Radicals: Resistance and Protest in Colonial Malaya

The experience of being radical, of forming new relationships, of being loyal to a given cause, of standing up to injustice, and of enduring the pains of betrayal and confinement, shows that to be a radical is to be on the margins of society in any given era.

Aljunied, Radicals: Resistance and Protest in Colonial Malaya, p. 194.

This is a highly commendable study of Malay radicals: Malay men and women who fought against colonialism in present-day Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. The author (Aljunied) tells the stories of ordinary people (focusing on the Malays of then Malaya and Singapore) doing extraordinary things. Ordinary because they were teachers, journalists, intellectuals, housewives, peasants, preachers, men and women both young and the old; extraordinary because the struggle that they took on (to overthrow the British imperialists) could have meant certain imprisonment or, even worse, death (under certain circumstances) and certainly a life filled with derision from the established social groups.

The timing of this publication could not have come at a more opportune time. In Malaysia, where the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) holds hegemonic powers, the Malays continue to fight ‘each other’: generally, one group to overthrow UMNO whom they accuse of being ‘the new colonial master’; while another group is seeking to further entrench this ‘new colonial master’. In Singapore, where Malays play a subservient role to the hegemonic powers of the Chinese-dominated People’s Action Party (PAP), murmurs of dissent continue to be heard. Opportune, also, because the issues that Malays faced then (almost 200 years ago) bear a striking resemblance to the issues that Malays face today, in both Malaysia and Singapore: essentially the underperformance and ‘backwardness’ of ‘the Malay’ society. It is almost the case that the Malays have never truly progressed—materially and intellectually—as a social group.

Has this anything to do with the fact that Malay radicals not only lost in their battle to overthrow the imperialists, but also lost the battle to influence the minds of the Malay populace? Have the victors (the conservatives on both sides of the Causeway) now indeed become the new colonizers—ensuring the backwardness of the Malay community? Do today’s Malay radicals want to complete the revolution that began nearly 200 years ago?

Although not addressed directly, this book provides interesting insights to these questions. Individuals attempting to understand the challenges Malays face today in Malaysia and Singapore, and would like to take a radical approach, would be well advised to read this book; not only to understand how the author (a historian of Malay-Arabic-Muslim heritage and Singaporean nationality) views the plight of his community, but also to understand why radical ideas did not take root among the wider Malay community despite valiant attempts by a select group of individuals—the Malay radicals and the various radical groups they led—which is the focus of the book.

The organization of the book is straightforward. The Introduction provides an overview of the book, its theoretical approach; definition of the key concepts used as well as its organizing logic. This is followed by seven chapters, six of which capture chronologically the origins, growth, and decline of the Malay radicals, followed by a Conclusion where the author suggests that the legacy of the Malay radicals still remains.

The Introduction also provides a succinct overview of the chapters in the book. Chapter 1 traces the origins of Malay radicals (and Malay radicalism) to the failed struggles and rebellion in late nineteenth-century Malaya, and the coming of modernity and modernist Islamic ideas to colonial Malaya. This provided the incendiary memories and justifications for the birth of the Malay radicalist movement in years to come. Chapter 2 analyses the establishment of the pioneering radical organization, the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), outlining the composition of its membership, the basis of its ideology, and the many activities that the leaders undertook to recruit members. Chapter 3 continues with KMM’s activism during the Japanese occupation when many Malay...