the colonization of british malaya
HIS 112 Assignment | By Kariann Tan
The beginnings of British Malaya and the need for material resources
Image of Sir Francis Light, the founder of the British colony of Penang in 1786.
Since the early 17th century, the British had been trading in Malaya waters. However, there was no disconcerting effort from these traders to settle in areas within the nation peninsula at that time. At that time, the British were trading in such areas in order to compete and replace colonial masters such as the Portuguese and the Dutch (who, instead of occupying Malaya, occupied Indonesia instead). Soon enough, the British then sought to have more control in Asia after colonizing India before then and their dominance in that region had been cemented.
As such, their effort to claim Malaya then began with the British settlement of a coastal town named Penang (also known as the Prince of Wales Island) in 1786. This was instrumental to the British’s plan to occupy more areas in Asia, and Penang was very helpful in their case as it allowed for English traders to come by and for troops to monitor French activities in the Indian Ocean. This land soon also became a key trading region for the nation due to this proximity to the ocean and the Strait of Malacca (which is akin to the Suez Canal due to the area’s ability for ships to sail and trade easily).
In 1891, British explorer Sir Stamford Raffles then acquired Singapore, an island a few hundred miles off Penang. From then on, Singapore grew to become the most prominent key trading city in the region, outpacing Penang. As the region of Malaya itself began to develop, more port cities like Melacca was founded, and as these three major ports are founded by the British, these ports then formed and were recognized as the Straits Settlements in 1826.
By the mid 19th century, British economic influence was mounting in the entire region, with large swaths of Chinese immigrants going to Malaya to work in the tin mines and whatnot. Initially, the British were reluctant to control more land in the region of Malaya apart from what they had within the Straits Settlement, but due to mounting pressure from Chinese secret societies and conflicts between Malayan rulers of large swaths farmlands and tin-states, the British caved and engaged in an attempt to seize these lands. From then on, the colonization of Malaya in its entirety began.
The cities labeled with a star label (barring Kuala Lumpur) combined that is known as the Strait Settlements. This is comprised of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca (Melaka).
Establishing control of British investments
During the colonization of Malaya in the 18th century, the Malays and the Chinese population at the time were organized into several and separate communities all over the region which naturally led to growing conflict and tensions. Moreover, the increased economic benefit coming from tin mining (which was a rather big resource for Malaya) led to fights for control within the Malayan aristocracy. Feeling concerned over these matters, the British eventually realized that in order to curb these issues and protect their economic investments in the coastal areas, direct involvement in the peninsula affairs had to be taken.
Such direct action to exercise control in the region included sending British advisors to Malayan sultanates. Doing so, the British hoped that these advisors would serve as a leader and chief executive to the sultan, in which the sultan followed and obeyed every order from the British. The only exception would be in the case of Islamic affairs, which the British had no say in those matters as the aforementioned was not applicable to the advisors themselves.
By a series of treaties between 1873 and 1930, the British colonial Administrators took control of the foreign affairs of the nine Malay sultanates on the peninsula. In 1896 the Federated Malay States (Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, and Pahang) came into existence, with Kuala Lumpur as the capital. The sultanates of northern Borneo – Brunei, Sabah, and Sarawak – also became British protectorates. These protectorates were also known as the “protected states”. Interestingly, the state of Johor was the only sultanate that resisted the political invasion, instead of modernizing their state and granting legal protections to Chinese and British economic activity.
The British raising the flag of its' nation in Malaya for the first time in the land of Labuan in 1846.
A state of peace in British Malaya
By the early 1900s, Britain had finally achieved full control of the entire region of Malaya. In 1914, the Malayan Peninsula was composed of 10 political entities: the Strait Settlements, four Federated Malay states, and five Unfederated Malay states. In return for these political entities, the British had promised that there would not be any intervention with regards to the cultural, religious, and traditional integrity of these regions. Gunboat diplomacy was enacted by the British government in Malaya if peace was disturbed within these states, especially concerning Chinese and Malay so-called “gangsters”. The British also erected divide and rule tactics in other to garner control of more land in the region, and with that, they instigated more rivalries between sultans and the sultanates.
During this time of peace and prosperity, the British went to absolute lengths in order to vastly improved the education and healthcare system in the states. The only downside to such matters is the fact that everything had to be done in the English language, which made it difficult for Malayan natives to adapt and succeed. Because of this, there had been efforts made by the Chinese (as an example) to make their own school for Chinese Malayans.
