USTAZ ABU BAKAR AL-BAQIR: ULAMA DAN PEJUANG KEMERDEKAAN TANAH MELAYU

Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir: Ulama and Freedom Fighter of Malaya

Abstract

Kertas kerja ini menganalisis peranan Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir iaitu lama reformis tempatan yang konsisten menentang British sehingga terpenjara pada 1948. Beliau turut menubuhkan Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff untuk memodenkan sistem pendidikan pondok di samping meniupkan semangat kemerdekaan kepada pelajar dan masyarakat di sekelilingnya. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengetengahkan sumbangan Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir sebagai seorang ulama dan pejuang kemerdekaan menentang British sekitar 1934 sehingga 1957 di Perak. Kajian ini berbentuk historiografi yang menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dengan pendekatan analisis kandungan. Dua jenis sumber digunakan dalam kajian ini iaitu sumber primer dan sekunder. Sumber primer adalah seperti mendapatkan dokumen dan fail di Arkib Negara Malaysia, sumber pejabat kolonial British di samping menemu bual ahli keluarga dan murid Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir. Sumber sekunder pula diperoleh melalui buku, surat khabar dan kertas kerja seminar yang berkaitan dengan perjuangan beliau. Hasil kajian mendapati para pelajarnya terdedah dengan semangat kemerdekaan ini ekoran guru-guru reformis dari Indonesia yang terdedah dengan perjuangan menentang Belanda mengajar di Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff. Selain itu, hubungan baik Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir dengan Ibrahim Yaakub selaku penggerak Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) dan Dr. Burhanuddin al-Helmy yang memimpin Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Muda (PKMM) menjadikan Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff sebagai markas politik menentang British sehingga tertubuhnya Parti Hizbul Muslimin di bawah pimpinan Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir.

Kata kunci: Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff, Hizbul Muslimin, British, Kaum Muda, Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM).

This paper attempts to analyze the role played by Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir, a local reformist religious leader who consistently opposed the British until he was imprisoned by them in 1948. He established the Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff with the aim of modernizing the religious education system besides stoking the spirit of freedom among his students and the society around him. The objective of this study is to highlight the contributions of Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir as a religious leader as well as a freedom fighter who opposed British rule in Perak from around 1934 until 1957. This is a historiographical research which uses qualitative methodology with a content analysis approach. Two different sources of information are used for this study namely primary and secondary sources. Primary sources include documents and files from the Malaysian National Archives and official documents from the British Colonial office, besides interviewing family members as well as former students of Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir. On the other hand, secondary sources include books, newspapers and seminar report relating to his struggle. The findings of the study show that his students were exposed to the struggle for Independence through the direct influence of the reformist teachers from Indonesia who were teaching at the Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff. These teachers had already been involved in the fight against the Dutch colonialists in Indonesia. In addition to this, the close relationship of Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir with Ibrahim Yaakub, the prime
mover of Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) and Dr. Burhanuddin al-Helmy, the leader of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Muda (PKMM), projected Maahad
al-Ehya Assyariff as the political front that opposed British rule until the founding of the Parti Hizbul Muslimin under the leadership of Ustaz Abu Bakar al-Baqir.

Keywords: Maahad al-Ehya Assyariff, Hizbul Muslimin, British, Kaum Muda, Malay Nationalist Party (MNP), Young Malays Union.