CONFLICT AND COLLABORATION

Abstract

The establishment of workable collaborative relations with indigenous elites formed a vital part of the maintenance of the British Empire. This was especially so in the Malay States, where the Malay rulers enjoyed considerable local prestige as religious leaders and as the organising principle of Malay society itself. As the case of Sultan Ibrahim of Johore demonstrates, nevertheless, indigenous collaborators were no mere puppets and enjoyed considerable freedom of action to frustrate and impede the policies of their imperial overlords. Sultan Ibrahim presents a particularly interesting case study as his 64-year reign more or less spanned the entire period of formal British rule in Malaya.

Notes

¹Minute by Harold Beckett, 13 August 1928, The National Archives (TNA), CO 717/61/3.

²Two years earlier, Anderson had succeeded in forcing the retirement of Abdul Rahman.

³TNA, CO 717/143/17.

⁴TNA, CO 717/147/2.

⁵Minute by W.B.L. Monson, 5 December 1941, TNA, CO 717/147/2.

⁶Telegram from Sir Shenton Thomas to the Secretary of State, unnumbered, 3 December 1941, TNA, CO 717/147/2.

⁷Cited in ‘The policy of decentralization in the Federated Malay States’, Memorandum by J.M. Martin, 14 November 1930, TNA, CO 717/76/7.

⁸‘Some notes on a policy in respect of the Unfederated Malay States’, by Maxwell, 15 October 1920, TNA, CO 717/10, no. 51135/1920, f 449.

⁹Minute by Walter D. Ellis, 4 June 1931, TNA, CO 717/79/2.

¹⁰Minute by J.A. Calder, 4 June 1931, TNA, CO 717/79/2.

¹¹Letter from Clementi to Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 17 December 1931, TNA, CO 717/94/18.

¹²Minute by Calder, 7 February 1933, TNA, CO 717/94/18.

¹⁷‘The Sultan of Johore’, Note by Gent, 1 November 1934, TNA, CO 717/102/6.

¹³The Johore constitution had been promulgated in 1894 by Sultan Abu Bakar.

¹⁴Letter from Ibrahim to Clementi, 21 October 1933, TNA, CO 717/94/18.

¹⁵Minute by Gent, 7 February 1934, TNA, CO 717/94/18.

¹⁶Minute by H.R. Cowell, 13 February 1934, TNA, CO 717/94/18.

¹⁸Memorandum prepared by the direction of H.H. Sir Ibrahim Sultan of Johore for submission to His Majesty's Secretary of State (undated), TNA, CO 717/74/5.

¹⁹Letter from Clementi to Cunliffe-Lister, 4 January 1934, TNA, CO 717/102/3.

²⁰Minute by Gent, 8 October 1936, TNA, CO 717/121/15.

²¹Draft letter from the Secretary of State to Shenton Thomas, 26 November 1936, TNA, CO 717/118/1; Letter from Shenton Thomas to Ormsby-Gore, 12 January 1937, TNA, CO 717/124/9. Among Sultan Sulaiman's demands were the right to ‘communicate with the Secretary of State in all matters’ and the introduction of a Johore-style constitution.

²²Letter from Dato A. Rahman, Tuan Haji Hassan, Dr Awang, Suleiman, Kesai, Ahmad and Safiah to A.T. Newboult, 25 February 1946, enclosing a memorandum, TNA, CO 537/1540.

²³Telegram from Newboult to Colonial Office, No. 1065, 12 February 1946, TNA, CO 537/1540.

²⁴Political Report No. 8 for June 1949, TNA, CO 825/74/3.

²⁵Telegram from Gurney to Secretary of State, No. 715, 17 June, TNA, CO 537/4790.

²⁶Political Report No. 11 for September 1949, TNA, CO 825/74/3.

²⁷Telegram from Sir Franklin Gimson, to the Secretary of State, No. 1109, 30 September 1949, CO, TNA, 537/4790; Straits Times, 30 September 1949.

²⁸Letter from Dato Onn to the Sultan of Johore, 2 October 1949, TNA, CO 537/4790.

²⁹Letter from Abu Bakar to Gent, 16 March 1944, TNA, CO 717/148/1.

³⁰Minute by J.C. Saul, 13 April 1955, TNA, CO 1030/372.

³¹Telegram from the Secretary of State to Gent, No. 101, 16 January 1948, TNA, CO 537/3665.

³²Minute by Roberts-Wray, 11 April 1946, TNA, CO 717/150/2.

³³Minute by Roberts-Wray, 5 October 1955, TNA, CO 1030/372.

³⁴Minute by J.B. Johnston, 14 June 1956, TNA, CO 1030/373.

³⁵Minute by Rees-Williams, 14 January 1948, TNA, CO 537/3659.

³⁶Letter from MacDonald to the Secretary of State, 1 November 1950, TNA, CO 537/5960.

³⁷Minute by J.D. Higham, 18 December 1950, TNA, CO 537/5960.

³⁸Letter from Roberts-Wray to Sir Hartley Shawcross, 26 January 1950, TNA, CO 537/5960.

³⁹Minute by Higham, 4 September 1950, TNA, CO 537/5960.

⁴⁰The following is based on Letter from MacGillivray to Lloyd. Ref: KHY 73/52, 28 October 1954, TNA, CO 1030/375.

⁴¹Note by Lennox-Boyd, 2 January 1955, TNA, CO 1030/375.

⁴²Telegram from Lennox-Boyd to MacGillivray, No. 248, 15 November 1956, TNA, CO 1030/375.

⁴³High Commissioner MacGillivray emphasised that ‘If at all possible we should avoid a controversy with the Alliance, particularly, and also with the Rulers, though a controversy with the Rulers would not be so dangerous.’ (Letter from MacGillivray to Johnston, Ref: KHY 35/56F, 21 December 1956, TNA, CO 1030/133.)

⁴⁴Letter from Ibrahim to Lennox-Boyd, 5 December 1956, TNA, CO 1030/375.

⁴⁵Reminiscences of Summerville, 21 March 1970, Rhodes House Library, Oxford, MSS. Brit Emp. S 480, Heussler Papers, Box 17, File 3.

⁴⁶Malayan independence.

⁴⁷Minute by Cahill, 15 December 1955, TNA, CO 1030/375.

⁴⁸Telegram from MacGillivray to Secretary of State, No. 565, 19 September 1955, TNA, CO 1030/374; Monthly Emergency and Political Report, 15 August-15 September 1055, TNA, CO 1030/247.

⁴⁹Note by W.B. Monson, 26 July 1949, TNA, CO 825/35/12.

⁵⁰Letter from Gurney to Higham, 28 April 1951, TNA, CO 717/186/5.