Whenever you find profitable resources, there are riches to be made. In Klang there was plenty of tin to be had. And the opportunists moved in. Tin had been mined by the Malays for centuries. The Chinese later introduced more efficient techniques to tin mining. And the British supported the industry relentlessly to feed the voracious needs of its Industrial Revolution.
As all other places where tin was found, Klang flourished. Infrastructure sprouted and roads were built. Britain invested benevolently and wisely. The excavated tin must find their way to the ports en route to Great Britain.
Meanwhile, tension amongst the locals brewed and seethed. Two local chieftains of Klang, Raja Abdullah and Raja Mahadi, fought for supremacy over the tin trade. Their Chinese allies backing them strongly. It was no surprise that Civil war erupted in 1867. It was unavoidable. For seven years, Malay soldiers wielding Kris and spears fought alongside their Chinese counterparts armed with their long menacing swords. Onslaught after onslaught assaulted and dominated besieged forts. One of the forts still stands; Kota Raja Mahadi was the stronghold of Raja Mahadi . Sadly today, all that remain to be seen are the main gate and the earthen ramparts. And that is if you can find it. After a lapse of an industrious century, development and tropical weeds and creepers brutally camouflage its pitiful existence.
The two warring sides called in aid from outsiders. The loss proved to be truly theirs. The year following the end of the Civil War, a British Resident was appointed to oversee matters in Klang, inevitably putting a stop to the era of the Malay chieftains' control over the proceeds of tin.
