Date: 6th March, 2019

Time: 10am for a 10.30am start

Cost: RM15 members/ RM25 non-members

If you are booking for guests for this event could you please put the name of your guests into the "Comments" section below the invitation.

The adventurers who made their mark in the East were of stern stuff and cut of similar cloth. Escaping impoverished gentility and rigid social codes back home, they sought their fortunes in the egalitarian world of the East India Company. Accompanied by the baggage of missionary zeal, imperial ambitions and domestic politics, they regarded the local people as a blank slate, their cultures and histories ignored, ready to be either converted or exploited, depending on individual whim. They imposed British values and customs wherever they went. Some of them were indigenised, others appreciated the heritage of the local peoples, but all took tea at four o’clock and insisted on the constricting dress and social mores of a world far away, much to the bemusement of the locals.

Whatever their motivation, these men and women played their part in destroying the earlier cosmopolitan world of the Malay Archipelago, leaving an indelible mark on its landscape, history and institutions that is still felt even today. We may be critical of their exploits and insensibilities, but their stories are compelling. Blighted by tropical diseases, capable of incredible endurance, faced with hostile locals and dangerous sea journeys, suffering many personal tragedies and great loss, we cannot help but be stirred by their achievements and endeavour. ‘Trailblazers’ will focus on a few of these fascinating, sometimes eccentric, characters who contributed to the early Colonial era in Malaya.

Rose Gan is a teacher of History and has been a guide at various museums in Malaysia and Indonesia over the past 10 years. She has also been a long-time member of MCG