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Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, 1941-46
Red Star Over Malaya is an account of the inter-racial relations between Malays and Chinese during the final stages of the Japanese occupation. In 1947, none of the three major race of Malaya - Malays, Chinese, and Indians - regarded themselves as pan-ethnic "Malayans" with common duties and problems. With the occupation forcibly cut them off from China, Chinese residents began to look inwards towards Malaya and stake political claims, leading inevitably to a political contest with the Malays. As the country advanced towards nationhood and self-government, there was tension between traditional loyalties to the Malay rulers and the states, or to ancestral homelands elsewhere, and the need to cultivate an enduring loyalty to Malaya on the part of those who would make their home there in future.
As Japanese forces withdrew from the countryside, the Chinese guerrillas of the communist-led resistance movement, the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), emerged from the jungle and took control of some 70 per cent of the country's smaller towns and villages, seriously alarming the Malay population. When the British Military Administration sought to regain control of these liberated areas, the ensuing conflict set the tone for future political conflicts and marked a crucial stage in the history of Malaya. Based on extensive archival research, Red Star Over Malaya provides a riveting account of the way the Japanese occupation reshaped colonial Malaya, and of the tension-filled months that followed Japan's surrender. This book is fundamental to an understanding of social and political developments in Malaysia during the second half of the 20th century.
As Japanese forces withdrew from the countryside, the Chinese guerrillas of the communist-led resistance movement, the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), emerged from the jungle and took control of some 70 per cent of the country's smaller towns and villages, seriously alarming the Malay population. When the British Military Administration sought to regain control of these liberated areas, the ensuing conflict set the tone for future political conflicts and marked a crucial stage in the history of Malaya. Based on extensive archival research, Red Star Over Malaya provides a riveting account of the way the Japanese occupation reshaped colonial Malaya, and of the tension-filled months that followed Japan's surrender. This book is fundamental to an understanding of social and political developments in Malaysia during the second half of the 20th century.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
375 pages, Paperback
First published May 30, 2003
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174 people want to read
About the author
Boon Kheng Cheah
13 books5 followersBoon Kheng Cheah was regarded as the foremost scholar on the modern political history of Malaysia as well as a pioneer of the country’s social and oral history. Although prioritizing the political history of a multiethnic, multicultural, and multireligious Malaysia, his spread of specialization ranged from the Japanese occupation, communism to oral history, peasant robbers, women in palace politics, and nation-building. He produced ground-breaking work that will remain as standard texts and authoritative references.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 30, 2025
Perpaduan dalam masyarakat majmuk yang dikecapi oleh rakyat Malaysia sememangnya bukan jalan yang mudah dan tidak punya sudah. Ia mempunyai sejarah panjang yang penuh dengan kejahatan, kezaliman dan pembalasan dendam. Dua buah buku ini memberi gambaran dan kefahaman menyeluruh keadaan perseteruan orang Cina dan Melayu semasa/selepas penjajahan Jepun.
“𝘽𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙖𝙙𝙞 𝙖𝙨𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙝 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙞.”
Atas kerana penjajahan Jepun yang zalim ia membawa kepada satu geladakan emosi yang tidak menentu. Rasa gila membaca sumber-sumber tentang pembunuhan dan pertempuran yang terjadi. Tidak dapat saya bayangkan suasana ketika itu. Betapa dendam menguasai akal dan emosi sehingga memburukkan yang telah sedia buruk.
_____________________
Saya juga mula faham tentang sifat dan peranan PKM/MPAJA dan KKM. Pengarang memberi penjelasan tanpa sebarang prejudis atau berat sebelah. Mungkin ada rasa sedikit kesal tentang ‘peluang’ dan ‘keterlambatan’ pihak-pihak ini untuk mengenal erti kerjasama antara kaum dan keyakinan memerintah sendiri. Muslihat British dengan Malayan Union dapat dikesan sebagai satu jalan keluar tetapi kesudahannya kita sendiri tahu.
Satu perkara yang amat menarik perhatian saya ialah perisik bernama Lai Tek. Beliau membuat saya rasa kagum dan marah dalam masa yang sama. Khianat demi khianat yang dilakukan ialah punca kerosakan keselamatan dan perpaduan demi kepentingan diri. Saya berharap dapat membaca mengenai Lai Tek lebih lagi.
