DING! Ding! My phone beeps, announcing the arrival of two new messages. My aunt, Teh Chen Kim, living in the United Kingdom has just posted a photograph of her freshly baked lemon cake on our family WhatsApp group chat.
Chen Kim, who recently retired from a lifelong nursing career, adds a note saying that she hopes that her baking skills will help raise funds for the Huddersfield National Health Trust.
Before I’ve even finished reading, my cousin working with Intel in Penang posts his thoughts. He’s wishing her good luck before cheekily asking her to FedEx some cake over to him. Over the next few minutes, no less than 15 further comments are added by relatives living in Malaysia as well as abroad. While reading the numerous congratulatory notes, it suddenly dawns upon me that with the advent of the smart phone and the Internet, all of us have become more connected than ever.
Our world seems to be shrinking by the day as news reaches the four corners of the globe almost instantaneously. Mindful of this reality, I begin to ponder the amazing fact that our ability to communicate has advanced by leaps and bounds compared to how things were a little more than 100 years ago.
BEGINNING OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Back in the late 19th century, British expatriates living in Malaya had to wait as long as four months for replies from home. Carriage of mail to India and the Far East during that time was handled by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.
Steamers transported mail from the Suez to Calcutta before sailing eastwards, via Penang and Singapore, to their final destinations in Hong Kong and China. In the 1880s, a letter from Southampton to Singapore would normally take about seven weeks to arrive.
Another faster albeit more expensive option for transmitting information back then was the telegraph.
The first telegraph line in this country connected the British Resident living in his Kuala Kangsar Perak House to his deputy who was stationed in Taiping. That particular telegraph line, which covered a distance of some 45km and traversed the Bukit Berapit forest, was especially significant. Laid by the Department of Posts and Telegraph in 1874, it marked the beginning of the telecommunications era in Malaya.
The speed at which the telegraph transmitted messages soon became a national sensation. It quickly captured the imagination of the people who’d never witnessed such capabilities before. Messages could be sent and received at a much faster rate. As the telegraph service grew in popularity, so did its coverage.
By the early 20th century, there were 2,000km of telegraphic lines in the Federated Malay States. The more developed states of Perak and Selangor enjoyed the highest coverage while Pahang had far less. Most of these lines followed the route of the railway.
Post offices played a vital role in accepting telegrams which were promptly dispatched by postmen to their final recipient. Those living in far-flung places, which were not served by any postal services, had to depend solely on railway stations for assistance.
In the 1900s, the trans-peninsular post office telegraphic line stretched from Penang in the north through to Melaka and right down to the Johor boundary in the south. The line also branched off at Melaka to reach Ulu Pahang, which was the old name for Pekan, in the easternmost state in Malaya.
The Posts and Telegraphs Department’s 1905 Annual Report recorded the existence of more than 50 telegraph offices in the country. The normal charge for message transmission was three cents per word. Urgent telegrams, which enjoyed precedence over all others, were charged at triple that amount.
Reports from subsequent years showed a 10 per cent annual increase for both telegrams received and dispatched throughout the nation, proving that customers were willing to pay more for speed! The revenue derived from telegraphs amounted to 52,858 Straits dollars in 1906 alone!
IMPORTANCE OF TELEGRAMS
Telegrams proved their true worth during the early days of the Japanese Occupation. Many families in the British Commonwealth were anxious to learn the fate of their loved ones who served in Malaya during World War II.
The capitulation of Singapore on Feb 15, 1942 resulted in a flurry of telegrams to the Home Ministry. The telegraphic service weighed in the midst of the chaos and helped to convey news speedily. Sadly, most telegrams brought grave news about their incarceration in the prisoner of war camps throughout Malaya, Singapore, Indonesia as well as Japan.
The end of the Japanese Occupation in 1945 again highlighted the importance of telegrams. The first thing on the minds of the prisoners was to quickly send word to their loved ones about their newly-found freedom. One can only imagine the overwhelming relief and joy when these telegrams were read for the first time by their long-suffering families.
Telephones were introduced in Malaya around the same time as the telegraphic service but the former had fewer lines and coverage. Perak became the forerunner for the telephone service when the hand-cranked Magneto operated device was first introduced in 1880. Kuala Lumpur only saw its first telephone some 10 years later in 1891.
STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY
The first public telephone exchange in the country appeared in Ipoh some 20 years later. From then on, the telephone service began growing at an exponential rate resulting in the establishment of more exchanges in other major towns and important ports like Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Batu Gajah, Taiping and Port Swettenham.
Subscribers living within a radius of 3km from the nearest exchange were charged a basic monthly fee of 5 Straits dollars while those living further away had to pay more. On top of that, users were charged separately for trunk calls received. The amount could be quite substantial. Unlike today where mobile phone ownership is considered a norm, only large businesses and wealthy households could afford to have telephones installed in their premises in the past.
Despite the exorbitant costs, the applications to connect with telephone exchanges in 1906 exceeded all expectations. The huge number of subscribers soon prompted the authorities to lay our nation’s first underground cable in 1915 to link the four largest towns in Perak, namely Ipoh, Taiping, Kampar and Teluk Anson. The number of telephone subscribers grew in tandem with the rapid trade growth and the development of new townships. By the early 1930s, telephony traffic volume had grown so large that an automated magneto exchange had to be built in Kuala Lumpur. This state of the art technology in Jalan Weld replaced the slower manual exchange.
Much of the telecommunications infrastructure was damaged during the Second World War and the Japanese Occupation. The British had their work cut out for them when they returned in September 1945. Workers quickly set about repairing trunk routes, restoring fallen telephone poles and installing copper wires that had either been damaged or stolen.
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
The Japanese Occupation did, however, bring about a positive change in terms of telecommunications. The Japanese Imperial Army made the decision to split the Posts and Telegraphs Department into two separate entities. This decision was made to increase efficiency given that the postal services had started to gain in terms of volume and value. The British initially re-united the two entities upon their return but soon realised the futility of their action.
The formation of the Malayan Union on April 1, 1946 saw the birth of the Malayan Telecommunications Department which controls the telegraph, telephone and wireless services while mail, money orders and savings accounts came under the purview of the Postal Services Department.
The launch of the Malayan Trunk System, which utilises shortwave radio-telephone transmitters, allowed for the first time voice communication with exchanges in Indonesia, the Philippines, the US, Canada and Mexico.
Public pay phones charging a nominal 10 cents per local call began springing up in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in the late 1940s. Between 1950 and 1953, the Telecommunications Department’s revenue more than doubled from $8 million to $17 million as the number of installed coin operated telephones expanded from 20,000 to 39,000.
Russia launched the world’s first satellite in 1957. This marked a great leap forward for the advancement of telecommunications for the entire world. Subsequent satellites sent into orbit after Sputnik I helped improve international communications. Malaya benefitted greatly from this new technology.
In the days leading up to Independence, Malaya embarked on a comprehensive programme to ensure the Telecommunications Department continued to be managed by capable local personnel. More than 20 students were sent to Britain and Australia to excel in the fields of telecommunications. Their return, coupled with the large numbers of youths graduating from the department’s Gracelyn Training School in Jalan Ipoh, ensured a strong foundation for telecommunications in our young nation.
Suffice to say, we’ve come far. I’m curious where the next 100 years will take us?
There are already tell-tale signs with virtual reality in the horizon. Who knows, maybe our great grandchildren will not only be able to see the lemon cake their aunt bakes with their phones but also smell its aroma and feel its texture. Human imagination is infinite. If we can think it, perhaps one day we can make it!