At his beck and call; men, too, are useful to him in
many other ways. Those who have grown old in their bondage, whether
men or women, either for very shame the Rajah provides for, or he
compels their children to support them.
The men either (1) follow because they like it (a very small percentage
indeed); or (2) they are debtors, or the children of debtors; or (3)
they are real slaves from Sumatra or Abyssinia, or the children of
slaves.
The girls are treated differently; they are (1) either slaves or the
daughters of slaves; or (2) debtors, the daughters or granddaughters of
debtors; or (3) the Rajah has simply taken them from their houses into
his own house because he wanted them; or (4) they follow him for
pleasure.
In Perak some of the chiefs do not provide their girls with food or
clothing, but they tell them to get these necessaries of life as best
they can, i.e., by prostitution - for the labor of the debtor being the
property of the creditor, prostitution is in this case a necessity and
not a choice.
Each Rajah in his own district claims the privilege of fining, either
for a capital offence or for a trifling misdeed. Should, then, a man be
fined and not pay the fine, he and his family, if he has one, are at
once taken into this debt-bondage, not to work out the fine, but to
toil away their lives amid blows and upbraidings - the daughters driven
to prostitution, the sons to thieving, and even greater crimes.
This is no exaggerated statement, but the plain truth.
When the Rajah gives nothing, neither food nor clothes, or when he is a
passionate man, and threatens to kill one or other of his followers for
some trivial offence, or for no offence at all, it often happens that
one will seek refuge in flight. If caught, though, it may be said to be
the received custom to inflict only some slight punishment; yet that
would not deter a Rajah from punishing such an offence even with death
should it seem good to him.
Bond-debtors are handed about from one Rajah to another without a
thought of consulting them. If one runs away and is caught, it is at
great risk of being put to death, while probably no one would move a
finger to save him, his master excusing himself on the plea that it is
necessary to frighten others from running away also.
These Rajah-creditors would tell you smilingly that they knew by
Mohammedan law the creditors can take and sell all their debtor's
property for an overdue debt, and that then the debtor is free; but
they never act on that principle.
