Hadramis within Malay activism: the role of the Alsagoff family

Abstract

The post-war years have often been portrayed as a period of awakening and intense activism amongst Malays in Malaya. Issues of identity, belonging, culture, religion and language were contested, leading to the rise of polemics and tensions between various ethnic groups on the island. This paper examines the role of several prominent Hadramis from the Alsagoff family who played crucial roles in determining the course of Malay activism and how such involvement reflects the durability and overlapping of the Malay as well as Hadrami identities within the Singapore public sphere then. The paper will also examine the ways in which these Hadramis utilized Islam, politics and Malay literary culture as crucial elements towards the championing of Malay supremacy in Singapore from 1945 to 1965.