Pembentukan Elit Melayu Anglophile: Suatu Tinjauan Kritis terhadap Pembinaan Negara Malaysia

The Formation of the Anglophile Malay Elite: A Critical Review of Malaysian Nation-building

Abstract

Naratif arus perdana mengenai pembentukan Malaysia cenderung menekankan rundingan kemerdekaan, kompromi perlembagaan dan integrasi wilayah sebagai asas legitimasi negara pascakolonial. Namun, pendekatan ini sering mengabaikan persoalan lebih mendasar tentang bagaimana struktur kuasa dan epistemologi kolonial dikekalkan melalui pembentukan elit Anglophile khususnya dalam golongan atasan Melayu. Penulisan ini berhujah bahawa pembentukan Malaysia perlu dilihat sebagai proses peralihan kuasa yang dirangka untuk mengekalkan kesinambungan struktur dan sistem kolonial dalam bentuk negara bangsa moden. Dengan memanfaatkan teori elit klasik dan kerangka pascakolonial, penulisan ini meneliti strategi rekrutmen elit Melayu Anglophile sebagai mekanisme pengekalan kuasa kolonial pascamerdeka melalui (1) penyasaran golongan bangsawan dan pentadbir tempatan sebagai perantara kolonial; (2) pembinaan ilmu kolonial yang meminggirkan sistem pengetahuan tempatan; (3) sistem pendidikan kolonial bersepadu; dan (4) jaringan ideologi dan politik beracuan Barat. Strategi rekrutmen Anglophile ini membentuk kelas pemerintah pascakolonial yang bukan sekadar terlatih secara teknokratik, tetapi turut menginternalisasi rasionaliti politik kolonial. Peralihan kuasa 1957 dengan demikian dapat difahami sebagai kesinambungan terubah (transformed continuity), di mana negara “merdeka’’ lahir tanpa pemutusan radikal daripada asas epistemologi dan institusi kolonial. Dengan meneliti strategi rekrutmen elit Anglophile dalam pembentukan Malaysia, artikel ini mencabar kefahaman konvensional tentang kemerdekaan sebagai detik pemutusan sejarah penjajahan. Sebaliknya, ia mengusulkan bahawa kemerdekaan berfungsi sebagai konfigurasi semula struktur kuasa kolonial. Artikel ini menyumbang kepada perbahasan mengenai kenegaraan pascakolonial, elit Anglophile, dan dekolonisasi epistemik, serta penilaian semula kemerdekaan sebagai satu bentuk penyusunan semula kuasa kolonial, bukannya pengakhiran kolonialisme.

Mainstream narratives on the formation of Malaysia tend to emphasize independence negotiations, constitutional compromises, and territorial integration as the basis for the legitimacy of the postcolonial state. However, this approach often ignores more fundamental questions about how colonial power structure and epistemology were maintained through the formation of Anglophile elites, particularly among the Malay upper class. This paper argues that the formation of Malaysia should be seen as a process of power transition designed to maintain the continuity of colonial structures and systems in a modern nation-state. Drawing on classical elite theory and postcolonial framework, this paper examines the recruitment of the Anglophile Malay elite as a mechanism for the maintenance of colonial power after independence through (1) targeting local nobility and administrators as colonial intermediaries; (2) the construction of colonial knowledge that marginalizes indigenous knowledge systems; (3) an integrated colonial education system; and (4) ideological and political networks aligned with Western traditions. This Anglophile recruitment strategy formed a postcolonial ruling class that was not only technocratically trained but also internalized colonial political rationality. The 1957 transfer of power can thus be understood as a transformed continuity, in which the “independent” state emerged without a radical break from colonial epistemological foundations and institutions. By examining the Anglophile elite recruitment strategy in the formation of Malaysia, this article challenges the conventional understanding of independence as a historical break from colonialism. Instead, it proposes that independence functioned as a reconfiguration of colonial power. This article contributes to the debate on postcolonial statehood, Anglophile elites, and epistemic decolonization, as well as a re-evaluation of independence as a form of colonial power reconstitution, rather than the end of colonialism.