Collaboration, Christian Mission and Contextualisation: The Overseas Missionary Fellowship in West Malaysia from 1952 to 1977 Allen MCCLYMONT A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Kingston University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History. Submitted June 2021 ABSTRACT The rise of communism in China began a chain of events which eventually led to the largest influx of Protestant missionaries into Malaya and Singapore in their history. During the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960), a key part of the British Government’s strategy to defeat communist insurgents was the relocation of more than 580,000 predominantly Chinese rural migrants into what became known as the ‘New Villages’. This thesis examines the response of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF), as a representative of the Protestant missionary enterprise, to an invitation from the Government to serve in the New Villages. It focuses on the period between their arrival in 1952 and 1977, when the majority of missionaries had left the country, and assesses how successful the OMF was in fulfilling its own expectation and those of the Government that invited them. It concludes that in seeking to fulfil Government expectation, residential missionaries were an influential presence, a presence which contributed to the ongoing viability of the New Villages after their establishment and beyond Independence. It challenges the portrayal of Protestant missionaries as cultural imperialists as an outdated paradigm with which to assess their role. By living in the New Villages under the same restrictions as everyone else, missionaries unconsciously became conduits of Western culture and ideas. At the same time, through learning local languages and supporting indigenous agency, they encouraged New Village inhabitants to adapt to Malaysian society, while also retaining their Chinese identity. It goes on to argue that the OMF, through its network of new and existing churches, and the parachurch organisations it was involved with, contributed in three ways to the growth of Christianity among the Chinese population in West Malaysia. Through its pioneer church-planting in the New Villages it facilitated the establishment of countercultural Christian communities. Its support of these Chinese-speaking churches laid the foundation for later growth. Through evangelism and discipleship of English- and Chinese-educated young people, and pastoring English-speaking urban congregations, the OMF was able to meet a strategic need and further support the growth of Christianity among Malaysian young people. The wide range of ministries it was involved with, enabled it to influence the growth of local leadership throughout West Malaysia. This new generation of leaders, influenced by the conservative evangelical theology of OMF missionaries, was able to develop a contextualised Malaysian Christianity that effectively responded to the postcolonial situation they found themselves in. ii DECLARATION This thesis does not contain any material that has been previously submitted for an award at an Institute of Higher Education either in the United Kingdom or overseas. June 2021 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Unless otherwise indicated, its contents are licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND. Under this licence, you may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format on the condition that; you credit the author, do not use it for commercial purposes and do not distribute modified versions of the work. When reusing or sharing this work, ensure you make the licence terms clear to others by naming the licence and linking to the licence text. Please seek permission from the copyright holder for uses of this work that are not included in this licence or permitted under UK Copyright Law. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract____________________________________________________________ ii Declaration ________________________________________________________ iii Table of Contents ___________________________________________________ iv Abbreviations ______________________________________________________ vii List of Tables and Figures _____________________________________________ ix Acknowledgements and Dedication _____________________________________ x 1. Introduction _____________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Background ________________________________________________________ 1 1.2 Literature Review ___________________________________________________ 4 The Malayan Emergency ___________________________________________________ 5 The New Villages _________________________________________________________ 6 Christianity in Malaysia ____________________________________________________ 8 Christian Mission in the New Villages ________________________________________ 10 1.3 Statement of Objectives _____________________________________________ 14 1.4 Scope and Methodology ____________________________________________ 16 Scope _________________________________________________________________ 17 Methodology ___________________________________________________________ 19 1.5 Structure and Content ______________________________________________ 21 PART I: THE EMERGENCY (1948-60) 2. Colonial Collaboration ____________________________________________ 23 2.1 Invitations from the Government _____________________________________ 24 Chinese-speaking Teachers and Resettlement Supervisors (August 1950) ____________ 24 Residential Missionaries Providing Services (February 1952) ______________________ 26 2.2 The CIM’s Withdrawal from China_____________________________________ 28 The Situation in China _____________________________________________________ 28 The Kalorama Conference (February 1951) ____________________________________ 30 The Bournemouth Conference (November 1951) _______________________________ 32 2.3 Protestant Christianity ______________________________________________ 35 Existing Denominations ___________________________________________________ 36 Training National Leaders __________________________________________________ 38 Comity in the New Villages _________________________________________________ 39 A New Anglican Field _____________________________________________________ 41 New Mission Agencies ____________________________________________________ 43 2.4 Conclusion ________________________________________________________ 44 3. Missionaries in the New Villages ___________________________________ 46 3.1 The Government Creation of the New Villages ___________________________ 46 Chinese Squatters Between the Wars ________________________________________ 46 Japanese Occupation _____________________________________________________ 47 Counter-terror (1948-49) __________________________________________________ 48 Population and Spatial Control (1950-51) _____________________________________ 50 Optimisation (1952-54) ___________________________________________________ 51 Regroupment and Relocation_______________________________________________ 52 iv 3.2 Challenges Faced by OMF Missionaries_________________________________ 55 The Communist Threat ____________________________________________________ 56 Chinese Religion _________________________________________________________ 58 The Language Barrier _____________________________________________________ 60 Living Conditions_________________________________________________________ 61 3.3 The Response of Missionaries to Government Expectation _________________ 62 Social and Educational Work _______________________________________________ 63 Medical Clinics __________________________________________________________ 64 Living in the New Villages __________________________________________________ 68 4. The New Villages in a New Country _________________________________ 72 4.1 The New Villages Established_________________________________________ 72 The Impact of Relocation __________________________________________________ 73 Factors that influenced New Village Settlers ___________________________________ 75 4.2 The Role of Protestant Mission _______________________________________ 77 Agents of a Colonial Civilising Mission ________________________________________ 77 Agents of Cultural Aggression ______________________________________________ 78 Agents of Change ________________________________________________________ 79 An Inadequate Model _____________________________________________________ 81 A More Inclusive Approach ________________________________________________ 83 4.3 Sustainability _____________________________________________________ 87 Population Growth _______________________________________________________ 87 Population Stagnation ____________________________________________________ 90 4.4 Conclusion ________________________________________________________ 92 5. Changing Worldviews ____________________________________________ 96 5.1 Countercultural Christian Communities ________________________________ 96 Filial Piety ______________________________________________________________ 99 Supernatural and This Worldly _____________________________________________ 100 “One more Christian one less Chinese” ______________________________________ 103 5.2 New Village Work _________________________________________________ 105 House-to-house Visitation and Weekly Meetings ______________________________ 107 Evangelistic Meetings ____________________________________________________ 109 Children and Youth Work _________________________________________________ 110 Literacy _______________________________________________________________