik (Mysticism)

Mistik bukanlah sebuah "cerita", sebaliknya ia merujuk kepada pengalaman kerohanian atau perkara ghaib yang sukar difahami oleh akal logik. Ia melibatkan usaha manusia untuk berhubung secara langsung dengan kuasa ketuhanan, alam roh, atau kuasa ghaib melalui amalan ritual, meditasi, atau ilmu kebatinan.

4. Misteri (Mystery)

Misteri merujuk kepada sesuatu peristiwa atau fenomena yang tidak diketahui punca, jawapan, atau penyelesaiannya. Fokus utama misteri ialah kewujudan tanda tanya atau teka-teki yang belum diselesaikan. Peristiwa misteri tidak semestinya melibatkan hantu; kehilangan barang atau kes jenayah yang tidak terungkai juga dikategorikan sebagai misteri.

5. Seram (Horror)

Seram ialah satu genre atau emosi yang sengaja dicipta untuk membangkitkan rasa takut, cemas, dan ngeri kepada audiens. Cerita seram biasanya berpusatkan kepada gangguan makhluk halus (seperti jin, syaitan, dan hantu) atau ancaman pembunuh bersiri. Matlamat utama konsep seram adalah untuk mencetuskan reaksi adrenalin akibat ketakutan. [5, 6]

6. Urban Legend (Lagenda Bandar)

Urban Legend ialah cerita rakyat kontemporari yang tersebar dalam masyarakat moden. Unsur unik urban legend ialah ia sering diceritakan secara lisan atau tular di media sosial dengan dakwaan "perkara ini betul-betul terjadi kepada kawan kepada kawan saya" (friend of a friend). Kisahnya biasanya berlatarkan kawasan bandar, sekolah, atau lebuh raya moden, dan sering mengandungi elemen seram, misteri, atau pengajaran moral. [6]

[1] https://id.scribd.com

[2] https://tahutuai.com

[3] https://iluminasi.com

[4] https://jejakmihrabmimbar.wordpress.com

[5] https://berita.mediacorp.sg

[6] https://ms.wikipedia.org

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 7.37 a.m

C.W. HARRISON : THE MAGIC OF MALAYA (1916)

"The Magic of Malaya" by Cuthbert Woodville Harrison is a 1916 collection of short stories / sketches of colonial Malaya.

Published London: John Lane, The Bodley Head and New York: John Lane Company, MCMXVI. Dedicated "To My Wife".

Author

C.W. Harrison (1874–1946) was a British officer in the Malayan Civil Service. He retired before publishing his later administrative memoir "Some Notes on the Government Services in British Malaya" (1929), but had already written "The Magic of Malaya" (1916) and "An Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay States" (1920).

Some of the stories first appeared in the Straits Times and the Malay Mail.

The book is listed in HathiTrust / Internet Archive as public domain and is readable as page images - full text is on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/magicofmalaya00harr

What it is about

It's not a history textbook. It's 17 semi-fictional vignettes of life on the rivers, plantations, tin mines and small towns of the Federated Malay States, told from the point of view of a District Officer. The tone is colonial but unusually sympathetic to Malay, Chinese and Orang Asli (Sakai) characters, with a lot of attention to pawang, superstition, jungle spirits, and the "magic" that gives the book its title.[shaman]

The title story Pawang Helai opens with Li Wang, a Chinese river pedlar on the Sungei Suang:

"THOSE who are familiar with the bland pervasiveness of the Chinese in the Malay Peninsula will find nothing strange in the existence of Li Wang."

Li Wang trades "jungle produce" - gutta, rattan, damar, honey, deer horns - for shoddy mirrors, biscuits, salted chillies, tobacco, parangs and enamelled iron pots to the aboriginal tribes.

Contents - 1916 first edition

From the Contents page:

Later reprints were issued in the Primary Sources, Historical Collections series as "The Magic Of Malaya, With A Foreword" By T. S. Wentworth.

