A Century of Seremban

This book is not essentially about dreary dates, tortous treaties, vexing annexations and wars although to some extent this inevitable. In writing this book, I have used as my inspiration the Venerable Bede and Herodotus, the first historian who made a valiant attempt to write history based on facts as opposed to hear say as was custom in those times.

   The Venerable Bede left us a lasting legacy on the life and times of the early English people. This book strives to record within its constraints as much detail as possible as to how the people of Seremban lived, their sustenance, entertainment, pastimes, and living conditions so that an accurate and composite picture may be had. Much of this book is based on the memory of the writer especially from the 1950s onwards. Information from early 1900 to the 1930s is at best, scanty but what few facts are available are indeed arresting if not fascinating. The dry bones of history are fleshed out with personal observation wherever possible thereby adding a hint of humanness.

   Some of what is written might seem common place and banal to the reader. However, what is common today and perhaps not worth perusing might prove to be an interesting and invaluable font of information to the reader of tomorrow. History, after all, is the present that has become the past with the passage of time.

   The ultimate purpose of this book is to serve as a record, hopefully, for future generations to peruse and gain valuable insight into the life and times of the people of Seremban in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. History books give a broad and impersonal touch thereby giving history a more rounded and sensitive perspective.