Foreword {to the volume of the journal dedicated to Sir Richard Winstedt
This is a two-page foreword by Tan Sri Nik Ahmad Kamil, then President of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, introducing the valedictory tribute volume of the JMBRAS dedicated to Sir Richard Winstedt (1967).
Summary
Kamil frames the issue as a collective tribute from Council members who knew Winstedt personally, noting that no contributor was more prolific to the Journal than he was (p. 1). He then addresses a common misconception that Winstedt’s official appointment as General Adviser afforded him leisure for research, quoting Professor Bastin’s 1963 introduction to show that Winstedt wrote his major works—A History of Malaya and the state monographs—between 4:30 and 8:00 a.m., before his official duties began (p. 1).
Kamil further argues that the JMBRAS was providential in serving as the publication medium for Winstedt’s most important historical and literary research, since no Malayan publisher in the 1930s was willing to invest in such long-term scholarly works and the local market was negligible (p. 1). He closes by likening the Society’s Council to “literary midwives” who welcomed each of Winstedt’s publications, and dedicates the volume to him in a spirit of gratitude and admiration (p. 2).