Saya amat syorkan buku ini kepada mereka yang mahu memahami kemerdekaan dan perpaduan rakyat Malaysia. Pengarang memberi kesimpulan yang amat baik sekali sehingga membawa saya kembali kepada persoalan nasional. Buku ini amat membuka hati dan minda saya dengan kebenaran sejarah yang tidak diajar oleh sejarawan ilusi.
“𝘽𝙖𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙖𝙙𝙞 𝙖𝙨𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙢𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙖 𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙝 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙞.”
Atas kerana penjajahan Jepun yang zalim ia membawa kepada satu geladakan emosi yang tidak menentu. Rasa gila membaca sumber-sumber tentang pembunuhan dan pertempuran yang terjadi. Tidak dapat saya bayangkan suasana ketika itu. Betapa dendam menguasai akal dan emosi sehingga memburukkan yang telah sedia buruk.
_____________________
Saya juga mula faham tentang sifat dan peranan PKM/MPAJA dan KKM. Pengarang memberi penjelasan tanpa sebarang prejudis atau berat sebelah. Mungkin ada rasa sedikit kesal tentang ‘peluang’ dan ‘keterlambatan’ pihak-pihak ini untuk mengenal erti kerjasama antara kaum dan keyakinan memerintah sendiri. Muslihat British dengan Malayan Union dapat dikesan sebagai satu jalan keluar tetapi kesudahannya kita sendiri tahu.
Satu perkara yang amat menarik perhatian saya ialah perisik bernama Lai Tek. Beliau membuat saya rasa kagum dan marah dalam masa yang sama. Khianat demi khianat yang dilakukan ialah punca kerosakan keselamatan dan perpaduan demi kepentingan diri. Saya berharap dapat membaca mengenai Lai Tek lebih lagi.
Saya amat syorkan buku ini kepada mereka yang mahu memahami kemerdekaan dan perpaduan rakyat Malaysia. Pengarang memberi kesimpulan yang amat baik sekali sehingga membawa saya kembali kepada persoalan nasional. Buku ini amat membuka hati dan minda saya dengan kebenaran sejarah yang tidak diajar oleh sejarawan ilusi.
September 30, 2012
Cheah, B.K. (2012) Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, 1941-1946. 4th edition. Singapore: National University of Singapore Press.
This book, in its 4th incarnation, is adapted from Professor Cheah’s 1979 PhD thesis titled “A Contest for Post-War Malaya, 1941-1946”. While the title of the book is set during the Japanese occupation of British Malaya from 1942-1945, it is actually a book about inter-racial rivalry and conflict that continues to be played out in present day Malaysia between the Malays, who view themselves as sons of the soil with special rights and status, and the Chinese, who are determined not to lose their cultural heritage and to make a claim for inclusion as citizens enjoying the equal rights and privileges as the Malays in subsequent independent Malaya / Malaysia.
The book is laid out in two parts. The first part traces the roots of the conflict and the chapters cover the state of Malayan plural society in 1941, the social impact of the Japanese occupation from 1942-1945, the emergence of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the anti-Japanese movement in the form of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). Indeed the seeds of post war conflict and mutual antagonism were laid down before the war by the colonial administrators and then further exacerbated by the Japanese occupation army between 1942 and 1945. For example, because the Japanese invasion of China was met with fierce resistance, the Japanese occupation forces in Malaya through the JMMA (Japanese Malayan Military Administration) enacted tough measures against the Chinese community but took a collaborative and supportive stance with the Malay royalty and its community. The seeds of inter-racial tensions is said to begin here.
The second part of the book is aptly titled as the contest for post war Malaya in the 2-year period of 1945-1946. The five chapters include the post-surrender interregnum where there was a total breakdown of law and order, where in the absence of the yet to return colonial administration the MPAJA took control of 70 % of the country’s small towns but not the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The first three of these five chapters (chapters 5, 6 and 7) must be read consecutively in order to understand that the take-over was carried out violently. There were the acts of reprisal or revenge carried out by the MCP against those who were known or suspected to have collaborated with the Japanese occupation army. These collaborators were mostly from the two major ethnic groups, viz. the Chinese and the Malays.
Whilst much of the violence in the interregnum may seemed to be between the Chinese (which the MCP claim to represent) and the Malays (who many would claim loyalty to the Malay royalty), perhaps a weakness of the book is the lack of information on the roles played, if any, of the Indian community. The Japanese cultivated the Indians and helped created the Indian Independence League / Indian National Army (IIL/INA) with a view of liberating India from the British. Subsequently many Indians became leaders of trade unions that were part of the agitation machinery of the MCP.
