BRITISH DISCOURSES AND MALAY IDENTITY IN COLONIAL SINGAPORE

Abstract

This article examines British discourses on Malay identity in colonial Singapore against the backdrop of the latent realities of that era. I argue that British discourses are determined by a confluence of ideological, political and methodological underpinnings as well as other factors which gave rise to a tenuous understanding of what it meant to be ‘Malay’. Nevertheless, such discourses should not be disregarded because they provide us with useful vantage points from which the much neglected subject of Malay identity in colonial Singapore could be approached, refined and fully understood. British discourses on Islam, perceived differences between Malays and other ethnic groupings, the Malay language, the notion of a ‘depressed community’ and class divisions will be interrogated in order to arrive at a more comprehensive portrayal of Malay identity in colonial Singapore.

Notes

¹See Aljunied 2005: 12–16; Bayly 1989: 136–37; Clarke 1997: 75–92; Colley 1992, 309–29; Daniel 1966: 66; Ferguson 2004; Hilton 1988: 26; King 1999: 130; Porter 1992: 370–90; Schwab 1984: 51–81; Trevelyan 2000: 372; and van der Veer 2001: 22.

²TNA, CO 537/7346, Political summary–June 1951 Part III – Colonial Territories – Singapore.

³See two other scholarly studies of the Malays in Singapore, Djamour 1959; Hanna 1966.

⁴TNA (The National Archives, UK, henceforth TNA), CO 537/7341, Appendix A: Report on Singapore Legislative Council's election, 10 April 1951; CO 1022/206, Resume of the Singapore political scene, May 1952; and CO 1030/713 Elections to Singapore City Council in 1957.

⁵TNA, CO 537/2177, Indonesian influence in Malay Peninsula (1947); CO 537/3779, Political situation: Indonesian propaganda (1948); CO 537/4780, Political developments: Indonesian influence in the Malay Peninsula (1949); CO 537/4789, Political developments: Persatuan Indonesia Merdeka (P.I.M.) (1949); CO 537/7294, Political developments: Indonesian influence in the Malay Peninsula (1951).

⁶ Registration of Aliens Ordinance, 1940 (1940); CO 537/7302, Franklin Gimson to Foreign Office, 25 February 1951; National Archives of Singapore (henceforth NAS), Oral history interview, A000301, p. 30: Transcription of interview with Mr Roderick Maclean, 1 September 1983.

⁷NAS Oral history interview, A0000521/09, Recorded interview with Abdul Ghani bin Mohd Sultan.

⁸TNA, CO 537/3751, Malayan security services, Political Intelligence Journals, 4/1948, 29 February 1948.

⁹NAS, Oral history interview A000715/11, Recorded interview with Buang Bin Haji Siraj.

¹⁰See for example Annual Report 1957: 27. The total population of Singapore in 1957 was 1.45 million: 78.1% were Chinese, 10.7% Malays, 7% Indians, with Europeans, Eurasians, Arabs as well other ethnic groupings constituting the remaining population.

¹¹For a discussion on controversies surrounding the Shiite and Ahmadiyya movements in Singapore, see Marcinkowski 2006: 20–40; Sharifah Zaleha 1989: 43–69. As early as 26 January till 4 March 1926, a libel case in which some members of the Ahmadiyya movement filed against an anti-Ahmadi propagandist who denounced the Ahmadis as unbelievers became a highly debated issue within the Muslim community. The judgment was given on 19 March 1926 in favour of the plaintiffs. See Bashir 1928.

¹²TNA, CO 537/7243, Malayan Security Services, Political Intelligence Journals, 2/1946, John Dalley Papers; TNA CO 537/2151, Malay Nationalist Party, and Angkatan Pemuda Insaf.

¹³TNA, CO 537/6006, Internal Security Malaya, 14 June 1948.

¹⁴Ibid.

¹⁵For an illuminating account of Malays' declining adherence towards Islam during the Japanese Occupation, see Abu Talib 2003: 176–96.

¹⁶NAS Oral history interview A000960/05, Recorded interview with Hamid bin Ahmad.

¹⁷For detailed accounts on the causes of the Maria Hertogh riots see Cody 2001; Haja Maideen 1989; Hughes 1980; Jesudason 1969; Mohamed Ansari 1973; and Nordin 2005: 561–575.

¹⁸TNA, CO 537/7248, Riots: Singapore; Report of Commission of Enquiry: Leach Report (1951).

¹⁹For more information on British perceptions of the movement, see TNA, FO 1091/107. Special Branch Intelligence Summary (nos. 4, 5 and 8/60).

²⁰TNA, FO 371/84509 Singapore political report for August 1950, and Proceedings of the First Legislative Council 1952: 317; Malaya Tribune, 19 April 1947, 25 November 1947, and 3 January 1948. See also Manderson 1980: 54–55.

²¹See also Shamsul 2004: 135–48.

²²Wilson 1969: 172; Zahoor Ahmad, 1969.

²³TNA, CO 537/ 2677, Political developments in the Federation of Malaya and Singapore, October/November, 1948; CO 1022/429, Extract of minutes of Malaya/Borneo governors' conference, 15 January 1952.

²⁴NAS Oral history interview A0001258/03, Recorded interview with Abdul Aziz Omar.

²⁵NAS Oral history interview A000704/10, Recorded interview with Sukaimi bin Ibrahim.