Malaysiakini : Who are the Pathans?

Pathan is the name commonly used in Malaysia for the people also known as Pashtuns or Pakhtuns.

Their ancestral homeland straddles present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, particularly southern and eastern Afghanistan and north-western Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, formerly the North-West Frontier Province, is closely associated with them.

Pashto, the ancestral language of the Pathans, belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. However, not everyone of Pathan ancestry speaks it.

In the Hazara region of Pakistan, including Mansehra, some Pathan communities speak Hindko, while Pashto and Urdu are also spoken in the region.

Predominantly Sunni Muslims, Pathans comprise numerous tribes and tribal groupings. These include the Durranis, formerly called Abdalis, and the Ghilzais of Afghanistan, as well as the Yusufzais associated with the Peshawar valley, Swat and neighbouring districts.

Describing Pathans through supposedly uniform physical features or inherited personality traits tells us little about their historical experience.

Their Malaysian story concerns people who sought employment, built businesses, raised families and adapted to unfamiliar surroundings. It deserves to be told through evidence about their lives.

Migration and the early security forces

Pathan migration to Malaya gathered momentum during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some men arrived through police and military recruitment; others pursued trade and independent livelihoods.

One significant episode concerns Captain Tristram Speedy’s recruitment of men in Lahore, then in British India, for service in Larut, Perak, in 1873.

A telegram dated Sept 18, 1873, from the lieutenant-governor of Bengal to the foreign secretary at Simla stated that most of Speedy’s recruits were Pathans.

A second telegram, dated Sept 25, 1873, reported that 95 men had departed for Penang with him that morning.

These records deserve attention because accounts that describe the entire contingent simply as Sikh erase its actual composition.

Recognition of the Sikh contribution remains essential, but historical accuracy requires us to acknowledge the Pathan and Punjabi Muslim recruits who served alongside them.

Pathans subsequently served in the police and military establishments of the Malay states, including the Malay States Guides (MSG), Malaya’s first military regiment.

The number of Pathans in the MSG increased from 35 in 1900 to 210 by the end of 1914. Such figures establish a substantial Pathan presence within an institution often remembered principally for its Sikh personnel.

Among the Pathan police officers who lost their lives in service to the country was Maruf Khan (above with his children), who was killed by the communists at Kota Bharu, Perak, around 1948.

Pathans also served as prison warders. Family and service records preserve the names of Pathan warders, including Sultan Afshur Khan at Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpur and Ghulam Hassan Fateh Jan Khan and Semandar Khan at Alor Setar prison.

These less celebrated occupations sustained institutions that depended upon ordinary salaried workers as much as on senior officers.

Beyond the peninsula

During the late 19th century, the Pathan presence also reached North Borneo, now Sabah, which was then governed by the British North Borneo Company.

According to Ian Black’s book “A Gambling Style of Government: The Establishment of the Chartered Company’s Rule in Sabah, 1878–1915”, the company’s police force included 72 Pathans in 1898.

Pathans also served in the police force in Sarawak.

Traders and families in Kelantan

Kelantan offers a particularly revealing glimpse into Pathan commercial life. According to Robert L Winzeler’s study of ethnic relations in Kelantan, Pasir Mas had a sizeable community of Pathan cloth and gemstone traders in the early 20th century.

Their numbers fell sharply in the 1930s after their trading licences were withdrawn following brawls with Malay villagers unable to repay debts during the economic depression.

The Kelantan story extended across the border to Sungai Golok in Thailand, which had about 40 Pathan families. Trade, schooling and family relationships connected communities on both sides.

Reading their history exclusively within today’s national boundaries would miss much of their everyday experience.

One family’s experience gives this history a human dimension. In an interview, the late Zaman Khan, a former senior police officer, recalled that his Pashtun father was a cloth seller and that the family had lived in Sungai Golok.

Although his father was illiterate, he valued education and arranged for his sons to attend school in Kelantan.

Beyond trade and family life, Pathans in Kelantan also contributed to charitable and wartime causes. In 1917, they donated $100 to the Red Cross Society.

In July 1918, 20 Pathans in Kota Bharu, led by Ma Wali Shah, donated $43 to the British government towards the war effort.

Livelihoods beyond the stereotype

Elsewhere in the peninsula, Pathan livelihoods included cattle trading, transport and small businesses. Dell Akbar Khan’s father, Hyder Khan, traded cattle and operated a beef stall at Kuala Lumpur’s Central Market.

In Tapah, Perak, the Pathans and Sikhs dominated transport by bullock cart, carrying tin ore from the mining centres to the railway station at Tapah Road.

The bullock carters also transported provisions and mining equipment to the mines.

Oral testimony also sheds light on Pathan involvement in the taxi business. Sabia Begum Sulaiman (second from left), granddaughter of Maruf Khan, recalls that her father, Sulaiman Abdul Maarof Khan, Fazal Ehsan and Painda Khan established the Tivoli Taxi Company (below) in the 1950s.

Such recollections deserve to be recorded and preserved, complementing business registration records and contemporary newspaper accounts.

Like the Sikhs, Pathans were highly sought after as watchmen, or “jagas”, to guard government buildings and private premises because of their imposing appearance and reputation for bravery and reliability.

Intermarriage with local Malays helped many Pathan migrants and their descendants put down lasting roots in their adopted homeland.

