Pilihan Raya di Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, 1948-1959 dan Pengenalan First Past the Post

Artikel ini membincangkan pengenalan prinsip First Past The Post (FPTP) dalam sistem pilihan raya Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (PTM) antara tahun 1948-1959. FPTP merupakan sistem pemilihan calon yang bertanding dalam sesebuah kawasan pilihan raya dan calon yang memperoleh undian terbesar dikira sebagai pemenang meskipun mereka yang mengundi calon tersebut bukanlah kumpulan yang memperoleh majoriti mutlak. Objektif artikel ini bertujuan mengenal pasti permulaan prinsip FPTP dan sejauh mana ia membantu mewujudkan dominasi Melayu dalam dua pilihan raya umum era 1950-an. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan sejarah dengan menggunakan sumber-sumber primer di Arkib Negara yang terdiri daripada Colonial Office, laporan kerajaan dan akhbar. Melalui penelitian ke atas sumber, didapati FPTP secara jelas mula dipraktikkan dalam pilihan raya peringkat negeri tahun 1954. Pelaksanaan prinsip ini di peringkat kawasan pilihan raya dilihat tidak bermasalah kerana sistem tersebut hanya memerlukan seorang calon dengan undi terbesar diisytihar sebagai pemenang. Kemenangan Perikatan dengan keahlian majoriti dalam majlis perundangan bagi pilihan raya 1955 membolehkan rundingan ke arah kemerdekaan mengambil langkah yang lebih serius. Dalam konteks sistem pilihan raya, Suruhanjaya Reid, badan yang bertanggungjawab merangka perlembagaan merdeka, memutuskan bahawa sistem pemilihan yang akan dipraktikkan dalam pilihan raya pasca merdeka adalah berasaskan prinsip FPTP. Suruhanjaya Reid juga mengambil pendekatan memastikan sempadan kawasan pilihan raya mestilah bersandarkan dominasi Melayu. Harapan tersebut jelas tergambar dalam Pilihan Raya Umum 1959 apabila 66 daripada 104 kawasan pilihan raya yang dipertandingkan adalah dominasi Melayu. Kata kunci: First Past The Post; Suruhanjaya Reid; orang Melayu; pilihan raya; Persekutuan Tanah Melayu

Black Man’s Burden, White Man’s Liquor in Southern Africa

Chapter 6 examines the history of Britain’s colonization of South Africa as a clash between imperialists like Cecil Rhodes—who wielded liquor as a tool to get indigenous leaders drunk and sign away rights to their land—and native African tribal leaders. Rhodes’s greatest obstacle in his planned Cape Town–to-Cairo railroad were the prohibitionist leaders of Bechuanaland (present-day Botswana)—King Khama, Sebele I, and Bathoen—who in 1895 went so far as to travel to England to plead to Queen Victoria and the Colonial Office to maintain their sovereignty against white incursions and their prohibition against white liquor. Harnessing British temperance networks and building goodwill, the Bechuana kings emerged victorious: Bechuanaland would remain a protectorate, but not folded into Britain’s Cape Colony, foiling Rhodes’s machinations.

Minutes and the Man: J.E.W. Flood and British Imperial Economic Policy at the Colonial Office in the Interwar Years

Archival sources, especially correspondence between officials, have been critical to the reconstruction of the history of colonial territories. Minutes, confidential comments that informed the decisions transmitted in official correspondence (known as dispatches), though important, are often neglected. This paper highlights the value of minutes and demonstrates their optimal utilization through the lens of the career of J.E.W. Flood, a prolific middle level career officer at the Colonial Office. His minutes on various issues across the interwar period shed light on the undercurrents and debates among officials at Whitehall that shaped aspects of British imperial economic policy during the period.

Perkembangan Teknologi Komunikasi dan Sumbangannya kepada Pentadbiran British dan Masyarakat di Negeri-Negeri Selat 1902-1938

The Development of the Communication Technology and Its Contributions to the British Administration and Society in Straits Settlements 1902-1938 ABSTRACT A communication system is an important element in facilitating the administration as well as providing communication facilities to the local community. The economic development and changes in the British administration system in the Straits Settlements led the British administration to introduce a modern communication system in the Straits Settlements to facilitate the transmission of information. Most of the previous research on communication is focusing on the development of the transportation system as compared to the communication system. Hence, the objective of this study is to identify the efforts taken by the British in developing communication technology in the Straits Settlements dan its contributions to the administration and the local community. The methodology used for this study is qualitative. The analysis is based on the historical method by making primary sources the main source of analysis. Among the files that were referred to are colonial files CO273 Colonial Office: Straits Settlements Original Correspondence and CO275 Colonial Office: Straits Settlements Sessional Papers. This research shows that there are various efforts taken by the British in the Straits Settlements to develop a perfect and efficient communication system. This includes efforts to improvise the telephone and telegraph facilities by upgrading existing cables of communication. The telephone and telegraph cables were added all over the Straits Settlements which subsequently widened the network of communication to the other Malay States. Wireless technology was also introduced in Singapore and Penang to provide communication that is modern and sophisticated during that era. The transformation in the communication system in the Straits Settlements has contributed to the smooth running of the administration as well as bringing social and economic benefits. Keywords: Communication technology, British administration, Straits Settlements, social service, disseminating information.