Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Photographs
- Abbreviations
- 1 The Socialist Club and the Modernity Project
- 2 Awake in the Bowl of Night
- 3 The Fajar Trial
- 4 Visionary of the Nation, Voice of Stifled Malayans
- 5 A Beacon of Light on the Campus and Beyond
- 6 Frankly Partisan in the Struggle for Student Leadership
- 7 The Shadow over the Club
- 8 Resisting Malaysia, Swansong for Malaya
- 9 Long Night after Coldstore
- 10 In Defence of University Autonomy and Student Rights
- 11 Entwined Memories and Myths
- Conclusion: Modernity in Singapore and Malaya Reconsidered
- The University Socialists: Biographical Sketches
- Timeline of Events
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Publications Series
6 - Frankly Partisan in the Struggle for Student Leadership
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of Photographs
- Abbreviations
- 1 The Socialist Club and the Modernity Project
- 2 Awake in the Bowl of Night
- 3 The Fajar Trial
- 4 Visionary of the Nation, Voice of Stifled Malayans
- 5 A Beacon of Light on the Campus and Beyond
- 6 Frankly Partisan in the Struggle for Student Leadership
- 7 The Shadow over the Club
- 8 Resisting Malaysia, Swansong for Malaya
- 9 Long Night after Coldstore
- 10 In Defence of University Autonomy and Student Rights
- 11 Entwined Memories and Myths
- Conclusion: Modernity in Singapore and Malaya Reconsidered
- The University Socialists: Biographical Sketches
- Timeline of Events
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Publications Series
Summary
On one occasion, students of the affected Chinese High Schools linked arms and marched down Bukit Timah past our dining halls, prompting a freshie to exclaim, “Damn these commies. We should just mow them down!”
On hearing this, an irate socialist senior grabbed a steel chair and threatened to bash his head.
Haniff OmarHaniff Omar's recollection of campus politics in the post-war period highlights the contestation between socialists and their opponents at the University of Malaya. While the Socialist Club was able to leave its mark on national politics, its relationship with other student leaders was frequently fraught with ambivalence, rivalry and conflict. While there was convergence and cooperation between the Club and other student groups in the University, and between individual Club members and other student leaders and activists on campus on some issues and matters (as covered in Chapters 5 and 10), there were collisions and contestation over others. Notwithstanding the personality clashes and individual rivalry that naturally ensued between individual student activists and leaders, the intellectual and ideological contestations between University Socialists and others arose over two main issues: the meaning of socialism and the limits of student activism. The Club received much criticism for its left-wing socialist stance and participation in national politics beyond the campus. Not only did it struggle to bring its brand of student activism to the mainstream student organisations, it also faced the challenge of rival political clubs expressly formed to undermine it. On one level, the conflicts were plainly ideological, split along the lines of the bipolar Cold War. The opposing intellectual worlds of the Club and its opponents led to conflicting views of international, national and student events. At a deeper level, however, both sides were disagreeing over the ideological tools for the making of a new type of student, a new university and a new nation. The conflict was deeply discursive.
The Discursive Battle over “Student Apathy”
The campus battles were fought over the identity of students and their relationship to the state. Although the Socialist Club aimed to promote political consciousness among the students of the University of Malaya, the majority remained indifferent to its overtures.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The University Socialist Club and the Contest for MalayaTangled Strands of Modernity, pp. 127 - 152Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2012