Jose Rizal And The Malay World

The Philippine revolution, the first of its kind in Asia, opened the floodgates of liberation against Western imperialism. More than physical bondage, it aimed to break the chains of mental captivity. In Rizal's words: "We must win freedom by deserving it, by improving the mind and enhancing the dignity of the individual, loving what is just, good and great, to the point of dying for it. When a people reach these heights . . . the idols and tyrants fall like a house of cards, and freedom shines in the first dawn." ~ Anwar Ibrahim



Rizal - The foremost Malay?





Pride of the Malay Race? 




Lakandula-an artist concept
Oddly enough, Rizal's ancestry is a mixture of races. One of his ancestors, on the side of his father, was a Chinese immigrant from Fujian province. Rizal's mother was said to be a descendant of the prehispanic Tagalog/Malay nobility of Manila -- Lakandula. Other Rizal biographers even mentioned Spanish ancestry.


Spaniards labelled the native inhabitants of the Philippines as "Indio" belonging to the race "Malayo"(Malays). Most viewed the "Indio" as primitive and indolent. Some Spaniards even went on saying; the native inhabitants were no different from the "Dayaks" of Borneo (which they termed as savages).

In his last hours before the execution, Rizal was made to sign the notification of the sentence. When the document was shown to him, he wanted a correction. He claimed that he was incorrectly described as a Chinese mestizo and wanted it to change to "Indio Puro."






An Illustration of Malay men






Defining "Malay" - A Challenge



The challenge starts from what I define as an oversimplification by some 19th Century western scholars in determining the race of brown skin people living in the Malay peninsula and in the East Indies and Oceania. (including the Philippine archipelago and Taiwan) and whose culture, language, and physical attributes are somehow related. Yet despite all the similarities, there are innate differences among the so-called Malays, which one could not ignore. 


The term "Malay race" was used in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century to describe the Austronesian People Contemporary anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists believe that the ancestors of the Austronesian people of the Sunda Islands, Madagascar and Polynesia had initially migrated south from the Philippines during the prehistoric period from their origin in Taiwan.


Blumenbach

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach(1752–1840)- A German Scientist, introduced the concept of a Malay race and classified the Malays as the brown race in his theory of five runs. But many anthropologists have since rejected this theory, citing the "enormous complexity of classifying races." 

The idea;  "Malay race" is entirely different from the thinking and self-definition of the so-called "Ethnic Malays," the native population of the Malay Peninsula and most parts of Indonesia.

In the Philippines we use the term "Malay"  to refer to the indigenous population of the country as well as the indigenous population of neighbouring countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. This misconception is due in part to American anthropologists Henry Otley Beyer who proposed that the Filipinos were actually Malays who migrated from Malaysia and Indonesia, arriving in the country in waves of migration. This idea was for a long time accepted by Filipino historians.



The often simplified yet problematic classification of races in the 19th Century.


A Scholar-Malay Study


Jose Rizal was one of the leading Filipino scholars on Malay Studies in the 19th Century. He made acquaintances with some of the imminent men of science in Europe to broaden his knowledge of the Philippines and the Malay World.  Names worth mentioning are  Rudolf Virchow and Feodor Jagor. His letters to his Austrian friend  Ferdinand Blumentritt are gems itself for Malay studies, for it is filled with Rizal's readings, ideas, and observations on the subject. 



Ferdinand Blumentritt (1853-1913)- Born in Leitmeritz, the present-day Litomerice in the Czech Republic, published several studies on Philippine history, culture, and languages.  Blumentritt was  Geography and History teacher in the local  "Gymnasium"(equivalent to High School) when Rizal befriended him through correspondence. 
                                        


Fedor Jagor  (1816-1900) German scientist and ethnographer. Author of the 19th Century book "Reisen in den Philippinen"  (Travels in the Philippines). The said book left a lasting impression on Rizal. Through the introduction of Blumentritt, Rizal was able to meet Jagor in Europe, who, in turn, introduced Rizal to various scientific societies.






Rudolf Virchow  (1821-1902) German doctor who did outstanding studies in different fields of science and medicine, he was also a member of the German parliament, Der Reichstag (1880-1893).  Virchow was the leading figure in the field of Anthropology in the latter half of the 19th Century in Germany. He founded the "Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte. (Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology, and Prehistory). He also did studies on various craniums of races, including those from the Philippines. Rizal met Virchow when Feodor Jagor invited Rizal to a dinner/meeting with the Geographic Society. 



Southeast Asia under Colonialism


For centuries, much of South East Asia were under the yoke of western imperialism.  From the mid 15th Century,  the region became a wealth base for European colonizers, with significant earnings coming from the spice trade.  It's proximity to China and India also added to its attractiveness.


