10.47313 TRANSMITTED IDEAS: THE BIRTH OF MODERN SPORTS IN MALAYSIA

TRANSMITTED IDEAS: THE BIRTH OF MODERN SPORTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

The idea of modern sports in Malaysia existed during the British
occupation in the 18th century. Initially, the practice of modern sports such as
football, hockey, rugby, and other European games was only played by British
expatriates, civil servants, and the military. After the establishment of the British
Government in the Malay Peninsula, the idea of modern sports was spread to the
local community, especially among the Malay elite, who were educated in British
Government Schools. The huge impact of modern sports on the local community
came after the elite created new sports platforms such as institutions, for example,
Sultan Sulaiman Sporting Clubs in Kuala Lumpur. The establishment of this
institution later became a model for creating other sports clubs especially in
Penang, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, and other states. In the 1930s, every single
‘modern sport’ was introduced by the British have its institution and it’s built
up by the locals. Most interestingly, the foundation of this institution was based
on ethnicities such as Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Most of sports historians
analysed these things that happened as just an impact of colonialism, especially
the practices of divides and rules policy by the British Government. But in this
paper, I tend to use a different type of analysis. By using theoretical framework
developed by Bernard Cohn (1996), I would like to argue that the idea of modern
sports is a part of colonial knowledge. This kind of idea was transmitted using the
elites, schools, and syllabus, to create the modern institution as the manifestation
of modern sports in Malaysia.