Colonial "Others" and Nationalist Politics in Malaysia
Abstract
Recent debates on nationalism suggest that we should revisit the connection between ethnic identity and the nation, and the difficulties confronting post-colonial societies like Malaysia's in their efforts to construct a unifying nationalist project. How and why has official Malaysian nationalism reinforced ethnic identity even as it seeks a programmatic alternarive to colonial strategies in inscribing the body of the nation? Arguing that the social construction of ethnicity under colonial rule has significant implications for the nation, the article explores how colonial rule shapes nor only the consciousness of a European 'self' distinct from a colonized 'other', but also difference in the other which plays our in nationalist politics. Recent shifts in nationalist discourse reflect changes in the Malaysian social structure and suggest the possibility of a more unifying political discourse centered around the nation although it is too early to tell if it will decenter ethnic identity.
Key words: Colonialism, nationalism, ethnicity, Malaysia, politics
ABSTRAK
Perdebatan kebelakangan ini mengenai nasionalisme menunjukkan bahawa kita perlu mengkaji semula hubungan antara identiti etnik dengan nasion, dan kesukaran-kesukaran yang dihadapi masyarakat pasca-kolonial seperti Malaysia dalam usaha mereka untuk membina suatu projek nasionalis yang menyatukan. Bagaimana dan kenapa nasionalisme rasmi Malaysia mengukuhkan identiti etnik sekalipun ia berusaha mewujudkan satu alternatif programatik kepada strategi kolonial dalam memaktubkan jasad nasion? Bertolak daripada hujah bahawa konstruksi sosial etnisiti di bawah pemerintahan penjajah mempunyai implikasi penting bagi nasion, artikel ini menelusuri bagaimana pemerintahan penjajah membentuk bukan sahaja kesedaran 'diri' sebagai orang Eropah yang berbeza daripada orang lain, yakni yang terjajah, akan tetapi juga menelusuri perbezaan di pihak orang lain, yang menjelma dalam politik nasionalis. Perubahan dalam wacana nasionalis kebelakangan ini mencerminkan perubahan dalam struktur masyarakat Malaysia dan menunjukkan kemungkinan munculnya satu wacana politik yang lebih menyatukan yang berpusarkan idea nasion. Walau bagaimanapun, ia masih terlalu awal untuk menyatakan sama ada perubahan ini akan menyahpusatkan identiti etnik.
Kata kunci: Penjajahan, nationalisme, etnisiti, Malaysia, politik
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abdul Rahman Embong. 1997. 'Melayu Baru' (The New Malay): Project of transformation and modernity of Malay society in Malaysia Paper presented at the First Australia-Malaysia Conference organised by the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, November 19-21.
Alatas Syed, Hussein. 1977. The myth of the lazy native. London: Frank Cass.
Andaya Barbara W. & Leonard Y. Andaya. 1982. A history of Malay. London: Macmillan.
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London; New York: Verso.
Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths & Helen Tiffin, eds. 1995. The post-colonial studies reader. New York: Routledge.
Balibar, Etienne. 1991. Racism and nationalism In Race, nation, class: Ambiguous identities edited by Etienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein. London: Verso.
Bhabha, Homi ed. 1990. Nation and narration. London & New York: Routledge.
Bowie, Alasdair. 1991. Crossing the industrial divide: State, society, and the politics of economic transformation. New York: Columbia University Press.
Brown, David. 1996. The state and ethnic politics in Southeast Asia. New York: Routledge.
Chai, Hon-Chan. 1967. The development of British Malaya 1896-1909. London, Kuala Lumpur & New York: Oxford University Press.
Chatterjee, Pattha. 1993. The nation and its fragments. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Chatterjee, Pattha. 1986. Nationalist thought and the postcolonial world: A derivative discourse. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.
Emerson, Rupert. 1937. Malaysia: A study in direct and indirect rule. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Fanon, Frantz. 1968. The wretched of the earth (trans. Constance Farrington) NewYork: Grove Press.
