This article addresses a crucial dimension which has distinguished studies of colonialism in Malaysia from those of other formerly colonized lands: the lack of a comprehensive analysis of the ways in ...which the colonized thought and wrote about their colonial experiences. Aljunied argues that Malay intellectuals in the postwar period have indeed contributed to the formulation of theories about colonialism in Malaysia in particular and the Malay world in general. In demonstrating such a claim, this article directs its analytical gaze to a seminal text entitled Perjuangan Kita written by a Malay intellectual and activist, Dr Burhanuddin Al-Helmy (1911-1969). By exploring a variety of influences that shaped Burhanuddin's ideas, the methods he applied to systematically explain the roots and persistence of colonialism in the Malay world, and his definition and discussion of the causes and impact of colonialism, the article attempts to place Burhanuddin's ideas within the ranks of established Third World theories of colonialism in his time.
This article examines British discourses on Malay identity in colonial Singapore against the backdrop of the latent realities of that era. I argue that British discourses are determined by a ...confluence of ideological, political and methodological underpinnings as well as other factors which gave rise to a tenuous understanding of what it meant to be 'Malay'. Nevertheless, such discourses should not be disregarded because they provide us with useful vantage points from which the much neglected subject of Malay identity in colonial Singapore could be approached, refined and fully understood. British discourses on Islam, perceived differences between Malays and other ethnic groupings, the Malay language, the notion of a 'depressed community' and class divisions will be interrogated in order to arrive at a more comprehensive portrayal of Malay identity in colonial Singapore.
This article seeks to explain the recent resurgence in national memories of the Jabidah Massacre – the killing of dozens of Muslim recruits undergoing clandestine training, allegedly in preparation ...for the infiltration and destabilization of Sabah. We argue that the ways in which the memories of this incident have been forgotten, remembered and appropriated by different groups in the past four decades were determined by the shifting political needs and interests of elite politicians, Moro nationalists and civil society groups.
Considered by many as the founding moment of Muslim separatism in Mindanao, the Jabidah massacre, which took place on Corregidor Island, involved the killing of Muslim trainees who were being ...prepared by the Philippine military in 1967 and 1968 to infiltrate and sabotage neighboring Sabah. This article analyzes the ways by which memories of this iconic event have in the past four decades been recorded, remembered, mythicized, appropriated, or simply consumed for their own purposes by political elites, civil society actors, and ordinary people in the Philippines. Our angle of vision is directed toward what we term contentious vectors -news media, novels, films, and blogs-to analyze the processes by which memories are recast. The ways by which the Jabidah massacre is remembered and appropriated reflect the contestations between civil society and the government in the Philippines, as well as the intense rivalry among the political elites both within and between the Christian-elite-dominated Filipino polity and Muslim communities. The struggle to influence the shape of memories of Jabidah is part and parcel of an ongoing struggle to create competing nations-of-intent amidst the persistent tensions between the state and its dissenters. Reprinted by permission of Routledge, Taylor and Francis Ltd.
One of the major advances in scholarly writings about Southeast Asia in the past few decades has taken place in the study of ethnic riots (under the rubric of nation-state formation). From this ...perspective, episodes of mass violence involving two or more distinct ethnic groups are said to have been caused primarily by the ideological, structural, psychological, economic and social strains faced by local communities in their struggles to preserve their cultural traditions and civil rights amidst regime transitions and rapid political change. While acknowledging the interplay of regional and global processes as precipitants of ethnic riots, scholars subscribing to
Considered by many as the founding moment of Muslim separatism in Mindanao, the Jabidah massacre, which took place on Corregidor Island, involved the killing of Muslim trainees who were being ...prepared by the Philippine military in 1967 and 1968 to infiltrate and sabotage neighboring Sabah. This article analyzes the ways by which memories of this iconic event have in the past four decades been recorded, remembered, mythicized, appropriated, or simply consumed for their own purposes by political elites, civil society actors, and ordinary people in the Philippines. Our angle of vision is directed toward what we term "contentious vectors" -news media, novels, films, and blogs-to analyze the processes by which memories are recast. The ways by which the Jabidah massacre is remembered and appropriated reflect the contestations between civil society and the government in the Philippines, as well as the intense rivalry among the political elites both within and between the Christian-elite-dominated Filipino polity and Muslim communities. The struggle to influence the shape of memories of Jabidah is part and parcel of an ongoing struggle to create competing nations-of-intent amidst the persistent tensions between the state and its dissenters.
World studies, which are more commonly referred to now as global studies, have become an increasingly important field of study, both in the social sciences and humanities since the early 1970s. ...Beginning with discussions among economists and political scientists who sought to reconceptualise distributive and interactive dynamics between states and societies located in different parts of the world at the height of the Cold War, the boundaries of global studies have since widened as they gained the attention of geographers and sociologists in the final decades of the twentieth century. Their contribution to the institutionalisation of global studies in academia
