Abdullah Abdul Kadir

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir
Occupation	Author, translator and teacher
Period	19th century
Genre	Non-fiction
Subject	Early Malay history

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Abdul Kadir is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Abdullah.

Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (1796–1854), also known as Munshi Abdullah, was a Malayan writer. He was born in Malacca and died in Jeddah, then part of the Ottoman Empire (it is now in Saudi Arabia).

The term Munshi means "teacher" or "educator". It is interesting to note that Munshi Abdullah was not a Malay but was of Arab and Indian origin. Because he was Muslim, the Malays would refer to him as a Jawi Peranakan or Jawi Pekan.

Munshi Abdullah followed his father's career path as a translator and teacher of colonial officials in the Malay Archipelago, mainly the British and the Dutch.

Abdullah was known as an ardent critic of the Malay political system of Kerajaan ("kingdom"). He argued that the system of the Kerajaan was detrimental to the Malay individual as it was an impediment to the social improvement of the Malays. The Malay Sultan was deemed as someone who was selfish with no concern towards his subjects to the extent they were treated like animals rather than humans.

The idea of modernity and striving for excellence amongst the Malay community stemmed from his ideas and stinging criticisms of the ancient Malay polity of the Kerajaan. Under the Kerajaan, the Malays were deprived of education and hence they were easily oppressed. Without education, they did not have the ability to question the injustice meted out to them and could not take the initiative to institute changes in order to improve their lives.

Although the condemnation may be exaggerated, Munshi Abdullah's allegations were not without basis. He is regarded by many to be the first Malayan journalist, taking Malay literature out of its preoccupation with folk-stories and legends into accurate historical descriptions.

Munshi Abdullah wrote the Hikayat Munshi Abdullah (The Tale of Teacher Abdullah), which remains a reliable and accurate reference on early Malay history to this day.