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Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

From Munshipedia, the MBRAS digital historical encyclopedia

Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society is a learned society devoted to the collection, recording, and diffusion of knowledge concerning Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Founded on 4 November 1877 by a group of British colonial administrators at the Raffles Library, Singapore, it received formal affiliation from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in May 1878. Over its second century of operation, the Society has published 154 issues of its journal, 25 monographs, 13 reprints, and three indexes, while maintaining a membership that grew from 150 founder members to over 1,000 by 1995 [1, pp. 85–86].

Founding and Early Development (1877–1922)

The Society originated in the utilitarian exigencies of British imperial administration. Following the Pangkor Engagement of 1874, which placed a British adviser in Perak and marked the beginning of direct territorial control in the Malay Peninsula, colonial officials found themselves governing territories about which they possessed almost no reliable information. F.A. Swettenham, a British civil servant of the period, recalled that “there were no reliable books on the subject, the whole country was an absolute blank on every map” [1, p. 88]. On 4 November 1877, a group of administrators met at the Raffles Library, Singapore, to form a society for “collecting and recording scientific information in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago” [1, p. 87]. Among the founder members were Archdeacon G.F. Hose, C.J. Irving, W.E. Maxwell, A.M. Skinner, W.A. Pickering, N.B. Dennys, and D.F.A. Hervey [1, p. 87]. The provisional name “The Straits Asiatic Society” was adopted while affiliation was sought with the Royal Asiatic Society in London, which was granted on 6 May 1878, at which point the body became “The Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society” [1, p. 87].

The motivations behind the founding were both economic and political. The “forward movement” of British intervention after 1874 created an acute need for knowledge about the peoples and territories under British influence, while the Residential System of indirect rule required officials to understand Malay customs, literature, and law in order to govern by advice [1, pp. 87–88]. In his Inaugural Address of 28 February 1878, Archdeacon Hose urged the survey and exploration of unknown places and argued that “a careful study of the religious opinions and practices of the people would be not interesting only, but directly useful” to both missionaries and the governing class [1, p. 88]. Yet Hose also expressed the hope that members would seek “knowledge for its own sake, not merely for the purpose of applying it to their own personal and material benefit, but in order to contribute something to the common stock” [1, p. 89].

The Society’s early activities extended beyond publication. At its First General Meeting on 22 February 1878, it undertook to fill in an uncompleted map of the Malay Peninsula under the direction of A.M. Skinner, supplemented by information from the Siamese Government and the Survey Department [1, p. 92]. It also assisted the Straits Settlements Government in preparing a textbook on Eastern Geography and was commissioned to publish a statistical gazetteer [1, pp. 92–93]. A library of books bearing on the Society’s objects was established, collecting classical Malay manuscripts such as the Hikayat Abdullah and the Sri Rama [1, p. 92]. In its first year, 22 papers were read at nine General Meetings, including W.A. Pickering’s paper on the origin of the Chinese Triad Society [1, p. 91]. However, by 1881 the Society was compelled to abandon regular paper-reading meetings due to the difficulty of obtaining a quorum [1, p. 91].

The Journal, first published in July 1878, became the Society’s chief preoccupation. Under the Straits Branch, 86 numbers were published between 1878 and 1922 [1, p. 90]. The map-making project was abandoned in 1916 when the Survey Department produced its own map, and the library, which had grown to an unmanageable size, was discontinued in 1923 due to little use [1, pp. 92–93].

The Malayan Branch Era and Wartime Interruption (1923–1963)

In 1923, in accordance with the change of the Society’s name to the “Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society”, the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS) came into existence, with Volume 1 Part 1 published in April 1923 [1, p. 90]. The serial numbers of future publications were continued, but each volume was given a volume number comprising several parts [1, p. 90].

This period saw the Society’s contribution to Malayan historiography reach its zenith under the scholar-officials. Sir Richard Winstedt, who served as President in 1927, 1929, and 1931–1935, contributed 144 articles to the Journal, of which 27 were historical works, making him the most prolific and prominent of the scholar-official historians [1, p. 121]. His full-scale state histories, including “A History of Johor 1365–1895” (1932), “A History of Perak” (1934, with R.J. Wilkinson), and “A History of Selangor” (1934), marked an advancement in Malayan historiography by spanning from early civilisation to British protection [1, p. 97]. Winstedt’s “A History of Malaya” (1935) covered nearly two thousand years and represented a commendable attempt at general history, though it was criticised by later scholars for the absence of footnoting and its predominantly court-centred focus [1, pp. 98–99].

The Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–1945) interrupted the Journal’s publication. The last pre-war issue was Volume 19 Part 3 in December 1941, and Volume 20 Part 1 was not published until June 1947 [1, p. 90], [2, p. 97]. During this period, the Society’s activities were suspended, and its premises at the Raffles Museum in Singapore were affected by the occupation.

A notable event of this era was the presentation of a bronze bust of Sir Stamford Raffles to the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences in Batavia on 23 December 1929 [3, p. 289]. Raffles, who had served as President of the Batavian Society during the British occupation of Java (1811–1816), had promised his bust to that institution in 1816, but the promise had remained unfulfilled for 114 years due to the political upheavals following the British evacuation [3, p. 290]. The Malayan Branch, prompted by discussions during the Batavian Society’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 1928, commissioned a copy of the original Chantry bust (made in 1817 and held by the Zoological Society of London) and presented it through a delegation led by the Society’s President, Dr. Boden Kloss [3, p. 289]. The ceremony was attended by the Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies and a distinguished assembly of Dutch and British officials [3, p. 289].

In 1963, the complete set of 82 Straits Branch Journals was reprinted by Kraus Reprints in Germany, a run that has since been exhausted [2, p. 98].

The Malaysian Branch and Modern Scholarship (1964–Present)

The first Journal published under the Malaysian Branch was Volume 37 Part 1, in July 1964 [1, p. 91]. By the end of 1983, the Society had published 245 journals in total, and it continued at a rate of two parts per year [1, p. 91]. The post-1950 period witnessed the amateur scholarship of colonial officials gradually giving way to professional scholarship, a transformation largely attributable to the establishment of the University of Malaya in Singapore in 1949 and later a separate university in Kuala Lumpur in 1959 [1, p. 105]. Professional historians such as C.N. Parkinson (first Raffles Professor of History, 1949–1958), I.A. Macgregor, and C.D. Cowan brought archival research methods and analytical rigour to Malayan historiography [1, p. 105].

The Society’s activities expanded to include Annual Lectures, first delivered in 1962 following a gap of over 80 years since the reading of papers at General Meetings had effectively ceased [1, p. 91]. Notable lecturers have included Wang Gungwu, J.P. Groslier, J.N. Miksic, Prof. Syed Hussein Al-Attas, K.G. Tregonning, John Bastin, and Pierre-Yves Manguin [1, p. 140]. The Society also sponsored academic conferences, including the Fourth Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia in Kuala Lumpur in 1968, held jointly with the Malaysian Historical Society and the History Teachers’ Association of Malaya [1, p. 93].

The Society has enjoyed the patronage of top-ranking officials, including the Governors of the Straits Settlements, Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore, and the Sultan of Brunei [1, p. 85]. Among its council members have been distinguished officials and academicians ranging from Sir Frank Swettenham, Sir Richard Winstedt, and H.N. Ridley of the colonial government to Tan Sri Nik Ahmed Kamil and Tun Mohamed Suffian bin Hashim of the Malaysian government, and academicians such as Dr. Alastair Lamb, Professor Wang Gungwu, and Professor S. Arasaratnam [1, p. 85]. In 1991, the Society welcomed HH Idris Shah, Raja Muda of Selangor, as a new patron [4]. In 2013, a Council delegation led by President Tun Hanif Omar visited Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, touring the Islamic Museum, the Royal Gallery, and the floating village of Kampung Ayer (kampong meaning village), and attending a public lecture on the MIB (Malay Islamic Monarchy) national philosophy [5, pp. 89–92].

The Society’s move from Singapore to Petaling Jaya, prompted by the Director of Museums reclaiming the Raffles Museum office space, was executed by Mubin Sheppard, who “more or less single handedly hired a lorry” to transfer the publication stock [2, p. 98, n. 2]. Sheppard served as Vice-President from 1949 to 1994, Honorary Editor from 1971 to 1994, and Honorary Secretary from 1972 to 1988 [1, p. 125].

