These articles have been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in MJHA, but are pending final changes, are not yet published and may not appear here in their final order of publication until they are assigned to issues. Additionally, titles, authors, abstracts and keywords may change before publication.

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The Logic of Modern Constitutional Legitimacy: From Magna Carta to the Bill of Rights (1215–1689)

Yu Qingsheng & Zhang Zhiyu*

*Coresponding Author: Zhangzhiyu78@outlook.com

Abstract

Spanning the five centuries between Magna Carta (1215) and the Bill of Rights (1689), this study re-examines the making of England’s constitutional order and argues that legitimacy was not the product of seamless progress or episodic rupture, but of a continual re-appropriation of inherited forms. It identifies three overlapping paradigms—feudal contract, parliamentary sovereignty and rights universalisation—through which successive generations re-articulated political obligation while maintaining a rhetoric of continuity. Medieval jurists first used the language of mutual obligation to circumscribe royal prerogative; Tudor and early-Stuart polemicists then adapted that vocabulary to elevate Parliament; by the late seventeenth century, appeals to the “ancient constitution” fused with natural-law theory, translating corporate privileges into individual rights. The analysis draws on royal charters, plea rolls, parliamentary journals and printed pamphlets, integrating legal exegesis with social-historical method to show how selective memory served as a legitimising resource. By uncovering the bricolage that transformed a feudal pact into a constitutional monarchy, the article challenges linear Whig narratives and contributes to comparative debates on state formation, the politics of tradition and the contingent evolution of constitutional norms in early modern Europe.

Keywords: Magna Carta: Bill of Rights; England's constitutional; natural-law theory; Whig

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Pemberontakan Brunei 1962: Peranan Pengaruh Luaran terhadap Gerakan Subversif Parti Rakyat Brunei

Ahmad Syakir Ja’afar* & Azmi Arifin

*Corresponding Author: ahmadsyakirjaafar@gmail.com

Abstrak

Kajian ini meneliti pengaruh Sarawak Communist Organization (SCO) dalam Pemberontakan Brunei 1962. Pemberontakan tersebut berkait rapat dengan arus anti-kolonialisme serantau, khususnya melalui perkongsian ideologi dan sokongan luar dari Brunei, Indonesia, dan Filipina. Pada peringkat awal, kerjasama SCO dengan pihak luar menyediakan asas penting bagi strategi pemberontakan yang digerakkan oleh Parti Rakyat Brunei (PRB). Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif berasaskan sumber arkib dan perpustakaan, termasuk bahan daripada Arkib Negara Cawangan Sarawak, Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Repositori Arkib Negeri Sarawak, Perpustakaan Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Cawangan Sarawak, serta Perpustakaan Hamzah Sendut. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis secara naratif dengan penekanan terhadap aspek sebab dan akibat. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa, walaupun sokongan awal daripada pihak luar meningkatkan keyakinan PRB untuk melancarkan strategi bersenjata dan memperkukuhkan gerakan subversif berorientasikan komunisme, pemberontakan tersebut akhirnya gagal. Kekurangan sokongan domestik dan merosotnya pengaruh luar menyebabkan kemerosotan karier politik PRB, menunjukkan bahawa strategi subversif yang dijalankan tidak berhasil dan kehilangan legitimasi dalam kalangan rakyat Brunei.

Kata kunci: Sarawak Communist Organization; Parti Rakyat Brunei; Pemberontakan 1962; Komunisme; anti-kolonialisme

 

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An Overview of the Development of Modern Chinese Education in Penang, 1900–1945

Yang Yang*, Azmi Arifin & Tan Chee Seng

*Corresponding Author: yang10@student.usm.my

Abstract

This study revisits the developmental trajectory of Chinese-medium modern education in Penang from the early twentieth century to the end of the Second World War. Structured chronologically, the article divides this historical process into four distinct phases: the Formative Stage (early 1900s–1911), the Period of Rapid Growth (1912–1925), the Golden Age (1926–1940), and the Dark Period (1941–1945). By analysing school histories, community records, and colonial educational policies, this study reveals how Chinese education in Penang evolved from the traditional aims of moral instruction and cultural preservation towards a more diversified and utilitarian model of schooling. Findings show that Penang stood at the forefront of modern Chinese education within the Straits Settlements during its formative years. The economic strength of the Chinese community and shifts in social consciousness collectively drove the modernisation of educational structures. By the 1920s, Penang’s Chinese schools had expanded rapidly in both scale and hierarchy, demonstrating remarkable institutional maturity and communal resilience. During the 1930s, Chinese education entered its peak, characterised by a comprehensive and multi-tiered system that encompassed primary, secondary, vocational, and teacher training levels. However, this educational framework was systematically dismantled during the Japanese occupation, when policies of cultural assimilation and wartime repression brought about institutional collapse and cultural rupture. This research reconstructs a coherent historical narrative of early modern Chinese education in Penang, filling a significant gap in the historiography of Penang’s education between the 1900s and the Second World War. Beyond enriching the understanding of local educational development, it also provides new empirical insights into the dynamics of educational modernisation within the Chinese community under colonial rule.

Keywords: Penang; Chinese education; Straits Settlements; Chinese community in Penang; Second World War