A MALAY DUEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 20 March 1907, Page 4

A MALAY DUEL.

4* Told by an ex-British Governor. The other day there died, in the Malay State of Ferak, a man called Marasat. His name was a household word in Perak as that of a " first-class lighting man," and his fame was recognised by his countrymen throughout the State. I came to hear the tale of his exploits one evening, as I was sitting with the Sultan of Perak and a friend in the hall of that quaint palace which overlooks the Perak River. My friend asked the Sultan whether His Highness had ever seen a man actually killed with a kris in fair fight. "Certainly," said the Sultan; "there was the duel between Marasat and Mat Bakir, witnessed not only by me, but by hundreds of Malay men and women. It happened in this way. Mat Bakir was an up-country man—belonged, in fact, to Kota Lama, the village of boasters and fighters, who acknowledged only two masters, their hereditary ohief, the Dato' Temenggong, and the Sultan's Wazir, the Raja Bendahara. Marasat, on the other hand, was a downstream man, retainer of the great down-stream chief, the Shabandar.

"In those days—forty years ago—the Sultan of Perak resided for a great part of every year at Pasir Panjang, where a great crowd of men ind women collected round His Highhess-, and, though the numbers did not greatly vary, the composition of the company was always changing by the constant coming and going of the visitors. The attractions of the place wero gambling, cockfighting and love-making, and these amusements drew to Pasir Salak all the bloods, spendthrifts, and donne provocaute in the oouutry. A year or two before the occurrence of the incident I am going to relate, it happened that Marasat, while gambling in the licensed gambling booth, had a dis- ! pute with another (.anib'er, and Marasat killed his opponent where they stood. An inquiry was held, and Marasat was sentenced to pay a fine of a thousand bidor (about fifty pounds), and the matter was supposed to be closed. The relatives and friends of the dead man were, however, far from being satisfied —first because he was of good family, and came from Eota Lama, where every one thought himself a cut above the people of any other part of Perak, and, secondly, because he had been killed by one of the downsteamors, between whom and the up-oountry people there was a perpetual state of strained relations. The Eota Lama people had, therefore, decided that Marasat must be killed, and the man chosen to do the job was naturally Bakir, for he was the brother of tho gambler who had already fallen to Marasat's kris.

"Such was the state of affairs when, one afternoon, messengers arrived at Pa3ir Panjang, bringing a letter to Sultan Jafar from Temenggong of Jobore. " Pasir Panjang is a fair stretch of sand on the left bank of the Perak river, about fifty miles from its mouth. The stream is wide, shallow, and clear as crystal, and, behind the broad stretch of eand and grass which borders it, are numbers of plank houses, hidden in thick orchards of palm and fruit trees. The conspicuous buildings at the time I speak of were the Sultan's Astan&, surrounded by a high palisade, and at some little distance up stream, the gambling booth. A number of temporary huts and shelters were dotted about, and a great csowd of boats was gathered as close to the shore as the shallow water would permit. "It is the custom in Malay countries, when messengers arrive with a letter for tho ruler from a correspondent of high rank, to receive them with considerable ceremony. The missivo is borne on a tray, covered with a piece of embroidered silk, and is sheltered by a large yellow umbrella, sent with suitable officers by the personago to whom the letter was addressed. A procession is formed, cariosity is aroused, and those in the immediate neighbourhood pause in their work or play to have a look at the strangers, the umbrella and the rest of the paraphernalia. This is the moment to criticise the demeanor of every one taking part in the little ceremony—the way they walk and hold themselves, their clothes and arms, the cover of the

letter and the tray on which it is borne, the awkwardness or otherwise of the bearer, the royal umbrella and how it is carried, and so on. " The Johore messengers had left their boat, and, joined by the Sultan's officers, were slowly making their way along the sands towards the gate of the Sultan's enclosure. As the party moved along idlers joined it, and by the time it reached the gambling booth there were several hundreds of people of all ages and both sexes either escorting the messengers and their missive or simply speculating. " Marasat and Mat Bakir were both in the gambling booth at this time, and the former was quite aware that the latter was looking out for an excuse and an opportunity to kill him. Whilst all other men were armed with a kris, and possibly some smaller dagger, these two each carried a spear as well. Mat Bakir cared nothing about an excuse; he had enough and to spare of that already; all ho wanted was ft favourable opportunity, and that he had not yet found. Marasat had not only killed Mat Bakir's brother in fair fight, he had also killed another man, and his reputation was. such that Mat. Bakir, though well thought of in Kota Lama was not anxious to lake any risks that could be avoided. The opportunity he had long been looking for came with the letter from Johore.

