We were a British colony

By Ahmad Fuad Rahmat. Harakah Daily 

Dr. Zainal Kling together with National Professors’ Council (MPN), which claims up to 1500 members, recently argued that Malaysia was never colonized by the British. As reported in Malaysiakini and Berita Harian, Their argument in essence reads as follows:

1. Malaya was a British protectorate, not a colony.

2. But the British did have administrative powers in the fields of finance and the exploitation of Malaya’s natural resources.
3. Despite this, Zainal (left) still maintains that Malay sovereignty (kedaulatan Melayu) was still protected.
4. Therefore, what is now Malaysia (with the exception of Malaka and Penang) was never colonized by the British.

The problems with Dr. Zainal’s argument  are as follows:

1. The argument is illogical

Colonialism entails the exploitation of the wealth and potential of a nation by another. The scenario is that one nation becomes subjugated by the power and authority of another nation. By the MPN's own admission Malaya’s natural resources and financial authority was exploited by the British “in a breach of trust” rendering Malaya’s actual political power and capacity effectively impotent.

If a nation is exploited in such a manner then in effect that nation’s sovereignty was violated.  Since this was the case in Malaya, as was presented by the facts already in MPN's reasoning, then Malaya was by definition colonized by the British.

At any rate, the remaining question is that if Malaya was merely a British protectorate ('dinaung') then why were the British also exploiting it?

2. Malay sovereignty was not protected under Perjanjian Pangkor. For it gave the British legal mandate to advise and interfere in local affairs

This has been explicitly admitted in Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) textbooks for decades: that much is even admitted in the Pemuda UMNO website. At any rate, some facts are undisputable:

    The perjanjian was written in English.
    It was signed on a British boat.
    Article 6 of the perjanjian reads as follows: “That the Sultan receives and provides a suitable residence for a British Officer to be called Resident, who shall be accredited to his Court, and whose advice must be asked and acted upon on all questions other than those touching Malay Religion and Custom.”(See H.S. Barlow's Swettenham, p. 45)
    The collection of taxes was to be overseen and managed by the British Resident.
    Due to British pressures and political manoeuvring Sultan Ismail was deposed in place of Sultan Abdullah.

3. They do not understand what sovereignty means

Sovereignty in a basic sense means power. In terms of the modern nation state, political sovereignty basically means that the absolute power and control of a nation and its territory rests in the state. Thus, a country is said to be independent because it has ostensibly gained its sovereignty.

What this means is that the finances and the natural resources of the state is a part of its sovereignty. Dr. Zainal, for some reason, assumes that because the British left the crumbs of Malay culture and religion under the Sultan’s rule this ought to mean that kedaulatan Melayu was safeguarded. The British, coming all the way from Europe eyeing our wealth, natural resources and economic potential first and foremost, of course had little concern for how we prayed and conducted our superstitions and cultural practices. The British residents had what mattered more in determining the sovereignty of a nation: its economics and an influence in the political system.

We were a British colony: A response to Zainal Kling