I. Pawang Helai - The one the book opens with.

Chinese river pedlar Li Wang on the Sungei Suang trades mirrors, bad biscuits, salt, cloth for jungle produce from the Sakai. He never banks his money, keeps it hidden in his boat, and likes to count it on a bank near a salt-lick. Young Sakai Aremon sees it and brings Pawang Helai, the magician, to rob him. His two miscalculations - showing his accounts, and counting money in the open - lead to his death. It's Harrison's thesis: magic = knowledge of the jungle.

II. The Place of Death

A Malay village that is abandoned because a death has made it sial - unlucky. How Malay ideas of semangat and taboo work.

III. Romance is Dead

A cynical District Officer story - a white man comes East expecting Joseph Conrad romance and finds ledgers, fever, and a Malay marriage.

IV. The Hallucinations of Mat Palembang

A Malay policeman gets malaria and sees hantu.

V. Without Benefit

A rubber estate coolie line and the colonial court.

VI. The Room of the Captain

A haunted rest-house on the coast - about sailor superstitions meeting Malay ones.

VII. Ah Heng

Second Chinese trader portrait - the shopkeeper creditor in Kuala Suang who keeps Li Wang's debt alive in his books.

VIII. The Sinking of the Schooner

River and sea transport, a practical story about a badly loaded schooner of tin.

IX. Exceedingly Venomous

About snakes, scorpions and the Malay knowledge of them.

X. The Malay Servant

Harrison's affectionate, very colonial, essay on his boy - loyal, lazy, dignified, incomprehensible to newcomers.

XI. The Bullock-Cart Driver

The Tamil / Malay bullock cart as the backbone of the interior before the railway.

XII. The Shoal of the Skull

A river horror story - a sandbank where skulls collect after a tribal fight.

XIII. Malacca

Travel sketch of old Malacca - Portuguese ruins, Dutch Stadthuys, Malay fishermen.

XIV. A Beri-Beri Hospital

Life in a colonial hospital, with dysentery and beri-beri among Tamil labourers.

XV. On the Path

Jungle trekking, how Sakai read a trail that a white man cannot see.

XVI. The Accident

A mining / railway accident and how the colonial administration handles compensation and bomohs.

XVII. The Tin-Stealers

Dulang washers stealing tin ore - Harrison was a mining warden - and their tricks.

Glossary at the end of Malay terms: pawang, hantu, saka, tuba, damar, rattan, parang etc.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 8.02 p.m

URBAN LEGEND : THE WERE-TIGER IN MALAY FOREST

The two classic English books that created the were-tiger / Harimau Jadian canon in Malaya are confused because both officers served in Perak / Pahang at the same time and both wrote about Korinchi people from Sumatra. 

1. Sir William George Maxwell's Book "In Malay Forests* (1907) - one of the classic British colonial books on Malaya.
2. Sir Hugh Clifford : "The Further Side of Silence / The Were-Tiger" (1916) 

SIR WILLIAM GEORGE MAXWELL : IN MALAY FOREST (1907)

The full books is described as: 

"Covering such topics as catching crocodiles, tuba fishing, a deer drive, a rogue elephant and a were tiger, Sir George Maxwell's "In Malay Forests" is one of the finest book ever written about Malaysia, capturing a way of life that is gone forever."

It was first published by William Blackwood in Edinburgh/London in 1907 - 306 pages, later reprinted in Singapore. The structure is anecdotal - Maxwell, who was later Chief Secretary of the Federated Malay States and key to the 1909 Bangkok Treaty, wrote about deer-drive, crocodile catching with a famous local named Manap Rimau, fish-drive, tiger-drive, and a chapter on "a weretiger and crocodile shooting".

Maxwell treats it as ethnography - he records Malay forest spirits like Jin Tanah, Gergasi, Orang Bunyi, Hantu Pemburu, Hantu Hutan, and the belief that certain animals are kramat. The weretiger is presented as part of the adat (custom) and forest lore, with the detail cited in later works:

"A Were Tiger," in Sir George Maxwell : In Malay Forests Donald Moore, Eastern Universities Press, 1960 (First edition 1907).

What is the weretiger story?

In Malay it's harimau jadian / harimau jadi-jadian - not like the European werewolf.