" As the procession passed the gambling booth Marasat went to the dooi, and then down several of the steps which led from the door to the ground. From this point of vantage, close to, yet above the crowd, he watched the passing of the strangers with their missive borne aloft under the shelter of the royal yellow umbrella. Mat Bakir had also come to the door of the booth to see the sight; but when he found his enemy standing three steps beneath him, and with his back towards him at last, he felt that tho man had been delivered into his bands, and without further ado he hurled his spear with all his might at Marasat. The weapon flew true enough, striking Marasat in the back of the shoulder, and the point penetrated almost to his breast. " The stricken man lunged forward on to the sandy ground, and, as the blood poured from his wound, he turned on his side, and, seeing Mat Bakir in the doorway, said, 'Why did you stab me 1' " 'By order of the Baja Eulup,' replied Mat Bakir; meaning thereby the Baja Bendahara. " ' Come down here,' said Mp.rasat, ' and I will settle with you.' " ' There is no need for me to go down,' replied the other; ■ you will die where you lie.' > " By this time the bystanders had helped Marasat up, and pulled the spear out of the wound, which was bleeding terribly. He made a further appeal to Mat Bakir to come down and fight it out, but the latter declined and retired within the doorway. Meanwhile there was great excitement amongst the crowd, and people were running in every direction to carry the news, with the result that while about sixty Kota Lama people were collected with their chief, the Temenggong, on one side, the down-stream people, to the number of over two hundred, were simply furioua that their champion ihould have* been trecherously stabbed from behind, without warning, and a free tight between the opposing factions seemed

Inevitable. At this moment the Dato' Ban. I dai' arrived on tho scene, and Intercepted Marasat, who was just starting for his house. " ' What is the matter?' said the Dato' Bandar.

"'Mat Bakir has stabbed me,' replied Marasat.

" ' Then why don't you kill bim ?' enjoined the Dato'.

" 'Because he is in the gambling booth, and refuses to come down, though I have asked him.'

"'What!' said the Dato', 'a man stabs another in the back, and then refuses to come down and fight it out? I'll see to that.' Then, turning to his peoplo, he said, ' Fetch Mat Bakir.' "This was a summons that Bakir could not refuse, and in a few moments he was on the ground. " ' Open out, open out,' said the Dato 'Make a ring.' And the crowd, some four or five hundred men, women and children, duly opened out and made a ring as though to witness a cock light. "The principals were placed opposite to each other, about thirty yards apart, each with a spear in his right hand, a kris in his belt, and the word was given to let flip. Mat Bakir, unwounded and confident, his friends behind him, stood with his spear in rest, waiting. Marasat, still streaming with blood from the great wound in his shoulder (which was now bare, for the Dato' had ordered both to strip to the waist), stood, apparently irresolute, facing his enemy. But the Dato' behind him shouted, ' Why do you wait? Have at him with your spear '; and Marasat, taking the advice, threw his spear straight and true, tho point flying at the ver) centre of Mat Bakir's breast. As the blade came within reach, Mat Bakir, by a dexterous movement of his own spear, turned the weapon, so that it fell harmlessly by h'* side; and, no doubt pleased with this exhi. bition of his own skill in the presence of such a large and appreciative crowd, he let his eyes follow, and for a moment rest upon the fallen javelin. That was his ruin, for Marasat, the moment he had hurled his spear, followed it hot-foot—quick, silent feet, over the silent sand- and while Mat Bakir was engaged in warding off the cunning shot and regarding his own achievement with approval, the noiseless feet had brought his adversary to close quarters. With one banc* Marasat seized him by tho belt, with tho other he plunged his kris again and again into the yielding flesh, forcing him backwards, sideways, anyhow, but never for an instant stopping the succession of stabs, until, realising that his victim was on the point of falling, Marasat suddenly snatched Mat Bakir's kris from its scabbard with his left hand, and with it inflicted a final blow, across the mouth, as tho body fell lifeless at his feet.

" The crowd gasped, as one gasps after excessivo tension ; and tho Palo' Bandar, stepping forward, said: "Now, are there any more Kotn Lama men who would like to carry this quarrel further? Marnsat is ready to take on ten more, one at a time, and I will see fair play.' "After the excitement of tiiis ferocious duel, and with the dead man lying there, gaping with so many wounds, it is probable that again the fight would have became general; but, fortunately, the Sultan's guard arrived opportunely, and the leader at once proclaimed that the first man who drew a weapon would be regarded as a foe to the Sultan, and would he treated accordingly. That announcement, and tho knowledge that Sultan Jafar would keep his word, saved tho situation, and there was nothing left to bo done but to bury the dead and salvo the wounded.

" Marasat was well and about again in a fortnight, strutting round the sceno of his duel like a gamecock. Mat Bakir was duly buried, but his mother and relatives in Kota Lama would not be satisfied till they had seen him; so, six weeks after burial his bedy was disinterred and towed up stream in a boat to Kota Lama, where, altera terrible scene with his people, it was re-buried. The Kota Lama people never got over this fight; and, though Marasat only died quite recently, and carried a ghastly scar to the day of his death, he never was allowed to go near Kota Lama in the dark. In spite of time, and the fact that for five-and-twenty years the carrying of arms has been forbidden, no Kota Lama man could bear the sight of Marasat without scowls and deep mutterings of what would be his fate il it were not for' the Government.' "