The History of Modern Organized Badminton and the Men’s Team Thomas Cup Tournaments, 1948–1979

Modern organized international badminton began with the founding of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) in 1934, consisting of nine founding member associations. The inaugural men’s Thomas Cup tournament began in 1948 when 10 countries took part. Malaya won the Cup four times in 1949, 1952, 1955, and 1967. When Indonesia took part in the tournament for the first time in 1957, there were 19 competing teams. Indonesia won the triannual tournament seven times from 1957 to 1979. Throughout the 11 Thomas Cup tournaments, only two Asian countries have won the Cup. The only European country, Denmark, qualified to play in the finals five times without a single win. Malaya (later known as Malaysia), Indonesia, and Denmark became leading Thomas Cup teams because they produced singles and doubles players that won many All-England Badminton Championship titles. The winners of these titles were generally considered the world champions. The key sources of information for this research consisted of the IBF annual statutes for listing of participating nations, tournament programmes, and rare specialized books on badminton and the Thomas Cup competition. English language newspapers such as the Singapore Free Press and the Straits Times published historical match results for checking the secondary data collected.     

Wartime imaginings of an archipelagic community: Fajar Asia and the quest for peninsula Malayan and Indonesian unity

During a brief period in the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia, Malaya, including Singapore, was administratively placed with Sumatra under Japan’s 25th Army. From 28 March 1942 to April 1943, the two territories that had been separated by British and Dutch colonial rule since the mid-nineteenth century were considered one territory. This article explores how Malay intellectuals, through articles written in the magazine Fajar Asia, took advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to strive for a Malaya-Sumatra and Malaya-Indonesia community. This article will analyse the various wartime imaginings of a joint archipelagic community within the pages of Fajar Asia and highlight tensions within this project which resulted in an impasse as to how such a unity should or could be achieved.     

The state question in Chinese popular cultural studies

Abstract

This note is an attempt to trace the change and continuity of leftist political policies, and to analyse why the Left generally, especially the Malay Left, has not been successful in Malaysian politics. It questions why the Malaysian Left was stafter the Second World War but slowly dissipated until it is almost crippled now. Other than examining the formation and the roles of the Malaysian Left and their struggles for independence, this note also sorts out the factors of the unsuccessful struggles to get wide Malay support for the Malay-dominated Malay Nationalist Party of Malaya (PKMM) and the Chinese-dominated Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).     

Modern Weightlifting and Emerging Communities of Malayan and Singaporean Weightlifters during Pre-Second World War and Post-War British Colonial Rule, 1900s–1959: Competing in the Asian Games,Empire and Commonwealth Games,and Olympic Games

British Malaya consisted the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca, and Singapore), Federated Malay States (Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang), and the Unfederated Malay States (Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu, and Johore). This study attempts to document the development of weightlifting into two periods. During the first period of the early twentiethcentury the wealthy Straits Chinese community promoted weightlifting in the Penisula. As the Malayan economy grew and produced a working class population, the other Chinese and Malay communities set up clubs to practice weightlifting. The Singapore Amateur Weight Lifting Federation (SAWLF) was founded in 1934 to organize competitions according to the British Amateur Weight Lifting Association (BAWLA) regulations. In 1936 a Chinese weightlifter represented China at the 1936 Olympic Games. The second period occurred after the Japanese occupation (1942–1945). Singapore was separated from the rest of British Malaya in 1946. The Singapore Olympic and Sports Council (SOSC) was established in 1947. The Federation of Malaya Olympic Council was founded in 1953 and Malayan Amateur Weight Lifting Federation (MAWLF) in 1955. The Malayan and Singapore weightlifters competed separately at the Asian Games, Empire and Commonwealth Games, and the Olympic Games. Later, Malaya and Singapore became independent states in 1957 and 1959.     

Agricultural education as a medium for the transmission of Western science during British rule in Malaya, 1905–1957

This paper traces the transmission of Western science through the agricultural education sector during the British colonial administration of Malaya. This education system included three levels: elementary, intermediate and the school of agriculture. To understand the process by which Western science was transmitted in Malaya, Basalla’s model was adopted to clarify the vectors of Western science and the types of knowledge disseminated by these vectors, and to identify the mechanisms sustaining scientific research activities outside Europe. This paper shows that the transmission and the diffusion of Western science through education were highly centralised under the British colonial umbrella and closely associated with the agricultural economy.     

客家人与马来半岛锡矿

早在19世纪初,客家人就已经进入马来半岛,从事锡矿开采业,历尽千辛万苦,为马来亚锡 矿业的发展做出巨大贡献。客属侨领和客家会馆发挥了重要的作用。     

Construction of nationhood through education in Malaya: revisiting the Barnes and Fenn-Wu Reports

This article provides an analysis of two colonial reports, the Barnes and the Fenn-Wu Reports on education in the British colony of Malaya. The popular stance on the Barnes and the Fenn-Wu Reports is that one is an effect or reply to the other. We argue on the contrary that the two reports construct a common argument on nation-building which becomes apparent through a dialogic reading of the reports. We show how the two reports, written in the 1950s, reflect the anxiety of the colonial rulers in constructing a nation and the ethnic communities (the Malays and the Chinese) in pre-independent Malaya. These communities were constructed not without their inherent antagonism as well as their reciprocal vulnerabilities in a future political state. This act of articulation is predominantly a political act constructed through a complex web of interdiscursivity and intertextuality. The spectres of the Barnes and the Fenn-Wu Reports continue to surface in education and nation-building discourse in modern-day Malaysia.     

A Study on the Words ＂hang chu＂ in A Record of Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malaya Archipelago

义净《南海寄归内法传》中“行初”指“一行座位的开头”。“初”可以指称空间的开头。     

融合现实关怀的诗艺追求——从《马来亚》看杜运燮对奥登诗歌技巧的借鉴

英国诗人奥登对九叶派诗人杜运燮的诗歌创作影响深远。《马来亚》是杜运燮在1940年代创作的一首描写马来亚人民反法西斯、反殖民统治的诗歌,该诗在叙述角度、诗歌结构和语言技巧等方面借鉴了奥登的《西班牙,1937》,客观地呈现了正发生的政治事件,智性地表达了诗人对重大事件的思索和情感,加强了对新诗艺术深度的探索。《马来亚》一诗表达政治和情感的方式,对40年代中国新诗的健康发展起到了借鉴的作用。     

The HMS Malaya Cup Football League, 1921–1941: Towards the Institutionalization of Football in British Malaya

Abstract

This research is part of a larger phenomenon about the diffusion and transmission of football in various British colonies, particularly in Asia. After the British occupied the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca, and Singapore and enforced indirect rule in the Federated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang and Unfederated Malay States of Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, and Trengganu and Johore, they established sports clubs and played football. They also introduced the game to the Malay, Chinese, Eurasian, Indian, and Sikh communities. In 1921, the British donated the HMS Malaya Cup for football. The inaugural football league consisted of seven colony or state teams and players from the European and local communities. During the first decade (1921–1930), two outstanding European and six local players were highlighted. By the end of next 11 years (1931–1941), 10 teams took part in the competition. During this period, 10 outstanding players emerged from the local communities. Singapore appeared in all 21?Cup finals winning 12 times and drew twice. Selangor was 14 times finalists winning four times and drew twice. Perak won twice out of three final appearances. Kedah and Penang were losing finalists 1940 and 1941, respectively.