Malay wives and mothers played a central role in this process, raising children, sustaining households and passing on language and customs across generations. Their contribution deserves greater recognition in histories too often centred on male migrants and their distinguished sons.

Prominent local Pathans

Zaman was among the best-known Malaysians of Pathan heritage. He was the youngest son of Rahim Khan Ghulam Haider, a Pathan cloth seller who walked from village to village in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, selling his wares.

Zaman (above) began his career in the police in 1962 as a cadet assistant superintendent of police. During his police career, he headed five police districts and served as police chief of Penang and later Kuala Lumpur.

He became Prisons Department director-general in 1994 and retired in 1997.

His police appointments also included service as Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director from 1989 to 1993.

Over the course of his career, he handled high-profile cases involving the notorious robber Botak Chin (Wong Swee Chin) and gangster P Kalimuthu, better known as Bentong Kali.

He was also involved in the response to the Japanese Red Army hostage crisis in Kuala Lumpur and the Highland Towers tragedy.

Another prominent Malaysian of Pathan heritage is Dell Akbar Khan (above), who distinguished himself in both policing and football.

He joined the police force in 1970 and served as Kuala Lumpur police chief from 2002 to 2004. A national footballer, he helped Malaysia qualify for the 1972 Munich Olympics. His brother, Sardar Khan, also represented Malaysia in football.

Dell also brought his experience to football administration, serving as Football Association of Malaysia secretary-general and carried out security duties at the Fifa World Cup events in South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014).

He currently serves as executive vice-president of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB).

In politics, Abdul Hamid Khan Sakhawat Ali Khan, reportedly of Pathan heritage, served as MP for Batang Padang.

He subsequently served as education minister from 1962 to 1964 and became president of the Dewan Negara, holding office from February 1971 to February 1973.

Musa Aman (above), described in Malaysiakini as being of mixed Pathan and Dusun ancestry, served as Sabah’s chief minister from 2003 to 2018, becoming the state’s longest-serving chief minister.

He took office as Sabah’s 11th governor on Jan 1, 2025. His political career also included service as state finance minister and assemblyperson for the Sungai Sibuga constituency in Sabah.

Kalimullah Hassan is a distinguished Malaysian journalist of Pathan ancestry whose grandfather, Tufail Ahmad Khan (above), came to Malaya in 1908.

A successful rubber trader in Pengkalan Hulu (formerly Kroh), Tufail later jointly owned rubber estates in Kulim and Sungai Petani with Arumugam Chettiar.

He also ventured into the textile trade, opening a shop in partnership with Amar Singh, the father of ex-Subang MP and former MIC vice-president, the late KS Nijhar.

Beginning his journalism career in 1979, Kalimullah worked with The Star, Reuters and The Straits Times. He later served as chairperson of Bernama and group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times. He also made his mark in business, co-founding the financial services group ECM Libra.

Kalimullah’s (above) reflections on Malaysian society and politics found expression in “The Malaysia That Could Be”, launched in 2016.

The book brings together his New Sunday Times columns written between 2004 and 2008, alongside reflections on Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s premiership.

Drawing on personal experience, he laments the erosion of ethnic and religious tolerance and makes a case for a more inclusive Malaysia. Underlying his writing is the conviction that our diversity should strengthen the nation rather than divide its people.

In entertainment, Yusof Haslam rose from modest beginnings to become a prominent actor, director and producer.

Through his company, Skop Productions, and works such as the film “Sembilu” and the television series “Gerak Khas”, he helped shape popular Malaysian screen culture. Sarawakian actor Aniq Durar also has Pathan ancestry through his mother.

Mohamed Azman Yahya is a prominent Malaysian corporate leader who, according to sources consulted for this article, is of Pathan ancestry.

He played a pivotal role in Malaysia’s response to the Asian financial crisis. In 1998, he was appointed to establish and head Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad, the national asset management company.

Azman also chaired the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee, helping viable companies restructure their debts.

He founded Symphony House Berhad in 2002 and subsequently served as chairperson of Symphony Life Berhad and Sepang International Circuit.

In construction and development, Nazir Hussin Akhtar Hussin has more than two decades of experience.

He has served as executive director of Seri Jaya Perkasa Sdn Bhd since 2003 and also holds an executive directorship at Kinergy Advancement Berhad. Beyond his corporate roles, he chaired Yayasan Bank Rakyat from 2021 to 2022.

Another Malaysian of Pathan ancestry active in this sector is Mohamed Nazir Meraslam, managing director of Pembinaan Mohamed Nazir Meraslam Sdn Bhd, a Selangor-based construction and civil engineering firm.

A well-known philanthropist and the longest-serving chairperson of the Malaysia-Pakistan Business Council, he now serves as its patron-in-chief.

A history that belongs to all

How many Malaysians today have Pathan ancestry? No defensible total can be established from the scattered records considered here.

Intermarriage, changing self-identification and the absorption of descendants into broader communities make historical ancestry difficult to translate into a precise population figure.

The Pathan story also cautions against imagining our communities as sealed compartments. People married across boundaries, adopted new languages and built shared lives long before the narrow definitions of belonging advanced in today’s political debates.

We do no service to national unity by allowing smaller communities to disappear from our historical memory.

Malaysian Pathans have earned their place in our history through generations of work and participation. Recording that place honestly gives all Malaysians a fuller understanding of the country we share.