Malayan Independence and the Malayan constitution

Today, the 31st of August, marks the anniversary of the independence of the Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1957.

Marking this anniversary today we focus on one of our archive collections, ICS125 the papers of Sir Ivor Jennings.

Sir Ivor Jennings was a constitutional lawyer and educationalist, who started his career teaching at Leeds University and the London School of Economics and Politiocal publishing on areas including the poor law code, housing law, public health law, town and country planning law and laws relating to local government and well as writing on constitutional matters. Appointed principal of University College, Ceylon in 1940, he was its first Vice-Chancellor (1942-1955) when it became the University of Ceylon. He described his life there in Road to Peradeniya, an unpublished autobiography. Jennings was frequently consulted on constitutional, educational and other matters within Ceylon, and elsewhere, including Malaya, India, Pakistan, and Malta. As the colonial period ended, he became particularly interested in the Commonwealth and the newly independent nations and was valued as a commentator on the subject. In 1954 he became Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in 1962, holding both posts until his death. In later life he returned to his study of the British constitution, with the publication of Party Politics (1960-62). He was knighted in 1948, made a QC in 1949, and awarded the KBE in 1955.

Sir Ivor Jennings was one of the members of the Reid Commission, headed by Lord William Reid, which was charged with devising a constitution for a fully self-governing and independent Federation of Malaya, following the Constitutional Conference held in London in 1956. The Jennings papers contain background publications, papers and reports; various versions of the draft constitution (some heavily annotated); minutes of the Federation of Malaya Constitutional Commission hearings; memorandum and submissions to the Commission; Jennings' correspondence, notes and diary for the period; and press cuttings.

The Constitution needed to accommodate concepts such as federalism and a constitutional monarchy, as well as provisions to protect special position for the Malay people, such as quotas in admission to higher education and the civil service, and making Islam the official religion of the federation. It also made Malay the official language of the nation, although the right to vernacular education in Chinese and Tamil would be protected. The papers provide intriguing background to the formation of a controversial constitution and the decision making processes.

Colonial administration records (migrated archives) to be released to The National Archives

The National Archives is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to transfer and begin releasing colonial administration records, referred to as the 'migrated archives' between April 2012 and November 2013, in accordance with FCO's published timeline on the FCO website.

The first batch will be made available in the reading rooms at The National Archives from Wednesday 18 April 2012. This release will contain records from Aden, Anguilla, Bahamas, Basutoland. Bechuanaland, British Indian Ocean Territories, Brunei, Cyprus, Kenya, Malaya, Sarawak and Seychelles.

On Wednesday 18 April 2012, a guide to the first batch of files will be published on The National Archives website and will provide more information on how to search the records.

In addition, there will be free public talks on accessing the records in the reading rooms at Kew at 11:00 and 14:00. Tickets are available on site on 18 April.

The collection will form record series FCO 141: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors: Records of Former Colonial Administrations: Migrated Archives.

The records cover a wide range of subject matter relating to colonial administration. The material reflects events in the territories generally pre-independence and Her Majesty's Government's views at that time.

For up to date information about the records and ongoing release, see the National Archives' Colonial administration records web page.

New archives list - Sir Ivor Jennings - education and constitutional law across the Commonwealth

We're pleased to announce another handlist added to the ULRLS Archives Catalogue.

The Sir Ivor Jennings papers (ICS125) are a vaulable resource for the history of, and hiostory of education in, Sri Lanka, and for constitutional history across many nations within the Commonwealth.

Sir (William) Ivor Jennings, constitutional lawyer and educationalist, was born in Bristol on 16 May 1903 and died in Cambridge on 19 December 1965. Jennigs held academic appointments at Leeds University in 1925-1929, and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he was first lecturer, (1929-1930) and then reader in English Law (1930-1940). His publications in this period included works on the poor law code, housing law, public health law, town and country planning law and laws relating to local government. He also wrote on constitutional matters in The Law and the Constitution (1933), Cabinet Government (1936) and Parliament (1939).