The map "Insulae Moluccae Celeberrimae"1598 drawn by Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius (1552-1622) showing the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula, and the East Indies (Indonesia) with emphasis on the island group below Mindanao called "Moluccas" the fabled "Spice Island, forever associated with the voyage of Magellan.
Southeast Asia during the time of Rizal









16th Century Illustration of the Spice station in Batavia now Jakarta, Indonesia (Dutch East Indies). The colony was  a  source for cheap labour and manpower,  



A familiar scene in the Dutch East Indies. Native Malays serving the colonial master.


White man's burden? British colonial official in Malaya.



Early 1900's photo of a Javanese worker in a coffee and rubber plantation.


In the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), native military units were organized to defend the colony from it's perceived enemies. Still, often they were used to suppress other ethnic groups showing resistance to the colonial power....divide and rule.



"Guardia Civil " - made up of native units. Seen here with captured "Katipunero" during the early days of the 1896 Philippine Revolution.

Agents of Colonialism

The European powers in Southeast Asia conceptualized an effective system in the colony in producing wealth for the mother country. The colonial government granted rights to groups and companies to oversee the economic viability of the conquered lands.

The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische CompagnieVOC, "United East India Company") was a chartered company established in 1602 when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the second multinational corporation in the world (the British East India Company was founded two years earlier) and the first company to issue stocks. It was also arguably the first mega corporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.


Flag of the British East India Company

Parts of Malaya were either administered or leased by the British East India CompanyUnder British rule, Malaya became one of the most profitable territories of the Empire, being the world's largest producer of tin and later rubber.





Flag of  British North Borneo Company
North Borneo (Sabah) was leased to the British North Borneo Company by the owner, the Sultanate of Sulu. Jose Rizal himself planed to bring the displaced farmers of Calamba to Sandakan, North Borneo.




The Philippines, in the early centuries of the Spanish colonization, did not develop an economy similar to the other Malay countries in Southeast Asia. There were no first-grade spices to establish an agriculture/export-based economy. The state heavily relied on the income the Manila Galleon trade brought. The result was much of the country's arable lands were neglected and left undeveloped. It fell to the control of a few estate owners. The Catholic Church, with its primacy over the colonial society, became one of the most significant landholding sectors of the country. This was the Philippines that Rizal knew, a country under  the "Frailocracy."

Late 19th Century photo of Friars belonging to the Augustinian order

Rizal in Europe

Education in Europe did not only bring "enlightenment" and new knowledge to young Filipinos like Rizal, but it also gave them a chance to see freedom and new opportunities not present in the colony. They asked, "If these rights are allowed in the mother country, why not in the colony?" Young Filipinos who had acquired higher education either in the Philippines or in Europe were collectively known as "Ilustrados" (enlightened).


Rizal with some of the "Ilustrados" in Madrid


Noli Me Tangere
Besides playing a defining role in Filipino groups in Spain (like contributing articles for the organ of the Propaganda movement "La Solidaridad"), Rizal labored alone writing a novel to expose the ills of the colonial government. In 1887  "Noli Me Tangere" was published in Berlin. The "Noli" is a literary opus that criticizes the colonial society under the dysfunctional power of the Spanish regime and the friars.




Multatuli's "Max Havelaar"


Max Havelaar
Max Havelaar- The work by Multatuli (pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker) written as a form of protest against the colonial policies of the Dutch government in the East Indies.  The book is said to have raised the awareness of Europeans (Dutch) that the wealth they enjoyed was the result of suffering in other parts of the worldIn a letter to Blumentritt dated 6. In December 1888, Rizal mentioned that he finds Multatuli's book "extraordinarily interesting" and went on to say that perhaps it is "much superior to the Noli Me Tangere." But he also added that the author's commentaries were not as violent as his in the "Noli." 



Eduard Douwes Dekker, aka Multatuli (1820-1887) Dutch author and colonial official in the East Indies. He was born in Amsterdam and worked in the colonial administration. Dekker was posted first in Java and was later transferred to the Moluccas, where he witnessed the disturbing abuses of the colonial system.

Enter Paris 1889...."Redemption of the Malays"




Jose Rizal was living in Paris when the great Paris Exposition was held. In one of the many shows featured in the events, Rizal and some Filipino friends saw  Buffalo Bill's troupe. He had been impressed by the pride of the Indians,  their dignified look with their costumes, war paints, and the feather headgears. This inspired him to organize a club that would emulate that Indian pride (as Filipinos were also called Indios by the Spaniards). He founded the group "Indios Bravos" or brave Indians.


