Wacana Emansipasi Wanita Menurut Pemikiran Abdul Kadir Adabi dalam Novel Melati Kota Bharu [The Discourse on Women's Emancipation According to the Thought of Abdul Kadir Adabi in the Novel Melati Kota Bharu]

Abstract

Kajian ini menganalisis wacana emansipasi wanita dalam karya Abdul Kadir Adabi dengan fokus kepada novel Melati Kota Baharu sebagai teks yang mencerminkan pemikiran reformis penulis terhadap kedudukan wanita Melayu dalam era kolonial awal abad ke-20. Permasalahan kajian berpunca daripada kecenderungan sarjana terdahulu yang menekankan kajian dalam aspek nasionalisme dan kritik sosial. Pengkaji kurang meneliti bagaimana tokoh ini mengaplikasikan gagasan pembebasan wanita melalui wacana pendidikan, autonomi perkahwinan dan mobiliti sosial dalam novelnya. Jurang kajian ini mengakibatkan sumbangan Abdul Kadir Adabi terhadap sejarah kesedaran gender Melayu awal tidak diberi perhatian sewajarnya. Objektif kajian adalah pertama untuk mengenal pasti bentuk wacana emansipasi wanita yang diketengahkan Adabi,Kedua menganalisis hubungan antara idea tersebut dengan struktur kuasa sosial dan kolonial, ketiga menilai bagaimana penulis membina model wanita moden yang terdidik dan berdaya menentukan masa depan sendiri.Metodologi kajian menggunakan analisis teks kualitatif, pembacaan dekat, kajian sejarah sosial serta semakan silang sumber akhbar dan karya ilmiah. Data teks novel Melati Kota Baharu diterbitkan pada tahun 1938. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa Abdul Kadir Adabi membawa wacana emansipasi yang bersifat reformis dan moden serta tidak meniru feminisme Barat tetapi bersumberkan wacana pembaharuan Islam dan pemikiran moden Melayu. Watak Tengku Maimunah diangkat sebagai agen pembaharuan sosial, memperoleh pendidikan, kebebasan memilih pasangan, hak wanita dan peluang membina masyarakat. Karyanya sarat dengan kritikan hegemoni patriarki dalam Ruang Kuasa. Implikasi kajian, membangkitkan kesedaran nasionalisme gender Melayu telah bermula lebih awal daripada gerakan wanita pasca 1940-an. Kajian ini memperluas kajian sejarah intelektual Melayu, mengangkat Abdul Kadir Adabi sebagai pemikir gender yang signifikan dan membuka kajian lanjutan dalam wacana sastera kolonial, historiografi wanita dan penggunaan teori tempatan dalam analisis gender.

This study analyses the discourse of women’s emancipation in the works of Abdul Kadir Adabi, with a particular focus on the novel Melati Kota Baharu (1938) as a text that reflects the author’s reformist thinking on the position of Malay women in the early twentieth-century colonial context. The research problem arises from the tendency of earlier scholars to emphasise nationalism and social critique in Adabi’s works, while paying insufficient attention to how he articulates ideas of women’s liberation through discourses of education, marital autonomy, and social mobility. This gap has resulted in Abdul Kadir Adabi’s contribution to the early history of Malay gender consciousness being insufficiently recognised. Accordingly, this study pursues three main objectives: first, to identify the forms of women’s emancipation discourse advanced by Abdul Kadir Adabi in Melati Kota Baharu; second, to analyse the relationship between these ideas and the prevailing social and colonial power structures; and third, to evaluate how the author constructs a model of the modern woman who is educated, autonomous, and capable of determining her own future. The study employs a qualitative methodology involving textual analysis and close reading, supported by social historical analysis and cross-referencing with contemporary newspaper sources and relevant scholarly works. The findings reveal that Abdul Kadir Adabi advances a reformist and modern discourse of women’s emancipation that does not imitate Western feminism. Instead, this discourse is grounded in Islamic reformist thought and modern Malay intellectual traditions. The character of Tengku Maimunah is portrayed as an agent of social reform who gains access to education, freedom in choosing a marriage partner, the assertion of women’s rights, and opportunities to contribute to societal development. The novel is also imbued with a critique of patriarchal hegemony operating within social and colonial power structures. The implications of this study demonstrate that Malay gender-based nationalist consciousness emerged earlier than previously assumed, preceding the more organised women’s movements of the post-1940s period. Overall, this study expands the scope of Malay intellectual history by positioning Abdul Kadir Adabi as a significant gender thinker, while opening avenues for further research in colonial literature, women’s historiography, and the application of local theoretical frameworks in gender analysis.