New Perspectives and Research on Malaysian History

Introduction

Introduction Cheah Boon Kheng Since the 1950’s and 1960’s debates on Euro-centric versus Asia-centric forms of history writing, Malaysian historians have moved away to debate and write their own autonomous histories. Where the earlier debates on historiography were between Malaysians and foreigners, the debates among Malaysian historians themselves now relate to approaches, methodologies, interpretations or how to determine the origins, roles and contributions of the various ethnic groups in the country. They also deal with “alternative histories” – women’s history, subaltern history, and postmodern history. They address questions like, “What is to be written?” and “How should it be written?” The impact of an event like the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, for instance, is seen or interpreted differently by historians and by each of the ethnic groups, or in the ‘national history,’ as presented in the nation’s history school textbooks, or in the various state museums. Within Malaysian historiography, there appear to be two distinctive schools of historians. They differ from one another in their methodologies and approaches, according to Dr Hamidin Abdul Hamid of the history department at Universiti Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, who is one of our contributors. In a paper he presented at a history seminar at Universiti Malaya on 19th August 2006,1 Dr Hamidin observes that the two schools are: the dominant or widely influential group of “Rankean and conventional historians” at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and the other, a minority of social historians at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang. The former includes the first generation of Malaysian historians like Professor Emeritus Datuk Khoo Kay Kim, who were trained at UM’s history department and were among those who pioneered the writing of autonomous history in Malaysia. Their impact is such that many junior members of the UM’s department and graduate students still follow the Rankean and conventional style of history writing and research. However, the second group of historians, says Dr Hamidin, use social science theories in writing Malaysian history. Dr Hamidin, who himself is a social historian, (see his 1 1 See Hamidin Abd. Hamid, “Perdebatan yang hilang: Teori dan Sejarah di Malaysia,” paper presented at a workshop on postgraduate studies, Department of History, Universiti Malaya, Pantai Valley, Kuala Lumpur, 19 August 2006. joint essay with Haryati Hasan on ‘Writing Marginalized groups into Malaysian history’), says that although the USM social historians emerged from the second generation of post-graduate students or lecturers at UM, yet they broke away to strike out with their own approach in history writing. They differ not only from the UM ‘Rankean and conventional historians’ in their choice of themes and topics, but also in their methodologies and use of social theory. “Their approach particularly ‘history from below’ has given an unambiguous picture of social history in Malaysia and made its own impact,” says Dr Hamidin.2 Besides social history, members of the USM’s history department have also been greatly interested in following the latest trends in modern historiography. A major influence on these historians was initially exerted by a senior member of the department, the late Dr R. Suntharalingam, who taught a course in theory and method in history and motivated colleagues and students into thinking about theoretical frameworks and latest historical perspectives in the teaching, learning and research of history. He published two books of his lectures on historiography for students, and initiated the writing and publication of several volumes of staff essays on theoretical topics such as nationalism, colonialism, violence and society. Another influence on the members was derived from the close interaction they had with the USM’s School of Social Sciences, especially their sociologists and political scientists in peasant studies, and those researching on poverty, underdevelopment, gender issues and women’s history. The USM’s history department’s interest in historiography led it to organize a national conference on issues relating to Malaysian historiography on 17th–18th August 1992 and an international conference on Southeast Asian historiography, from 30th July to 1st August 1999. An outcome of the first conference was a collection of papers, Alam Pensejarahan: Dari Pelbagai Perspektif, (The World of Historiography: From Various Perspectives), edited by Badriyah Haji Salleh and Tan Liok Ee and published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. The second conference resulted in the publication of another volume of papers, New Terrains in Southeast Asian History, edited by Abu Talib Ahmad and Tan Liok Ee, in 2003 by Singapore University Press and the Center...