THE INVENTION OF POLITICS IN COLONIAL MALAYA ANTHONY MILNER Australian National University
1 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS...
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THE INVENTION OF POLITICS IN COLONIAL MALAYA ANTHONY MILNER Australian National University
1 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org © Anthony Milner 2002 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1995 Typeface New Baskerville {Adobe) 10/12 pt. System QuarkXPress® [BC] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data
Milner, A.C. (Anthony Crothers), 1945- . The invention of politics in colonial Malaya. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 521 00356 3. 1. Nationalism - Malaya - History. 2. Malaya - History 19th century. 3. Malaya - History - 20th century. 4. Malaya - Politics and government. I. Tide. 959.5 First published in paperback 2002 ISBN 0 521 00356 3 paperback
Contents
Preface
iv
Map of Malaya Introduction: Colonialism, Nationalism and Contest 1 The Ancien Regime. Described and Condemned 2
Establishing a Liberal Critique
viii 1 10 31
3 A Description of the Real World: Expanding Vocabularies
59
4
89
Conceptualizing a Bangsa Community: A Newspaper of Moderate Opinions
5
Building a Bourgeois Public Sphere
6 Ideological Challenge on a Second Front:
114 137
The Kerajaan in Contest with Islam 7 Answering Liberalism: Islamic First Moves
167
8
Kerajaan Self-reform: Chronicling a New Sultanate
193
9
Practising Politics in the Mid-Colonial Period
226
10 Surveying the Homeland: Sedar and Dialogic Processes
257
Conclusion: The Malay Political Heritage
282
Select Bibliography
298
Index
318
Preface
Malaysia is today undeniably a political society. Questions have been asked, it is true, about how democratic it is. In fact, one commentator has referred to the development in Malaysia of "a repressive-responsive regime that can be called neither democratic nor authoritarian but contains elements of both".1 But although the Internal Security Act, Sedition Act and Official Secrets Act all place limits on political debate, and the government controls key elements in the media and has amended the electoral system in ways that assist the ruling coalition to retain power, the fact remains that Malaysia is extraordinary for the liveliness of its politics. Despite such authoritarian measures, Opposition groups are always audible, expressing their views in print and on the Internet. The juggling for influence between the main ethnic groupings - the Peninsular Malay majority of 57.5 percent, the Chinese 27 percent and the Indian 9 percent - and the clashes of interest and ideology inside ethnic groups are played out in a distinctly political process. Electoral struggles, competition for preselection of parliamentary seats, and the quest for high position in political parties are all the focus of intense public interest and speculation. Business, too, is often carried on within the political arena, as entrepreneurs offer political support for political patronage, and even those on the lowest rungs of the Malay economy can obtain land and product distribution rights as a reward for political loyalty. This is not mere underhand maneuvering, immoral 'money polities'. Few in Malaysia assume that business should be free of politics. Material benefit, however, seems not to be enough to explain the passion for politics. In the words of one senior politician, 'politics' is today 'the game' in Malaysia.2 The relish with which Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Prime Minister since 1981) takes up a struggle against an opposing Party, the International Monetary Fund, a Prime Minister of
PREFACE
v
Australia, or perhaps a Malay sultan or a senior Islamic figure can convey the sense of political 'game'. Even the pious religious scholars of the Islamic Party admit (when interviewed) that they are politicians, 3 and the sultan who served as king at the time of the constitutional confrontation between Malay royalty and Prime Minister Mahathir in 1983 revealed in an interview that he had a powerful interest in politics. Amid a certain amount of laughter, so it was reported, he half agreed that he would enjoy being a politician. 4 The present book is concerned with the origins of modern politics in Malaysia and focuses, in particular, on the experience of the majority Malay community. It traces the emergence of what was, for the Malays themselves, a new form of activity and a new mode of public discussion. In investigating this far-reaching transition in Malay society, however, I also seek to throw light on some of the particular features of presentday politics. The colonial and pre-colonial experience of the Malay people, it can be argued, helps to identify and even explain some of the divisions and competing values in Malay society, and also specific ways in which Malays interact in the political sphere. To suggest history can explain the present would be misleading in the case of Malaysia and many other societies. The social and ideological reconfiguration that took place in the colonial period was so deep as to make it difficult to imagine some of the forms of human consciousness prevailing in earlier times. Yet even accepting this proviso, there are features of present-day political behaviour in Malaysia that make better sense if we know something of Malay society in the past, and of the particular manner in which that society responded to the challenges of a colonial modernity. The colonial period, in spite of its deep-running injustices, was for certain Malays a time of ideological adventure. There was talk of a new generation', a 'new learning', and a new sedar, or 'awareness'. Some people felt as if they had for centuries been like "frogs beneath the coconut shell who believe the shell is the sky". Convinced they were now in possession of a manifest reality, these Malays began to engage in what they saw as a hard-headed analysis of their historical situation and of possible strategies for reforming their society. Government, in the past, had been the privilege of a royal elite; ordinary Malays themselves now took initiatives - political initiatives - and found the experience exhilarating. Malaysia, like numerous other colonized countries, was transformed by the economic and power imperatives operating within European imperialism. In the following pages I indicate ways in which the colonial subject succumbed to these seemingly irresistible forces, but the focus of this book is not material processes. The aim is to explore that space
