WHAT ARE THE MAJOR FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE CHANGES

IN MALAY POLITICS BETWEEN 1900 TO 1940. DISCUSS.

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

the intervention of British were influenced by the Malay kingdoms in Indonesia.

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

the Malay states after the transform of Malay attitudes.

1
Ibrahim Mahmood, Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa Melayu, Kuala Lumpur; Penerbitan Pustaka Antara, 1981, pp.
17-18.
2
Ibid.

1
 MALAYAN EARLY POLITICAL STRUCTURES

Traditional Political Structure

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

influenced by the political structure of the Minangkabau in Sumatera. The structures of

traditional political administration in the Malay States are generally reflected in Figure 1.

Sultan
Ulama/ State Officials

District Officials

Penghulu / Village Officials

Normal Citizens

Slaves

Figure 1: The Traditional Political Structure of a Malay States.

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

obvious that the ruling elites were all Malays.

British Political Structure

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

States before being further extended to the Unfederated Malay States.

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

arrangements, the British policy followed the following principles:4

1. The legal position of the Sultans was safeguarded, as laid down in the treaties.

2. The government was preserved as the distinctly Malay government which

antedated any of the treaty arrangements made by the British.

3. The Malays were considered the indigenous people, and the government

accepted special responsibility for their welfare and the preservation of their rights as

‘the subjects of the Sultan’ in each state.

The introduction of the system resulted in dissatisfaction amongst the Malays,

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.

Figure 2: State Administration System after British Intervention.

Although the colonial government established State Legislative and Executive

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

substantial reforms leading to the eventual popular participation in democratic institutions.7

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

need to be registered to the government and can be leased or transfer of ownerships.

However, the government has the right in the process and thus, the taxes imposed contributed

to the government’s income.

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

press printing in Malaya.

British Administration System

Introduction of Malays in the administration system leads to the increase of Malay

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

equality in the distribution of economic.

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

studies, especially from Britain.

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

they had left the college.

9
Ibid.
10
Ibid.

7
 Ibrahim Haji Yaacob, who was a student leader when he was studying at SITC, was

one of the examples. He was involved in the establishment of Ikatan Semenanjung-Borneo

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

weakness that they are facing under the British administration.

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

their districts or states.

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

is currently known racial orientated parties such as MCA and MIC.

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

start expressing their demands on the Malayan sovereignty.12

Introduction of Printing Materials

The modernization of the means of media also contributed to the development of

modern politics in Malaya. During that period, the means of printing were through

publications such as books, newspapers and magazines.

The publications, especially newspapers and magazines were not distributed

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

papers debated about the establishments of Malay organizations, decentralizations, and

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

and the contributors.14

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

Dutch East Indies.15

Middle East Factors

In late 19th century, a movement of Islamic Reformation emerged in the Middle

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

faith of the Muslims to Islam, not the western liberal ideology.

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,

superstitious and practices that were against the Islamic teachings.16

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

case the Malayan people to fight against the British administration.

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

are facing and similarities in the cultural aspects.17

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

British administration from Malaya.

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

1. Ibrahim Mahmood, Sejarah Perjuangan Bangsa Melayu, Kuala Lumpur; Penerbitan

Pustaka Antara, 1981.

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.

5. Hideo Yamada, “The Origins of British Colonialization of Malaya in Relation to its

Tin”, The Developing Economies, Vol. 9, Pt. 3, September 1971.

13