Buffalo Bill posing with some of the Indians in his troupe.

Indios Bravos was heavily imbued with masonic methods. Rizal's British biographer Austin Coates wrote, "Dedicated to the idea of courage, its ostensible aims were to keep the Filipino colony united and encourage manly sports. Within it, however, was a secret inner group which beneath the concealment of the code letters Rd L.M.  (Redención de los Malayos), was pledged to the liberation of the Malay peoples from colonial rule, a pledge to be made good first in the Philippines, later to be extended to the inhabitants of Borneo, Indonesia, and Malaya."

Rizal, in his quest for reforms for the colony, would go on spearhead writings whose aims were not only meant to expose the mistakes of the colonial power but also to criticize the conquered people themselves. 


El Filibusterismo
He and his family would be prosecuted by the government under the guidance and pressure of the friars. In the Calamba land row, the Rizal-Mercado family, together with some leading families of the town, were ejected from their properties and from the lands they were renting from friar companies. It was in such circumstances that Rizal's second novel was born- "El Filibusterismo."



Borneo Colonization Plan

In April 1892, Jose Rizal, then living in Hong Kong,  visited Sandakan,  to confer with British colonial officials regarding his plans of establishing a Filipino colony made up of families ejected from Calamba. Rizal received a favorable reply from the officials of the British North Borneo Company. At that time, Sandakan was like an isolated village and in need of a rice-growing community to meet the demands. He was surprised that he was offered by the British officials, a maximum of 5,000 acres free of rent for three years.

The Borneo colonization plan did not prosper, some members of the Rizal family did not agree with it. When the new Spanish Governor-General received a letter from Rizal asking permission to allow the landless farmers of Calamba to establish themselves in Borneo, he immediately sent  notification of disapproval, saying that "the Philippines lacked laborers and it was unpatriotic to go off and cultivate a foreign soil."


Location Map Sandakan Sabah, North Borneo



Shooting the foremost Malay

In 1892 Jose Rizal returned to the Philippines and founded the "La Liga Filipina." Among its members were names that would play prominent roles in the revolution of 1896. Days later,  Rizal would be arrested and then exiled to Dapitan. Some elements of the La Liga saw the arrest of Rizal as the end in the belief for a moderate path.

Rizal established a school for boys in his property in Dapitan. He took in Christian and Muslim students. The importance of working and studying as one group was stressed.

In August 1896, the Katipunan led revolution broke, Rizal on the way to Cuba as a volunteer for the Spanish Army Medical Corps was arrested and sent back to Manila. In the last days of December 1896,  he was sentenced to die by musketry. Accused by the Spaniards as "the living inspiration and of the revolution." On the morning of 30. In December 1896,  Rizal met his end at Luneta, Bagumbayan. 


December 30 1896. Rizal's execution



Rizal-Inspiring Patriot


A century after his execution in Luneta, Rizal continues to be studied and scrutinized by  Malay intellectuals. In this time, when the region seeks to explore with new vigor the meaning of Malay identity and Malay consciousness, could Jose Rizal be a relevant figure to emulate,  even in understanding the common bond of the people of the Malay World?


"
Jose Rizal was referred to by many of his friends and peers as the "Great Malay." Rizal's biographers began using the term on him as this 1930 adds about his biography written by Carlos Quirino


                                  Rizal With Some Of The Region's Intellectuals

Pramoedya Ananta Tour  (February 6, 1925 – April 30, 2006) Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemic, and histories of his homeland and its people. -- His works span the colonial period, Indonesia's struggle for independence, its Occupation by Japan during World war II as well as the post-colonial authoritarian regimes of Sukarno and Suharto. All these are infused in personal and national history. 
 In his writings, he mentioned Jose Rizal and used the Philippine experience to compare the ideals of the Indonesian struggle.



Wenceslao Quinito Vinzons (September 28, 1910 — July 15, 1942) Filipino politician and leader of the armed resistance against the Japanese during World War II. He was among the first Filipinos to organize guerrilla resistance against the Japanese. In July 1942, he and some members of his family were executed by Japanese soldiers. Vinzons was born in the town of Indan, Camarines Norte to Gavino Vinzons and Engracia Quinito. He graduated valedictorian from his local high school and proceeded to Manila to study at the University of the Philippines. While at the university, Vinzons gained fame as a student leader and was also known for delivering an oratorical address entitled "Malaysia Irredenta," where he advocated the unification of Southeast Asian nations with a common Malay origin. The piece won him the Manuel L. Quezon gold medal for excellence. Vinzon's ideas were inspired by Rizal's dream of a Malayan unity.



