Kangchu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kangchu system (or sistem Kangcu in Malay;港祖 in Chinese) is a system which was used once during the Johor Sultanate. This system cause Johor to flourish in its economy.
First introduced by Temenggung of Johor, Daeng Ibrahim, this system bring in Chinese labours from the mainland of China to develop the pepper and gambier plantation in Johor. Each of the Chinese labour will be given a letter called "river letter" (in Malay is "surat sungai")
Each group of the labour is led by a leader who carry the letter, called Kangchu. This letter enable them to stay in Johor and develop their business there. Their place to stay or so called camp site is called Kangkar.
Kangchu is responsible to keep the peace and harmony among the workers and collect tax for the Johor government. They also have to make sure their workers follow the rules and regulation of Johor.
The system was succeeded by his son, Sultan Abut Bakar.

