The Hadhrami Diaspora in Southeast Asia Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia (S.E.P.S.M.E.A.)
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The Hadhrami Diaspora in Southeast Asia Social, Economic and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia (S.E.P.S.M.E.A.) (Founding editor: C. A. O. van Nieuwenhuijze) Editor Dale F. Eickelman Advisory Board Fariba Adelkhah (SciencesPo/CERI, Paris) Roger Owen (Harvard University) Armando Salvatore (University of Naples “L’Orientale” – Humboldt University, Berlin) VOLUME 107 The Hadhrami Diaspora in Southeast Asia Identity Maintenance or Assimilation? Edited by Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 On the cover (top to bottom): 1) The city of Hadhramaut, Yemen. Used by permission of the Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Yemen. 2 and 4) Genealogical tree of the Alawi Sayyids of Hadhramaut. Courtesy of Dr Anne Katrine Bang, University of Bergen, Norway. 3) Hadhrami seamen. Courtesy of Prof. Daniel M. Varisco, Hofstra University, USA. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Hadhrami diaspora in Southeast Asia : identity maintenance or assimilation? / edited by Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk, Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim. p. cm. — (Social, economic, and political studies of the Middle East and Asia v. 107) Based on papers presented at the international conference, held in Kuala Lumpur on August 26–28, 2005. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17231-9 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Arabs—Southeast Asia—Congresses. 2. Hadramawt (Yemen : Province)—Emi- gration and immigration—Congresses. I. Abushouk, Ahmed Ibrahim. II. Ibrahim, Hassan Ahmed. III. Title. IV. Series. DS523.4.A73H33 2009 305.892’75335—dc22 2009001096 ISSN 1385-3376 ISBN 978 90 04 17231 9 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgments ....................................................................... vii Foreword ..................................................................................... ix Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Albar A Note on Transliteration .......................................................... xv Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk and Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim I. Refl ections on the Longevity of the Hadhrami Diaspora in the Indian Ocean ........................................ 17 Ulrike Freitag II. Arabophobia and tarekat: How Sayyid Uthmān Became Advisor to the Netherlands Colonial Administration .................................................................. 33 Nico J. G. Kaptein III. Arab Hadhramis in Malaysia: Their Origins and Assimilation in Malay Society ......................................... 45 Abdul Rahman Tang Abdullah IV. Tea and Company: Interactions between the Arab Elite and the British in Cosmopolitan Singapore ........... 57 Nurfadzilah Yahaya V. Economic Crisis and State-Building in Hadhramaut, 1941–1949: The Impact of the Decline of Southeast Asian Remittances ............................................................ 81 Christian Lekon VI. The Decline of Arab Capitalism in Southeast Asia ....... 109 Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown VII. Entrepreneurial Strategies of Hadhrami Arabs in Southeast Asia, c. 1750s–1950s ....................................... 135 William Gervase Clarence-Smith vi contents VIII. Al-Manār and the Hadhrami Elite in the Malay- Indonesian World: Challenge and Response ................. 159 Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk IX. The Ins and Outs of Hadhrami Journalism in Malaya, 1900–1941: Assimilation or Identity Maintenance? ...... 191 William R. Roff X. Sayyid Shaykh Amad al-Hādī’s Contributions to Islamic Reformism in Malaya ........................................ 203 Hafi z Zakariya XI. Hadhramis within Malay Activism: The Role of al-Saqqāf(s) in Post-War Singapore (1945–1965) ........... 225 Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied XII. In the Name of Fatimah: Staging the Emancipation of the Hadhramis in the Netherlands East Indies ........ 245 Huub de Jonge Glossary ....................................................................................... 263 Archival Sources and Bibliography ............................................ 267 List of Contributors .................................................................... 287 Index ........................................................................................... 291 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The scholarship on the Hadhrami diaspora around the Indian Ocean witnessed a remarkable development in the 1990s, inspired by the publication of the landmark volume edited by Ulrike Freitag and William G. Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Traders, Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s–1960s (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997). The origins of this volume lie in a workshop entitled “South Arabian Migration Movements in the Indian Ocean, the Hadhrami Case c. 1750–1967”, which was held in April 1995 at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The organisers rightly claimed that the workshop was “the fi rst international gathering of scholars working on the history of Hadhramaut and its diaspora, a topic which has recently begun to attract renewed attention after a long lull.” The initiative was later promoted by other institutions and individual schol- ars who produced, in the last ten years, a series of scholarly works on the Hadhrami diaspora in the India Ocean. In line with this academic concern, the primary objective of the present volume is to complement the prevailing discourse on the topic, open up new avenues of discus- sion, and motivate students to continue research in the fi eld. The support of various institutions and individuals made the devel- opment of this work from conference papers into a reviewed book possible. We gratefully acknowledge the fi nancial support and encour- agement of the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen to Malaysia, and exceptionally, its then ambassador, Dr. Abdul al-Nasir al-Munibari, for his unlimited assistance that made the conference a great success. We also owe special gratitude to Tan Seri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary who provided the conference with an open-handed fund that facilitated the logistic arrangements and invitations to the keynote speakers and overseas paper presenters. Special thanks and appreciation go to all chapter contributors for their dedication and interest, notably Profs. William R. Roff, William G. Clarence-Smith, and Ulrike Freitag; Drs. Huud de Jonge, Nico Kaptein, Rajeswary Ampalavanar Brown, Christian Lekon, Hafi z Zakariya, and Abdul Rahman Tang Abdullah, Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, and Nurfadzilah Yahaya, whose academic contributions refl ect expertise that we certainly do not fully master ourselves. We appreciate their patience viii acknowledgments and scholarly responses throughout the editing and cross-reviewing process which constituted a rather diffi cult balancing act. It also gives us immense pleasure to express our thanks to Prof. Dr. Ulrike Freitag, the Director of the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (CMOS), Berlin, who sponsored the three-week research trip of Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk to CMOS. Special appreciation is due to the staff of the Centre who demonstrated interest in the theme of the book, and shared their expertise, private collections, and adminis- trative experiences. In terms of intellectual encouragement and human solidarity that helped us to complete this project, we are grateful to Prof. Dr. Syed Nasir Kazmi who thoroughly read the chapter contributions, and provided us with fi ne feedback and invaluable assistance throughout the editing process; and we are indebted to Syed Abdullah al-Junayd, and Dato’ Hussien al-Habshi, members of Jamiyat al-Khayr in Kuala Lumpur, and to our colleagues at the Department of History and Civilisation. Finally, we commend the support and encouragement of the top management of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), particularly Prof. Dato’ Dr. Syed Arabi Idid, Rector of the IIUM, Prof. Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan former Rector, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mohd Azmi Omar, Former Deputy Rector for Academic and Research, Prof. Dr. Sahari Nordin, Dean of the Research Management Centre, Associate Professor Dr. Hazizan Md Noon, Dean of the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences. FOREWORD Being of Hadhrami descent, I am very much interested in the question of migration and assimilation of the Hadhramis in their host countries. Indeed, international migration has been a common factor throughout the history of mankind, but what is important is to understand why some communities have been able to assimilate more successfully with the local communities than others. What are the characteristics and values that facilitate the process of assimilation? Sometimes certain communities are able to maintain their specifi c identities in spite of being integrated in their host societies. What keeps a community distinct from another in spite of their continuous