European werewolf lore is a man who changes skin at full moon to go kill. In Malay lore it's almost opposite - the tiger is essentially a man who lives as a tiger in the forest.

Maxwell's account and the much more famous version by his contemporary Sir Hugh Clifford in "The Further Side of Silence / The Were-tiger" are often confused because they tell the same Korinchi legend.

Clifford's version - which you can read full text on Wikisource - is the one most people quote:

"In the more remote parts of the Malay Peninsula five and twenty years ago we lived in the Middle Ages... Magic and evil spirits, witchcraft and sorcery... are as much a matter of everyday life."

The key belief:

"Malays of Sâiyong, in the Pêrak Valley... know how Haji Abdullah, the native of the little state of Korinchi, in Sumatra was caught stark naked in a tiger-trap, and thereafter purchased his liberty at the price of the buffaloes he had slain while he marauded in the likeness of a beast."

"Malays... know of numerous instances of Korinchi men who have vomited feathers, after feasting upon fowls, when for the nonce they had assumed the likeness of tigers; and of other men of the same race who have left their garments and their trading-packs in thickets, whence presently a tiger has emerged."

The Slim River storygoes:

Haji Ali, a Korinchi trader from Sumatra, comes to the Slim valley [the valley that divides Pahang from Perak] with his two sons Abdulrahman and Abas. He settles, becomes wealthy, marries a local girl Patimah.

Three days after the wedding she flees back to her father's house at dawn, hair disordered, clothes drenched in dew, saying her husband is a weretiger.

Her story: Every evening after evening prayer Haji Ali leaves and returns before dawn. On the third night she waits up and sees on the top rung of the house ladder:

"there rested the head of a full-grown tiger... the bold, black stripes... the fierce green light in the beast's eyes."

Then transformation:

"as she looked, a gradual transformation took place in the creature... the tiger's features palpitated and were changed, until... she saw the face of her husband come up through that of the beast, just as that of a diver comes up from the depths."

She jumps past him into the jungle.

The villagers shun Haji Ali. Later, the headman Penghulu Mat Saleh's buffalo is killed by a tiger. He sets a spring-gun. The tiger returns, is shot, and leaves a trail of blood on three legs. The villagers follow the trail up-river through the forest.

That story is Clifford's, but Maxwell collected almost identical stories in Perak, Kedah and Pahang during his time as Assistant Resident - and he uses them to explain Malay forest beliefs like Jin Tanah, Hantu Pemburu, Hantu Hutan, and kramat animals.

Both books cite the same anthropological point that is also in Peter Boomgaard's "Frontiers of Fear":

"Boomgaard tells too of “weretigers” -- creatures that were seen as essentially human or essentially tiger, but could shape-shift from one into the other."

If you want to read it:

1. Maxwell's original chapter - "In Malay Forests" (1907) - Chapter "A Were Tiger" - available as a 1960 Eastern Universities Press reprint. Used copies pop up on Riwayat for RM80.
2. Clifford's version - "The Further Side of Silence: The Were-tiger" - free on Wikisource.

SIR HUGH CLIFFORD : "THE FURTHER SIDE OF SILENCE / THE WERE-TIGER"

Sir Hugh Clifford - "The Further Side of Silence / The Were-tiger" is the most famous weretiger story in English Malayan literature. 

The book

• "The Further Side of Silence" was published in 1916. Clifford was then a senior British colonial officer - British Resident of Pahang, later Governor of North Borneo and Labuan, later British High Commissioner in Malaya.
• It's a collection of short stories, not a novel. Contents: "The Were-tiger", The Experiences of Raja Haji Hamid, Droit du Seigneur, In the Valley of the Telom, The Inner Apartment, The Ghoul," etc.
• "The Were-Tiger" is the opening story and the most anthologized. It was originally set in Slim, Pahang - the Slim Valley that divides Pahang from Perak.

The premise Clifford sets

"In the more remote parts of the Malay Peninsula five and twenty years ago we lived in the Middle Ages... Magic and evil spirits, witchcraft and sorcery... are as much a matter of everyday life."

