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Major Factors That Contributed To The Changes in Malay Politics
Major Factors That Contributed To The Changes in Malay Politics
The history of Malay politics in Malaysia have had many challenges. Many believe
that the path it had taken evolved since the early Malay kingdoms in the Malayan Peninsular.
It is also obvious that the architecture of the political administrations in the 15 th century until
However, there are few historians that the Malay political development only begins
after the end of the 2nd World War. Ibrahim Mahmood for example, in his book, Sejarah
Perjuangan Bangsa Melayu mentioned that there was no politics in Malaya before the 2nd
World War. 1 Before that, there were no political parties established and no elections have
been carried out. It was believed that the British rulers at that time controlled the
amalgamation of such groupings due to fear of resistance from the locals. However, Ibrahim
stressed that the basis of movements that were to evolve to political movements were
presents.2
This paper will discuss the factors that had contributed to the changes in the Malay
politics in the early 20th century until 1940. The discussions start with comparing the
traditional Malay politics before the 20th century and the political structures that were
introduced by the British Administration. Then paper will then highlight the factors that had
contributed to the transformation of Malays’ approach to the British administration, that led
to the birth of political movements that were initially state centric to movements nationwide.
Towards the end, the paper will outline the new political state of affairs that were practiced in
1
Ibrahim Mahmood, Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa Melayu, Kuala Lumpur; Penerbitan Pustaka Antara, 1981, pp.
17-18.
2
Ibid.
1
MALAYAN EARLY POLITICAL STRUCTURES
Malayan traditional political administration structure evolved from the structure that
was practiced in Malacca during the glorious era in the 15th century. The administration was
led by the Sultan as the ruler, which then was supported by the elites who assisted the Sultans
in governing the states. After the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511, the centre of the
Malacca kingdom moved to Johor. The structure then evolved under the influence of the
preferences of the state administrations such as Negeri Sembilan, which were highly
traditional political administration in the Malay States are generally reflected in Figure 1.
Sultan
Ulama/ State Officials
District Officials
Normal Citizens
Slaves
Within the structure, the Sultan is the state ruler who was assisted by state officials in
managing the state affairs, whilst the normal citizens and slaves befall under the group of the
2
one that were being ruled. Within the state administrative organisations though, it was
During the initial stage of the British occupation in Malaya, they were did not
intervene in the states administration. They just annexed the Straits Settlements to be their
base to conduct trades with the locals’ Malayan people. However, after the incidents in Perak,
the British administration in the Straits Settlements changed their approach due to the
pressures of getting constant supplies of raw materials and to deny other western power to
annex Malaya. In 1874, following Pangkor Treaty,3 British marked the change of their policy
towards the Malay states. The intervention then followed by the rest of the Federated Malay
After the intervention, British introduced an administration system in the states. The
Sultans have to allow British advisors, known as the Residents. Under the administrative
1. The legal position of the Sultans was safeguarded, as laid down in the treaties.
3. The Malays were considered the indigenous people, and the government
accepted special responsibility for their welfare and the preservation of their rights as
especially the elites. They have lost most of their power in the administration and have to
3
Ibrahim Mahmood, Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa Melayu, p. 7.
4
Gordon P Means, Malaysian Politics, London: University of London Press Ltd, 1970, p. 43.
3
obey the British representatives in all field of administration, but religious and cultural
matter.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the British administrations acknowledged the
need to have the Malays in the administration offices. The Malays that were accepted to be in
the administrative offices were trained in the schools that were developed such as the Penang
Free School, Malay College, Raffles College and Sultan Ibrahim Training College. However,
due to the influx of the Chinese to meet the needs in the mining industries, a representative
was also included. The structure of the administrative system is reflected in Figure 2.5
Sultan
British Resident
Deputy Resident
Council Members:
1. Formal Members.
2. Informal Members.
Councils, their membership was appointed rather than popularly elected, and these Councils
were never given power to be more than advisory bodies to the government. 6 Pledged to the
preservation of the existing autocratic Malay sultanates, British policy left no room for
5
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, Shah Alam: Penerbitan Fajar Bakti, 2001, p.142.
6
Gordon P Means, Malaysian Politics, p. 43.
7
Ibid.
