Browsing by Author "Mohamad Firdaus bin Mansor Majdin"

The fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 became a major turning point in history and it brought about significant changes in the Muslim world. Indeed, its collapse was felt by Muslims across the globe including those in Malaya. This study examines the impact of the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate on Muslims in Malaya in the early 20th century. It focuses on the attitudes of the Malay-Muslims towards the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate. In doing so, it adopts the content analysis method by investigating the archival materials primarily diplomatic and official memoirs and diaries, British official records, contemporary newspapers, magazines and periodicals. These primary sources are obtained from the National Archives in Kuala Lumpur and its branches, the Library of University Malaya, the Za’ba Memorial Library, the National Archives of United Kingdom and the British Library. It demonstrates that while some Muslims (mainly the Arabs and Indian Muslims) expressed their support for the Caliphate, most of them particularly the Malay-Muslims, showed little interest towards the Caliphate issue. This was primarily due to the complex relationship between the Malay Court and Malay-Muslims on one hand, and the Malay Court and the British on the other. This study also shows that the abolition of the Caliphate did not bring an end to the Muslims’ interest on Turkey but it continued during Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s era.

Japanese occupation of Malaya is considered to be a departure point in Malaysia’s history which marked a shift of a new colonial master from British to Japanese. In the context of Malaya, following the successful Japanese subjugation of the land in February 1942, the High Command in Tokyo had issued a number of directives to be implemented in the occupied areas including Malaya. The High Command in Tokyo, among others had specified that regional commanders need to respect the natives’ religion and folk customs in the occupied areas. As far as Islam is concerned, the Japanese Military Administration seemed to depart from Tokyo’s orders in its dealing with Islam and Malay-Muslims as a whole. It seemed that the Japanese had no well-planned policy on Islam and Malay-Muslims in Malaya, nor were they sensitive to Islam and relevant issues concerning Islam and Muslims in the country. Rather Islam was used for propaganda purposes such as the frequent presence of Japanese officials in surau or mosques precinct for mobilizing people’ support and the usage of surau or mosques as storehouses in certain occasions. Moreover, the existing literature in the field has not yet sufficiently covered a number of issues evolved around the Japanese policy on Islam and Malay-Muslim in Malaya. My research aims to examine and analyze those issues in order to cater any relevant discussion related to this topic. In doing so, I will use extensive archival documents in this study, which are be in the forms of government records and documents such as annual reports, publications and newspaper reports. Personal accounts in the form of memoirs or diaries will also be utilized in order to assess and examine the attitude of Malay-Muslims toward Japanese administration. Perhaps the letter of correspondence between individuals or organizations will also be instrumental in providing the necessary information in examining the above issues.