Our Esteemed Patrons
Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah
Ibni Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj, Sultan Selangor.
Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Pengiran Perdana
Wazir Sahibul Himmah Wal-Waqar Pengiran Muda Mohamed Bolkiah.
Lee Kuan Yew Esq.
Talk
Will the Real Lady
Swettenham Please Stand Up
Time: Immediately after the AGM at 6.30pm, Saturday 28 June 2008
Venue: Badan Warisan Malaysia's Heritage Centre, No. 2 Jalan Stonor,
Kuala Lumpur
Our Honorary Treasurer, Dato' Henry Barlow has agreed to give a talk,
illustrated with slides.
Light refreshments will be served after the talk.
Please contact us at 2283-5345 if you wish to attend.
Our Latest Publications
We have a variety of post and packaging options, therefore please email us using our
Monograph and Reprint sections for a quotation.
This page has been optimised for fast downloading. For contents for each book, please
click on the image.
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Monograph 33
A History of Negri Sembilan
By J.M. Gullick
220pp. Size: 150x225mm Hardcover |
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Monograph 34
The Malay Muslims, Islam and the Rising Sun
By Abu Talib Ahmad
288pp. Size: 150x225mm Hardcover |
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Monograph 39
Malay Secret Societies in the Northern Malay States, 1821-1940s
By Mahani Musa
185pp. Size: 146x222mm Hardcover |
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Monograph 36
Kongsi Gelap Melayu Di Negeri-Negeri Utara Pantai Barat Semenanjung Tanah Melayu 1821-1940-an
By Mahani Musa
200pp Size: 150x225mm Hardcover |
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Reprint 25
Southeast Asia - China Interactions
Selected and introduced by Geoff Wade With a foreword by Wang Gungwu
620pp. Size: 184x260mm Hardcover |
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Reprint 23
The Trade of Singapore 1819-1869
By Wong Lin Ken
317pp. Size: 165x255mm Hardcover |
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Monograph 40
Historians & their Disciplines: The Call of Southeast Asian History
By Nicholas Tarling
202pp. Size: 146x222mm Hardcover |
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Reprint 26
Selections from the Selangor Journal
Edited and Introduced by John Gullick
660pp. Size: 140x216mm Softcover |
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Monograph 38
Murder Most Foul: A Panorama of Social Life in Melaka from the 1780s to the 1820s
By Radin Fernando
132pp. Size: 146x222mm Hardcover |
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Reprint 24
Malay Magic: Being an Introduction to the Folklore and Popular Religion of the Malay Peninsula
By Walter William Skeat
800pp. Size: 146x222mm Hardcover |
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Monograph 41
New Perspectives and Research on Malaysian History
By Cheah Boon Kheng
270pp. Size: 146x222mm Hardcover |
Sale of MBRAS Microfilms
MBRAS now has on microfilm all back numbers of the Journal of the
Straits/Malayan/Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1878 up to December 2000
(Vol. 73, Part 2).
The set includes full subject and author indices up to 1980, together with
volume by volume of the listing of contents for the whole run. Films may be ordered in positive
or negative. Work is currently in hand indexing by author and subject of the period 1981-2000.
The price is at RM14,000/S$7,000/US$3,700 per complete set, or
RM400/S$200/US$105 per reel. For more than 10 reels ordered at one time, the charge will be
RM300/S$150/US$80 per reel. All prices are exclusive of postage and packing. Due to short
shelf life of unexposed microfilm, special supplies will have to be ordered, and there may be
up to 3 months’ delay.
All prices are subject to change without notice. Please email your order
stating volume numbers and dates, positives/negatives, etc. to
mbras@tm.net.my
About Us
The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (henceforth
called the Society) is a learned society devoted to the task of collecting,
recording and diffusing information about Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. Its
primary objective is to promote a greater interest in the study of the region,
and to this end, it publishes a journal and carries out other scholarly activities.
A brainchild of a group of colonial administrators, the Society
has since 4 November 1877 enjoyed the patronage of top-ranking officials like
the Governors of the Straits Settlements, Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Singapore
and the Sultan of Brunei. Among its council members are distinguished officials
and academicians, ranging from Sir Frank A. Swettenham, Sir Richard Winstedt
and H.N. Ridley of the colonial government to Tan Sri Nik Ahmed Kamil and Tun
Mohamed Suffian bin Hashim of the Malaysian government and to academicians like
Dr. Alastair Lamb, Professor Wang Gungwu and Professor S. Arasaratnam of the
University of Malaya.
Apart from enjoying elite patronage, the Society during the
colonial period received government grants, donations from the Sultans of the
Malay States, franking privileges, government provision of premises and facilities
for printing and map-making, free airing time from Radio Malaya and newspaper
coverage. Even now, it receives grants from the governments of Malaysia, Singapore
and Brunei and other organizations. Undoubtedly such elite patronage and assistance
is a major factor contributing to the society’s success. But more importantly,
it indicates recognition of the Society’s role in contributing to knowledge
and scholarship of the region.
In spite of government subventions and of modifications of the
Society’s name to take account of political changes, “politics have never been
allowed to impinge on the Society’s work”. It has always been an independent
society, managing its own affairs and responsible for its own finances and editorial
policy. Even affiliation with the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland (henceforth called the R.A.S.) does not impose restrictions on its autonomy.
In fact, the only practical evidence of its link with the R.A.S. is the R.A.S.’s
permission to the Society’s members to use its library and attend its monthly
meetings when in London.
The Society has an active existence. Indeed, few learned societies
in this region can claim to have been equally successful. On record, up to date,
it has published 166 Journals, 30 Monographs, 19 Reprints, 3 Indexes, a statistical
gazetteer, a map of the Malay Peninsula and a textbook on Eastern Geography.
Among its other scholarly activities are annual public lectures and sponsorship
of academic conferences. But more significant than a qualitative achievement
is the Society’s publication of numerous pioneer articles on a wide variety
of subjects — Culture, History, Literature, Anthropology, Archaeology, Botany,
Zoology and a score of other headings. Amongst its list of contributors are
notable scholars like W.E. Maxwell, R.O. Winstedt, R.J. Wilkinson, R. Braddell
and H.N. Ridley of the colonial period and eminent academicians like Professor
John Bastin, Dr. Alastair Lamb, Dr. Ismail Hussein, Professor Khoo Kay Kim,
John Gullick of the post-colonial period.
The Society and its Journal, being scholarly and specialized,
have little appeal to the general public and consequently its membership size
has always been small. Nevertheless, it has grown from 150 founder members in
1877 to over 1,000 members in 2001. Its members are drawn from all the States
in Malaysia, the Republic of Singapore, Brunei and overseas.
Far from being complacent, the Society in its second century of existence hopes to widen its
horizon. In 1977, at the Centenary Banquet, the President of the Society, the
late Tan Sri Nik Ahmed Kamil, called for the expansion of the Society’s academic
frontier to include neighbouring countries. Thus, on account of its objective
of promoting interest and scholarship of the region and its composition of members
from various countries, the Society takes on the additional role of fostering
the development of regionalism and ASEAN solidarity. By so doing, it hopes to
prove that it is “not only worthy to carry on the great traditions of
the Society but is also moving steadily with the new times in South East Asia”.
— John Gullick
I
would like to see the journal’s contents!