OF MISSED OPPORTUNITIES, COLONIAL LAW AND ISLAM-PHOBIA1

Abstract

Edward Said's works have been instructive in helping to understand the expanding influence of the West over the Orient, and the increasing apprehension this caused within colonialism. Western education was introduced to enlighten indigenous peoples, but at the same time it sowed the seeds of competition with Western hegemony. The expansion of the Netherlands East Indies in the course of the nineteenth century triggered Islamic-inspired resistance among the indigenous population, which in turn unsettled many colonial officials' peace of mind. The ongoing encroachment of the Dutch into the Malay kingdom of Riau-Lingga was one of the causes for a stricter adherence to a more orthodox form of Islam by the indigenous ruling elite. When Raja Ali Haji, a well-respected member of this elite, send in a request for funds to acquire a school building and printing facilities while referring to a government Code of Policy, Resident Netscher, the ambitious head of the regional colonial administration, must have been quite astounded. Netscher's own initiatives to establish a government school for the elite had recently been crushed, and here was a dignitary, suspected of inarticulated defiance of colonial policies, who had the nerve to request the help of the government to establish facilities that would probably aim eventually to oust government officials from the region. Surely, he would not let this (aspirant) babu take over his region! At the same time, this request shows how this Malay intellectual explored the possibilities provided by, and negotiated the boundaries set by, the colonial government. 1This paper was written in appreciation of Nigel Phillips's kind assistance in the publication of an article published in Indonesia and the Malay World 10 years ago. Appropriately, that article also dealt with Raja Ali Haji and printing (Putten 1997). I am most grateful to Dr Timothy P. Barnard and Kelvin Lawrence for their critical remarks on an earlier version of this paper.