【文化研究國際中心】新書出版 Publication｜《懶惰土著的迷思：16至20世紀馬來人、菲律賓人和爪哇人的形象及其於殖民資本主義意識形態中的功能》

Author: Syed Hussein Alatas
Translator: Tan Yau Chong
Coordinator and Copyeditor: Show Ying Xin
Publisher: National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Press
Date of publication: 9 Feb 2022
Page: 408 pages
Price: NT480

The Myth of the Lazy Native is Syed Hussein Alatas’ widely acknowledged critique of the colonial construction of Malay, Filipino and Javanese natives from the 16th to the 20th century. Drawing on the sociology of knowledge, Alatas analyses the origins and functions of such myths in the creation and reinforcement of colonial ideology and capitalism. The book constitutes in his own words: ‘an effort to correct a one-sided colonial view of the Asian native and his society’ and will be of interest to students and scholars of colonialism, post-colonialism, sociology and South East Asian Studies.

Contents

Chinese version Foreword – Syed Farid Alatas

• Chinese version Introduction –Lee Yu Cheng
• Introduction
• The image of the Malays until the time of Raffles
• The image of the Filipinos during the 17th to the 19th century
• The image of the Javanese from the 18th to the 20th century
• The image of indolence and the corresponding reality
• Colonial capitalism and its attitude towards labour in the 19th and early 20th century
• The indolence of the Filipinos
• The colonial image and the study of national character
• The Malay concept of industry and indolence
• “Mental Revolution” and the indolence of the Malays
• The distortion of Malay character
• The disappearance of the indigenous trading class
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Abbreviations
• Index
• Chinese version Afterword –Show Ying Xin

Praises:

“Syed Hussein Alatas’ The Myth of the Lazy Native analysed a blatant example of colonial orientalism. He was trained in Amsterdam by social scientists who were studying the capitalist origins of modern imperialism. As one of the earliest scholars in Southeast Asia who argued that freeing ourselves from colonial values was the act of a civilised mind, he questioned the foundations of the social science that our universities were teaching. His comprehensive study of the lazy native myth demonstrated how the colonised had been induced to accept Western scholarship without questioning its capitalist roots.” — Prof Wang Gungwu

“It has been 45 years since Professor Syed Hussein Alatas wrote this remarkable work that challenges the colonial construct of the indigenous people in Southeast Asia. The book remains ever relevant as the image created and reinforced by colonial ideology and capitalism were perpetuated into present day Asia. It is hoped that with a Chinese edition, the ideas advocated by Professor Alatas will be reaching out to a larger audience who are concerns with colonialism and post-colonialism.” — Prof Danny Wong Tze Ken

“The Myth of the Lazy Native is undoubtedly a work of ‘decolonising the mind’, as what Ngugi wa Thiong’o calls, with a profound meaning of liberation. Alatas intervenes in political criticism through historical investigation, and his important references are never detached from the political reality he was in and concerned with. This may also be the reason why I was most moved and heavy-hearted when I reread the book after many years.” — Prof Lee Yu Cheng

Recommended by:

• Chen Jui-hua (Institute of Sociology, National Tsing Hua University)
• Chen Kuan-hsing (Inter-Asia Cultural Studies)
• Chua Beng Huat (Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore)
• Danny Wong Tze Ken (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya)
• Joyce C.H Liu (International Center for Cultural Studies, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)
• Ko Chia Cian (Department of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University)
• Lee Yu Cheng (Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica)
• Lim Khay Thiong (Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National Chi Nan University)
• Lim Kien Ket (Department of Foreign Language and Literature, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University)
• Ngoi Guat Peng (Chinese program, Sultan Idris Education University Malaysia)
• Sai Siew Min (Southeast Asian historian)
• Tee Kim Tong (Department of Foreign Language and Literature, National Sun Yat-sen University)
• Wang Chih-ming (Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica)
• Wang Gungwu (Academician of Academia Sinica, 2020 Tang Prize Laureate)