HISTORY | Recently, a local academic in a TikTok video claimed that Malaya was never colonised. Similarly, about a decade ago, an academic from the National Professors’ Council argued that Malaya, with the exception of the Straits Settlements, was never a British colony. The Malay states were deemed to be protectorates.

In a similar vein, a leading Malaysian historian in 2011 commented that from a legal point of view, Malaya was never colonised because the rulers of the Malay states maintained sovereignty. He added further that the British never ruled Malaya; they had merely taken over the administration of Malaya.

How valid are these claims? Who really ruled Malaya – the Malay rulers or the British...