The history of Malay journalism in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies is multilayered. One there is Malay journalism. The other narrated as Malay-language journalism. But there is another layer, subdued in the discourse, and that is what we can describe as Hadrami journalism. In Malaysia, it has been conventionally narrated for decades that Malay journalism began in 1939 with the birth of Utusan Melayu. This raises the question of the identity of such periodicals as Jawi Peranakkan (1876-96) and Al-Imam (1906-08)?

In an earlier 2021 paper titled “Pencorakan Kepulauan Melayu dan Pulau Pinang oleh Kaum Jawi Peranakan dan Hadrami melalui Kewartawanan dan Persuratkhabaran sebelum 1942: Satu Tafsiran Semula Penulisan W.R. Roff” (The Shaping of the Malay Archipelago and Pulau Pinang by the Jawi Peranakan and Hadhramis through Journalism and Newspapers before 1942: A Reinterpretation of the Writings of W.R. Roff), published in the Journal of Malaysian Media Studies, I emphasized the significant role of the periodicals in the formation of public opinion, providing space for intense social and political debates in the structuring of popular discourse in Malay society, especially in the years between the 1900 and the Second World War.

This other layer is also described as the Arab press in the Netherlands East Indies, seen as agent and recorder of the Hadrami awakening. Another scholar who followed after Roff is Natalie Mobini-Kesheh. Her 1996 study of the Arab press in “The Arab periodicals of the Netherlands East Indies, 1914-1942”, revealed that between 1914 and 1942, there were at least 36 periodicals, published in both Arabic and Bahasa Melayu directed toward the Arab community. These range from twice-weekly newspapers to monthly or quarterly magazines. While they often disagreed ideologically, all shared the sense that they were a vital part of the nahḍah al-Haḍramīyyah.

Although a few survived for over one or two years, the periodicals collectively provide the most substantial body of primary sources on the Arabs of the Indies. Mobini-Kesheh is also author of The Hadrami Awakening: Community and Identity in the Netherlands East Indies, 1900-1942 (Cornell University Press, 1999). The book sheds new light on how the Hadrami saw themselves in relation to their milieu and the host population.

She argues that the Arab press arose in the context of the educational movement. This can be seen in the first Arab periodical in the Netherlands East Indies. This was the Arabic/Malay publication Al-Bashīr (The Herald), initially published in Palembang in 1914, and moved to Batavia along with its editor, Muhammad bin Hāshim, in 1915. Bin Hāshim was an active and progressive teacher who reported his teaching activities to the Egyptian modernist publication Al-Manār as early as 1909.

Al-Bashīr displayed an overwhelming concern with education, reflected in frequent reports of developments in various Arab schools. In this respect, Mobin-Kesheh describes it as typical of virtually all Arab periodicals. The Al-Bashīr has a Malay subtitle, ‘organ of the Muslims and other peoples’ (Orgaan Kaoem Moeslimin dan Lain-Lain Bangsa). The Arabic subtitle carries a slightly different meaning indicating that Al-Bashīr aimed to serve “the Arabs and Arabic and the [Muslim] religious community,” in that order (takhdimu’l- ‘arab wa’l-‘arabīyyah wa’l-millah). The successor of Al-Bashīr was Al-Iqbāl (The Advent), published in Surabaya from mid-1917 to late 1920.

It was also cited that the emergence of Malay periodicals from the mid-1920s was induced by “a new kind of organization” within the Arab community in the Indies. The organizations were established by the muwallad Arabs- those born in the Indies to Arab fathers and mothers of Indonesian descent or mixed ethnicity. The earliest of the muwallad organizations, according to Mobini-Kesheh, appears to have been the Jam’iyyah Al-Taḥdhībīyyah, formed in Surabaya on 1 August 1924. Two years later, in 1926, the Al-Taḥdhībīyyah, began publication of the appropriately named Zaman Baroe (New Era), the first Malay-language periodical in the Dutch East Indies, directed explicitly towards the Arab community. Zaman Baroe was produced by and for muwallad Arabs, for whom Bahasa Melayu was a more natural language of communication than Arabic.

Bahasa Melayu periodicals for the Hadrami community continued in the 1930s with the Indo-Arabisch Verbond organ Al-Jaum (Today), Pewarta Arab (Arab Reporter), and the Persatoean Arab Indonesia periodicals Sadar (Aware), Insaf (Awareness), Aliran Baroe (New Current) and Berita (News).

According to Mobin-Kesheh, The East Indies Bahasa Melayu periodicals shared “an Indies-centric” outlook which distinguished them from their Arabic-language counterparts.” This is expressed through a more significant proportion of coverage concerning events in the colony, as well as active campaigns for Dutch-Arabic schools and Arab representation in municipal and national councils

One of most famous Indonesian Arab journalists, and the only one whose reputation has extended beyond the Arab community, was ‘Abdurrahman Baswedan, who edited the Malay periodicals Lembaga Baroe (under the pseudonym Bin Auff Al ‘Asrie), Berita and Sadar, and was also on the staff of several non-Arab newspapers. In 1934, ‘Abdurrahman urged Arabs to integrate into Indonesia society, and be part of national identity. He led the local born Arabs to actively participate in the struggle for Indonesia’s independence.

He called on the Arab community to embrace the fundamentals of jus soli citizenship “di mana saya lahir, di situlah tanah airku” (the place of my birth is my homeland).‘Abdurrahman Baswedan, recognized as nationalist and freedom fighter of Indonesia, a diplomat, writer and journalist was the grandfather of Anies Baswedan, former governor of Jakarta (2017-2022). Anies is touted as Indonesia’s presidential candidate in 2024.

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