Coyote and the Grasshoppers

Book excerpt: Bangsa Melayu is a study of political ideology in two related but distinct Malay communities--in Peninsular Malaya and East Sumatra--at a time of political ferment in the years immediately after the Second World War. Prior to this period, the kerajaan or monarchy headed by the sultans, had been central to the Malay political culture and identity, but with the rise of nationalism, nation-states, and nationality in the Malay Archipelago, new alternatives were available to the Malays. In this study, the author focuses on the basic differences in thinking, temperament, and attitude between the two groups of Malaya which led to their differing solutions in finding an alternative to the kerajaan.