In the digital age, the journal’s distribution has been transformed. The JSTOR digital collection of JSBRAS and JMBRAS back issues, available from 1878, recorded over 91,000 downloads in 2021 from 175 countries, demonstrating that digitisation has solved the accessibility problem that preoccupied earlier editors [2, p. 100]. The journal’s move to peer review, necessitated by Scopus indexing requirements, represents a significant departure from the practices of its earlier decades [2, p. 102]. The Society has also revived its monograph and reprint series in both print and ebook formats [2, p. 102].

Research and Documentation

The principal institutional history of the Society is Choy Chee Meh’s (née Lum) 1995 study, published in JMBRAS 68(2), which traces the Society from its founding through its second century of operation [1]. This work, based largely on the Society’s own printed publications including Annual Reports, Journals, Reprints, Monographs, and Rules, is the first dedicated institutional history of the MBRAS and fills a notable gap in the historiography of Southeast Asian learned societies [1, p. 81]. It draws almost exclusively on the Society’s own publications as primary sources, supplemented by a limited range of secondary literature on Malayan historiography; no external archival collections were consulted [1].

The journal’s operational history is documented in the 2022 article by P.H. Kratoska and Mubin Sheppard, which presents Sheppard’s 1985 account of the journal’s history and challenges, updated by Kratoska to reflect three decades of transformation in scholarly publishing [2]. This piece functions as both a historical record of the journal’s first 145 years and a statement of its current editorial and distribution strategy [2].

The Society’s publications have been indexed at various points: C.E. Wurtzburg compiled an index to all 86 Straits Branch Journals (Nos. 1–86, 1878–1922) in 1927 [6]; C.A. Gibson-Hill indexed Volumes 1–20 (1923–1947) in 1948 [7]; and W.D. Barnes produced an index to Journals Nos. 1–50 in 1909 [8]. A further index to Volumes I to XXXI appeared in 1898 [9]. The Index Malaysiana (1878–1963), compiled by Lim Hock Tee and D.E.K. Wijasuriya, was published in 1963, with supplements covering 1964–1973 and 1974–1983 [1, p. 138].

The Society’s Rules, preserved in the appendices to Choy Chee Meh’s history, document its constitutional evolution from the Straits Branch through the Malayan Branch to the Malaysian Branch, including provisions for membership, officers, council, general meetings, publications, and dissolution [1, pp. 129–137]. The Rules confirm that the Society’s activities cover Malaysia, the State of Brunei, and other neighbouring territories, and that its objects are “the increase and diffusion of knowledge” concerning those territories, including the publication of a journal devoted to this end [1, p. 135]. Members when temporarily resident in the United Kingdom are entitled to use the library and attend the monthly meetings of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and when visiting India, to attend the monthly meetings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal [1, pp. 131–132].

History

Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Borneo Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Patrons

Publications

Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

See (Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society)[./journal-of-the-malaysian-branch-of-the-royal-asiatic-society].

Monographs

Reprints

Other publications

Prominent Members

MBRAS Council

MBRAS Sources

History

Indices

Bibliography

References

  1. Choy Chee Meh (1995). History of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society JMBRAS 68(2): 81–148.
  2. P.H. Kratoska and Mubin Sheppard (2022). Dato Haji Mubin Sheppard. With a note P. Kratoska JMBRAS 95(1): 95–103.
  3. Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1930). Delegation to Java: presentation of Sir Stamford Raffles’ bust to the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences JMBRAS 8(2): 289–306. Read on JSTOR
  4. Mubin Sheppard (1991). Welcome to our new patron (HH Idris Shah Raja Muda of Selangor) JMBRAS 64(2): 1–6.
  5. Neil Khor Jin Keong (2013). MBRAS visit to Bandar Seri Begawan JMBRAS 86(2): 89–92.
  6. C.E. Wurtzburg (1927). An index to all the journals (Nos. 1–86) of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from its foundation until its change of title to Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. And to Notes and queries I to IV JMBRAS 5(4): 1–101.
  7. C.A. Gibson-Hill (1948). Index {to} volumes 1–20 (1923–47) of the Society’s journals JMBRAS 21(3): 1–66.
  8. W.D. Barnes (1909). An index to Journals Nos 1–50 and to Notes and Queries I―IV JSBRAS 51.
  9. Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (1898). Index to the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vols I to XXXI JSBRAS 31: 153–190.