Appointed principal of University College, Ceylon in 1940, he was its first Vice-Chancellor (1942-1955) when it became the University of Ceylon. He described his life there in Road to Peradeniya, an unpublished autobiography, which was posthumously published in 2005 (ref: C/14); see also Jennings' The Kandy Road (ed. H.A.I. Goonetileke, University of Peradeniya, 1993). He was frequently consulted on constitutional, educational and other matters and was Chairman of the Ceylon Social Services Commission (1944-1946), a member of the Commission on University Education in Malaya (1947), a member of the Commission on the Ceylon Constitution (1948), President of the Inter-University Board of India (1949-1950), Constitutional Adviser and Chief Draughtsman, Pakistan (1954-1955), a member of the Malayan Constitutional Commission (1956-1957), and Chairman of the Royal University of Malta Commission. He was also Professor of Political Science, University of British Columbia, in 1938-1939 and Visiting Professor, Australian National University in 1950.

As the colonial period ended, he became particularly interested in the Commonwealth and the newly independent nations and was valued as a commentator on the subject. He delivered the 1948-1949 Wayneflete lectures at Magdelen College, Oxford on `The Commonwealth in Asia', the 1950 George Judah Cohen Memorial Lecture at the University of Sydney on `The Commonwealth of Nations', the 1957 Montague Burton lecture on International Relations at the University of Leeds on `Nationalism, Colonialism and Neutralism' and a series on `Problems of the New Commonwealth' at the Commonwealth Studies Center at Duke University, North Carolina, USA in 1958. He re-published an earlier work on laws of the empire as Constitutional Laws of the Commonwealth (3ed. 1956) and published The Approach to Self-Government (1956) and works on Ceylon and Pakistan. In 1954 he became Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Downing Professor of the Laws of England in 1962, holding both posts until his death. In later life he returned to his study of the British constitution, with the publication of Party Politics (1960-62). He was knighted in 1948, made a QC in 1949, and awarded the KBE in 1955.

The collection of papers held at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies comprises of material relating to both the legal and educational career of Jennings.

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  A. Education: material collected by Jennings as Vice-Chancellor of Ceylon University, Chairman of the Royal University of Malta Commission and a member of other educational bodies in or relating to Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kuwait, Malaya and Uganda.
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  B. Constitutional issues: material on constitutional and legal issues in Australia, Canada, Ceylon, Cyprus, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Japan, Malaya, Maldives, Malta, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Singapore, South Africa, and Sudan;
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  C. Books and other writings: including material relating to British Commonwealth of Nations, Colonial Constitution Law, Laws and Liberties of England, Road to Peradeniya (unpublished autobiography);
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  D. Other material: material outside previous other categories, including British government publications and volumes of press cuttings.

 

'Negotiating with the ‘Enemy’: perspectives past and present - 24th September 2010

University of London School of Advanced Study, Institute of Commonwealth Studies-Open University Empire and Postcolonial Group and Ferguson Centre for African & Asian Studies

Workshops on Counterinsurgency and Colonialism


'Negotiating with the ‘Enemy’: perspectives past and present

Friday 24 September 2010

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Venue: Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of
London, Court Room, South Block, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU

Theme:

Counterinsurgency, 'homeland security' and 'The War on Terror' have led to a renewed interest in historical case studies of counterinsurgency, including case studies from the British Empire and Commonwealth. There has been debate in the US and UK of military
strategies, 'winning hearts and minds', and policing for international operations. But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the peace process in Northern Ireland, demonstrate that another, relatively neglected area can have a major impact on such campaigns. This is the 'negotiation' with, and 'persuasion' of, militant elites and their key civilian supporters. The Northern Ireland peace process was developed through complex, often secret, contacts. The Iraqi insurgency was turned around as much through the 'Anbar Awakening' as by a 'surge' and new counterinsurgency policy. The question of how to negotiate, persuade and buy over Taliban leaders and supporters came to the fore in Afghanistan policy in 2009-10. This workshop will look at a variety of ways and contexts, contemporary and historical, in which 'enemy' leaders (military and civilian) have been targeted for persuasion and negotiation.

Enquires: To apply to attend without a paper please email Troy Rutt: Troy.rutt@sas.ac.uk

Programme

Registration 9.00-9.15

Opening 9.15-9.30

Session 1 9.30-11.00 Negotiating with tribal societies – AfPak perspectives

• Negotiating Frontier Relations: Britain & Wazistan (Hugh Beattie, Open University) Discussant: TBC
• The Political Officer: Managing the Pashtun tribes of the NW Frontier of India 1901-1947 (Chris Tripodi, Kings College London, DSD) Discussant: TBC
• Pashtun Perspectives on negotiating with the Soviets & British, 1839-1987 (Rob Johnson, Oxford University) Discussant: John Bew

Tea 11.00-11.15

Session 2 11.15-12.45 Levels of Negotiation: surrender & loyalty transfer

• Negotiating with Mau Mau: pseudo-gangs and surrender schemes, 1952-56 (Huw Bennett, King’s College London) Discussant: Karl Hack.
• Communist perspectives on coming to terms with the British & semi-autonomous local politicians: Malaya 1948-60’ (Karl Hack, Open University). Discussant: TBC.

