MBRAS

JMBRAS

JOURNAL OF THE MALAYSIAN BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY

Volume 96, Part 2, No 325, December 2023

Contents

EDITOR’S NOTE (see below)

ARTICLES

Raja Bongsu and the Sejarah Melayu: The Tragic Fate of an Ill-starred Prince of Johor (b. 1571–d. 1623) – Cheah Boon Kheng, Faris Joraimi, and Peter Borschberg

The Collapse of the Riau Entrepôt in 1784 and the Rise of Singapore – Khoo Chun Yok

Mercantile Life in Early 19th Century Southeast Asia: The Ross Brothers – F. Andrew Smith

Printing in Early 20th Century Singapore: The Contrasting Fates of C. A. Ribeiro Company and Rickard Limited – Brendan Luyt

Centring the Periphery: New Forays in Malaysian Economic History – Loh Wei Leng

A DOCUMENT FROM HISTORY

Country Traders, the East India Company, and the Rise of Singapore: ‘On Further Interference with the East-India Company’s Privileges of Exclusive Trade’

BOOK REVIEWS

Shaun Adam. Acts of Resistance: Dol Said and the Naning War – Reviewed by AHMAD KAMAL ARRIFIN BIN MOHD RUS 122

Syed Imad Alatas. What It Means to be a Muslimah: The Religious Orientations of Female Muslim Activists in Malaysia – Reviewed by POR HEONG HONG 

Arunima Datta. Fleeting Agencies: A Social History of Indian Coolie Women in British Malaya – Reviewed by SHANTHI THAMBIAH

Wong Sin Kiong. 黃賢強,《伍連德新論: 南洋知識份子與近代中國·醫術》(Wu Lien-Teh Revisited: The Nanyang Intelligentsia and Modern Medicine in China) – Reviewed by DANNY WONG TZE KEN 

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

Editor's Note

Several articles in the current issue of JMBRAS revolve around Johor, Singapore, and the Riau Archipelago, the chain of islands immediately to the south of Singapore. The opening essay concerns the authorship of the Sejarah Melayu or Malay Annals, and the role played by Raja Bongsu, sometime ruler of Johor.

Khoo Chun Yok examines the collapse of the trading entrepôt at Riau in 1784, arguing that Singapore attracted traders because it provided the facilities and services formerly available from Riau. F. Andrew Smith examines the trading environment of the late 18th and early 19th centuries through an examination of the careers of three brothers involved in various ways with maritime activities in the region. An article published in 1821 and reprinted here provides further insight into the trading environment of the time, specifically relations between the private `country traders’ that operated out of ports like Singapore and the British East India Company. Rounding out this issue are articles by Brendan Luyt, who examines Singapore’s highly competitive printing industry prior to WWII, and Loh Wei Leng, whose inaugural professorial lecture offers an overview of issues addressed by historians in Malaysia in the early twenty-first century.

Paul Kratoska, Hon. Editor, JMBRAS

Volume 96, Part 1, No 324, June 2023

Contents

EDITOR’S NOTE

ARTICLES

History in the Malaysian Public Sphere – Danny Wong Tze Ken

The Timing of Islamization in Southeast Asia: Local Agency, and the Challenge of Analysing Religious Conversion 21 – Anthony Milner

James Carnegy and the ‘Country Trade’ in Penang, c.1802–1824  F. Andrew Smith

Kung Tian Cheng: From Confucian Scholar in Singapore to Reformer in the Chinese Republic – Bonny Tan

Constructing Colonial Benevolence: Portraits of Persons with Leprosy in British Malaya – Por Heong Hong

Recording the Emergency: On the Historical Fiction of Jin Zhimang, Anthony Burgess, and Han Suyin – Jonathan Chan

DOCUMENTS FROM MALAYSIAN HISTORY

The Trading Environment in the Melaka Straits, c. 1800–1830 – Paul Kratoska, Comp.

BOOK REVIEWS

An Appreciation of Carl A. Gibson-Hill, by Brendan Luyt – Prepared by KWA CHONG GUAN

Raja Iskandar bin Raja Halid. The Malay Nobat: A History of Power, Acculturation, and Sovereignty – Reviewed by LAWRENCE N. ROSS

Natali Pearson. Belitung, the afterlives of a shipwreck – Reviewed by YOLANDE CROWE

Kua Bak Lim, Lim How Seng and Roney Tan. An Illustrious Heritage: The History of Tan Tock Seng and Family Reviewed by JASON LIM

Tham Seen Hau, Usen Leong, Tung Wan Qing and Por Heong Hong, eds. Life After: Oral Histories of the May 13 Incident  Reviewed by HELEN TING

R. E. Hale. The Pioneer Merchants of Singapore: Johnston, Boustead, Guthrie and Others Reviewed by SENG GUO-QUAN 

Lim Teck Ghee and Charles Brophy, eds. The Straits Philosophical Society and Colonial Elites in Malaya: Selected Paper on Race, Identity, and Social Order Reviewed by AZLY RAHMAN

Kevin Blackburn. The Comfort Women of Singapore in History and Memory – Reviewed by KELVIN E. Y. LOW

Our First Journal

JOURNAL OF THE STRAITS BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, JULY 1878

Reprinted with the permission of the
ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, MALAYAN BRANCH
KRAUS REPRINT LTD.
Vaduz
1965

Contents of JMBRAS

The List of Articles for past issues from 1877 – 2020 is available in PDF format for quick reference and can be downloaded by clicking the words in red.

A full Index to the Journals from 1877 – 2020 can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking the words in red.  This index is an indispensable tool for referencing. 

Back Numbers of our Journals (JSBRAS and JMBRAS)

Some copies of back issues of JMBRAS remain available and can be purchased directly from the Society. Please send an email to info.mbras@gmail.com for further information.

The Society would also be happy to receive back issues of Journals from members who wish to dispose of them. Unfortunately, we are unable to pay for these. Please contact us for further information.

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