Colonialism, Violence and Muslims in Southeast Asia (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia) by Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied

Colonialism, Violence and Muslims in Southeast Asia (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia) Reviews

• 
  Benjamin Judah

  This book is a fresh reinterpretation of the Maria Hertogh Riots which was a significant event in Malaysia and Singapore’s historiography. According to the author on page 3 of the book, ‘this book initiates a shift beyond the study of the causes of the riots towards a deeper examination of the wide-ranging effects and crises faced in the aftermath.’ Through studying the aftermath, this book attempts to reconfigure the structures of colonial rulers vis-à-vis the ruled. It also aims to frame this riot in the larger context of the global forces and local dynamics during the era of decolonisation when forces of nationalism, communalism and communism interplayed with the receding colonial power. By using the Maria Hertogh controversy as a lens to view the era of British decolonisation of Malaya and Singapore, this book as elaborated on page 7 aims to help the readers listen to the voices of the subalterns, the social activists and the underclass without compromising on the roles of the traditional big players such as the colonial state and the wider global communities such as the Dutch and newly-independent Muslim nations.
  
  The book is structured by providing a contextual stage whereby it begins with the state of the Muslims in colonial Singapore during the immediate years after the Japanese Occupation when the community was facing considerable challenges in finding the places in society in a rapidly evolving changing world when the old order of colonialism was giving way to the newly emerging postcolonial independent states in Africa and Asia. This was the Maria Hertogh legal tussle erupted into mass violence in which 18 were killed and 173 injured. Following which the book outlines a series of state responses as well the counter responses from the populace involved.
  
  The first response of the state was a series of arrests, raids and curfew aimed to instil fear. This provokes a counter response in the form of a stout legal defence of the alleged Muslim perpetrators by the Muslim community. The second response by the state was to ramp up its surveillance apparatus to check on potential threats from the Muslim communities. In response, the community channelled its appeal efforts via peaceful means rather than militant methods. However, new threats evolved from foreign shores as Pan-Islamism ideas came with returning students from Cairo and Mecca. The third response was the classic British system of self-criticism epitomised by committees of enquiries and bringing those responsible to task. The author made a strong point that this process of self-criticism was a complex process of not simply to restore the integrity of the colonial system but to protect the legitimacy of the colonial administration. The lower ranks of the colonial state shouldered much of the blame in contrast to the upper echelons who were left relatively unscathed.
  
  The fourth response was efforts by the state to reconcile itself with the ruled by restoring public confidence in the colonial administration and pacifying the Muslim community in Singapore. While there were challenges such as the establishment of compensation tribunal for those who suffered due to the riots and the management of Maria Hertogh’s domicile by the Dutch officials, by the end of 1953, the angry mood of the Muslims regarding the Maria Hertogh case had significantly subsided. The final response by the state was a radical reform of their administration such as the police, legal and education system. However, there were resistance from the populace with regards to police and education reforms which the Chinese refused to join the policing efforts as well the Malays’ opposition to English being introduced as a medium of instruction in Malay-medium schools. All in all, these reforms outlined by the author aided the British to significantly restore its tarnished legitimacy as a ruler.
  
  The book’s main arguments are that the Maria Hertogh riots stemmed from British failure to address four key factors which shaped the Muslim community, namely; the influence of radical ideas, the effects of socio-economic marginalisation, press sensationalism and the failures of the police and other security agencies to pre-empt potential dangers. These riots as a result, damaged the image of the British as rulers, jeopardised diplomatic relations with other states such as the Netherlands and Muslim nations. Yet, in response, as discussed in detail in preceding paragraphs, the British rolled out a series of responses to restore itself as the legitimate ruler in a fast decolonising environment. The author articulated, in detail, the responses of the state and the ruled in the aftermath of the riots. He argued that resistance towards the colonial administration remained intense following the riots and was manifested in various forms in the wider Muslim world and even, in Britain itself. However, the reforms by the colonial together with the participation of the locals, the British successfully regained lost ground.
  
  The author employed extensive archival sources from the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Australia and the USA. He also drew extensive from the law reports from the court proceedings of the cases involving itself. Newspapers, books, academic theses, oral history interviews and internet website make up the remaining sources he employed in his research.
  
  This book attempts to carve out new spaces in the historiography of British colonialism, violence and Muslims in Southeast Asia. When we read on the decolonisation process of Malaya and Singapore, the process was traditionally covered through the prism of the Malayan Emergency in which the British, together with non-communist local elites, collaborated to create a new national entity and eliminate the threat of communism. Literature of this genre includes Red Star over Malaya by Cheah Boon Keng and Dialogues with Chin Peng edited by C.C. Chin and Karl Hack. Thus this book aims to fill the gap of the interplay between the British and the Muslim community.
  
  This book is a good response to the literature covering Malaya and Singapore independence movement which mainly focussed on the interaction between the colonial power and the local elites, examples of this genre include The Struggle for Malaya Independence by J.J. Raj , Malaysia: Making of a Nation by Cheah Boon Keng and Singapore: The Unexpected Nation by Edwin Lee. This book is an attempt to bring in the subaltern into the dynamics of the times.
  
  As for the Maria Hertogh’s case itself, there are books which covered the narrative from different angles such as the Nadra Tragedy: the Maria Hertogh Controversy by Haja Maideen and Tangled Worlds: A Story of Maria Hertogh by Tom E. Hughes . However, this book covers a broader terrain which put this single event in the context of colonialism in Southeast Asia, in particular, the Muslim community in Singapore and Malaya. This book is a fresh look at this single event from the wider structural perspective of how the state interacted with the non-state and global actors.
  What are its weaknesses?
  
  This book is an attempt to frame the riots in a broader context of colonial rule in Southeast Asia with its main focus on the restoration of peace and rebuilding of society by the state and nonstate actors. It can do better by giving us a clear and more comprehensive picture of how the British regained its lost legitimacy when history showed us that the British rule moved rapidly towards its end in Malaya and Singapore in the aftermath of the riots.
  
  In the conclusion pages of the book, the author made his case for scholars to move beyond studying the cases of mass violence within their own contexts and should take a closer look at the post violence strategies applied by the regimes, the subsequent resistance the regimes faced and the impact of the strategies on the local and world communities.
  
  In sum, the book is of great relevance today when the world is dealing with the aftermath of the Sept 11 Attacks by Islamist terrorists and how the political powers of various states responded in their various stages to pre-empt future attacks and mitigates the efforts of the radical Islamist ideologies on the next generation. It may be better if the book can draw the lessons from the riots and link them to the present.