Agents of Empire: British Engagement in the Collection of Malay Manuscripts in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Abstract
British engagement with Malay manuscripts during the 18th and 19th centuries shaped both the preservation of indigenous literary heritage and the colonial project of knowledge production in the Malay Peninsula. This study employs a historical-qualitative approach to examine how colonial agents—such as Stamford Raffles, William Marsden, and John Leyden—strategically engaged with Malay texts through collection, translation, and cataloguing practices. These engagements were informed by intersecting motives of scholarly inquiry, administrative governance, and imperial ideology. While their efforts contributed to the survival of significant Malay literary works, they also displaced these texts from their original socio-cultural contexts and reframed them within Eurocentric interpretive frameworks. Drawing on Edward Said’s concept of “travelling theory,” the analysis explores how colonial translation practices altered the meanings and functions of indigenous knowledge. The study also highlights indigenous resistance and parallel preservation practices that challenged colonial authority. Ultimately, the article calls for a critical re-evaluation of colonial legacies and advocates for the decolonisation and revitalisation of Malay manuscript traditions within their native intellectual ecosystems.
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References
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Sheppard, M. (1949). The adventures of Hang Tuah. Eastern University Press.
Siti Hawa Haji Salleh. (1997). Kesusasteraan Melayu tradisional: Satu pengenalan. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
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Winstedt, R. O. (1938). The chronicles of Pasai. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16(2), 24–30
Abdullah Abdul Kadir. (1932). Hikayat Abdullah. Malaya Publishing House Ltd. (Original work published 1849).
Abdullah Abdul Kadir. (1960). Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah: Ka-Kelantan dan ka-Judah. Annotated by Kassim Ahmad. Oxford University Press.
Ahmad Murad Merican. (2011). Occidentalism in the Malay world: The West through the eyes of Abdullah Munshi. Malay Literature, 24(1), 109–129.
Al-Attas, S. M. N. (1993). Islam and secularism. Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization.
Awang Sariyan & Abdul Rasid Jamian. (2020). Sumbangan Manuskrip Melayu lama kepada peradaban bangsa: Old Malay manuscript contribution to race civilization.PENDETA, 11(2), 7–17.
Bastin, J. (1981). The letters of Sir Stamford Raffles to Nathaniel Wallich 1819–1824. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 54(2), 1–73.
Bastin, J. (2008). Abdullah and Siami. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 81(1), 1–6.
Blagden, C. O. (1912). Catalogue of Malay manuscripts and manuscripts relating to the Malay language in the Bodleian library. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 287–290.
Bowrey, T. (1701). A dictionary: English and Malayo, Malayo and English. London.
Clifford, J. (1992). Traveling cultures. In L. Grossberg, C. Nelson, & P. Treichler (Eds.), Cultural studies (pp. 96–112). Routledge.
Ding, C. M. (1987). Access to Malay manuscripts. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, 4de Afl, 425–451.
Gallop, A. T. (1991). Malay manuscript art: The British Library collection. The British Library Journal, 17(2), 167–189.
Gallop, A. T. (2002). The study day on Indonesian manuscripts. Indonesia and the Malay World, 30(86), 5–8.
Gallop, A. T. (2011). Early views of Indonesia: Drawings from the British Library. The British Library.
Gallop, A. T. (2014). Why we need to digitise our history? [TEDx Talk]. TEDxUbud.
Greentree, R., & Nicholson, E. W. B. (1910). Catalogue of Malay manuscripts and manuscripts relating to the Malay language in the Bodleian library. Clarendon Press.
Hijjas, M. (2022). Marsden’s Malay manuscripts: Reassessing a colonial collection. Philological Encounters, 8(1), 38–72.
Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser. (1825, February 25). Loss of the Ship Fame. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen’s Land Advertiser, 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1090558.
Hooker, M. B. (Ed.). (1970). Readings in Malay Adat laws. NUS Press.
