Reading Prof S H Alatas' The Myth of the Lazy Native : A Study of the Image of the Malays, Filipinos and Javanese from the 16th to the 20th Century and Its Function in the Ideology of Colonial Capitalism

A Bit About The Author

The late Syed Hussein  Bin Ali Bin Abdullah Bin Muhsin Alatas was born in Bogor, Indonesia and grew up i Sukabumi and Johor Bahru, Malaysia,  wrote this book while he was a Professor of Malay Studies, Narional University of Singapore. It was first published in 1977 by the Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. in London and the USA. This book (hardcover) has been in our family collection since 1998. We also have the second  Malay edition published by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur in 2009, the first being in 1989 was translated by Zainab Kassim. Worthy of note is that there is an Indonesian edition published in 1987 which was translated by Ahmad Rofie.

S H Alatas studied in University of Amsterdam for 10 years and obtained a doctorate in Political and Social Science. He had an illustrious career in the  academia and was once the VC of University of Malaya. He passed away in January , 2007.

The Read

In between another read I picked up this book. While it it is not the easiest of read, I found it very compelling. There were many pauses to reflect and at times to reread a rendering . A lengthy introduction and an even more lengthy conclusion epitomise the care taken by the author in getting across his much scholastic approach to an important phenomenon arising from an epoch in the history of the Malay Archipelago. In retrospect, I thought I should have started this note from the start of the reading and build on it as I progressed.........

While there were some differences in the history of the people of the Archipelago, there are also many similarities especially during the days of colonialism. While the foreigners came and observed and formulated their opinion about the natives, the natives too had their opinion about themselves except that they were not directly expressed. Hence, ideas about the natives much of which survive till today were greatly based or influenced by what the foreigners said.

The book describes the various effects of conquest by the Portuguese, Dutch, English as well as the Spaniards in the case of the Phillippines with a little more elaboration on the Malays....after all studies on the Filipinos have already been made by Rizal way back. While the the colonials were successful in making slaves of the Filipinos and Javanese in their own countries, the Malays had succeeded in providing a wall of silent protest. Hence, indentured labours or slaves if you will, were brought in from China and India to work in the plantations and mines.

The issue of  national character and concept of industry and indolence are extensively researched and carefully espoused. In comparison with earlier publications that touched on similar issues viz. Revolusi Mental (Mental Revolution 1968) and The Malay Dilemma (1970), they were both motivated by politics. The former is a product of 14 authors and the title was taken from a bock and term coined by the late Sukarno of Indonesia. The author opined that the latter is a little more intellectual it it's analysis though both are devoid of proper research. The former has many inaccuracies and devoid of intellectual depth which  results in ridiculous conclusions, to say the least. In effect they were congruous with the impressions and opinions of the west and embraced western economic ideas en bloc.

I was much astonished by the discourse on the disappearance of the indigenous trading class 200 years after the coming of the Portuguese and Dutch. By the time the British came, none was around. What can you say about a people who for say, five or six generations have not seen open trade? During pre-colonial days, many of the rulers were tyrannical but they did not monopolize trade in the way the colonials did.......

I would strongly  recomment this book.