Mustapha Hussain: Malay Nationalism Before UMNO
THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN, 1910-1957
Even sadder, Malays could not count on the educated Malays to fight their case as most members of the new Malay elite had become Westernised. Thus, lower rung Malays were helpless to defend their lost rights and could do little to halt the economic onslaught by others.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
KMM, or the Young Malay Union, was founded by a group of radical left nationalists in their late twenties. Influenced by world events and by political events in Turkey in particular, they desired a political body similar to the Young Turks. The word ‘young’ did not preclude acceptance of members of any age group so long as they were “young in spirit.”
KMM wished to enter the arena of local politics as the saviour of nusa dan bangsa (country and people) before the axe of destruction could annihilate them. Homeland Tanah Melayu (The Malay Land), with Malays as its rightful owners, has already been renamed Malaya by the British, with ‘Malayan’ nationals about to inherit what Allah had bestowed on the Malays.
These young nationalists despised every form of colonial oppression. The British, initially accepted as protectors and peacekeepers, had become unbridled oppressors, like other European colonisers. Through their Residential System, policies were subtly introduced from London without giving the Malay Rulers much voice.
One bone of contention was the British policy of allowing tens of thousands of ‘others’ into Malaya. To administer Malaya, the British colonialists brought in educated foreigners from Ceylon, India and Hong Kong to help them exploit Malaya’s economic wealth. They also introduced uneducated workers from China and India. To maintain security, they imported troops from India and Burma. Why did the British not employ more Malays in both government and private sectors? Given a chance, they too would have proven progressive and capable! British excuses that Malays were unqualified and lazy did not hold water.
On top of that, British educational policies were not formulated to guide Malays towards better employment. In the 1930s, Malays only numbered 16 per cent of students in English schools in the Federated Malay States. Malays were, in effect, merely ‘educated’ to become traditional farmers and fishermen whose lives would just be a fraction better than their parents’.
Let me quote a British officer’s statement in the 1920s: “The aim of the Government is not to turn out a few well educated youths, nor a number of less educated boys: rather, it is to improve the bulk of the people, and to make the son of a fisherman or peasant a more intelligent fisherman or peasant than his father had been and a man whose education will enable him to understand how his lot in life fits in with the scheme of life around him.”
The Malays lagged behind in all fields, yet socio-economic policies introduced by the British were not designed to touch Malay lives, especially ‘lower rung’ Malays. They were left to carry on with their traditional lifestyles. No efforts were undertaken to improve the Malay peasants’ miserable standard of living.
We, the “progressive youths”, were fully aware that the British could not be depended upon to upgrade our socio-economic status. In fact, the British were quickly learning to evade the issue of Malay pre-eminence (Ketuanan Melayu).
We felt that if Malays united under the KMM, we could act to assert our rights. KMM could not only ensure peace, prosperity and security in the country, but at the same time, uphold Malay pre eminence and birthrights. In short, KMM would be the saviour of the Malays in their homeland.
The Malays had begun to be suspicious of Chinese immigrants from February 1931 when Penang Consultative Council Member Lim Cheng Ean boldly challenged, “Who says Malaya belongs to the Malays?” The Malay press answered this challenge vociferously, while individuals responded by forming Malay associations in Perak, Selangor and Pahang.
The Malays were, however, less alarmed by the presence of the Indians and the Ceylonese. These two nationalities were only seen as ‘birds of passage’, unlike Chinese immigrants who had become interested in staying on permanently.
Nevertheless, these two races were still looked upon negatively as ‘robbers’ of employment, in both Government Departments and estates. It was Malay labourers who cleared thick jungles to plant rubber seedlings in British estates, but when it was time to tap them, Indian labourers were brought in, replacing Malays.
In the Malayan Railways, positions – right from the highest position of Station Master to the lowest position of Porter -- were monopolised by Indians. Datuk Undang Rembau tried to remedy this social malady, but his efforts died with him.