4
The above figure explain that the state’s administration body. However, to ease the
administration over the vast areas within the states, British divides the states into several
districts, which further divided into parishes (mukim) and villages. The districts were
governed by British appointed Magistrates, who were responsible for all administrative
aspects within the districts, as well as laws and tax collections. The lower administrative
bodies, the parishes and villages, remained in the previous arrangement. However, the chiefs,
penghulu and village headman were of those who supported the British Administration.
Land Administration System in another system that were introduced by the British
Administrations. The introduction is to east the economic exploitation within the Malay
states, where they introduced the ownership system. Land can be owned by individuals but
However, the government has the right in the process and thus, the taxes imposed contributed
The introduction of the systems led to the loss of values in the feudal system where
previously the citizens were free to venture the landmass and open up new areas and the
appointed elites within the area by the Sultan gained their income from taxes that they
imposed and toll collections in certain areas. The situations cause the elites to dissatisfy with
the new arrangement, and sparked a few revolutions. However, these revolutions have never
spread nationwide and were more territorial and never spread beyond the states.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
5
There are numerous known factors that had contributed to the structural change in the
Malay politics in early 20th century. To ease in understanding the contributing factors, this
paper will divide them into two main groups, internal and external.
INTERNAL FACTORS
The internal factors that cause the atmosphere in the Malayan approach to politics
were related to the administrative systems that have been introduced by the British. The
Malays, started to realize the negative aspects of the administration in relation to their
‘sovereignty’ over their motherland. The associations sparked in isolations before expansion
and become national movements. The internal factors are the effects of the British
administration systems, the education systems, the birth of plural society and the beginning of
populations in the cities. That also led to the emergence of new Malay elites, different than
traditional Malay Elites. The new elites emerged from the groups that were either in the
administrative offices or those that were successful outside the norms of their traditional
lifestyles such as in the field of trades and business. These new elites then realized the
differences in the field of education and economic status between the natives and the
colonials and between ethnics. The Malays then demand a better standard of living and
The best example of this was the establishment of Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (KMS)
or Singapore Malay Union that was established by Muhammad Eunos Abdullah in 1926. 8
8
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, pp.182-183.
6
Eunos was a middleclass man that was working for the Straits Settlements administration
office in Singapore. He realized that the Malays were discriminated in the administration.
KMS then became the organization that sparks other Malay Unions in other states.
From Singapore, the organization then had its branch in Malacca in 1937, 9 before being
followed by Penang and other Malay states. However, the unions were more of state
orientated and it took a long time before becoming a nationwide movement. That was due to
the leaders of the unions were traditional elites and they feared of losing their leadership once
the unions become nationwide. The movements started became nationwide towards the end
of 1930s, partly through the column Persaudaraan Sahabat Pena in Saudara newspaper.
Education system
The introduction of British education system in Malaya also had contributed to the
change of the Malay’s approach to politics. The schools were initially aimed at training the
Malays to become the staffs in the British administration offices. However, the educated
Malays also being exposed to the real situations and open up their mindset. They learned
about movements from other countries through their readings and their exposures during their
The institution that played an important role in spreading the movement was the
Sultan Idris Training College (SITC) that was established in 1922. The teachings at the
college were in Malay, which created problems to the lecturers to teach due to lack of Malay
books for their references. To overcome the problem, they brought in books from Indonesia
due to similarities in the language.10 That led to the influence of the Indonesian movements
against the Dutch administration to the students, and influenced them to be leftists, even after
7
Ibrahim Haji Yaacob, who was a student leader when he was studying at SITC, was
and Ikatan Pemuda Malaya.11 Ikatan Pemuda Malaya was established to spread the
nationalism spirit to the younger generations of Malays about the backwardness and
The educated Malays and the students then formed groups or unions with their own
agendas, mainly demanding on better standard of living and better positions in the
administration. The significance of this was the emergence of groups or parties that were
different from the traditional groups that normally were led by traditional Malay elites. The
demands were also differed, as the new groups were demanding for the Malay rights
throughout the nation, whilst the traditional groups were very much focusing on issues within
Plural Society
The British administration in Malaya allowed the Indians and Chinese to migrate to
Malaya. The reasons for this were to compensate the demand in workhorse in the mining and
plantation industries.
Due to the influx of foreigners, the outcome were the emergence of Malays who were
united for their sovereignty over Malaya as well as the emergence of unions or parties that
were established by the Chinese and Indians in expressing their demands. That leads to what
11
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, p.178.
