New Perspectives and Research on Malaysian History: Essays on Malaysian Historiography

277 Pages·2007·1.531 MB·English

by  Boon Kheng Cheah (editor)

New Perspectives and Research on
Malaysian History
(Essays on Malaysian Historiography)
Edited by
Cheah Boon Kheng
Monograph41
MBRAS2007
Publishedby
theMalaysianBranchoftheRoyalAsiaticSociety
8
MBRAS2007
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Visitourwebsite:www.mbras.org.my
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PerpustakaanNegaraMalaysia Cataloguing-in-PublicationData
NewperspectivesandresearchonMalaysianhistory:(essayson
Malaysianhistoriography)/editedbyCheahBoonKheng
Bibliography:p.
ISBN978-967-9948-40-0
1.Literatureandhistory-Malaysia. 2.Historicalcriticism
(Literature).
I.CheahBoonKheng.
809
Printedfor
TheMalaysianBranchoftheRoyalAsiaticSociety
by
AcademeArt&PrintingServicesSdn.Bhd.
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Contents
Foreword iv
NotesonContributors v
1. IntroductionbyCheahBoonKheng 1
2. AbuTalibAhmad
ScribesandHistorians,StateMuseumsand
Statehistories 9
3. AbuTalibAhmad
Re-readingAdatLawsandLegalTextsas
SourcesofMalaySocialStability 61
4. BadriyahHajiSalleh
SyairasaHistoricalSource:TheSyairTantangan
Singapura,a19thcenturytext 97
5. CheahBoonKheng
NewTheoriesandChallengesinMalaysianHistory 119
6. HaryatiHassanandHamidinAbd.Hamid
WritingmarginalizedgroupsintoMalaysianhistory 147
7. LohWeiLeng
TheGerschenkronAdvantage:Newdirectionsfor
forgingaheadinMalaysianeconomichistory 159
8. MahaniMusa
HighlightingMalaywomeninMalaysian
historiography 179
9. NikHaslindaNikHussain
WritingonOrangAsliintoMalaysianHistory 211
10. PaulH.Kratoska
ManyMalayas:PlacingMalaysiainaHistorical
Context 229
11. DannyWongTzeKen
WritingtheHistoryoftheChineseinMalaysia:
Newdirectionsandbridgingthegapsbetweentwo
linguisticspheres 247
iii
Foreword
ThisvolumeonthehistoriansandthewritingandresearchofMalaysian
history,editedbyDrCheahBoonKheng,ourjournaleditor,isthefirstof
twovolumesonhistoriography,whichtheMalaysianBranchoftheRoyal
Asiatic Society is publishing to commemorate its 130th anniversary this
year. The second volume is “Historians and their discipline: The call of
Southeast Asian History” which is being edited by Emeritus Professor
NicholasTarlingoftheUniversityofAuckland,NewZealand.
TheMBRASinits130thexistence,exceptforashortbreakduring
the Japanese Occupation of Malaysia (1941-1945), has played a major
role in publishing the works of historians and other researchers from all
overtheworldonMalaysia,SingaporeandBrunei,itsthreemainareasof
interests. Its journal and monographs are widely circulated and their
contentsfrequentlycited.Notmanylearnedsocietieshaveenjoyedsucha
longhistory.Thesocietyhasbeenabletosustainitselflargelythroughits
worldwidemembership,thesalesofitspublications,anddonationsfrom
governments and other bodies. We hope the members and the general
publicwillcontinuetosupportitspublications.
Thesocietywouldliketothankcontributorstothisvolume,andMs
AnitaMurrayourcopy-editorforpreparingtheworkforpublication,and
MissSallyLeeforsecretarialassistance.
DatoHenryBarlow
Hon.Treasurer,MBRAS
7thMay2007
iv
Notes on Contributors
Abu Talib Ahmad is a professor of history and dean of the School of
HumanitiesatUniversitiSainsMalaysiainPenang.Hisresearchinterests
include Southeast Asian history, modern Japanese history and, current-
ly, museums and memorials in Malaysia and Singapore. His recent
publications include Reflections on Southeast Asian History since 1945
(editedwithRichardMason)in2006(PenerbitUniversitiSainsMalaysia,
Penang);NewTerrainsinSoutheastAsianHistory(editedwithTanLiok
Ee) in 2003, (Singapore University Press: Singapore); The Malay-
Muslims, Islam and the Rising Sun: 1941-45 in 2003 (MBRAS mono-
graph)andJapaneseCivilisation(inMalay)in2005.
