A Brief History of Malaysia

Malaysia is multi-religious country and Islam is the official religion of the country. It is believed Islam came to Malaysia at the beginning of the fourteenth century through the propagation of the religion by the Arab and Indian traders.

Significant evidence for this comes from the discovery of the Terengganu inscription, a four-sided stone on which is written the date of Friday 4 Rejab 702 AH/ Friday 22 February 1303 AD. This stone was found in the early 1920s. According to Riddell, it shows that the Islamic teaching was spread within the country as well as to other places including Sumatra.

Furthermore, several Malay kingdoms including the Sultanate of Malacca had risen in the fifteenth-century. The pioneer of the Malacca government, Parameswara, had converted to Islam and changed his name to Iskandar Shah. His successors had established Malacca to be a successful and influential kingdom which was described as “a great success and considered as an inspiration and source of strength to the later empires”.

The achievement of Malacca was due to its systematic administration. It was also well-known as a great entreport equipped with facilities for merchants to store goods from all over the world. Moreover, the Malay language was widely spoken among the foreign traders and became the national language of the state.

However, this great Malay civilization had reached its peak and subsequently began to decline during the period of Sultan Mahmud. Due to the weakness of the ruling government, Malacca had fallen to the Portuguese in 1511. It was the beginning of Malaya being colonised for four and half centuries.

Subsequently, this country was conquered by the Dutch in 1641 and at the beginning of 17 century it was occupied by the British. The colonisation of the British is depicted by Mutalib as a starting point of changes ‘...the course of Islam in Malay life...’(Mutalib, H., 1993. Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State. Singapore: Singapore University Press).

Moreover, Dr. Syed Husin Ali mentioned that the Malay Sultans “...under British control from 1824 to 1957 became a symbol of Malay political sovereignty without any authority to make decisions”(Ali, S.H., 1993. The Malays: Their Problems and Future. Kuala Lumpur: Heinemann Asia). They urged the Malay Muslim community to return to the fundamentals of Islamic teaching and equip themselves with the knowledge and skill of modern life to deal with the challenges they were facing.

During the World War II, the Japanese overthrew the British government and ruled Malaya for three years until they were defeated. Later, the British came back to Malaya with the introduction of the Malayan Union replacing the previous government system.

However, this idea received strong opposition from the Malay Muslim groups as it weakened the power of Malay rulers and granted citizenship and similar rights to other races. As a result of the Malay Muslim strong voice resisting the idea of a Malayan Union and their strong desire to achieve independence, it was cancelled and transferred to the Federation Agreement(1970, University of London Press Ltd)

Hence, an agreement was achieved between the Malay and the non-Malay groups and both of them agreed to a ‘bargain’. From the non-Malay side, the Malay group was recognized as indigenous residents in Malaya, whereas the non-Malay camps who were mainly Chinese and Indian were granted Malaya citizenship.

Furthermore, the non-Malay group also acknowledged the special rights of Malay Muslim, the expansion of Malay land reserves and to accept Islam and Malay language as the official religion and language of the country. Thus, the first election in Malaya was a lunched and the Alliance Party (Parti Perikatan) coalition of United Malays Nation Organization (UMNO) representing the large Malay Muslim group, Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) won a huge majority.

The new government was established and continued to struggle for independence until it was achieved on 31st August 1957. Tunku Abdul Rahman, leader of the UMNO party was appointed as the first Prime Minister of Malaya. Although Malaya had been granted independence, here was tension between the three major groups; the Malay, Chinese and Indians.

The British and Japanese occupations in Malaya had created a huge gap between these main groups. During the British administration, social and administrative contacts were kept to a minimum. The segregation during the colonisation and differences in culture and language had also led to tension(Mahathir, M., 1970. The Malay Dilemma. Singapore and Kuala Lumpur: Times Books International)

Furthermore, the Malay Muslim group felt threatened for most of them lived in poverty while the other races were more advanced in financial situation. This situation remained sustained until the ethnic riots of 13th May 1969 occurred when hundreds of people died. Following this incident, Malaysia’s New National Economy Policy (NEP) was introduced to ensure the Malay and indigenous groups achieved at least 30 percent of the economic share by 1990.

The challenges faced by Muslims today are not the same as those confronted by the Muslims in the past. Muslims in the past faced difficulties in establishing the Islamic civilization whereas Muslims today have to reconstruct their civilization as well as its social institutions. Muslims need to learn the lessons from the past to achieve success in the future. Muslims need to cope with the challenges facing them, not to run away from them or reject them, in order to be a great nation.



Wallahu'alam