Amok as viewed by British administrators in colonial Malaya

Two British colonial administrators, Sir Frank Swettenham and Sir Hugh Clifford, wrote about amok in 19th-century Malaya from a sociological perspective. Clifford noted that ‘amok is a result of a condition of the mind which is described in the vernacular as sakit hati – sickness of the liver, the centre of sensitiveness’. He felt it was caused by an emotional problem which precipitated the sakit hati or Malay equivalent of depression, leading to the homicidal–suicidal rage. The fate of the person was discussed by Swettenham: ‘he is regarded as a dangerous beast. As a rule he is not taken alive’.