The editorial cartoon above was published in the Malay language fortnightly magazine published in Singapore, Kenchana, in its November 1, 1947 edition. The cartoon was illustrated by Naz Anchaz (HT: Fahmi). It was probably used illustrate the hottest news of that time, the 1947 Hartal that occured on October 20, 1947.
Amateur film maker, Fahmi Reza, premiered his debut work today at the Central Market. It is a bilingual (BM-English) short film entitled “Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka” (Ten Years Before Merdeka) which features never before seen interviews and rare archival footages of the 1947 Hartal. He also has compiled a collection of his research and archival materials in this blog.
Have a look at the trailer here :
So what exactly was the 1947 Hartal and what brought it about?
The term Hartal originates from a Gujarati Indian expression signifying the closing down of shops and warehouses as a mark of public protest or sorrow. The term was popularised by the reknowned Indian political and spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, who hailed from Gujarat, when he used the term to describe a series of anti-British strikes during the struggle for India’s independence.
One of the earliest movements that fought for Malaya’s independence from British rule was the Malay Nationalist Party or Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) that was formed on October 17, 1945. This was followed soon after by the formation of the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU) in Singapore on December 21, 1945. These movements including a few others pre-dated the Pan Malayan Malay Congress that was held on March 1, 1946 and eventually led to the founding of UMNO on May 11, 1946.
During the pre-war and immediate post-war period, British Malaya was not a single political entity. What constituted British Malaya were the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements (which consisted what is today the states of Penang, Melaka and the Republic of Singapore), the Federated Malay States (a federation of four British protectorates in what is today the states of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang) and the Unfederated Malay States (the individual British protectorates in what is today the states of Perlis, Kedah, Johor, Terengganu and Kelantan).
When Malaya fell to the Japanese, the British government devised an administrative reform plan that proposed the merger of these entities into a single unified Crown Colony with Singapore as a separate Crown Colony known as the Malayan Union upon the recovery of Malaya. This plan was eventually put into action and on April 1, 1946, the Malayan Union was proclaimed. The Union proved to be unpopular and was bitterly opposed by some quarters, particularly among the Malay aristocracy, and British Orientalists like Sir Richard Winstedt and Sir Frank Swettenham. This was evident when the investiture of the first Governor, Sir Edward Gent, was boycotted by the rulers of the Malay states and the local aristocracy.
Incidentally, UMNO was formed in response to the formation of the Malayan Union and their opposition to the Union was due to the restriction of the powers of the Malay rulers and the special privileges of the Malays. They urged a return to the pre-war political structures, set up in the Malay states according to treaties signed with the Malay rulers under which the British “protected” the Malay states and advised the rulers in all matters except Islam and Malay customs.
Due to the growing dissent and widespread public protests orchestrated by UMNO, the British relented and achieved a consensus with the Malay rulers and UMNO to replace the Union with a Federation. A 12 person Working Party, comprising of 6 representatives of the British, 4 representatives of the Malay rulers and 2 representatives of UMNO, was formed to draft a constitution for the new proposed Federation. PKMM protested saying that the Working Party should also comprise organisations representing the various segments and ethnic groups of society.
A Council of Joint Action (CJA) was formed in Singapore on December 14, 1946 comprising PKMM, MDU, Singapore Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), the Malayan Indian Congress, Clerical Union, Straits Chinese British Association (SBCA), Indian Chamber of Commerce and the Ceylon Tamil Association to act in parallel with the Working Party to provide alternative suggestions to the draft constitution. The CJA was extended with the participation of the Pan-Malayan Federation of Trade Unions and the Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Ex-Service Comrades Association and became known as the Pan-Malayan Council of Joint Action (PMCJA) on December 22, 1946.
On December 24, 1946 a Government White Paper on the draft constitution for the Federation was published. Although the draft was accepted by UMNO, other groups including the Pan-Malayan Conference of Women’s Union protested against the draft and joined the PMCJA. On January 26, 1947, the PMCJA submitted an official protest against the draft constitution and a series of strikes and demonstrations were held in various locations nationwide including Malacca, Penang, Teluk Anson, Kuantan and Singapore.
On February 22, 1947, a new coalition of Malay political and cultural organisations called Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (PUTERA) was organised to act as a counter weight to UMNO. 29 organisations including PKMM, Barisan Tani Se-Malaya (Peasant’s Union or BATAS) and Hizbul Muslimin were part of this coalition. The following month PUTERA formed an alliance with PMCJA to coordinate their effort against the draft Federation constitution.
The PMCJA-PUTERA alliance decided in May to draft their own proposed constitution and a committee was formed for that purpose. On May 16, 1947, the Johore Malay Unions Board (Lembaga Kesatuan Melayu Johor or LKMJ) defected from UMNO to join PMCJA-PUTERA.
In July 24, 1947 a Government White Paper on the Revised Constitutional Proposals was presented but did not differ much from the original White Paper. The White Paper proposed the tightening of citizenship rules for non Malays, the return of sovereignty to the Malay rulers, the abrogation of equal rights for all citizens and the restoration of Malay privileges and the formation of a Federation to replace the unitary Malayan Union. These were the very proposals that PMCJA-PUTERA opposed.
To reflect the spirit of the draft constitutional proposals of the PMCJA-PUTERA, the PMCJA renamed themselves to the All Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) in August 1947 and on August 10, 1947 the People’s Constitution Proposal was officially adopted by AMCJA-PUTERA. This was presented to the British government together with an analysis of the government’s constitutional proposals.
Unfortunately, the proposals were generally ignored by the British government and it was this apathy from the British that sparked the calling of a nationwide general strike or hartal on October 20, 1947.
Of the movements named above, none exist today.
PKMM eventually was banned by the British administration when the Emergency was declared in 1948 and this saw her leaders incarcerated, exiled or entering the jungles to take up arms. When some of her incarcerated leaders were released by the British in 1955, they formed a new non-ethnic political movement called the Malayan People’s Party (Parti Rakyat Malaya or PRM) which eventually merged with another party in 2003 to form the current Parti KeADILan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) or KeADILan. In 2005, some former PRM members who joined KeADIlan left the party and re-elected a new leadership for PRM which at that time was in danger of being de-registered due to inactivity.
UMNO was de-registered in 1987 following a bitterly fought party elections which saw the then party president, Dr Mahathir Muhammad, retaining his office by a wafer thin majority of 43 votes. Amidst allegations that the party elections had been rigged, the party was declared unlawful by the High Court. Dr Mahathir and his supporters swiftly registered a new political party called UMNO Baru (New UMNO) and proceeded to transfer the assets of the de-registered UMNO to the new entity. Detractors and opponents attempted to challenge the declaration that UMNO was an unlawful society in the Supreme Court but failed and they went on to form a new party called Semangat 46 (Spirit of 46). Both these new parties claimed to be the legitimate successor of the de-registered UMNO until 1996 when the latter dissolved itself and joined UMNO Baru (then renamed UMNO) en masse. For further details on this story, see Wikipedia.
