The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya by T. N. Harper

by T.N. Harper

This is the first general social and political history of Malaya. Focusing on the years 1945 to 1957, the last years of British rule and the achievement of independence, it embraces a wealth of social, economic and cultural, as well as political themes. It contains new research on the impact of the Second World War in Malaya, the origins and course of the Communist Emergency, and the response of Malaya's various ethnic communities to nationalism and social change. A concluding chapter takes these themes forward into the 1990s to shed new light on the emergence of this important Southeast Asian nation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, 20th Century

Paperback

First published September 2, 1999

Reviews

[Richard Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and an easy read as a result. One wonders how helpful British rule really was in forming modern Malaysia.

[Stephen Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primarily a social history of the transition from World War Two to independence, this contrasts interestingly with the transition from World War Two to communist regimes in Eastern Europe. The pressures are largely the same: how to handle the immediate post-war economic and social dislocation, the effects of disparate ethnic groups and their incorporation into the state, and the hand of the colonial power. The contrast reinforces the appeal of the radical approaches, communism in one case, ethnic nationalism in another. What seemed missing from Harper's work is further consideration of the role of the Indians in Malaya. They're not ignored and they were considerably less of a population than either the Malays or the Chinese. But they don't come to the forefront all that much.