Long before independence, a sense of nationalism (民族主义) began to stir among the peoples of Malaya. It did not appear overnight; it grew slowly from several channels that made ordinary people think about their identity, their rights and the injustice of foreign rule.
Religious reform
Among the Malays the earliest push came from the Islamic reform movement. Reformers known as the Kaum Muda ("Young Faction") urged Muslims to progress through education, hard work and a purified understanding of Islam, borrowing ideas from Middle-Eastern thinkers. They spread their message through journals such as Al-Imam (first published in 1906), led by figures like Syed Sheikh Al-Hadi and Sheikh Tahir Jalaluddin. The more conservative Kaum Tua ("Old Faction") replied through their own papers, and the debate itself awakened public thinking.
Education and the press
Education sharpened this awareness. The Sultan Idris Training College (SITC), opened in 1922 in Tanjung Malim, trained Malay teachers who later became nationalist leaders. Newspapers and magazines such as Utusan Melayu (1939), Warta Malaya and Majlis, together with writers like Abdul Rahim Kajai and Ishak Haji Muhammad, criticised colonial policy and called for unity. Chinese and Indian schools also carried the nationalism of their ancestral homelands, so events like the 1911 revolution in China and the Indian independence struggle echoed in Malaya.
Key idea / 要点
Nationalism in Malaya awoke through religious reform, education, the local press and overseas influences rather than through one single event.
Early associations
These currents produced the first organised groups. The Kesatuan Melayu Singapura (KMS), founded in 1926 by Mohammad Eunos Abdullah, is often called the first Malay association, defending Malay interests within a peaceful, cooperative approach.
Remember / 记住
- Al-Imam (1906) — earliest Kaum Muda journal.
- SITC (1922) — trained Malay teacher-nationalists.
- KMS (1926) — early Malay association, Mohammad Eunos Abdullah.