8
The racial sovereignty demands over Malaya though, were not so obvious initially.
After the 1930s, the demands from the Chinese and Indians increased and the Malays then
modern politics in Malaya. During that period, the means of printing were through
throughout Malaya at the beginnings. The printed matters were distributed locally to the
members of the organization in certain areas. An example was Al-Imam that was produced in
Singapore by Kaum Muda organisation. Other publications that were discussion on the
Malay’s political movements were Idaran Zaman, Saudara, Warta Malaya and Majlis. The
Malayan Union.13
The printing that initiate the united unions in the Malayan peninsular were Saudara, a
weekly newspaper that hosted a column ‘Sahabat Pena’. This column allows the member of
Persaudaraan Sahabat Pena Malaya (Malayan Association of Pen Pals) to exchange opinions.
The column created qualms to the British, and they reacted by closely observe the column
EXTERNAL FACTORS
There were also some external factors that had contributed to the change in the
atmosphere in the Malayan approach to politics. Means stressed that ‘while early Malay
12
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, p.173.
13
Ong Loo Chen, Sejarah STPM, Bangi: Penerbitan Pelangi Sdn. Bhd., 2005, p. 129.
14
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, p.173.
9
political activists were more concerned with developments in Malaya, even they become
politically motivated, partially as a result of reactions to events in Egypt, Turkey and the
East. The reformation was due to what have been done by the western nations to the Islamic
Ottoman Empire in Turkey. The presence of the westerners in Turkey rooted the Pan-Islamic
movements that unify all Muslims to overthrow western colonization there and reinstate the
The situation in Egypt also contributed to the awareness of the Malays in Malaya.
British annexation of Egypt in 1882 sparked the Islah Movement that was led by Syed
Muhammad Abduh. He had written many books and articles in expressing his thoughts. The
movement was conveyed to Malaya by the Malayan Student that studied there. After their
studies, the students brought back the ideas and share them through Al-Imam. Through the
newspaper, they motivated the Malay’s awareness to abandon their cultural practice,
Russo-Japanese War
In 1905, the Japanese defeated the Russians in Russo-Japanese war. What was
significant with the Japanese victory was, that was the first time ever an Asian nation
managed to defeat a European super power. That motivates that Asian Nations, and in this
Regional Factors
15
Gordon P Means, Malaysian Politics, p. 44.
16
Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, p.163.
10
In Indonesia, Indonesian Nationalist Party that was led by Soekarno fought for
independent from the Dutch colonization. The opposition left deep impact to the movements
in Malaya because of the close proximity of the nation, the colonial situations that the nations
In Philippines, similar occurrence happened where Jose Rizal revolt against the
Spaniards. He founded the Philippines League to demand the colonials to give better
treatments to the people of Philippines. Even though he was arrested and sentenced to death,
his idea and the movement he initiated continued and struggled against the Spanish and then
the Americans.
Those are just some of the external factors that sparked the movements in Malaya to
start the nationalism movement. Even though the occurrences seemed like sparked the
nationalist movement amongst the Malays, they however, also contribute to the new style of
movements, that are the nucleus of the political movement that come into sight at a later date.
CONCLUSIONS
The movements of unifying the Malays and the emergence of the new political
scenario in Malaya can be considered as chain reactions. The factors that emerged one after
another led to the realization of the Malays the importance of education, economical status
disparities and their sovereignty in the Malay states. Even though the ‘real’ political parties
have not emerged yet then, the Malays realized the importance of being united to outcast the
The factors that were outlined above actually sparked nationalism spirit amongst the
Malays, they also became the starting points of the new political system in early 20th century.
It was the era of transition in the Malayan political culture, from traditional political
17
Ibid.
11
administration that were practiced in the traditional Malay states to the new political structure
that also start to shape the structure that is practiced today which is ‘constitutional
monarchy’.
12
Bibliography
2. Gordon P Means, Malaysian Politics, London: University of London Press Ltd, 1970.
3. Ruslan Zainuddin and Fuziah Shafie, Sejarah Malaysia, Shah Alam: Penerbitan Fajar
Bakti, 2001.
4. Ong Loo Chen, Sejarah STPM, Bangi: Penerbitan Pelangi Sdn. Bhd., 2005.
13