Lunch 12.45-1.45

Session 3 1.45-3.15 Covert peacemaking: Northern Ireland experiences

• Covert peacemaking: Clandestine Negotiations &Backchannels with the IRA during the early ‘Troubles’, 1972-76 (Andrew Mumford, University of Hull) Discussant: TBC
• Behind the Scenes: Negotiating with Republicans & Loyalists and the Northern Ireland Peace Process, 1980s-90s (Paul Dixon, Kingston University) Discussant: TBC.

Tea 3.15-3.30

Session 4 3.30-5.00 Paradoxes, Paradigms and Problems

• The Northern Ireland model re-examined: conditions for successful negotiation (John Bew, Kings College London) Discussant: Paul Dixon
• The Paradoxes of Negotiation (Isabelle Duyvesteyn and Bart Schuurman, Utrecht University, Netherlands) Discussant: TBC.

Roundtable/overview 5.00-5.30

For further details see the full programme.

New lists added to archives catalogue - South Africa, Ceylon and Malaya

As part of an ongoing project to add copies of lists to our archives catalogue we have recently added lists for a number of smaller collections held. These include colelctions relating to South Africa, Ceylon and Malaya.


John Patrick Cope, was born on Mooi River, Natal, South Africa, on 17 Mar 1906, educated at St Andrews College, Grahamstown and in 1924 joined the 'Rand Daily Mail' as a reporter. In 1930 he joined the 'Natal Mercury' as their parliamentary and political correspondent, and became friendly with Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, and other prominent political figures. In 1937 he joined his former editor, R J Kingston Russell in his venture to found a political weekly 'Forum', and on Russell's retirement assumed the editorship, which he retained for 14 years under the chairmanship of Hofmeyr. In 1951 'Forum' closed, and Cope rejoined the 'Rand Daily Mail' as editorial assistant. He entered politics and was returned for Parktown in 1953 and 1958 as a United Party MP. In 1958 he was one of a group of UP members who broke away to form the Progressive Party, but he lost his seat after a smear campaign in the 1961 election. The Cope papers comprise press cuttings, from his years as a journalist in South Africa, Abyssinia and China and 96 items of correspondence; the majority of which are letters from Hofmeyr. Topics covered include the Afrikaner Broederbond, 1941, Hofmeyr's relationship with Jan Christian Smuts, 1948, report on Mau Mau outbreak in Kenya [c1952]; South African politics, 1929-1948, his decision to leave the United Party and to found the Progressive Party, 1959; and papers on the political weekly 'Forum', 1948-1951.

The papers of Edward Trevor Dyson cover his time in the Ceylon Civil Service, 1910-1929; and include a report 'The Spirit of Trincomalee', describing Trincomalee at the end of 1910, including comments on the visit by the Crown Prince of Germany, Prince Wilhelm; a report 'The Bo Tree Incident', describing events after the cutting down of a sacred Bo Tree at Anuradhapura, 1929; letters to Bertha [the future Mrs Dyson], 1911, including description of a journey to Kantalai, and the area around Kantalai, and an account of a journey from Trincomalee to Batticaloa, with an account of his first visit to the prison at Batticaloa in his capacity as Assistant Inspector of Prisons.

Also from Ceylon are the papers of W A Davis, comprising photographs, maps and souvenirs of Ceylon (1931-1935); including  seascapes, plantations, historic monuments and people, all unidentified; a map of the City of Columbo (1932) and motor map of Ceylon (1931); and the programme of the Installation banquest of the Duke of Connaught Masonic Lodge, Columbo (1935).

The papers of J E U Exwood concern rubber estates in Malaya, 1929-1939; including reports on Bukit Selambau and Tarum estates owned by Tarun (Malaya) Rubber Estates Ltd to Bousted & Co,. Ltd, Kuala Lumpur, 1929-1931, and correspondence on Waterfall (Selangor) Rubber Estates Ltd, 1930-1939.