Badriyah Haji Salleh retired as an associate professor at the History
Department in the School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia in
Penang. After her retirement she took up an appointment briefly as a
curatorattheMelakaMuseum.SheobtainedherPh.D.degreeinhistory
at the University of Columbia in NewYork. She is the author of several
journalarticlesandhaseditedwithDrTanLiokEeabookonMalaysian
historiography, Alam Pensejarahan: Dari Pelbagai Perspektif, (Dewan
BahasadanPustaka:KualaLumpur,1966).
Haryati Hasan is a lecturer in history at the School of Humanities,
Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang. She obtained her Ph.D. from
UniversitiKebangsaanMalaysiain2004,andherM.A.andB.A.degrees
fromUniversitiMalayain1994and1999respectively.Shehaspublished
journalarticlesonMalaywomeninKelantan.
HamidinAbdulHamidisaseniorlecturerintheHistoryDepartmentat
UniversitiMalayainKualaLumpur.HeobtainedhisB.A(Hons.)degree
from Universiti Malaya in 1994 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in
African History from the School of Oriental and African Studies at
University of London, U.K. in 1996 and 2000 respectively. His other
interestsincludesocialhistoryandMalaysianhistoriography.
CheahBoonKhengretiredin1994asaprofessorofhistoryattheSchool
ofHumanities,UniversitiSainsMalaysiainPenang.Sincehisretirement
hehasheldvisitingprofessorshipsattheUSM,attheAustralianNational
v
University in Canberra and at the Institute of SoutheastAsian Studies in
Singapore. His books include Red Star Over Malaya (Singapore
UniversityPress:Singapore,1983),ThePeasantRobbersofKedah,1900-
1929: Historical and Folk Perceptions (Oxford University Press: K.
Lumpur,1988);Malaysia:TheMakingofaNation(InstituteofSoutheast
AsianStudies,Singapore,2002)andTo’Janggut:Legends,Historiesand
Perceptions of the 1915 Rebellion in Kelantan (NUS Publishing:
Singapore,2006).
Loh Wei Leng was formerly a professor in the History Department at
Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. Her research interests include the
economic,businessandmaritimehistoryofMalaysia.Herrecentpublica-
tions include the essay, “Multicultural Organizations in Asia”, in the
specialissueofAsiaPacificBusinessReview,Vol.11,No.4,December,
2005, of which she was guest editor with Heidi Dahles; “Researching
BusinessNetworksandFirmsinMalaysia”inChineseBusinessHistory,
Fall, 2004; and “The Colonial State and Business: The Policy
Environment in Malaya in the Inter-war years” in Journal of Southeast
AsianStudies,33(2),June2002.
Mahani Musa is a lecturer in the history department at the School of
Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang. She obtained
her Ph.D. degree from Universiti Malaya in 2003. Her major areas of
research are Malaysian social history and the histories of Penang and
Kedah.Shehaspublishedjournalarticlesandmonographs,bothinMalay
and English. Her book Malay Secret Societies in the Northern Malay
States1821-1940’s was publishedby the MalaysianBranch of theRoyal
Asiatic Society (MBRAS) in Malay in 2003 and was awarded the
society’s Mubin Sheppard Memorial Prize. Her most recent book is The
socio-economic history of Malay Women in Kedah (in Malay), (UKM
Press:Bangi,2005).
Nik Haslinda Nik Hussain is a lecturer in the History Department at
Universiti Sains Malaysia. She obtained her B.A. (Hons.) degree from
UniversitasUdayana,DenpasarinBali,Indonesiain1993,herM.A.from
Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1998 and her Ph.D. degree from Universiti
Malaya in 2006. Her Ph.D. degree thesis is on land and agriculture in
Kelantan, 1881-1941. She has published journal articles on Malay rural
societyandagriculture.
vi
Paul H. Kratoska taught Southeast Asian history at Universiti Sains
Malaysia from 1977 until 1987, and at the National University of
Singapore from 1987 until 2005. He is currently Managing Director of
NUSPress(formerlySingaporeUniversityPress).Hehaswrittenwidely
on the Japanese occupation, on food and nutrition, and on school text-
books in Southeast Asia. His publications include The Japanese
Occupation of Malaya: A Social and Economic History (London: C.
