his book, first published in 1995, is a study of political debate in an important Southeast Asian society. It re-examines the formative period in Malay nationalism and argues against using nationalism as the paradigm of analysis. By interrogating key Malay texts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Anthony Milner shows how contested and problematic the sphere of nationalism was. Central to the book is the notion of politics and it explores the development of political discourse in Malaysia. By stressing the emerging tension in Malay political thinking between monarchy, religion and nationalism, the author provides an essential introduction to the politics and society of modern Malaysia.
• Innovative and rigorous scholarship - a landmark in Malaysian studies • General concern with the notion of politics makes it relevant not only to Malay specialists
Contents
Introduction: colonialism, nationalism and contest; 1. The ancien regime: described and condemned; 2. Establishing a liberal critique; 3. A description of the real world: expanding vocabularies; 4. Conceptualizing a Bangsa community: a newspaper of moderate opinions; 5. Building a bourgeois public sphere; 6. Ideological challenge on a second front: The Kerajaan in contest with Islam; 7. Answering liberalism: Islamic first moves; 8. Kerajaan self-reform: chronicling a new Sultanate; 9. Practising politics in the mid-colonial period; 10. Surveying the homeland; Sedar and dialogic processes; Conclusion: the Malay political heritage.
Reviews
'This magnificent book is certainly essential reading for Malaysianists and Malaysians interested in the intrigues and mystique of Malay politics, in the past and at present.' A. B. Shamsul, Asian Studies Review
'The Invention of Politics in Colonial Malaya is a model of its kind and will undoubtedly become a landmark in Malaysian studies.' William R. Roff, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
' … unusual, detailed and original book .' Asian Affairs