He then introduces the colonial legal dilemma:

"The white man and the white man's justice are placed by this in a position at once anomalous and embarrassing... we hesitate to accept it... when it points... to the proved existence of, say, the Malayan loup garou."

And the specific Korinchi belief:

"The Malays of Sâiyong, in the Pêrak Valley... know how Haji Abdullah, the native of the little state of Korinchi, in Sumatra was caught stark naked in a tiger-trap... The Malays of other parts... know of numerous instances of Korinchi men who have vomited feathers, after feasting upon fowls, when for the nonce they had assumed the likeness of tigers.."

Korinchi = Kerinci, in Jambi, Sumatra. In Malay folklore, Kerinci people were 'harimau jadian' stock - could leave their clothes in thicket and emerge as tiger.

The plot - exactly what we drew

Act I - The marriage:

Into Slim Valley come Haji Ali, a Korinchi trader, and his sons Abdulrahman and Abas, with packs of *sarong* to hawk. They settle, build a fine house, become wealthy. Haji Ali wants a wife, and chooses Patimah, daughter of poor peasants.

Three days later at dawn she is found beating on her father's door, screaming, trembling, hair disordered, garments drenched with dew.

Her testimony:

"she had fled his roof forever, and her parents might "hang her on high, sell her in a far land, scorch her with the sun's rays, immerse her in water, burn her with fire," ere aught should induce her to return to one who hunted by night in the likeness of a were-tiger.."

Every evening after evening prayer Haji Ali leaves until before dawn. On third night she stays awake. She hears him on the ladder:

"On the topmost rung of the ladder... there rested the head of a full-grown tiger... the bold, black stripes... the fierce green light in the beast's eyes.."

Then transformation:

"as she looked, a gradual transformation took place... the tiger's features palpitated and were changed, until... she saw the face of her husband come up through that of the beast, just as that of a diver comes up from the depths through still waters.."

She leaps past him and runs through the jungle - something Malays do not love to do alone even by day.

Haji Ali makes no attempt to reclaim her - remarkable for a Sumatran Malay who is tenacious about property rights. Villagers shun him.

Act II - The spring-gun:

Penghulu Mat Saleh's buffalo is killed by a tiger. He sets a spring-gun over carcass. Next night it fires. At dawn he follows trail with a dozen men - fresh pads, blood flecks, off hind-leg dragging uselessly.

Trail goes through brush into jungle, then onto a foot-path, then to:

"the high wattled bamboo fence of a native compound... to the 'áman, or open space before the house. Here the spoor vanished at a spot where the rank spear-blades of the lâlang grass had been crushed.."

No tiger footprints away - only human footprints. They ascend into Haji Ali's house.

Son Abas says father is sick. Penghulu asks about blood patch in lalang grass - Abas says "we killed a goat." Asks for skin - "cast it into the river."

Elder son Abdulrahman appears with sword and kris, foreign accent of Korinchi, defiant: "My father is sick... Descend out of the house."

Retreating, one man sees beneath the house, under where Haji Ali lies, ground stained dull red for several inches - looks like blood from a wound washed and dressed inside house. The floor is bamboo laths - Malays use ground below as rubbish heap.

Abdulrahman and Abas bar the gate. Penghulu goes to report to white district officer in Tanjong Malim.

When he returns, Haji Ali and sons have vanished - fled down river on dark night, without reaping ripening crop, disposing of house, or collecting debts - "dollars of the whitest". The white officer first thinks villagers murdered them and invented story.

Feature	Maxwell (1907)	Clifford (1916)
Genre	Travel memoir / folklore notes	Literary short story
Were-Tiger	One anecdote among many forest beliefs	Full 20-page dramatic plot
Purpose	Document Malay Forest customs	Explore colonial encounter with supernatural
Famous Image	Rhino kramat, crocodile charms	Man-tiger on house ladder

Epilogue:

"The white man would probably still be holding fast to this theory, were it not that Haji Ali and his sons happened to turn up in quite another part of the Peninsula a few months later. They had nothing out of the way about them... except that Haji Ali limped badly with his right leg.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 4.36 a.m

ENRIQUE THE MALACCA

Enrique de Malacca — Magellan's slave, interpreter, and possibly the first person to circumnavigate the world.

