“Now We Want Malays to Awake”: Malay Women Teachers in Colonial Johor and Their Legacy
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School of Humanities Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences “Now we want Malays to awake”: Malay Women Teachers in Colonial Johor and their Legacy. Anna Maree Doukakis A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of New South Wales, Australia 2012 Anna Doukakis I ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on Malay women teachers and girls’ schooling in British Malaya during the 1920s and 1930s, when educational opportunities for Malay girls were expanding. It discusses the teachers’ agendas, their roles as leaders, authors and publishers, and their participation in national politics and women’s movements following World War II. The thesis addresses whether and how Malay female pioneers for girls’ education are treated in general and in specialist academic literature. The research also explores the increasing impact of global forces of modernisation in Malaya. It draws on primary and secondary sources in English, Malay and jawi Malay for case studies of: the pioneer of girls’ schooling, Zain bte Sulaiman, who was supervisor of Malay girls’ schools in Johor between 1926 and 1948; the professional association of Malay women teachers in Johor, which she founded, and its publication Bulan Melayu; and the Malay Women’s Training College, the first Malaya-wide residential teacher training institute for Malay female students. Malay women teachers contributed to the form and content of the schools instructing girls using the Malay vernacular. They negotiated with Malaya’s royal and colonial administrators to achieve positions of leadership and influence, and they contributed to the formation of a peninsula-wide Malay identity. Study of the roles and experiences of Malay women in the 1930s contributes to the understanding of Malay nationalism, Malay Islam and the public place of Malay women in the Federation of Malaysia today. Anna Doukakis II A NOTE ON SPELLING AND ABBREVIATIONS This thesis uses modernised Malay spellings, except where directly quoting sources. The following abbreviations are used throughout: BM Bulan Melayu KI Kaum Ibu KIS Kumpulan Ibu Sepakat MG Majallah Guru MWTC Malay Women’s Training College PPMJ Persekutuan Perempuan Melayu Johor SITC Sultan Idris Training College UMNO United Malays National Organisation. Anna Doukakis III PUBLICATIONS Sections of this thesis have been used in the following publications: Doukakis, Anna, “A Letter from Kuala Lumpur”, Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs, Vol 43, No 1, 2009, pp245-249. Doukakis, Anna, “Now we want Malays to awake…” The Malay Women Teachers of Johor and Bulan Melayu”, Refereed Conference Proceedings, Asian Studies Association of Australia Biannual Conference, Melbourne, July 2008. Anna Doukakis IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to my Supervisors, Jean Gelman Taylor and Mina Roces, for the blood, sweat and tears they have poured into me and my research. I couldn’t have finished this without your support. To Rochie Machali at UNSW, who taught me Malay and jawi, translated the Arabic that I still can’t read and checked my more esoteric translations, my everlasting gratitude. Special thanks to Norani Othman and Clive Kessler, for their encouragement, support, brainstorming sessions and invaluable introductions to many Malaysians. In Malaysia, thanks to Rustam A Sani, Rohani Rustam, Tuan Haji Said Zahari, Rahimah Aziz, Raman, Roslina Rosli, Sumit Mandal, Datin Patricia Lim and Dr Lim, Siew Mun Khoo, Iza Hussin, Fadzillah and Shakib Amin. Thanks must also go to the many academics and fellow students at universities around Australia and the world who have given me information and encouragement, including Tim Allender, Susan Blackburn, Philippa Levine, Angela Woolacott, Grace Karskens, Dominic Fitzsimmons, Tracey Lee Downey, Laura Ferguson, Martyn Lyons, Marion Quartly, Dan Kark, Sean Brawley, Nick Doumanis, Rae Francis, Anne O’Brien and Lenore Lyons. Staff at many institutions have been of invaluable assistance, especially as the topic of this thesis slid and changed over the years: the National Library of Australia; Monash Asia Institute and Monash Library; ANU; the British Library; the National Archives (Kew, England); SOAS; the Girl Guiding UK Archives (especially Karen Taylor); the National Library of Scotland; the School of Divinity, New College, Edinburgh; the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, Edinburgh; Edinburgh University Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford, especially the Library of Commonwealth and African Studies, Rhodes House; the University of Bristol Library; the National Library of Singapore; the National Archives, Singapore; NIE and the Nanyang Technological University; ISEAS at the National University of Singapore; IKMAS at UKM, Malaysia; ATMA; Universiti Malaya; PNM; Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka; Arkib Negara Malaysia, and the Institut Perguruan Perempuan Melayu. My deep gratitude to those with whom I’ve stayed during my research trips, particularly the Brook family, Joan and Selina. I received financial support during the course of this research from the UNSW School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and the UNSW Graduate Research School. Anna Doukakis V Hugs galore to my indefatigable readers and spotters of grammatical stuff ups: Jan, Elizabeth, Maggie, Dianne, Felicity, Julia, Simon, Jan, Ian, Tracey, Dom, Tony and Laura. Much appreciation to my family for not laughing in my face at my initial insistence this degree would be completed in three years... To my husband Tim, for your bottomless support – cheers. I’m done (for now)! To anyone I may have missed, my apologies, and my thanks. Anna Doukakis VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................ I A Note on Spelling and Abbreviations .......................................................... II Publications ..................................................................................................... III Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... IV Table of Contents ........................................................................................... VI List of Figures ................................................................................................. IX CHAPTER ONE: Introduction ..................................................................... 1 Aims ........................................................................................................ 5 Significance of thesis .............................................................................. 7 Sources .................................................................................................... 8 Literature review ..................................................................................... 9 British Schooling ........................................................................... 9 Gender and Empire ....................................................................... 15 Islamic Modernism ....................................................................... 17 Malay Identity ............................................................................... 20 Women’s Roles and the Impact of Colonialism ........................... 25 Methodology .......................................................................................... 30 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER TWO: Background ................................................................... 37 The Malay World ................................................................................... 37 The Role of Islam .................................................................................. 39 The Development of Malayan Islam ............................................ 39 Islamic Modernism ....................................................................... 41 Egyptian Islamic Modernism: Qasim Amin ................................. 45 Islamic Modernism in the Netherlands East Indies ...................... 49 Malayan Islamic Modernism and the Kaum Muda ...................... 50 The Decline of Islamic Modernism .............................................. 53 Colonial British Malaya ......................................................................... 55 The Creation of a British Colony in the Malay World ................. 55 Johor ............................................................................................. 60 The Malay Language Periodical Press ......................................... 64 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 67 CHAPTER THREE: Girls’ Schools in Colonial Malaya .......................... 68 Sources .................................................................................................. 69 Quranic Schools in Malaya ................................................................... 70 British Schooling in Colonial Malaya ................................................... 72 British Educational Policy for Malay Girls ........................................... 75 English Language Schooling ................................................................. 83 Missionary Schools ...................................................................... 84 Government English Schools ....................................................... 86 Malay Vernacular Schooling ................................................................