vi
THE INVENTION OF POLITICS IN COLONIAL MALAYA
of human endeavour which existed even under colonialism. I am concerned with the longstanding historical issue - how did people experience and adapt to changing circumstance? At one level, this book is an area study which seeks to reveal the radical character of ideological conflict in colonial Malaya. It re-examines the period which has tended to be seen as the seed time of Malay nationalism. In tracing the developing debate over community and identity in Malay society - the contest between different concepts of social or religious unity - it continues a story I began in an earlier volume about Malay political culture on the eve of British imperial intervention. 5 It shows how, in Malaya, as in other colonized countries, 'tradition' was placed "on trial" (to employ a phrase used by David Marr with respect to colonial Vietnam) ,6 or, at least, brought into dialogue with new visions of the world. The Malay experience, particularly their sense of having achieved a new sedar, possesses also a wider significance. The texts which I examine - and these texts and their authors are the heroes of my book - have operated beneath the surface of social debate in many colonized societies. It is the type of transformation of language as well as of ideas that is currently being explored in European studies. 7 The way in which Malays spoke to one another altered. The Malay chroniclers, editorialists, and essayists debated in a manner which suggests a profound change in ethos. To encapsulate this change as "the arrival of nationalism", this book will argue, entails adopting too narrow a viewpoint on a period so ideologically busy. Indeed, I shall suggest that these energetic ideologues were engaged in what might rather be termed the "invention of politics". The book was written at the Australian National University and the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton. I am especially grateful to Anthony Reid and Clifford Geertz for making it possible for me to plan, read and write in the best possible conditions for academic work. In Malaysia, the United States and Australia I have received assistance from many people. There is much generosity in the academic world. Those who commented on parts or all of the manuscript itself were Cheah Boon Kheng, Harold Crouch, Tony Day, Jane Drakard, Virginia Hooker, John Legge, Claire Milner, Anthony Reid, Craig Reynolds and Oliver Wolters. Others who offered suggestions, inclusions and comparisons include Abdul Rahman Haji Ismail, Tom Abercrombie, Abu Bakar Hamzah, Christoph Altenburg, Arjun Appadurai, Ariffin Omar, Azizan Abdul Razak, James Boon, Lawrence Bryant, Carol Breckenridge, Edmund Burke III, Bob Elson, Chandra Muzaffar, Jennifer Cushman, Diana Carroll, Emilia da Costa, Donald Denoon, Nicholas Dirks, Lilly De, Brendan Dooley, John Elliott, Clifford Geertz, Dru Gladney, Liah
PREFACE
vii
Greenfield, Ranajit Guha, John Gullick, Ray Hall, Albert Hirschman, M.B. Hooker, A.H. Johns, Timur Kuran, Peter Lake, Lee Poh Ping, Jo Levine, John Lynch, Campbell Macknight, Iain McCalman, John Merritt, Catherine Newbury, Sherry Ortner, Ian Proudfoot, Pearl Robinson, William Roff, Sarim Mustajab, James Scott, Joan Scott, Shaharbi Shaari, Elliott Shore, Sandra Solomon, Amin Sweeney, Robert Thornton, Maurizio Viroli and Michael Walzer. In Princeton, Ruthe Foster typed from a messy manuscript and gave wise and friendly advice on many aspects of the text. In Canberra I should like to thank Marian Robson and Maree Beer. The final draft was prepared for the publisher by Leanne Lynch at the Academy of the Social Sciences. She fitted this task into a heavy schedule and yet found time to improve both the presentation and the writing. At Cambridge University Press I am especially grateful for the support and advice of Robin Derricourt, Phillipa McGuinness and Carla Taines over the two editions of this book. From beginning to end I have discussed, and argued about, this book with Claire. I am indebted to her most of all. Notes 1 H. Crouch, Government and Society in Malaysia (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1996), 12. 2 Shariff Ahmad, Menjunjung Kasih (Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing, 1983), 165. 3 Haji Abdul Hadi Awang,/*foz Islam Mentadbir (Kuala Trenggan, 1984), 4. See also Yusof Harun, DialogDengan Pemimpin (Kuala Lumpur: Pena, 1986), chapter 9. 4 Rosnah Majid, Koleksi Temuramah Khas Tokoh-Tokoh (Kuala Lumpur: Utusan, 1985), 242-3. 5 Kerajaan, Malay Political Culture on the Eve of Colonial Rule (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, Association of Asian Studies Monograph, 1982). 6 See David Marr, Vietnamese Tradition on Trial, 1920-1945 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981). 7 J.G.A. Pocock, Virtue, Commerce and History: Essays on Political Thought and History, Chiefly in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985); James Tully (ed.), Meaning & Context: Quentin Skinner and His Critics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988); Maurizio Viroli, From Politics to Reason of State: The Acquisition and Transformation of the Language of Politics 1250-1600 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); and other volumes in the Cambridge 'Ideas in Context' series.
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