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POLITICS AND THE INDIAN COMMUNITY IN WEST MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE 19^5 - 19 5 7 RAJESWARY AMPALAVANAR Dissertation Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1978 ProQuest Number: 10672647 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672647 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT. Politics and the Indian Community in West Malaysia and Singapore 19^5 " 1957. Rajeswary Ampalavanar. This dissertation examines the political development of the Indian community in West Malaysia and Singapore in the period 19^5 to 1957« It traces its transition from an essentially India-oriented community immediately after the Occupation to a more permanently-settled community in 1957* with a secure place in the Government of Independent Malaya* After an opening chapter outlining the main political features of the Malayan Indian community prior to 19^+5 * the succeeding chapters, covering the period 19^5-1957* are arranged thematically. They consider the impact of Indian nationalism on the local Malayan community, the politicization of Indian labour, the Indian response to the Malayan Union and the Federation Agreement, the participation of the Indians in formal politics, factionalism within the Indian community, and finally the alignment of the Malayan Indian Congress with the Alliance in the mid-1950,s. PREFACE The political history of Malaya in the period 19^5-1957 Has received considerable attention from historians and political scientists in recent years* There have been two general surveys covering this period, Gordon P* Means, Malaysian Politics, (London, 1970) and R*S. Milne, Government and Politics in Malaysia, (Boston, 1967). In addition, K.J. Ratnam, Communalism and the Political Process in Malaya, (Kuala Lumpur, 1965) and R.K. Vasil, Politics in a Plural Society: A study of non-communal political parties in Malaysia (London, 1971) have sought to assess the impact of race and communalism on Malayan political developments in the post-war era* Mohamed Nordin Sopiee, From Malayan Union to Singapore Separation: Political Unification in the Malaysia Region, 19^5-1965 (Kuala Lumpur, 197^) has analysed each of the major political and constitutional developments in that period, whilst J.V. de Allen, The Malayan Union, (New Havent1967) and A.J. Stockwell, 'The Development of Malay Politics during the Course of the Malayan Union Experiment, 19^-2-19^8' (Ph.D. thesis, London, 1973) have examined in considerable detail the Malayan Union Scheme, and in particular the Malay response to it. Finally, left-wing movements in post-19^5 Malaya have been the focus of numerous .studies, though perhaps the most noteworthy are, Anthony Short, The Communist Insurrection in Malaya, 19^5-60, (London, 1975) and Richard Clutterbuck, Riot and Revolution in Singapore and Malaya, 19^-5-1963* (London,1973)* ^ ^ 1 ( ) Noel Barber, The War of the Running Dogs: how Malaya defeated the Communist guerrillas, 19/t6-1960, London, 1971; G. Hanrahan, The Communist Struggle in Malaya, New York, 195^* J*M. van der Kroef, Communism in Malaysia and Singapore - a contemporary survey. The Hague, 1967; Harry Miller, Menace in Malaya, London, 195^* Lucian Pye, Guerrilla Communism in Malaya: Its social and political meaning, Princeton, 1956. ' To a greater or lesser extent all these works pay less attention to the Indian community than its importance would merit. For a fuller account of the political evolution:: of the Malayan Indian community in the post-19*l-5 period it has hitherto been necessary to turn first to the general works on the Malayan Indians, most notably Kernial Singh Sandhu, Indians in Malaya: some aspects of their immigration and settlement, 1786-1957 (Cambridge, 1969)* S. Arasaratnam, Indians in Malaysia and Singapore (London, 1970)* and Usha Mahajani, The Role of Indian Minorities in Burma and Malaya, (Bombay, i960). However, as is almost inevitable, Arasaratnam and Mahajani provide merely general surveys of the political development of the Indian community for the brief period 19*+5-1957 and in addition make little reference to the wider political and constitutional changes affecting the country as a whole, whilst the main emphasis of Sandhu is on Indian immigration and settlement. To some extent the gaps have been filled by R.K. Jain, South Indians on the Plantation Frontier in Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, 1970) and S. Subramaniam, 'Politics of the Indians in Malaysia, 19^+5-1955* (M.A. Thesis, University of Malaya, 197*0 though Subramaniam