British policy towards the Malays in the Federated Malay States, 1920-40

Abstract

There are only a handful of studies on the political history of Malaya during the interwar years. This is mainly due to the fact that until 1966 the official records for the period were closed to researchers. Based mainly on information gleaned from these records, this dissertation studies an aspect of British policy in one limited area in Malaya during the period, 1920- 1940. The area referred to was the Federated Malay States (FMS) which comprised Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang. Affairs in the other two regions in Malaya, namely the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay States (UMS), have been omitted save when they had a bearing on the subject under discussion. This is a study of British efforts to uplift the Malays politically in the FMS with particular reference to a policy of decentralisation and of training Malays for the public service. The core of the thesis deals with the decentralisation movement which attempted to loosen the highly centralised federal administration in the FMS, restore powers to the states, and enable Malays to play a more active role in public affairs. This movement began in 1920 and in effect ended in 19*+0 » This explains the choice of dates for this dissertation.