MCKK has played a significant role in the formation of Civil Service in Malaysia. This article covers the following topics:

1. Malay College, a niche in the history of the country
2. Malay College, a special place in the history of the Civil Service
3. Malay College, the natural choice for MAS training programmes
4. Malay College role in laying the foundation of the MAS scheme
5. The MAS Program at the Malay College was a distinct success
6. MAS graduates of Malay College and their career in the administration service
7. Malay College Old Boys in the Civil Service and their contribution to the nation
8. Sacrificing for the nation

In July 1909 the government introduced the Higher Subordinate Scheme, later renamed the Malay Administrative Service (MAS). The MAS, representing the Malay component of the civil service, was to be the junior division of the Malayan Civil Service. With its introduction, the MAS thus became an integral part of the Civil Service.

In 1910 the MAS program was officially launched at the Malay College, in which selected boys at the College who had passed Standard VII began the first probationary training under the MAS program. The Malay College thus entered into the history annals of the civil service as the birthplace of MAS and where the foundation of the MAS program was first laid.

In carrying out the MAS program, the Malay College was to become the first government officers’ training centre in the country, the precursor of the modern day INTAN (Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara) and it continued to play this role until the outbreak of World  War II.

Malay College, the natural choice for MAS training programmes

The public school background of the Malay College, its learning environment, the importance attached to all-round training with emphasis on character building and inculcation of norms and values of responsibility, integrity, loyalty, teamwork, self-discipline, and dedication, and the quest for scholastic and physical excellence, made it the ideal training ground and the natural choice for the MAS program.

Malay College students had after years of public school life in the Malay College acquired upper class qualities such as those of a gentleman, had good character, bearing and personality, integrity, high moral values, high sense of honor and duty, as well as responsibility- qualities required in members of the Civil Service.

Being part of the administrative establishment, and consequently being administered directly from Kuala Lumpur, greatly helped to facilitate the smooth running of MAS training program at the Malay College. The Malay College was well-equipped, had the best facilities and very dedicated teachers who were graduates of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin to undertake the training program.

Malay College role in laying the foundation of the MAS scheme

Malay College was involved in the MAS scheme right from the start. The formulation of the MAS policy objectives and program was done in consultation with the Headmaster, Mr. W. Hargreaves.

The Malay College was responsible for the management and overall administration of the MAS training program, which included conducting the actual training, submitting course evaluation and review, reporting on performances of probationers, and recommending for admission into the MAS, as well as determining the criteria for selection of candidates and participating in interviews for final selection.

Between 1910 and 1920, candidates must have Standard VII qualification; between 1921 and 1938, entry required a Senior Cambridge qualification; and between 1939 and 1941, candidates must possess a Raffles College diploma.

The probationary stint at the Malay College was compulsory. Even when a Raffles diploma was required for admission into MAS, probationers were required to spend one year training at the Malay College before proceeding to Raffles. This meant that the long association that Malay College had maintained with the MAS probationary scheme was never severed.

The public school training at the Malay College and the knowledge acquired during the probation ensured that the most qualified- representing the cream of the Malays- would eventually enter the civil service.

The MAS Program at the Malay College was a distinct success

Majority of the successful MAS officers were assigned for district works as assistant collectors of land revenue, as land and district administrators and as magistrates.

The course contents provided them with the working knowledge for administrators and the command of English enabled them to interface with their senior MCS counterparts in their daily work. The attachment with government offices and the provision for attending court cases suited their training needs, giving them a sound practical knowledge in government and law administration.

By 1916 there were 55 MAS officers in the FMS Civil Service, of whom 8 were probationers. By 1922 there were 60 already in the Service and 19 others still undergoing training. By 1928 there were 78, and by 1940 there were 91 in the Service and 14 student-probationers.

MAS graduates of Malay College and their career in the administration service

The nature of MAS officers’ work was mainly operational and law enforcement-related; their work experience in basic government administration was to impart to the Malays some useful knowledge on how government laws and policies were enacted and how the government was run.