Hurst,1998;Japanesetranslation:Tokyo:Kojinsha,2005.)
Danny Wong Tze Ken is an associate professor at the Department of
History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya in K.
Lumpur.HisresearchinterestsinvolveVietnamesehistoryinthe17thand
19thcenturies,Cham-MalayrelationsandcontemporaryVietnamesefor-
eignrelations.HeiscurrentlydoingresearchonthehistoryofSabah,East
Malaysia and the Chinese community in Malaysia. His books include
Vietnam-Malaysia Relations during the Cold War (Penerbit Universiti
Malaya: Kuala Lumpur, 1995); The Transformation of an Immigrant
Society:HistoryoftheChineseofSabah(AseanAcademicPress,London,
1998) and Historical Sabah: Community and Society (Natural History
Publications,KotaKinabalu,2004).
vii
Introduction
CheahBoonKheng
Since the 1950’s and 1960’s debates on Euro-centric versusAsia-centric
formsofhistorywriting,Malaysianhistorianshavemovedawaytodebate
and write their own autonomous histories. Where the earlier debates on
historiography were between Malaysians and foreigners, the debates
among Malaysian historians themselves now relate to approaches,
methodologies,interpretationsorhowtodeterminetheorigins,rolesand
contributions of the various ethnic groups in the country. They also deal
with“alternativehistories”–women’shistory,subalternhistory,andpost-
modernhistory.Theyaddressquestionslike,“Whatistobewritten?”and
“How should it be written?” The impact of an event like the Japanese
occupationofMalaysia,forinstance,isseenorinterpreteddifferentlyby
historiansandbyeachoftheethnicgroups,orinthe‘nationalhistory,’as
presented in the nation’s history school textbooks, or in the various state
museums.
WithinMalaysianhistoriography,thereappeartobetwodistinctive
schoolsofhistorians.Theydifferfromoneanotherintheirmethodologies
and approaches, according to Dr Hamidin Abdul Hamid of the history
department at Universiti Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, who is one of
ourcontributors.InapaperhepresentedatahistoryseminaratUniversiti
Malayaon19thAugust2006,1DrHamidinobservesthatthetwoschools
are: the dominant or widely influential group of “Rankean and conven-
tionalhistorians”atUniversitiMalayainKualaLumpur,andtheother,a
minorityofsocialhistoriansatUniversitiSainsMalaysiainPenang.The
formerincludesthefirstgenerationofMalaysianhistorianslikeProfessor
EmeritusDatukKhooKayKim,whoweretrainedatUM’shistorydepart-
ment and were among those who pioneered the writing of autonomous
historyinMalaysia.Theirimpactissuchthatmanyjuniormembersofthe
UM’sdepartmentandgraduatestudentsstillfollowtheRankeanandcon-
ventionalstyleofhistorywritingandresearch.However,thesecondgroup
of historians, says Dr Hamidin, use social science theories in writing
Malaysianhistory. DrHamidin,whohimselfisasocialhistorian,(seehis
1 SeeHamidinAbd.Hamid,“Perdebatanyanghilang:TeoridanSejarahdiMalaysia,”
paper presented at a workshop on postgraduate studies, Department of History,
UniversitiMalaya,PantaiValley,KualaLumpur,19August2006.
1
joint essay with Haryati Hasan on ‘Writing Marginalized groups into
Malaysian history’), says that although the USM social historians
emergedfromthesecondgenerationofpost-graduatestudentsorlecturers
at UM, yet they broke away to strike out with their own approach in
historywriting.TheydiffernotonlyfromtheUM‘Rankeanandconven-
tional historians’ in their choice of themes and topics, but also in their
methodologies and use of social theory. “Their approach particularly
‘history from below’has given an unambiguous picture of social history
inMalaysiaandmadeitsownimpact,”saysDrHamidin.2
Besides social history, members of the USM’s history department
havealsobeengreatlyinterestedinfollowingthelatesttrendsinmodern
historiography.Amajorinfluenceonthesehistorianswasinitiallyexerted
byaseniormemberofthedepartment,thelateDrR.Suntharalingam,who
taughtacourseintheoryandmethodinhistoryandmotivatedcolleagues
and students into thinking about theoretical frameworks and latest
historicalperspectivesintheteaching,learningandresearchofhistory.He
published two books of his lectures on historiography for students, and
initiatedthewritingandpublicationofseveralvolumesofstaffessayson
theoretical topics such as nationalism, colonialism, violence and society.
