A turning point : the role of “race politics” behind the downfall of secret societies in Malaya during the mid-19th century to late-19th century

• Main Author: Seow, Yu Da
• Other Authors: Miles Alexander Powell
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Humanities::History
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/137473
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The histories of Chinese secret societies in Singapore have generally been constructed with a colonial-portrayed criminalising narrative but reality was different, Chinese secret societies were legitimised mutual-aid institution propelled by the British’s indirect rule. The main focus of this dissertation would be turning point for this attitude change (from tolerance to regulation to suppression of the Chinese secret societies), the Penang riots of 1867. The attempt at regulating the societies started as early as 1843 with suggestions in the legislative council, but this was only systematised from 1867 onwards, when the Peace Preservation Act was passed on the 12 August 1867 as an immediate response to the turmoil and the subsequent passing of the Dangerous Societies Ordinance on 22 November 1869, with amendments made all the way till 1889. Historians described the Chinese Secret Societies as “Imperium in Imperio” to demonstrate an increasingly politicised group. The Chinese demonstrated agency by co-opting non-Chinese, like Mohammedans as part of their “survival strategy” in the colony. This subtle attribute of the 1867 Penang Riots, stumbled the administrators, and triggered an attitude from being largely indifference towards regulating proactively. By reading behind the grain of British’s ideological motivation to outlaw the Chinese Secret societies, identification of “race politics” in Malaya helped us explain the actions taken after this turning point in an unimaginable way.