> Research & Reports Indigenizing Colonial Knowledge: The Formation of Malay Identity in British Malaya Concepts of race and ethnicity rank among the legacies that British colonialism has left Research > post-colonial states. Not until racial and ethnic classifications were adopted in fields as Southeast Asia varied as school education, mass media, public administration, and legislation, could these colonial concepts be popularized. With my research, I aim to lay bare the process of the indigenization of colonial knowledge in the construction of Malay identity in British Malaya. In what way and to what extent did the colonized accept, modify, and appropriate the colonizer’s worldview? By Soda Naoki knowledge transmission. The main sources are four authorized textbooks on ecently, the question of colonial Malay history and geography that were Rknowledge and identity formation used in Malay-medium schools and has been attracting interest in the field teacher-training colleges in colonial of Malaysian and Malay Studies. Schol- Malaya. One of these textbooks was writ- Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, established ars such as H.M.J. Maier, A. Milner, ten by a Briton (R.J. Wilkinson) in Eng- as Sultan Idris Training College at Tanjong and A.B. Shamsul show great insights lish in 1908; two by another Briton (R.O. Malim, Perak, in 1922. The teacher-training into this question. Nevertheless, much Winstedt) in Malay in 1918; and one by college produced a number of Malay more research still remains to be con- a Malay (Abdul Hadi Haji Hasan) in nationalists, including Ibrahim Haji Yaacob. Naoki Soda ducted on the internalization and uti- Malay started in 1925. These textbooks lization of imported knowledge in reflect a transition from ‘their’ history to Finally, these three authors had com- Malays also accommodated the modern resented as a ‘mixed race’, the geo- Malay nationalism. ‘our’ history: from a history of the Malays mon conceptions of time. They wrote concept of Malayness in terms of their graphical proximity of territories in the My current study breaks up the by an English writer for British readers, Malay history according to calendrical positive transformation and appropri- Malay Archipelago, and a common process of the indigenization of colo- to a history of the Malays by a British time and chronology, and their histori- ation. To avoid oversimplification, we ‘national’ history of the Malays. He nial knowledge in identity formation writer for Malay readers, and finally to a cal views were progressivist. They should turn our eyes to the second thus selectively utilizes ‘scientific’ into two phases, namely transmission history of the Malays by a Malay writer believed in the gradual progression to phase: appropriation of colonial knowl- knowledge on Malay race, territories, and appropriation. The first phase lies for Malay readers. higher forms of human life and accord- edge. and history, which had been originally in the process in which new apprehen- Taking a ‘scientific’, positivistic ingly divided Malay history into dis- In an intensive case study, I focussed brought by British scholars, to show sions of a colonial society were trans- approach, all these authors recon- tinctive periods on a scale of progress on the formation of Malay identity in the oneness and greatness of the Malay planted from British colonizers to structed the image of the ‘Malay world’ and civilization, from ‘primitive’ to the mind of a prominent Malay nation- world. Malays. The second phase is the stage in terms of community, territory, and Hindu-Buddhist and to Islamic, then to alist, Ibrahim Haji Yaacob. As president Secondly, Ibrahim also reorganizes in which Malays themselves reorgan- time. Firstly, these writings are based Portuguese, Dutch, and finally to of the first left-wing Malay organization existing colonial knowledge for the sake ized their acquired knowledge and on the concept of Malay as a bangsa, or British. At the same time, the authors named Kesatuan Melayu Muda (Young of his argument. The most remarkable made use of it for their own sake. race. The textbooks played an important also understood the stratification of Malay Union), established in 1938, example is his reinterpretation of pro- role in popularizing racial classifica- Malay history to be visible, with older Ibrahim formulated a concept of gressivist views of Malay history. Fol- The first phase: transmission tions that had been originally intro- layers retained as new layers were Melayu Raya (Greater Malaya), a pan- lowing the other textbook writers in Education plays a vital part in the duced in population censuses, and added on. Malay national community. He their periodization of Malay history, construction of Malay identity in British share an image of the Malays as a Thus, by the early 1930s, not only obtained Malay-medium education Ibrahim classifies Malay history into Malaya thus revealing the process of ‘mixed race’. British scholars but also the Malay both at a primary school and later at a four stages: ‘primitive’, ‘Hindu-Bud- colonial knowledge transmission. Secondly, the