Preface

Summary

The study of Malay political culture has always fascinated me. This is somewhat an awkward situation: the rajas, along with their attendant pomp and pageantry, kindle and tickle the imagination of this individual of middle-class background who has spent almost his entire life in a republic. As I have come to comprehend, the notion of hierarchy, subordination and deference occurs everywhere and subjects everyone, from the family institution to the grandest platforms of international politics. Such is the condition of human society.

When I was a student in the Departments of History and Malay Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS), I had the opportunity to critically explore this human condition. I delved into research on the political culture in Singapore and Malaysia, unpacking the creative efforts to resurrect precolonial kerajaan elements to serve the interests of imperial and post-imperial regimes. This led to an earlier iteration of this book in the form of my Master of Arts thesis in 2019. That year also coincided with two milestone anniversaries in Singapore: the bicentennial commemoration of the island's “founding” by Sir Stamford Raffles and the 60-year mark of the PAP's rise to power. Officials urged Singaporeans to treat 2019 as an opportune moment to assess the nation's journey and contemplate on its future. The thesis was a response to those calls.

Since then, the thesis has been augmented, enhanced and refined into this monograph, having benefitted from further research undertaken during my time as a PhD candidate in History at the University of Cambridge. Recent historiographical debates on decolonization and the Commonwealth have also enriched this project. With these additions, this book has become more than just an account of Singapore's national history—it is a critical analysis of international hierarchies, class divisions and racial inequalities during the global age of decolonization. These issues continue to haunt contemporary life today, and thus this book contains the reflections of one historian about his own present.