In 1910 when the MAS was introduced, a number of old boys who were already holding junior positions in the government service were absorbed into the MAS. This included Raja Kamarulzaman bin Raja Mansor, MCKK’s first Headboy, and Mohd Idris bin Haji Mohd Noor, both of the Moderates (soccer team) fame.

The MAS was inevitably an avenue to higher positions in the civil service. By 1920s, there were highly capable MAS officers, trained at the Malay College, whom the government felt deserved to be promoted to the MCS, thus proving the case that Malay officers given the opportunity could become good officers of the government.

After the War when the Federation of Malaya was formed in 1948 and the Malayan Union disbanded, many Malay College Old Boys from the old MAS/MCS were appointed as the Mentri Besar of the Malay States. They were Dato Hamzah b Abdullah (Selangor), Dato Abdul Malek Yusuf (Negeri Sembilan), Dato Sir Mahmud bin Mat (Pahang), Dato Kamaruddin bin Idris (Terengganu), Raja Haji Ahmad (Perlis), Dato Nik Ahmad Kamil (Kelantan), Dato Onn Ja’afar (Johor), Tengku Mohamed bin Sultan Ahmad Tengku Panglima Perang (Terengganu).

Malay College Old Boys in the Civil Service and their contribution to the nation

As part of the Malay element in the government through their functions as administrators, they helped maintain the Malay presence in the otherwise all-white government running the country, thus ensuring the Malays’ continued hold on the government remained safe and sound. They also helped to break the British monopoly in the civil service.

As the new leaders of the Malay community, through their close cooperation with the rulers and the traditional elite and by nature of their work dealing direct with the Malays, they helped secure the loyalty and support of the Malay populace an in so doing helped to stabilize the political equation.

Being members of the highly regarded civil service, having acquired that position by way of formal education and hard work, they become role models for the Malay community. Through them and by their examples, they contributed a change in the mindset of the Malays thus paving the way towards social and economic development of the community.

Many of the ex-MAS officers, including those who had been promoted to the MCS, were still in government service when the country achieved independence in 1957. Being experienced civil servants widely knowledgeable in the art of modern government and in the day-to-day running of the government administration, they helped provide the base of a stable and strong government. And together with the political masters, they ably led the country as it entered into its post independence phase and later into its development stage.

Sacrificing for the nation

Malay College old boys ex-civil servants also fought in the war against the Japanese. They were the people who had the benefit of military training while there were in the Malay College cadet corp and who continued their interests in military services and warfare by joining the FMS VF (Federated Malay States Voluntary Force). Notable among them was Raja Aman Shah MCS DO Port Dickson who died in the war fighting as members of the volunteer reserves. Others who fought and escaped death were Capt. Dato’ Mohd Salleh bin Sulaiman and Tunku Muhamad b Tengku Besar Burhanuddin. Tun Abdul Razak joined Force 136 a guerrilla movement fighting the Japanese during the occupation period.

In the struggle for independence among old boys ex-civil servants who were nationalists at heart were also active in politics before and after the war. Tengku Ismail bin Tengku Mohd Yasin left the MCS in 1939 to have his own legal practice and then formed the Persatuan Melayu Selangor and became its first President Ishak Haji Mohamad left as a young magistrate to fight against the colonial masters by becoming a journalist in 1933 and chose to fight the British through his writings I the media. After the war a number of them were involved in UMNO politics while remained in service such as Raja Ayoub b Raja Bot, Laksamana Razali b Ali Wasi, Raja Tun Uda, Tun Abdul Razak, Dato Bahaman bin Shamsuddin and others.

On Malayanisation, the ex-MAS officers were to hold important post as Chief Secretary of the government, Secretary Generals of Ministries, State Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Corporations, and District Officers. These ex-civil servants played a significant role in independent corporate world, Dato Sheikh Ahmad, Raja Khalid and Maarof Zakaria resigned from their posts in the government to become well-known business figures.