Fanon, Frantz. 1952. Black skin, white masks. London: MacGibbon and Kee.
Gullick J.M. 1963. Malaya New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Hobsbawm, Eric J. 1992. Nationalism and ethnicity. Intermedia, August-September (2014-5): 13-15.
Jackson, Peter & Jan Penrose, (eds.). 1994. Constructions of race, place and nation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram. 1988. A question of class: Capital, the state, and uneven development in Malaya. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram. 1989. Beyond 1990: Considerations for a new national development strategy. Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Malaya.
Kahn, Joel & Francis Loh Kok Wah, (eds.). 1992. Fragmented vision: Culture and politics in contemporary Malaysia. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Khoo, Boo Teik 1995. Paradoxes of Mahathirism. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Kua, Kia Swng. 1985. National culture and democracy. Petaling Jaya Malaysia: Kersani Printers.
Lau, Albert. 1991. The Malayan Union controversy. 1942-1948. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
Lim, Mah Hui and William Canak. 1981. The political economy of state policies. Journal of Contemporary Asia 11: 208-225.
Loh, Fook Seng, Philip. 1969. The Malay States 1877-1895: Political change and social policy. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Mahathir bin Mohamad. 1981. The Malay dilemma. Kuala Lumpur: Federal Publications.
Mahathir bin Mohamad. 1991. Malaysia: The way forward Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Strategic and International Studies.
Malaysia. 1976. Third Malaysia Plan 1976-1980. Kuala Lumpur: Government Press.
Malaysia. 1995. Population and Housing Census 1991. Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional
Mandal, Sumit. 1997. The nation in Indonesia. Paper presented at the ASEAN Inter-University Seminar on Social Development, Pekan Baru, Riau, Indonesia, 16-19 June.
Means, Gordon. 1991. Malaysian politics: The second generation. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
Memmi, Albert. 1991. The colonizer and the colonized. Boston: Beacon Press.
Milne, R.S. 1967. Government and politics in Malaysia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Milner, Anthony. 1995. The invention of politics in colonial Malaya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nair, Sheila. 1995. Stares, societies and societal movements: Power and resistance in Malaysia and Singapore. Ph.D. Dessertation, University of Minnesota.
Nandy, Ashis. 1988. The intimate enemy: Loss and recovery of self under colonialism. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Rabe, Paul. 1992. Dutch colonial economic policy toward the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia Journal of Southeast Asian Business 8 (2): 41-57.
Ratnam, K.J. 1965. Communalism and the political process in Malaya. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.
Roff, William R. 1980. The origins of Malay nationalism. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.
Rustam Sani. 1994. Melayu Baru dan Bangsa Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications and Distributors Sdn. Bhd.
Rustam Sani. 1991. A time for Malaysian nationalism. New Straits Times, 12 November.
S. Husin Ali ed. 1984. Ethnicity, class and development – Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Persatuan Sains Sosial Malaysia.
Said, Edward. 1994. Culture and imperialism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Said, Edward. 1979. Orientalism. New York: Vitage.
Stoler, Ann. 1995. 'Mixed bloods' and the cultural politics of European identity in colonial Southeast Asia In The decolonization of identity, edited by Jan Nederveen Pieterse & Bhiku Parekh. London: Zed Books.
Tarling, Nicholas, ed. 1992a. The Cambridge history of Southeast Asia (Volume 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tarling, Nicholas. 1992b. The Cambridge history of Southeast Asia (Volume II). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tregonning, K.G. 1964. A history of modern Malaya. London: Eastern Universities Press Ltd..
Tregonning, K.G. 1965. The British in Malaya. Tuscan: University of Arizona Press.
Vasil, R.K. 1980. Ethnic politics in Malaysia. New Delhi: Radiant Publishers.
Wan Hashim. 1983. Race relations in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd..
Wang, Gung Wu,(eds.). 1964. Malaysia: A survey. New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Winstedt, R.O. 1935. A history of Malaya. Singapore: Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
ISSN: 0126-5008
eISSN: 0126-8694