authors had a similar teacher, Abdul Hadi Haji Hasan, had teacher-training college. Furthermore, dhist’, ‘Islamic’, and ‘colonial’. Yet, William Roff and many other histori- notion of Malay territoriality. They refer begun to reformulate the Malay world Abdul Hadi, one of the authors of the unlike these textbook writers, he pres- ans point out the importance of educa- to geographical data that are systemat- through modern historiography and textbooks mentioned earlier, was his ents the colonial era as an age of tion in the making of Malay national- ically catalogued for each political unit geography. The concepts of race and history teacher at the college. Because decline, while describing the pre-colo- ism. However, they do not pay enough in a similar way. The standardization of territorial state became increasingly of this educational background, nial period as a golden age. He ulti- attention to knowledge transmission in geographical knowledge and ‘system- important as the basic components of Ibrahim’s personal intellectual history mately anticipates the coming of a new education, a theme on which I intend atic quantification’ serve to objectify the the Malay world. Both history and geog- is one of the best cases of indigeniza- era of independence, an age of rebirth to shed light. territoriality of the Malay community. raphy were made Malay and thus tion of colonial knowledge in popular and renewal. Here we can clearly see My current research focuses on the By absorbing the concept of territorial moulded to national histories and Malay nationalism. The main sources the transformation of imported knowl- role of Malay vernacular education in boundaries, the authors describe the national geographies in other parts of that I consult are his writings such as edge. Malay territories at three levels, name- the world. These changes would pave books, articles in newspapers, and While British colonizers brought ly the Malay states (negeri-negeri the way for the identification of ‘Malay’ unpublished manuscripts. new forms of knowledge to Malays, IIAS Melayu), Malaya (tanah Melayu), and as a potential nation. It seems to me that the following two there seems to have been room for rein- the Malay world (alam Melayu). Fur- points merit our attention, though my terpretation, transformation, and thermore, in these textbooks, the The second phase: findings are preliminary in nature. appropriation in the process of the indi- authors represent Malaya as the focal appropriation Firstly, Ibrahim makes use of import- genization of colonial knowledge. This point of the Malay territories. This We cannot, however, take for grant- ed knowledge in order to legitimize his indicates that the formation of Malay Malaya-centric view reflected the sub- ed that the Malays automatically nationalist cause. In his writings, he identity in colonial Malaya was the stantialization of the colonial territori- absorbed the new framework of knowl- discusses the Malay population, the result of the interaction between exter- al boundary. edge brought by British colonizers. making of the Malay race that was rep- nal and internal powers of knowledge. One could find other examples of the internalization of foreign ideas such as the localization of the Islamic reformism in the Middle East. To locate my case study in the broader context of Malay intellectual history, my next steps will involve comparisons not only between Ibrahim and other Malay intel- lectuals but also between Malay-medi- um education and others, namely Eng- lish-medium and Islamic (Arabic-medium) education. Though my current study can paint only a par- tial picture of the interplay of knowl- edge transmission and identity forma- tion, I hope it will provide a fresh perspective on the question. < Soda Naoki, MA Coordinator of Academic Affairs at the IIAS. [email protected] [email protected] IIAS. the at Affairs Academic of Coordinator is a lecturer at the Facul- ty of Foreign Studies at the Tokyo Universi- or the author of this introduction. this of author the or ty of Foreign Studies, Japan, and is present- ly completing his PhD thesis on the formation of Malay identity in colonial Malaya. [email protected] Newsletter Young Japanese Researchers on Southeast Asia - Series - Asia Southeast on Researchers Japanese Young schol- Japanese young of research current present to aims that series a to contributor second the is Naoki Soda and abundant is tradition, long a has Asia Southeast on research Japanese Original Asia. Southeast on ars Japan- many Moreover, region. the on research American or European from routes different takes sometimes between interaction the consequently and languages Asian Southeast in or Japanese in publish scholars ese atten- draw we series this of means By limited. somewhat being remains scholars non-Japanese and Japanese In affairs. Asian Southeast in interests research with scholars Japanese young of research original the to tion the of editors the contact please Asia, Southeast on research own your introduce to like would you case Busser, Rogier Dr 28 IIAS Newsletter | #29 | November 2002.