Review 1

Book Title: Malay Politics in Sarawak

Chapter 4: Temporary Reconciliation, 1952-1960

The difficulties of the Malay aristocracy utilizing their political positions and power to bring
education to the Malay public, as well as the challenges of the new breed of educated Malays
promoting awareness through the media "Utusan Sarawak" such as newspapers or books,
were ageless hardships in this chapter of the book. Although education was dominated by
aristocratic families and so continues to be restricted by Brooke rules, the Malays and their
leaders tended to widen access to education to the general Malay community during the
earliest stages of colonialism. The difficult journey and hurdles they had endured, particularly
for Malays, enabled them to be braver and advance up the social ladder, where fresh
possibilities awaited them. The conclusion of Brooke's authority in Sarawak, allowed them to
recruit more patriotic and intelligent young Malays.

The premise of the book was temporary reconciliation, and we will learn that the British
Colonial power had just a brief period and the power to be in control and govern the country
at the time. The author chose transitory reconciliation as the chapter's major issue since the
era between 1952 and 1960 was marked by the ceding conflict, which had drained the
Malays' political endurance at the time. During that period, there were several ethnic,
identity, educational, and social difficulties among them, particularly among the Malays in
comparison to the Chinese and Dayak. The Chinese had a higher social rank than the Malays
at the time because the Chinese had a higher educational level and had maintained their
fundamental studies from primary to secondary school, with some even having the
opportunity to study abroad. They would have some anti-cessationists from these cases, as
the Malay younger generation felt the policy was unfair and influenced by the older
aristocrats (pro-cessationists), and in the end, they planned to form a new party made up
entirely of Malays to spread propaganda about issues of identity distribution.

Yaacob (2014) noted that, unlike the Chinese, the Malays did not have any private
schools, that the Sekolah Ra'yat were few, and that the majority of Malay schools were run by
the town authority, putting them at a disadvantage when compared to a very well Chinese
schools. Based on the author's thesis, I believe and understand that Malays did not regard
themselves as members of the conquered country, but rather as minorities among other races
and beliefs. The British colonial government also did not anticipate that they would resent
being associated with the formation of Malay political parties because they feared that the
Malays would take advantage of their position one day and so no longer care about their
status. In "Table 1," the author also provided evidence of how the occupation was distributed
between Malays, Chinese, and Iban between 1947 and 1960. Because what the author
claimed in the study is based on what transpired during the era of interim reconciliation
between 1952 and 1960, the table and data provided by the author were evidence and made
sense.

Finally, the author clarifies the material and specifies the major issue since the researcher
discovered some intriguing discoveries that will be further investigated in the future. The
information in the book can help us understand media politics more deeply because we can
learn about how the impact of political change can make education prove to be a powerful
element in bringing about mass awareness and political consciousness, as we saw with the
Sarawak Malays and their identity politics.
Review 2

Book Title: Malay Politics In Sarawak

Chapter 37: Party Bumiputera: The Final Reconciliation, 1964-1966

The main argument that we can take away from this chapter is that Sarawak's political
life has been marked by uncertainty, conflict, and recurrent crises. It is an uncommon
phenomenon for political experts since it is a primitive background covered with very
complex forms of political struggle. Sarawak, in particular, will face a number of issues that
are split not only by ethnicity, religion, and language but also by the environment.

The topic of this book was discussing the last reunite or synonym as the last reconciliation
of the Malay people and the native people in Sarawak have the potential to safeguard their
original land and, because of their trust in its perfection, they would want to defend
themselves to protect their territory so that non-native people do not simply take over their
land, power, and resources. The author had covered the book's theme in this chapter because
what we can see from the book is that they had covered two major parts that discussed the
book's premise, including the unity parties between Party UMNO and Party Malay's Sarawak
(Party Bumiputera Sarawak) and the Sarawak constitutional crisis in 1966, which was caused
by the first chief minister, Stephen Ningkan.

The first important event described in this chapter of the book occurred between 1964 and
1965 when the Malays separated again over the projected foundation of Malaysia. In
Sarawak, they had two Malay local parties, PANAS and BARJASA, which fought vigorously
in the 1963 elections. However, following the 1963 elections, a party named UMNO, which
arose from the Peninsula's Malay Party attempted to persuade the Party Malays Sarawak to
join them in forming a single organizational party, with ambitions to establish a branch in
Sarawak. However, in 1964, the two parties, PANAS and BERJASA, opted not to join them
because they felt that if they joined UMNO as one of the teams, they would be afraid in the
end, and the Peninsular Malay Parties would be able to govern Sarawak's internal affairs. The
failure of the effort to create UMNO in Sarawak would also be due to the UMNO's incapacity
to overcome key constitutional issues.
 The political crisis in Sarawak, which began with the first chief minister, Stephen
Ningkan, was another key topic discussed in this chapter of the book. This occurred when
Ningkan attempted to implement a land reform law that would allow natives to sell their
property to anybody who was interested, including the Chinese, who had become the non-
native people's top priority. The BARJASA party's leaders were enraged at Ningkan's actions.
As a result, the Sarawak Native Alliance was created, consisting of PANAS, BARJASA, and
PESAKA, to resist the Ningkan leadership. As a consequence, even though Stephen
Ningkam's leadership had a positive impact on the people in terms of hope, aspirations, and
unity for the diverse non-native and Dayak groups in Sarawak, it was still unfair to other
native people in Sarawak, such as Malays, who were still one of the most powerful native
groups with voices and power to buy land.

Last but not least, I believe that the information we gained from this book makes sense
and that we can learn about how important it was for native people like the Malays and Iban
in Sarawak to have the highest priority in achieving their goals in their own land, Sarawak, as
opposed to non-native people like the Chinese and Malay's from the peninsular, because we
had the rights to govern our own land and resources. I honestly believe that we should form
our own Bumiputera Parties as a result of this chapter because we need to learn to be
recognized for what we have and not to be ruled by others.