concentrates almost solely on the MIC, and even then essentially on the Party's organization and structure, whilst Jain, in an anthropological study, makes only a brief reference to the political movements on the estates. In contrast this study attempts to consider the political evolution ..of the Indian community as a whole in the period 19*+5-1957. In particular it: emphasizes the class and ethnic divisions of the community and the way in which they determined the political development of the Malayan Indians in these years. More importantly the study attempts to consider the political evolution of the Indian community in the context of wider political changes as Malaya moved from Occupation to Independence, and in the context of Malay and Chinese response to those political and constitutional changes. It would be useful at this point to outline briefly the organization of this study for the subject is treated thematically rather than chronologically. The opening chapter considers the evolution of the Malayan Indian community prior to 19*+5* Chapter II analyses the influence of Indian Nationalism on the Malayan Indians in the period 19*+5-1957. The following two chapters concentrate on the late 19*+0s, and examine Indian labour movements in the immediate post-war years (chapter III), and then the Indian response to the Constitutional changes of 19*+6~1950 (chapter IV). This second aspect is then developed further in chapter V which examines the Indian response to the political reforms of the 1950s. Therefore chapters II - V are concerned with what may be called the 'external relations' of the Indian community, the response of the community to its changing political environment. Chapter VI looks within the Indian community and considers the intra-communal divisions which arose throughout the whole period 19*+5-57. The following chapter (chapter VII) returns to the theme of the Indian community's 'external relations' and considers the community's move towards political alignment with the other two major races in the 1950s through the Alliance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank Dr. J.S. Bastin of the School of Oriental and African Studies for his supervision on this thesis and also the staff of the National Archives, Malaysia, for their considerable assistance between 1973-1975- In addition I am indebted to the Ford Foundation for its generous financial support. Finally I wish to thank my husband, Ian, for his constant encouragement whilst I was writing this study. 7. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AMCJA All Malaya Council of Joint Action. AMICC All Malayan Indian Congress Committee. ANC Alliance National Council. API Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (Organization of Youth for Justice). BMA British Military Administration. CCAO Chief Civil Affairs Officer. CFM Ceylon Federation of Malaya. CIAM Central Indian Association of Malaya. CJA Council of Joint Action. CLC Communities Liaison Committee* C. for L. Commissioner for Labour. CO Colonial Office. Cmd Command. DCCAO Deputy Chief Civil Affairs Officer. DK Dravida Kalagam (Dravidian Federation)• FIO Federation of Indian Organizations. FMS Federated Malay States* GLU General Labour Union. GSI s General Staff of Intelligence. IIL Indian Independence League. IMP Independence of Malaya Party. INA Indian National Army. INC Indian National Congress. I.S.E.A.S. Institute of South East Asian Studies. JMBEAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Malayan Branch. JSEAH Journal of &outh East Asian History JSEAS Journal of South East Asian Studies KMM Kesatuan Melayu Muda (Malay Youth Association)* KMS Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Association)• KMT Kuomintang. MCA Malayan Chinese Association. MCP Malayan Communist Party. MCS Malayan Civil Service. MDU Malayan Democratic Union. MIA Malayan Indian Association. MIC Malayan Indian Congress. MLP Malayan Labour Party. MNP Malay Nationalist Party. MPAJA Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army. MPIEA Malayan Planting Industries Employers’ Association. MSS Malayan Security Service. MTUC Malayan Trade Union Congress. MU Malayan Union. N.A. National Archives. NDYL New Democratic Youth League NIDYL New Indian Democratic Youth League NUPW National Union of Plantation Workers. OCPD Officer in Charge of Police Depot. PAP Peoples Action Party. PEEU Perak Estate Employees Union. PETA Pembela Tanah Ayer (Avengers of the Country). PMDF Pan-Malayan Dravidian Federation. PMFTU Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions. PMIP Pan-Malayan Islamic