Anotherinfluenceonthememberswasderivedfromthecloseinteraction
they had with the USM’s School of Social Sciences, especially their
sociologistsandpoliticalscientistsinpeasantstudies,andthoseresearch-
ing on poverty, underdevelopment, gender issues and women’s history.
The USM’s history department’s interest in historiography led it to
organize a national conference on issues relating to Malaysian his-
toriographyon17th–18thAugust1992andaninternationalconferenceon
Southeast Asian historiography, from 30th July to 1st August 1999. An
outcome of the first conference was a collection of papers, Alam
Pensejarahan: Dari Pelbagai Perspektif, (The World of Historiography:
FromVariousPerspectives),editedbyBadriyahHajiSallehandTanLiok
Ee and published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur in
1997. The second conference resulted in the publication of another
volumeofpapers,NewTerrainsinSoutheastAsianHistory,editedbyAbu
TalibAhmadandTanLiokEe,in2003bySingaporeUniversityPressand
theCenterofInternationalStudiesatOhioUniversity.
Inthispresentvolumethecontributors,whocomefrompresentand
formermembersofthehistorydepartmentofUSMandthreelike-minded
historians from Universiti Malaya, focus on neglected topics of research
or on new approaches and challenges emerging within Malaysian
historiography. The project was first mooted at a history department
2 Ibid.,p.8.
2
meeting in 2005 when the editor, who had retired from USM in 1994,
returned to its School of Humanities as a visiting professor for a year.
Severalofthoseinitiallyinvitedtoparticipatehadindicatedtheirinterest
in contributing papers, but due to heavy work commitments, had
eventually to withdraw from the project. Consequently, the project’s
earlier aim of covering a wider spectrum of issues, including diplomatic
history,perspectivesonethnichistoriesandthestatehistoriesofSarawak
andSabah,hasonlybeenpartiallyachieved.Afewessaysinthisvolume
do touch on these areas, such as Abu Talib’s Ahmad’s essay on state
histories,NikHaslinda’sonthehistoryoftheOrangAsli(formerlyknown
astheaboriginalgroups)intheMalayPeninsula,andDannyWong’sand
LohWeiLeng’sworksmakefrequentreferencestoSarawakandSabah.
Thepapersarethematicallyfocusedonapproachesandnewareasof
research that have already emerged but not gained much ground in
Malaysianhistoriography.MuchofcurrentMalaysianhistoricalwritingis
still descriptive, narrative and empiricist, due to the Rankean influence,
andlackanalysis,interpretationandtheoreticalframeworks.TheRankean
school at UM has often argued that Malaysian historians should first
gather more descriptive data in a “conventional way” before becoming
preoccupied with theories or following trends in European historiogra-
phy.3 But it is impossible that Malaysian historiography should remain
stagnant and aloof at this level indefinitely, without venturing into new
theoreticalareasoranewsetoftopicsforinvestigation,orraisequestions
about the goals and methods of history generally. Should historians
concentrate only on thick descriptions and narratives? Historians cannot
avoid making generalizations about patterns of human behaviour.
Historians also cannot capture the fullness of past experience. Their
accountsarenecessarilyonlypartial.Historiansshould,therefore,liberate
their thinking from the tyranny of empiricism to generate intellectual
excitement; otherwise historical research and writing will remain a dull
and uninspiring discipline. Between 1976 and 1990, the general trend in
modern historiography had shifted from political and social history
toward intellectual and cultural history. New and exciting aspects of
human experience are always being discovered. Historians must try and
learnfromtheeffortsofotherstomakesenseoftheirownlivesandtheir
complex changing social world. It is increasingly difficult to accept
Ranke’sviewthathistoryismerelynarrativeanddescriptionoristheonly
way to mirror past reality, “as it actually was”. Cheah Boon Kheng’s
3 Such a view has been expressed by Khoo Kay Kim in his essay, “Malaysian
Historiography:AFurtherLook,”inKajianMalaysia,10(1),1992:pp.37–62.
3