The rubber industry was heavily developing in Malaya in the early 1900s, leading to many Chinese and Indian immigrants coming from their homelands to work in these plantations.
Economic transportation infrastructure was also quickly developed in order to aid in economic growth, with rubber and tin being the most notable exports due to the sudden technological innovation in both goods. Because of this incredible growth spurt within the economy, many Chinese immigrants came to Malaya in search of jobs within the tin and rubber industry, with Singapore being the largest point of entry. By the end of the century, Malayan tin exports accounted for almost half of the world’s output. The efficiency of production in Malayan factories then became a substantial factor for ensuring that more tin was being made and exported.
With regards to the societal system in Malaya during the period of British colonial rule, it is safe to say that the advisors pursued a class-based society such that economic growth helped some natives, didn’t affect others, and negatively affected a portion. According to Mahatir bin Mohamad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, he described British Malaya in the 1930s as being the rich and poor living in separate parts of town, keeping to their own selves. On the other hand, the Europeans “of course, lived in their own quarters [and] [...] were very exclusive with their own clubs and [...] did not mix with the local population.” (bin Mohamad)
Tun Mahatir bin Mohamad, the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia
As the 1930s quickly approached, colleges and universities in British Malaya at that time birthed a wave of Malay nationalism, which sought to unite Chinese, Indian, and Malay Malaysians to stand up to colonial rule. More and more Malay publications and cultural organizations began to prop up that encouraged a more united Malaya for the Chinese, Indians, and Malays. This played a large factor in inspiring the Malayan youth to vouch for a truly independent Malayan nation in the future, without the British rule.
MALAYA DURING WORLD WAR II
Malaya had suffered little losses during World War I, however, the region’s unpreparedness and reckless behavior held by the British had catastrophic consequences for civilians and the British alike in 1941. The British had built a great naval base in Singapore but failed to ensure any protection for the Northern part of the region. As such, the Japanese were able to overrun Malayan and British troops from their French Indo-China bases. In just two months, the Japanese were able to completely overrun Malaya, and Singapore, who were left with no resources and/or support from the British, surrendered to the Japanese in 1942.
The Japanese held similar policies to the British in terms of racial ideals. Malayan nationalism was encouraged but only to a limited extent, however, the Chinese Malayans at the time were regarded as “enemy aliens” due to the Chinese’s extreme opposition to the Japanese rule. During this period of time, tensions between the Chinese, Indians, and Malays increased tremendously, and the economic consequences were obvious given the stripping of resources by the Japanese to their own benefit. Over 80,000 Chinese in Malaya were killed through the process of sook ching (purification through suffering).
.jpg)
British troops working on a Bren gun career in Malaya. Taken in 1941.
MALAYA after WORLD WAR II
The British were able to return to Malaya after Japan’s surrender of WW2 in 1945, however, the level of content held from the native Malayans after their return was less so as compared to before the war. A stronger desire for independence was growing quickly, thanks to the rise of nationalism over the past decade. As such, colonial self-rule and nation independence was now the goal of the British colonizers. In 1946, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) was formed as a nationalist group encouraging their fellow Malayans to help the nation seek independence from their British rulers. Little did they know that before then in 1944, the British had already sought plans in order to grant Malaya independence albeit through a slow and gradual process. This process would lead to the emergence of the Malayan Union which would turn the Straits Settlement, the Unfederated and the Federated States into one single “Crown” colony. This was met with resentment by the Malays as they opposed the weakening of the sultan and Malay rulers, especially with the fact that the British had thought of equality of races for all Malayans.
Eventually, these boiling racial tensions gave way to the Malayan Emergency in 1948. This violent period of insurrection involved the Chinese communist guerrillas maintaining a stronghold in certain areas of the region. This guerrilla war was fought between the pro-independence fighters known as the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), the Commonwealth forces by the British, and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). The main intention of the war was held by the communists, in the sense that they wanted to gain independence from British Malaya and form their own socialist empire.
Eventually, the war was suppressed by the Commonwealth and British forces, and troops from the MCP dwindled over time. However, this came at a big cost, as independence was then granted to Malaya on the 31st of August in 1957, with Tunku Abdul Rahman as the first Prime Minister of the newly independent nation.
Tunku Abdul Rahman yelling "Merdeka", meaning independence/freedom in English, during the first day of Malaya's independence from the British rule.