Even sadder, Malays could not count on the educated Malays to fight their case as most members of the new Malay elite had become Westernised. Thus, lower rung Malays were helpless to defend their lost rights and could do little to halt the economic onslaught by others.
Leftist Malays with KMM hoped to unite the entire Malay population in ‘passive resistance’ similar to Gandhi’s, or, should KMM receive support from student bodies, move in ‘active resistance’ like Burma’s Thakin.
With such noble intentions and aspirations, KMM was founded in April 1938 at a meeting held at the home of Hassan Haji Manan along Jalan Pasar in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States. The KMM’s formation was one of the earliest organised efforts by Malays to disseminate political ideas.
The founding members of the KMM included Ibrahim Yaakub (a Malay school teacher turned journalist) from Kerdau, Pahang; Mustapha Hussain (a lecturer at the School of Agriculture of Malaya in Serdang, Selangor) from Matang, Perak; Hassan Haji Manan (a Malay school teacher) from Selangor; Abdul Karim Rashid (a Malay school teacher) from Selangor; Onan Haji Siraj (a Technical School certificate holder) from Ipoh, Perak; Othman Mohd. Noor or M.N. Othman (a Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, Central Workshop clerk) from Tapah Road, Perak; Sulung bin Chik (a Technical School certificate holder and Subordinate Officer in the Railways Department) from Pahang; Bahar bin Abik (a Subordinate Officer at the Government Printers, Kuala Lumpur) from Kuala Lumpur; Idris bin Hakim (a clerk in the Customs Office, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur) from Kampar, Perak; Abdullah Kamil (a journalist) from Kuala Lumpur; Abdul Samad Ahmad (a journalist) from Selangor; Mohamad Salehuddin (a journalist) from Kuala Lumpur and Ishak Haji Muhammad (Pak Sako; a magistrate turned journalist) from Pahang. Most of these active members were Malay educated, but a few had attended English schools.
Ibrahim Yaakub was elected President, proposed by Hassan Haji Manan and seconded by Abdul Karim Rashid. I was made Vice President, proposed by Sulung bin Chik and seconded by Bahar bin Abik. The Working Committee members were:
Secretary I: Hassan Haji MananThe other Central Committee members included:
Secretary II: Othman Mohd. Noor (M.N. Othman)
Treasurer: Idris Hakim
Abdul Karim RashidI would like to add that the two big names in Malay left politics after World War II, Ahmad Boestamam and Dr Burhanuddin Al Helmi, were not KMM founder members. Ahmad Boestamam only joined KMM just a few months before World War II broke out.
Bahar bin Abik
Sulung bin Chik Onan Haji Siraj
Ishak Haji Muhammad (Pak Sako)
Abdul Samad Ahmad
Abdullah Kamil
KMM policies were not in line with the Perak, Selangor and Pahang Malay Associations, which were pro colonial and provincial in outlook. KMM was absolutely anti colonial and fiercely determined to free the ‘Malay Land’ from the British grip. The British Government would be pressured to listen to the Malays and a democratic system of government had to supplant the colonists.
As Malaya’s first political organisation, its leaders were proud to be the first to use the magic word, Merdeka. Appropriately, KMM had a secret meaning, Kesatuan Malaya Merdeka, or Independent Malaya Union, known only to the KMM’s inner circle, consisting of just a few members.
Later, in January 1942, this secret meaning shocked Japanese officers when I (as KMM Vice President) and other KMM members (Onan Haji Siraj, M. N. Othman, Hamzah Alang, Abdul Rahman Tambi, Mohd. Isa Sulaiman, Datuk Wan Daud Ahmad, Saidi Hashim, Kiman, Mohd. Mustafa Ali, Abdul Kadir Adabi, Hashim bin Mat Dali, Naning, Zainal Abidin bin Kassim, Haniff bin Sulaiman) demanded the Japanese commanders proclaim Malaya’s Independence after revealing that KMM’s secret aspiration was Independence. The story of this demand will follow in a later chapter.
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