Annual medical and sanitary report / Trengganu.

  • Terengganu. Medical Department.
Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical and sanitary report / Trengganu. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/34 (page 2)
    {a) GENERAL REMARKS. A few remarks on the State of Trengganu, and its people, may be of interest as indicating the chief physical features of the country, and the character of the native for whom medical, and sanitary work is being provided. Trengganu is an Un-federated Malay State of about 5,000 square miles situated on the East Coast of the Malay Peninsular; bounded on the North and North West by Kelantan; on the South and South West by Pahang; and on the East by the China Sea. Inland are splendid hills rising to a height of three or four thousand feet, and forming watersheds for the numerous rivers which empty into the China Sea. The coastal area consists of alluvial plains of varying depth, interrupted here and there by small hills some of which reach down as far as the foreshore. The climate is healthy, and affords a pleasant constrast to the enervating climate on the west coast, inasmuch as the North East Monsoon, lasting from November to March, brings with it rain, wind, and a lowered temperature. The nights are cool, and refreshing sleep is possible. The population, consisting of 94.6% Malays, is concentrated along the sea board, and on the banks of the rivers. The Trengganu Malay, generally speaking, is a simple unobtrusive person. His wants are few and easily satisfied. He is for the most part self-supporting and in¬ dependent. If his rice crop is good, all is well; if not, he makes the best of it, and looks forward to the next. He has his fowl, and his betel nut; he may possess cattle, and he can nearly always get fish. Knowledge of affairs comes to him by word of mouth. He is illiterate but is awaking to the value of literacy for his children. In addition to Government Vernacular Schools there are, in a few villages, independent, unaided local¬ ly supported, vernacular schools The native Malay has very little initiative or inventive capacity. He blindly follows tradition. His pleasures are bound up in the numerous ceremonies associated with birth, marriage, death etc. He finds his amusements in the village gatherings where story and jest are exchanged. He is interested in the foreigner but only as a curiosity. Competition plays only a small part in his life. He gives one the impression that his race in the contest of peoples has been run, and now he is an onlooker only. The remnants of a past epoch of valour are to be found in the fine courage of the present day fishermen, whose skill, and intrepidity are to be ad¬ mired. It is not surprising, therefore, that external moral and material influences react very slowly on the Trengganu Malay. The effect of trade depression with its atten¬ dant evils of unemployment and want are not perceptible. Even on the few sophisticated Malays, constituting the governing class, the prevailing trade depression is of no more than casual interest. From the point of view of public health it may be said that the rate of sickness has not been influenced by the prevailing economic depression, except among the Chin¬ ese, and Indians, of whom there are only a few in Trengganu. Amongst the Malay population there are signs that, at least, the “ white mans’ ” curative medicines are being appreciated, and that the prospect for preventive medicine is not hopeless. What is being accomplished, or contemplated, in the matter of urban, and rural sanitation, will be mentioned under their appropriate headings in this report. The prevailing diseases recorded during the year compared with 1928—1929 are shown in the table following. Diseases 1928 1929 1930 Yaws .. 2,921 3,390 3,386 Malaria 3,089 3,370 5,775 Fever unspecified 705 1,827 2,799 Beri Beri 1,531 1,297 915 Diseases of the skin 7,041 8,906 6,888 Diseases due to intestinal parasites 1,913 1,802 2,894 Diseases of Digestive System 4,851 11,696 10,357 Diseases of Respiratory system 1,286 1,431 1,437