The tension and eventual violence between the MCP/MPAJA nexus and the Malays brought out the stark differences in world views of the Chinese and Malay communities. The Malays saw the communists as comprising mainly of ethnic Chinese and over a period of time considered the Chinese as communists, which was definitely not the case. What started out as acts of revenge against war-time Japanese collaborators (known or suspected) developed into violent racial conflicts between both the Chinese and the Malays. Added to the conflict was also the fear of the Malay community and the royalty that they may stand to lose control over what they saw as their land, with its sovereign, native and religious (Islamic) rights. Indeed the acts of retaliation from the Malay community contained religious overtones. Detailed accounts of the Malay/MCP/Chinese conflict are found in chapter 8.
The Malays also initiated their independence movement in the form of the KMM (Kesatuan Melayu Muda). Interestingly, the KMM was pro-Japanese and positioned itself as a rival of the MCP. Both the MCP and the KMM had in mind their longer term goal of national independence from the British colonial power and aspired to achieve national political power. Chapter 9 & 10 of the book trace the turn of events where the various communities led by the Malays and the Chinese communities expressed their nationalist aspirations against the British. Lord Mountbatten’s proposal of the Malayan Union which was officially launched in August 1946 surprised all Malayans, in particular the transferring of sovereign powers of the Malay royalty to the British and the granting of citizenships to all racial groups, including the Chinese residents. From here onwards, the attention was turned to the formation of political parties with the aim of achieving full sovereign independence from Britain. By 1947, the Malayan Union was abandoned and Malay politics took on a cohesive structure with the formation of UMNO – the United Malay National Organization. But it will be another ten years before Malayan self-government would take place, on 31 August 1957.
Professor Cheah’s book is an attempt at writing an “autonomous” history of this stage in the historiography of Malaya where extensive data was gathered from many actors. Many of these actors were those who were former combatants of the MCP and those indirectly involved as supporters or sympathisers. Other actors that played a not insignificant role were the operatives of Force 136 under the command of SEAC (Southeast Asian Command) based in India. Force 136 started off as a paramilitary force which helped to organise the local resistance to the Japanese occupation. In the interregnum before the return of the colonial administrators, they played a vital if sometimes unsuccessful role in moderating the actions of the MCP and the MPAJA.
What makes this book a valuable addition to Malaysian post-war historiography is the author’s access to Chinese and Japanese military and administrative archives which sometimes contradicted the accounts of their British counterparts. The key point to take away is how the early and current Malaysian governments had tried to carefully create an environment for a inter-racial/ethnic harmony amongst the major ethnic communities viz., the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians - the Malays being the native sons of the soil, and the Chinese and Indians, being the major foreign migrants who have made Malaysia their home. Indeed, the national debate of accordance and the maintenance of the rights and privileges of the Malay and indigenous communities of modern day Malaysia continue to this day unabated. If the model of “harmonious co-existence” is threatened, then tensions and violence amongst the racial groups in Malaysia will and have taken place, the most recent one that marked a milestone in affirmative action is the inter-racial riots of May 13, 1969.
This book, in its 4th incarnation, is adapted from Professor Cheah’s 1979 PhD thesis titled “A Contest for Post-War Malaya, 1941-1946”. While the title of the book is set during the Japanese occupation of British Malaya from 1942-1945, it is actually a book about inter-racial rivalry and conflict that continues to be played out in present day Malaysia between the Malays, who view themselves as sons of the soil with special rights and status, and the Chinese, who are determined not to lose their cultural heritage and to make a claim for inclusion as citizens enjoying the equal rights and privileges as the Malays in subsequent independent Malaya / Malaysia.
The book is laid out in two parts. The first part traces the roots of the conflict and the chapters cover the state of Malayan plural society in 1941, the social impact of the Japanese occupation from 1942-1945, the emergence of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the anti-Japanese movement in the form of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA). Indeed the seeds of post war conflict and mutual antagonism were laid down before the war by the colonial administrators and then further exacerbated by the Japanese occupation army between 1942 and 1945. For example, because the Japanese invasion of China was met with fierce resistance, the Japanese occupation forces in Malaya through the JMMA (Japanese Malayan Military Administration) enacted tough measures against the Chinese community but took a collaborative and supportive stance with the Malay royalty and its community. The seeds of inter-racial tensions is said to begin here.
