File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎332v] (673/834)

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meddling of certain Arabs, and already in a state of extreme
anxiety over the frequent and increasing outbreaks throughout
the Dutch Indies, should strike whenever an opportunity occurred.
In the case of the Arabs, a community which came from abroad,
and which regularly sent its gains out of the country, decisive
and sharp action appeared best. Accordingly, the Governor-
General, Graf van Limburg Stirum, openly stated that the Arabs
had no innate interest in the Indies and that, if they continued
to interfere in politics, no further immigration would be per
mitted. Cases occurred where the desired permissie for entry into
Java was actually refused, and it became clear that, should the
policy of refusal become the rule rather than the exception, a
orave crisis would arise in the life of the Kathiris.
^ ... -r
Curtailed emigration from Hadhramaut would mean fewer
remittances from Javanese Arabs. The Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. could not, as at
present developed, support its population without the usual
large remittances, nearly all of which came from its sons in Java.
Thus discontent would grow in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ; money shortage
would lead to food shortage, for which the only remedy, in Arab
minds, lies in plunder; the only persons to be plundered would
be the prosperous Kaiti and their allies ; and thus war would
again break out in Hadhramaut.
At the same time the Arabs in Java, as well as those at home
in the Hadhramaut, would lay the blame for the whole matter
on the British authorities, whose help they always claim, even
though they had always repaid previous help and protection by
base treachery during the war.
Matters being in this condition, Hadhramaut was visited by
the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. , in January 1919. The visit comprised a journey to
Shibam (upon which a full report has been submitted) and an
interview with the Kathiri Sultans in neutral territory at Huzn.
Careful enquiry and observation led to the following conclusions.
I he Kaiti and their allies are all contented, prosperous and
only lightly taxed. The Kathiri tribes proper (Kathiri, Awamir,
Jabiri) are discontented. The Kathiri Sultans, Mansur and
Muhsin, with their Wazir Minister. , Saleh bin Aboud, are detested ; not
only do they tax the townsfolk unmercifully, but their rapacity
and their extortionate demands (backed by domiciliary visits of
Abid or Somali slave-soldiers) have wholly alienated the seyyids
and sheikhs. The Bedouin tribes on the fringe of the "great
Rub c el Khali are merely kept from pillage by money doles. ^The
whole Kathiri portion of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Hadhramaut is ready, and indeed
eager, for a change of government. (Passing mention can only
here be made of an open and visible sign of this in the “Jamaivat
al-Hakk Society). (See page 436, volume 1917.)
M adi Hadhramaut, if assured of peace under one stable
government, could so be exploited as to provide sufficient food
and fodder for the whole Hadhramaut population, settled as well
as nomad in the widest sense. Indeed, exportation of food-
stuirs might even be in time attained.