14 Apr 2021 / 10:31 H.
Colonialism in The Malay Archipelago: Civilisational Encounters presents fresh perspectives on colonial incursions into the Nusantara region seen from the lens of the region’s scholars and researchers. They question motives and debunk biases in colonial and post-colonial narratives where native societies and indigenous peoples are depicted as inferior and in need of foreign intervention. Deliberately underplayed in these accounts are the selfish motives of Western imperialists and their agents including the colonial administrations and trading companies they established. Political and economic rivalry amongst them in Europe was the real driving force behind the colonial policies and strategies executed by Portugal, Spain, Holland and Great Britain that saw the expansion of territory and dominance in faraway places in their bid for “gold, God and glory” – the three civilisational motives of Christian Europe. The book’s focus as articulately described