Saturday, September 3, 2011

Mustapha Hussain - Malay Nationalism Before UMNO

It was RPK's Malaysia Today that I read about Mustapha Hussain. I am not a historian nor a political analyst to comment. However, I have something to share to those who may not be aware. It is a paper on Malayan History - Kaum Muda - Kaum Tuah: Innovation and Reaction amongst the Malays, 1900-1941 by William Roff presented at the First International Conference of South East Asian Historians Singapore 1961. Here are some excerpts from the paper.

"It was in 1937 that Ibrahim Yaacob and Ishak bin Haji Muhammad formed the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM - Young Malay Union). Members were recruited mainly from the students of Sultan Idris Training College, the Agricultural College at Serdang and the Trade School in Kuala Lumpur. Sutan Djenain one of the original refugees from the collapse of the 1926 rbellionin Java, acted as liaisonbetween the KMM and the Malayan Communist Party. The political platform of the KMM was vague, and never elaborated in any contemporary document. Its chief components were a generalised anti-colonialism (expresed in the slogan 'non cooperation'), independence for Malaya, and union of Malaya within a Greater Indonesia (Indonesia Raya)."
This extract is not meant to counter any opinion or historical events.
I am attracted to this article because of the following:
a) am a graduate from Serdang - never knew that late Mustapha was in Serdang
b) Sukarno was against the formation of Malaysia in 1963 when Greater Indonesia was
hatched in 1937

Comments or additional info are welcomed!

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