A list of minerals found in British Malaya together with a description of their properties, composition, occurrences and uses
W. G. Stirling’s 1925 article in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society examines the Red and White Flag Societies, clandestine Malay and mixed-ethnicity secret societies that operated as subordinate appendages of the Chinese Ghee Hin and Ghee Hok Triad organizations in the Native States of British Malaya. Stirling argues that these societies were deliberately created by Triad headmen to conduct coercive and criminal activities—blackmail, intimidation, and violence against Malay officials and police—that the Triads themselves wished to keep at arm’s length from their own membership.
Summary
Stirling’s account is built on a detailed ethnographic description of the societies’ rituals, oaths, and internal codes of conduct, drawing on what appears to be direct observation or informant testimony from the Native States. The article opens with an extended description of a Malay circumcision ceremony, which serves as a cultural frame for understanding the religious and communal context in which these societies operated. The Red Flag Society was established first, followed shortly by the White Flag, and both were initially conceived as mutual benefit associations admitting only men of “deserving character.” Over time, however, they degenerated into vehicles for extortion and violence, losing their original religious purpose entirely.
The core of Stirling’s argument is that the Red and White Flag Societies were never independent organizations but instruments of the Triad Societies, designed to exploit the fact that the local police force and government employees were predominantly Malay. The Triads embedded their own members within the Flag Societies as spies, and the Flag Societies’ codes—prohibiting members from testifying against one another, requiring perjury if compelled, and obliging members to assist even in murder—created a parallel system of justice that directly challenged colonial authority. The societies collected entrance fees, levied contributions for feasts and legal defence, and at times purchased evidence to protect their members.
Stirling notes that the societies were never formally registered by the Government, unlike the Triad Societies which had been recognized before 1890 and subsequently declared unlawful. Their triangular red and white flags echoed Muslim votive flags found at sacred sites, and the oaths invoked both Islamic and Chinese religious elements—the Koran for Malay candidates, incense and blood-mixed wine for Chinese members. Stirling concludes that the societies were inherently fragile, sustained only by the Triads’ backing, and had likely ceased to exist by the time of writing.
Key Findings
- Entrance fees were $1.25 for the Red Flag Society and $3.25 for the White Flag Society; members were additionally required to pay 30 cents each for feasts or legal defence, generating sums of $300–400 per incident (p. 58).
- The Red Flag Society’s test question was “Has your mother old iron?” with the expected answer “She has three cash,” possibly alluding to the three cash used in the Triad Ritual; failure to answer correctly resulted in beating (p. 58).
- The White Flag Society’s oath for Chinese members was “If I betray my oath, may the devil get me when I am dead,” accompanied by a drop of the candidate’s blood and a drop from a decapitated white cock mixed into wine, which all members and candidates sipped (p. 60).
- The Malay oath was sworn with the Koran placed on the candidate’s head: “If I betray the secrets of this Society, may the Koran devour my entrails” (p. 60).
- The Red Flag Diploma was a ticket on yellow or red paper bearing crossed red triangular flags and a facsimile of the Eight Diagrams “Pat Kwa”; the White Flag Diploma was an oblong piece of yellow silk with a diamond device and the oath of secrecy inscribed around it (p. 61).
- The Triad Societies were declared unlawful and dangerous in 1890 and compelled to surrender their seals and insignia to the Government; the Red and White Flag Societies were never formally registered (p. 60).
Conclusion
Stirling’s definitive takeaway is that the Red and White Flag Societies were never autonomous political or social movements but functional extensions of the Chinese Triad apparatus, created to project coercive power into the Malay administrative and police structures that the Triads could not directly penetrate. Their lack of independent political aims, their dependence on Triad backing for survival, and their ultimate insignificance confirm, in Stirling’s view, that secret societies are alien to the Malay character and require a religious motive to take root.
Context
- Stirling was a colonial administrator in the Native States, and the article reflects a contemporary official perspective on secret societies as threats to public order rather than as subjects of cultural or social analysis.
- The article draws on direct administrative knowledge of the societies’ operations in the Native States and on the broader colonial record of Triad suppression from 1890 onward.