I think instead of struggling against foreign occupation it might be the fact they were subjects/slaves and had no stakes in the land and the properties, same thing with Chinese peasants. People don't have prides in keeping the area clean if they don't have any sense of ownership in the form of private property or prosperity, who cares if the streets and lands are dirty if it all belongs to the king/landlords/government who took 90% of your rice as rent and taxes and treated you like dirt and can take away what little you have for whatever reason.

As for the cobra bounty, jeets always gave me the feeling of being "clever" at scamming for petty profits (especially when quickly darting their eyes trying to think up words to scam you, not realizing you can tell they're obviously trying to pull a fast one) but aren't actually smart or wise for long term prosperity for the whole group. They thought they were clever and scammed the brits, not realizing or just not cared the effects when scams are busted because it's not them suffering the consequences