BOOK REVIEW: The Straits Philosophical Society and Colonial Elites in MalayaSelected Papers on Race, Identity, and Social Order 1893-1915. Edited by Lim Teck Ghee and Charles Brophy. Published by ISEAS, 462 pp, 2023
By: Azly Rahman
Almost a decade ago, I was made aware of this work on colonial history by one of Asia’s most prolific social scientists, Lim Teck Ghee who conceived it as a commentary of essays, and today after almost fifty years, the much-awaited collection of the writings of the colonial elites of The Straits Philosophical Society had come to elegant fruition. The volume is admirable. It began with Lim 1976 discovery of a set of “about to be-discarded” unpublished philosophical papers in the Penang State Library and how he salvaged the valuable set of 17 papers. The result is a collaborative effort with a British-based prolific editor and scholar in colonial history, Charles Brophy, to produce this volume of work on the commentary of primary sources of the work of the Straits Philosophical Society. This publication is timely, especially for today’s academics and students of Southeast Asian History interested in understanding the philosophical debates that were happening in late 19th-century Singapore and Malaya. This 462-page book consisting of 30 essays should be a delight to those interested in political philosophy as it pertains to British colonial history. It offers us a glimpse of the value of philosophical thinking in developing perspectives on the inner working of colonialism, offering a range of critical themes, from the basis of colonial ideology, the psychology and political economy of the Straits Chinese, the impact of the Opium War on the Chinese in Malaya, to the extensive narratives on the colonial construction of Malayness… The text above is just an excerpt from this subscriber-only story.To read the whole thing and get full access to Asia Sentinel's reporting and archives, subscribe now for US$10/month or US$100/year.This article is among the stories we choose to make widely available.If you wish to get the full Asia Sentinel experience and access more exclusive content, please do subscribe to us for US$10/month or US$100/year.
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BOOK REVIEW: The Straits Philosophical Society and Colonial Elites in Malaya
March 19, 2023
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