Selangor also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Ehsan, or
"Abode of Sincerity" is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on
the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north,
Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to
the west. It surrounds the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya,
both of which were once under Selangor's sovereignty.
The state capital is Shah Alam, the first city in Selangor,
and the royal capital is Klang. Another major urban centre is Petaling Jaya
which was awarded city status on June 20, 2006. Selangor is one of only two
Malaysian states with more than one city; the other is Sarawak. Selangor has
the largest city in Malaysia and it is growing rapidly due to modernization in
the Klang Valley.
Selangor is the richest state in Malaysia in terms of gross
domestic product (GDP) per capita. This state is also the most developed in
Malaysia with good infrastructure such as highways and transport. The state
also has the largest population in Malaysia, with a high standard of living and
the state's poverty rate is the lowest in the country.
The origin of the name Selangor is lost in history, although
some sources claim the name to have come from the Malay word selangau, 'a large
fly', most probably due to the abundance of flies in the marshes along the
Selangor River in the state's northwest. A more plausible theory claims the
state's name is derived from the term Selang Ur meaning "land of the
straits" (selang means "straits" in the Malay language and ur
means "town" in Tamil.) Aur (which sounds similar to ur) also means
river in Malay. Hence, Selangor may mean 'river straits'.
Another possible origin of the name is from combination of
the words Sela and Ngor (sela means 'a gap' and ngor means 'bamboo'). It may be
possible that the banks of the Selangor River was full of bamboo groves in the
distant past. However bamboo do not grow well in the marshy soil of the lower
reaches of the river. It is also possible that the word Selangor is an Orang
Asli term as some rivers have Orang Asli names, e.g. Damansara river.
Available written records such as the Malay Annals refers to
Selangor as Samarlingga during the rule of Seri Paduka Maharaja in Singapore
(1301–1400) whereas some Chinese maps from the Ming Dynasty used by the Admiral
Zheng He during his voyages of expedition between 1405 to 1433 refers to the
Klang River and Selangor Darat (or inland Selangor).
In the 15th century, Selangor was ruled by the Sultanate of
Melaka. After the fall of Melaka to the Portuguese in 1511, the area became
hotly disputed between the Portuguese, Johor, Aceh and Siam. When the Dutch
displaced the Portuguese from Melaka in 1641, they brought in Muslim Bugis
mercenaries from Sulawesi. They established the present hereditary sultanate in
1740. In many districts, Bugis settlers displaced the Minangkabau settlers from
Sumatra, who had established themselves in Selangor some 100 years previously.
In the 19th century, the economy boomed due to the exploitation
of huge tin reserves and the growing importance of rubber. This attracted a
large influx of Chinese migrant laborers. Chinese secret clan societies, allied
with Selangor chiefs, fought for control of the tin mines. The increasing
violence created social and economic havoc.
It also opened a window of opportunity for the British
government, which forced the Sultan of Selangor to accept a British Resident in
1874. Under the stability imposed by the British, Selangor again prospered. In
1896, largely through the coordination of the Resident, Frank Swettenham,
Selangor united with Negri Sembilan, Perak and Pahang to form the Federated
Malay States, with its capital in Kuala Lumpur.
The Federated Malay States evolved into the Federation of
Malaya in 1948, which became independent in 1957, and Malaysia in 1963. The
city of Kuala Lumpur functioned as both the national capital of Malaysia and
the state capital of Selangor. In 1974, Selangor relinquished Kuala Lumpur to
the federal government.
The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Salahuddin, reportedly shed
tears of sadness upon signing away Selangor's sovereignty over its beloved
capital. To commemorate Selangor's sacrifice, the Sultan decreed that an
archway be built on the borders of the new Federal Territory and Selangor; this
archway is the Kota Darul Ehsan that now towers majestically over a section of
the Federal Highway between Bangsar and Petaling Jaya. The state capital was
moved to Shah Alam after the cession.
Putrajaya, a new city designed to be the new administrative
capital of Malaysia, was built by the federal government in Selangor. Sultan
Salahuddin was asked again to cede land to the federal government. Putrajaya
became a federal territory in 2001.
