WINNING THE HEARTS OF THE MALAYS: THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE AUTHOR OF SYAIR TUAN HAMPRIS TOWARDS THE COLONIALISTS

Abstract

This study was aimed at identifying the author’s perspective of the colonialists, and to analyse her relationship with one of them in her poem. The British colonisation of the Malay world in the nineteenth century gave rise to various reactions and attitudes among the indigenous communities, the majority of whom were opposed to colonisation, as recorded in traditional Malay literary works. Most of these works expressed the anxiety and hardships they encountered in life under the colonial government. Therefore, it would have been disturbing if any Malay writer were to heap praises on the British colonialists, more so if the writer happened to be a female, as according to the patriarchal system that dominated the conventional Malay literary world, women should be ‘silent’. Nevertheless, this tradition was broken by Hajah Wok Aisyah Nik Idris from Terengganu with her writing of Syair Tuan Hampris, in the early twentieth century. Ironically, in her poem, the author appears to have forgotten the miserable state of the Malays in the other states under the British administration. As such, did Hajah Wok Aisyah have her own reasons for writing the way she did? Was the author of Syair Tuan Hampris captivated by the British administrator? Did the British administrator, J. L. Humphreys, succeed in winning the hearts of the Malays in Terengganu? The method of text analysis was employed in this study, guided by the eight ways proposed by the first British Resident-General of the Federation of Malaya, Sir Frank Swettenham, to Syair Tuan Hampris. This study found that Syair Tuan Hampris invites its readers to savour the unique spectrum of relationships that existed between the colonised people, and the colonialists. The colonialists are no longer regarded as individuals who brought ruin and destruction to the local community, but instead, all their actions are held as being honourable. Thus, the author, being a woman, was able to perfectly explain her closeness to one such colonialist in the verses of her poem. In conclusion, Syair Tuan Hampris is strong and direct proof that women had a voice in the community at that time, even though they had to go against the conventions of Malay literature.