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C1.M1.58587 HALF Malaysia F1 8/27/03 3:46 PM Page 1 A SHORT HISTORY OF MALAYSIA C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page ii Short History of Asia Series Series Editor: Milton Osborne Milton Osborne has had an association with the Asian region for over 40 years as an academic, public servant and independent writer. He is the author of eight books on Asian topics, including Southeast Asia: An Introductory History, first published in 1979 and now in its eighth edition, and, most recently, The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future, published in 2000. C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page iii History Malaysia PAGES 2ndimpr 21/1/03 3:06 PM Page iv First published in 2003 by Allen & Unwin Copyright © Virginia Matheson Hooker 2003 Maps by Ian Faulkner All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Hooker, Virginia Matheson, 1946- . Short History of Malaysia : linking east and west. Includes index. ISBN 1 86448 955 3 1. Malaysia – History. I. Title. 959.5 Set in 11/14 pt Goudy by Midland Typesetters, Maryborough, Victoria Printed by South Wind Production, Singapore 10987654321 C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page v For Max, Elizabeth and Jamie And in memory of John Iremonger C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page vi This page intentionally left blank C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Preface x Abbreviations xiii Maps xv 1 Malaysia as history 1 2 Peopling Malaysia 13 3 Networks of power and exchange 33 4 Melaka: a traditional Malay kingdom 58 5 Johor and Kedah: contracts and alliances 78 6 Pressures for change 95 7 Responses to colonialism 131 8 Transition to Independence 170 9 Malaysia is born 209 10 Developing new visions 241 Appendices Time chart 278 Fact file 283 Glossary 289 Notes 293 Bibliographic essay 299 Bibliography 308 Index 323 vii C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page viii This page intentionally left blank viii C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page ix Acknowledgments In writing this book I have turned to a number of colleagues for advice and assistance. They have been generous with their time and know- ledge in suggesting references and checking details. Particular thanks are due to Professor Geoffrey Benjamin, Professor Peter Bellwood, Dr John Funston, Dr David Bulbeck and Professor Clive Kessler. I alone bear responsibility for the narrative in the text. Other colleagues have contributed a great deal and I extend warm thanks to each of the following: Diana Carroll, Hugh Hickling, M.B. Hooker, Deborah Johnson, Amrita Malhi and Anthony Milner. The Malaysian High Commission in Canberra supplied recent data and statistics, the National Archives of Malaysia allowed me to consult their photographic collection and the staff of the National Library of Australia and of the Menzies Library, the Australian National University were most helpful. Rebecca Kaiser and Claire Murdoch of Allen & Unwin were exemplary publishing colleagues with whom it was indeed a pleasure to work. Some financial support towards realisation of this project was provided by the Australian Research Council’s Small Grants Scheme (1999) and by the Faculty of Asian Studies, the Australian National University. Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged. It remains to extend my special appreciation to the Series Editor, Milton Osborne, and John Iremonger, whose informed and intelligent comments shaped the book’s final form. ix C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page x Preface As a modern nation state, Malaysia is not very old, but some of the oldest known human remains and artefacts have been found within its present borders. It is a multiracial federation formed without revolu- tion and, although its territory is divided by the South China Sea and organised into 13 states and two federal territories, it has remained intact and weathered the economic upheavals of the late 20th century better than many of its neighbours. Among its successes may be counted the construction of a national history developed by successive governments to teach Malysian citizens and others about the forma- tion of their modern nation state. This book acknowledges the official version but it includes other histories as well. Each of Malaysia’s constituent states has its own rich local traditions and celebrates individuals who have influ- enced the course of events in their own time and place. The national history and the local histories together are crucial for an understand- ing of the nature of modern Malaysia. A short history is necessarily selective and this one has the perspective of hindsight (knowing the outcome of critical events) and emphasises the contribution a variety of individuals have made to their societies and peoples. In this way it is hoped to give the general reader a real taste of the flavour of the Malaysian experience. A ‘short’ history might suggest that it is possible to present a survey of events from 40 000 BCE to the early 21st century as a compact and neat package. To do so would be misleading because history is never neat and the federation which is now known as Malaysia was, until 1963, a fluid and bureaucratically untidy conglomeration of disparate and very varied parts. This book does not pretend Malaysia’s past was neat but tries to describe the essential characteristics of its component parts and the experiences which have produced its present shape. x C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page xi Preface Experts will note how much detail has had to be omitted. Selection has been the most challenging task in writing this book. Hopefully the bibliographic essay on page 299 will encourage and stimulate readers to go on to more detailed and specialised works, of which there are now, thankfully, many. Some of the complexity of Malaysia’s past is reflected in the various changes of name which, like its neighbour Indonesia, it has borne. In this account, the phrase ‘the Malaysian territories’ is used to refer to Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore, the Riau islands and the Malay Peninsula before 1965. Thereafter, the practice followed by the Malaysian government since 1971 will apply; that is, peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Note to readers Readers may find the Time chart helpful to establish the dates of ‘signi- ficant moments’ in Malaysia’s past. The skeleton of the time chart is fleshed out by the Fact file, which is organised alphabetically by subject or event (Independence, political parties, currency, etc) followed by a brief factual description. It is here that one would look for details of Malaysia’s constituent states or the date of the National Day, for example. Translations of Malay words are contained in the Glossary. Acronyms and abbrevia- tions have a separate listing under Abbreviations. A series of maps, ranging over time as well as space, gives a graphic impression of locations as well as indicating how outsiders perceived the seas and coasts of the region. They also show vividly that the mapping of the interior and inland regions was slow, gradual, inaccurate and, until last century, incomplete. For this reason, it was only relatively recently that Europeans gained a composite picture of the complexity of the terrain and interior of the Peninsula and Borneo. xi C1.M1.58587 History Malaysia F2 8/27/03 5:53 PM Page xii A Short History of Malaysia Sources A short history is not a work of new research but draws on existing, published material. The full bibliography at the end of the book includes all works consulted during the preparation of the history. Notes for each chapter at the end of the book indicate the sources of direct quotations. A bibliographic essay lists the main sources for indi- vidual chapters and suggests some futher reading for those wishing to follow up particular areas or topics. Many primary sources (Malay manuscripts, official colonial records, travellers’ accounts, court records, Malaysian government records, memoirs of Malaysians and non- Malaysians) have been either published or integrated into published analyses and translated into English, and so are available to non-Malay speakers. Malaysians themselves have been actively writing about their past since the days of the Melaka sultanate (15th and 16th centuries CE) and wherever possible I have drawn on those invaluable resources. It is easy to overlook the fact that not all records about the past are in the form of ‘official’ documents. Evidence comes also from archaeology, reconstructing older forms of languages to try and establish core vocabularies to learn what they reveal about lifestyles, anthro- pology and so on. Each of these sources has something to contribute to the picture of Malaysia’s past.