Rosihan Anwar (May 10, 1922 – April 14, 2011)  Indonesian journalist and author. He was born in Kubang Nan Dua, West Sumatra. Rosihan received his early education at HIS and MULO in Padang. He continued his studies at the AMS in Yogyakarta and participated in a journalism workshop at Columbia University, New York. His career began as a reporter in the Asia Raya newspaper during the Japanese Occupation. In 1947, he founded Siasat magazine. He was also the founder and editor of the Pedoman newspaper, which was twice forcibly closed by the Sukarno regime (1961) and Suharto's New Order administration (1974), because of its vocal criticism to the authoritarian regime. He translated Jose Rizal's poem "Mi Ultimo Adios" in  Bahasa Indonesia, where it was recited by the soldiers of the Indonesian independence movement before going to battle.

Syed Hussein Alatas (September 17, 1928 – January 23, 2007) was a Malaysian academician, sociologist, founder of social science organizations, and former politician. Syed Hussein wrote several books with subjects dealing with imperialism, multiculturalism, and the history of colonial societies. He read Rizal's '"Indolence of the Filipinos" and wrote his comment and critic on it in his famous work- "The Myth of the Lazy Native."


Anwar Ibrahim  (born August 10, 1947)  - Malaysian Opposition Leader.  Former Deputy Prime Minister in the  UMNO  led government of  Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. While still   Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar organized an international conference on Jose Rizal in October 1995. He called Rizal an "Asian Renaissance Man " and "the greatest Malayan." Once considered as heir apparent to Mahathir, he had a falling out with the Prime Minister. He was sentenced for 6 years on corruption charges and a misdemeanor crime of sodomy. All of which Anwar branded as political harassment. In June 2004, the charges were reversed, and Anwar was released. In July 2008, he was arrested again over allegations he sodomized one of his male aides but was acquitted of the charge in January 2012. The identified leader of the "Reformasi" movement in Malaysia, Anwar, believes that much of  Southeast Asia is inflicted by human cancer that Rizal wrote; the cancer of corruption.



Anwar Ibrahim's Asiaweek article on Rizal  
http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/98/0612/sr11.html 




Comments

  1. Hi, that's a great article about Rizal. I did read few facts about him before this. He's such a genius man but there is only one thing that makes me feel unsatisfied. I did read somewhere that he choose the death sentence. He got another option. For me it's kind of better to take the other option & make the revolution in the same. So he could contribute more on his race & country.

    2) I think you are pretty fascinated about one malaysian guy. Don't judge a book by it's cover.Give a deep thinking on him. He claimed he was injected with arsenic & HIV in 1998 until made a big riot in KL. But till now on he could fly any where in wherever part of this planet. So I think those HIV patients should claim the cure from him. In order to know more about him (proven documents + pictures), go here http://www.anwaraidc.com/ use the google translate. Make a free mind (it's the hardest to accept the truth) & you could make your fair judgement.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading the blog...with regards to the "option" you mentioned, I wrote an article about that topic (please read my blog "On The Trail of Rizal's Relation With The Katipunan")

      As with Anwar Ibrahim, I'm "fascinated"?...yes perhaps. I guess the best judgement would be to meet him personally and interview him. I am not only fascinated of him but also of Dr. Mahatir,UMNO, the Tunku Abdul Rahman, Bumiputras, Penang (where I worked 6 months), Lim Kit Siang, Peranakan, etc. etc. Malaysia and it's History interest me a lot. It has given me wonderful insights about our region, Southeast Asia. I'll check the link you gave me. Many thanks again!!

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    2. Rizal choose to die to avoid more bloodshed that might be done by the spanish to the filipinos. But the situation is ironic it fueled the revolution.

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  2. Malay is the great nation consist of various ethnic groups that inhabit the area of the south east asia south which also covered part of Indochina, Taiwan and Southern Island Japan. Then the arrival of colonials...Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and British who divided the areas according to political boundaries. As a result we Malay peoples trapped in the countries formed by them namely Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia and Taiwan. Malay race has lost identity by the large scale of migration from other races who also seek economic opportunities.This great history and civilization has been altered and destroyed by the colonialists. Malays must unite despite differences in religion.

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  3. Interesting read... Most of the films depicting Rizal focus on what he has done for the Philippines. Very few of these films elaborate what he was to the world.

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  4. Actually Rizal was quite famous among mine and older generations of indonesians (more famous than Marcos back then). We were taught about him at school. And Rizal or Yusrizal are very common name in Indonesia. I don't know whether it is authentic indonesian name or derived from him as admiration.

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