Winstedt, Colonialism and the Malaysian History Wars

European colonialist thinking continues to influence history writing
after national independence – even in the construction of national
narratives. In the case of Malaysia, the work of the scholar-official,
Richard Winstedt, has had a far-reaching impact – and one that is
seldom recognised. The 20th century was a crucial period in the
political and historical construction of ‘Malay(si)a’ – a time when a
colonial state was imagined, and then positioned as a foundation
for post-colonial nation-building. Malay(si)a did not exist as a
political entity before this time – it had to be carved out of the
Indian (or ‘Malay’) Archipelago, an enormous region largely under
Dutch authority. The historical construction of Malay(si)a was
never a homogenous process, even in colonial narratives. This
article examines the strategy Winstedt undertook to develop a
state narrative – suggesting how his work moved beyond that of
earlier British historians. Although Winstedt’s project was explicitly
‘modern’ in its purpose and style, we also note ways in which he
was influenced by pre-modern Malay writers. The final section
examines Winstedt’s impact on local Malay(si)an writing, including
Malaysia’s standard national narrative. Some local historians,
however, resisted Winstedt – and sought to write the Malaysian
nation from alternative perspectives. Nation-making in this and
other regions of Southeast Asia is all the more interesting because
it has been a dialogic rather than merely integrative project.