Jedamski, D. (2005). Translation in the Malay world: Different communities, different agendas. In W. J. Hung E. (Ed.), Asian translation traditions (pp. 211–245). St.Jerome Publishing. https://hdl.handle.net/1887/15104
Jones, R. (1999). Malay manuscripts: Gatherings and soiled pages. Archipel, 57(2), 97–108.
Liaw Yock Fang (2016). Undang-undang Melaka dan Undang-undang laut (Zainal Abidin Borhan (Ed.).Yayasan Karyawan.
Low, J. (1849). A translation of the Keddah Annals, termed Marong Mahawangsa, and sketches of the ancient condition of some of the nations of Eastern Asia, with References to the Malays. Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, 3.
Marsden, W. (1812). A dictionary of the Malayan language. Cox and Baylis.
Mashitah Sulaiman, Mohd Nazir Ahmad, Suhailiza Md Hamdani, Muhammad Khairi Mahyuddin. (2021). Manuskrip Melayu Islam sebagai warisan kearifan tempatan: Isu dan prospek masa depan. In E-proceedings of the International Conference on Da’wah and Islamic Management (pp. 1–37).
Mohd. Zain Musa. (2007). Kesusasteraan Melayu dan penjajahan British. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Muhd. Yusof Ibrahim. (1999). Pengajian manuskrip Melayu. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Norazimah Zakaria. (2014). Konsep kepengarangan Melayu tradisional dan peranan penceritaan. Jurnal Pengajian Melayu (JOMAS), 25(1), 159–179.
Proudfoot, I. (2002). From recital to sight-reading: The silencing of texts in Malaysia.Indonesia and the Malay World, 30(87), 117–144.
Proudfoot, I. (2003). An expedition into the politics of Malay philology. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 76(1), 1–53.
Raffles, L. S. (1830). Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. FRS &c. J. Murray.
Richards, G. (2021). The travelling text: Manuscripts, print culture and translation in the making of the Malay world. In Ibrahim, Z., Richards, G., King, V.T. (Eds), Discourses, agency and identity in Malaysia: Critical perspectives (pp. 59–103). Springer.
Ricklefs, M. C. (2004). A history of modern Indonesia since c. 1200. Stanford University Press.
Rost, R., & Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. (1887). Miscellaneous papers relating to Indo-China and the Indian Archipelago. Second Series. Trübner & Co.
Said, E. W. (1983). Traveling Theory. In The World, the Text, and the Critic (pp. 226–247). Harvard University Press.
Sheppard, M. (1949). The adventures of Hang Tuah. Eastern University Press.
Siti Hawa Haji Salleh. (1997). Kesusasteraan Melayu tradisional: Satu pengenalan. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
Wan Ali Wan Mamat. (1992). Kegiatan pengumpulan manuskrip Melayu di Malaya pada abad ke-19 dan 20. Jurnal Filologi Melayu, 6, 101–111.
Wan Ali Wan Mamat. (2003). Pengaruh manuskrip dalam sejarah Kesultanan Melayu [Unpublished manuscript].
Warnk, H. (2009). Searching for seeds to rest in libraries: European collecting habits towards Malay books and manuscripts in the nineteenth century (Frankfurt Working Papers on East Asia No. 1). Interdisciplinary Centre for East Asian Studies (IZO), Goethe University Frankfurt.
Winstedt, R. O. (1921). Hikayat Hang Tuah. Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 83, 110–122.
Winstedt, R. O. (1938). The chronicles of Pasai. Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16(2), 24–30
Published
2025-07-31
How to Cite
MOHD NOOR, Norazlina; OZAY, Mehmet.
Agents of Empire: British Engagement in the Collection of Malay Manuscripts in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Melayu: Jurnal Antarabangsa Dunia Melayu, [S.l.], v. 18, n. 2, p. 201-226, july 2025.
ISSN 2682-8049.
Available at: <http://jurnal.dbp.my/index.php/Melayu/article/view/9143>. Date accessed: 25 aug. 2025.
doi: https://doi.org/10.37052/jm.18(2)no3.
Section
Articles