1. Who he was

• Listed in the enrollment records merely as Enrique, the name Malacca is not necessarily indicative of his birthplace.
• Acquired by Ferdinand Magellan as a youth of about 14 as a slave after the Portuguese sack of Malacca in 1511. Magellan gave him the Christian name Enrique.
• He became a loyal and devoted servant until Magellan's death. The bond is evident from Magellan's will and from Pigafetta's account of Enrique's grief over his master's death.

He was enrolled officially with the fleet not as a slave but as interpreter (supernumerary) on the Trinidad at 1,500 maravedis per month - near the top of the scale for supernumeraries, the same rate as Chaplain Valderrama, Duarte Barbosa and Alvaro de Mesquita. Only the ship's surgeon and master-at-arms were paid more. He received an advance of 6,000 maravedis before sailing.

2. The origin debate - Malacca / Sumatra vs. Philippines

This is the central mystery.

• Pigafetta said he was from Sumatra.
• The Spanish text and the English text both note the same problem: Philippine linguists have suggested that the dialect spoken by the natives of Cebu and Limasawa - Visayan - would not have been intelligible to someone from Malacca or Sumatra.
• Yet in Limasawa / Mazzava - the island now appearing on charts as Limasaua - for the first time the expedition could stop using sign language, because Enrique found that his Malay was understood. And later in Cebu he was the sole interpreter.

The hypothesis that resolves it, repeated in two of your books:

"Since Enrique understood this dialect, he may have been raised in the Central Philippines, sold into slavery in Sumatra, and eventually taken to Malacca where Magellan found him."

If that is true, the book on p.179 concludes: "If so, Enrique was the first human to have completed a full circuit of the Earth" - because he would have started in the Philippines, been taken west to Sumatra and Malacca, then traveled east with Magellan from Europe back to the Philippines, completing the circle before the survivors returned to Spain.

3. His role in the Philippines in 1521

The pages show he was essential to Magellan's political and religious project:

• At Limasawa: A canoe of eight natives came to inspect the ships. "To his and everyone else's delight, Magellan's Malay slave, Enrique, understood the speech of their visitors." This is the moment communication begins.
• At Massana / Limasawa: The first solemn mass in the Philippines. Through Enrique, Magellan tells the kings that the cross is the standard confided by the emperor to plant wherever he landed. The King of Castile appears again as justification.
• At Cebu with Rajah Humabon: The classic exchange Pigafetta records: "Preguntó el rey, por medio de su ministro, al intérprete : ¿Qué es lo que nos llevas a su isla y qué queríamos, a lo cual contestó este que su señor, que mandaba la escuadra, era un capitán que estaba al servicio del rey más grande de la tierra."[Enrique]
• Enrique negotiates the casi-casi - blood brotherhood ceremony - the king brings fish and rice with his own hand, Magellan gives him a Turkish robe of red and yellow.
• Days later he is used for the act of vassalage: Magellan calls other local chiefs to swear and kiss Humabon's hand, and orders that they swear loyalty to the King of Spain. Lapu-Lapu refuses.

4. His end - wounded, betrayed, disappeared

• At Mactan: Enrique was wounded fighting alongside his master when Magellan was killed by Cilapulapu / Lapu-Lapu.
• Official casualty records list him as a victim of the massacre at Cebu.
• The books say this does not seem to have been the case. Enraged by the insults of Duarte Barbosa while he was grieving over Magellan's death, Enrique is suspected of having plotted with the disillusioned Humabon the murder of Barbosa, the other ranking officers, and the capture of the ships. All but the last objective was achieved at the fatal banquet on Cebu.
• The fate of Enrique is not known after that.

In short - from a boy taken in Malacca in 1511, to the linguistic key that made Magellan's alliance with Humabon possible, to a man whose disappearance after Cebu may have changed the course of the first circumnavigation.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

5/9/2026: 3.28 a.m