Hubungan Kaum di Tanah Melayu dalam Tempoh Pelaksanaan Polisi Disentralisasi (1929-1932)

Ethnic Relation in Malaya During The Implementation of Decentralization Policy (1929-1932)

Abstract

Matlamat untuk memupuk semangat kesatuan dalam kalangan masyarakat pelbagai kaum di Tanah Melayu bukan agenda utama pihak British sebelum tahun 1945. Kesan daripada Revolusi di Perancis dan era perindustrian di Eropah Barat, kemunculan ketenteraan British di Alam Melayu, terutamanya di Tanah Melayu lebih memfokuskan matlamat pembangunan negaranya. Justeru bagi mencapai misi terbabit, polisi desentralisasi (decentralization – pengagihan kuasa)telah dilaksanakan sekitar tahun 1929. Ia adalah satu bentuk dasar yang bertujuan untuk mengekang penguasaan ekonomi bukan Melayu, terutamanya etnik Cina terhadap sumber kekayaan yang terdapat di Tanah Melayu. Tindakan British menggambarkan kuasa politiknya lebih kepada melindungi hak kebajikan bangsa Melayu berbanding dengan pembelaan terhadap hak kepentingan kaum bukan Melayu. Ini kerana salah satu matlamat pelaksanaannya adalah untuk melindungi kedudukan Raja-raja dan anggota masyarakatnya. Untuk mengenal pasti sejauh mana pihak British menjaga hak-hak komuniti Melayu, reaksi bangsa Melayu dan bangsa bukan Melayu terhadap usul berkenaan, kajian ini akan menganalisis polisi desentralisasi dengan memfokuskan kepada aspek hubungan kaum yang membabitkan ketiga-tiga pihak berkaitan. Bagi memenuhi matlamat kajian kaedah analisa teks (textual anaysis) akan digunakan. Dapatan dari kajian menunjukkan bahawa, setiap komuniti etnik di Tanah Melayu dalam tempoh berkenaan berusaha untuk melindungi dan menjaga hak kepentingan masing-masing. Sejauh mana kerjasama dan konflik akan terbentuk dalam tempoh pelaksanaan polisi terbabit, ia bergantung kepada
sikap dan perlakuan setiap komuniti etnik terbabit.

Forging the spirit of cooperation among the ethnics in Malaya was not a main agenda for British before 1945. The knowledge development of post French revolution followed by the era of industrial revolution in the West, triggered the need for raw material as well as the market of the produced good, had pushed the British to come and colonize Malaya. To make the administration more efficient, they introduced a policy called decentralization in 1929. It was a policy to control the economy and administration of Malaya and to limit the non-Malays especially the Chinese from dominating the country wealth. This policy was also intended to safeguard the welfare of the Malays from being overwhelmed by the non-Malays besides preserving and defending the position of the Malay Sultans and their subjects. To evaluate the extent of this policy in safeguarding the Malay interests and how the Malays and non- Malay had reacted, this study will analyze the effect of this policy on the ethnic relation between the Malays and the non-Malays. This work is based on textual analysis from various sources and it was found that, during the implementation of the policy every ethnic was defending their interests and the approach towards cooperation or conflicts depend on the attitude and characters of each ethnic.