The second part of the book is aptly titled as the contest for post war Malaya in the 2-year period of 1945-1946. The five chapters include the post-surrender interregnum where there was a total breakdown of law and order, where in the absence of the yet to return colonial administration the MPAJA took control of 70 % of the country’s small towns but not the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The first three of these five chapters (chapters 5, 6 and 7) must be read consecutively in order to understand that the take-over was carried out violently. There were the acts of reprisal or revenge carried out by the MCP against those who were known or suspected to have collaborated with the Japanese occupation army. These collaborators were mostly from the two major ethnic groups, viz. the Chinese and the Malays.
Whilst much of the violence in the interregnum may seemed to be between the Chinese (which the MCP claim to represent) and the Malays (who many would claim loyalty to the Malay royalty), perhaps a weakness of the book is the lack of information on the roles played, if any, of the Indian community. The Japanese cultivated the Indians and helped created the Indian Independence League / Indian National Army (IIL/INA) with a view of liberating India from the British. Subsequently many Indians became leaders of trade unions that were part of the agitation machinery of the MCP.
The tension and eventual violence between the MCP/MPAJA nexus and the Malays brought out the stark differences in world views of the Chinese and Malay communities. The Malays saw the communists as comprising mainly of ethnic Chinese and over a period of time considered the Chinese as communists, which was definitely not the case. What started out as acts of revenge against war-time Japanese collaborators (known or suspected) developed into violent racial conflicts between both the Chinese and the Malays. Added to the conflict was also the fear of the Malay community and the royalty that they may stand to lose control over what they saw as their land, with its sovereign, native and religious (Islamic) rights. Indeed the acts of retaliation from the Malay community contained religious overtones. Detailed accounts of the Malay/MCP/Chinese conflict are found in chapter 8.
The Malays also initiated their independence movement in the form of the KMM (Kesatuan Melayu Muda). Interestingly, the KMM was pro-Japanese and positioned itself as a rival of the MCP. Both the MCP and the KMM had in mind their longer term goal of national independence from the British colonial power and aspired to achieve national political power. Chapter 9 & 10 of the book trace the turn of events where the various communities led by the Malays and the Chinese communities expressed their nationalist aspirations against the British. Lord Mountbatten’s proposal of the Malayan Union which was officially launched in August 1946 surprised all Malayans, in particular the transferring of sovereign powers of the Malay royalty to the British and the granting of citizenships to all racial groups, including the Chinese residents. From here onwards, the attention was turned to the formation of political parties with the aim of achieving full sovereign independence from Britain. By 1947, the Malayan Union was abandoned and Malay politics took on a cohesive structure with the formation of UMNO – the United Malay National Organization. But it will be another ten years before Malayan self-government would take place, on 31 August 1957.
Professor Cheah’s book is an attempt at writing an “autonomous” history of this stage in the historiography of Malaya where extensive data was gathered from many actors. Many of these actors were those who were former combatants of the MCP and those indirectly involved as supporters or sympathisers. Other actors that played a not insignificant role were the operatives of Force 136 under the command of SEAC (Southeast Asian Command) based in India. Force 136 started off as a paramilitary force which helped to organise the local resistance to the Japanese occupation. In the interregnum before the return of the colonial administrators, they played a vital if sometimes unsuccessful role in moderating the actions of the MCP and the MPAJA.
What makes this book a valuable addition to Malaysian post-war historiography is the author’s access to Chinese and Japanese military and administrative archives which sometimes contradicted the accounts of their British counterparts. The key point to take away is how the early and current Malaysian governments had tried to carefully create an environment for a inter-racial/ethnic harmony amongst the major ethnic communities viz., the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians - the Malays being the native sons of the soil, and the Chinese and Indians, being the major foreign migrants who have made Malaysia their home. Indeed, the national debate of accordance and the maintenance of the rights and privileges of the Malay and indigenous communities of modern day Malaysia continue to this day unabated. If the model of “harmonious co-existence” is threatened, then tensions and violence amongst the racial groups in Malaysia will and have taken place, the most recent one that marked a milestone in affirmative action is the inter-racial riots of May 13, 1969.
December 25, 2016
The title is a slight misnomer by suggesting a focus on 'resistance and social conflict'. These are secondary concerns for Cheah, who is more interested in the racial dynamics during the war and subsequent interregnum.
It misses out on the 5 stars for the occasional pigeonholing of events and personalities, such as when he speculates for 25 pages on - without any semblance of a conclusion - the causes for civil unrest in a small village, or when he repeatedly describes similar incidents in multiple villages during the interregnum rather than try to weave a narrative from them. Nevertheless, an in depth and worthwhile read on the social and political dynamics behind the earliest conception of the modern Malay(si)an nation.
It misses out on the 5 stars for the occasional pigeonholing of events and personalities, such as when he speculates for 25 pages on - without any semblance of a conclusion - the causes for civil unrest in a small village, or when he repeatedly describes similar incidents in multiple villages during the interregnum rather than try to weave a narrative from them. Nevertheless, an in depth and worthwhile read on the social and political dynamics behind the earliest conception of the modern Malay(si)an nation.
December 21, 2017
I was expecting a lot more from this book but unfortunately did not get it. It is an extremely well researched book, to the point of painstaking - and this is where it left me feeling unsatisfied. It is more a text book but I could not always follow it with a whole series of acronyms used which left me confused. In one paragraph for example we read of the MPAJU, the MPAJA, the MCP and the CEC. Having said all that it gave me an insight to the internal cultural issues in Malaysia today which I did enjoy.
May 26, 2020
A seminal, important book. Everything that comes after - from the Malayan Union, to the race-based politics, to the failure of the MCP to broaden its support base, to even the failure of Merger - makes clearer sense once you understand the events described in Red Star.
September 17, 2025
Telah membaca kedua-dua jilid terjemahan buku ini cuma tak jumpa jilid dua dalam Goodreads. Bacaan yang sangat penting untuk memahami luka dalam sejarah hubungan etnik kaum Cina dan Melayu di Malaysia dan latar belakang gerakan penentangan penjajah British dan Jepun. Jelas, kita tidak pernah "move on" dari luka-luka ini, menyebabkan buku ini masih sangat relevan untuk dibaca oleh orang Cina dan Melayu.
Kajian pengarang tidak bersifat bias dan kesimpulan yang diletakkan di kebanyakan bab sangat memudahkan pembacaan. Terjemahan yang dibuat juga berkualiti dan tidak canggung.
Kajian pengarang tidak bersifat bias dan kesimpulan yang diletakkan di kebanyakan bab sangat memudahkan pembacaan. Terjemahan yang dibuat juga berkualiti dan tidak canggung.
December 30, 2022
Buru terbaik bagi memerihalkan punca-punca dan situasi ketegangan kaum sejak pasca Perang Dunia Kedua dan selepas perang di Malaya. Ia bukan semata-mata kerana faktor perbezaan kaum tetapi perlu diteliti daripada pelbagai aspek seperti dasar penjajah (British dan Jepun), penguasaan ekonomi, latar pendidikan, perkembangan semasa dan banyak lagi. Selain itu, pembaca juga akan dapat mengetahui selok-belok perjuangan Parti Komunis Malaya dan Kesatuan Melayu Muda sekitar tahun 1930- dan 1940-an.
August 16, 2025
Buku ini menjelaskan dinamik sosial antara orang melayu, cina, jepun dan british antara 1941-1946. Asas pembentukan Malaysia banyak boleh difahami dalam konteks pembentukan negara dalam buku ini. Sesuai untuk bacaan orang muda yang terdorong untuk bersikap 'self-righteous' tanpa mengenali konteks sejarah sebenar
March 5, 2023
Buku dalam Bahasa Melayu telah diterbitkan secara bersiri iaitu Jilid 1: Masyarakat Majmuk Malaya 1941 dan Jilid 2 Bintang Merah di Langit Malaya: Persaingan Merebut Malaya Pascaperang. Buku jilid 2 lebih memfokuskan apa sebenarnya yang terjadi selepas tamatnya pendudukan Jepun di Malaya dengan peristiwa pembalasan dendam oleh pihak Bintang Tiga dan tindak balas orang Melayu yang dibuktikan dengan peristiwa serangan balas oleh pengikut Kiyai Salleh selempang merah di kawasan Batu Pahat. Seperkara yang turut disentuh ialah peranan Inggeris dan pihak nasionalis Melayu sama ada yang kiri atau kanan.
June 26, 2015
A really good book with meticulously researched material on the Japanese occupation of Malaya and the Malayan Communist Party's emergence immediately after the surrender. It explores in detail the conflicts between the Malays and the Chinese led MCP and the details presented gives you a better idea why Malaysian history has moved in the way it has and why we are who we are..Read and be enlightened..Excellent book
April 5, 2017
I read this book as part of the ongoing research I undertake to create the historical framework in which to place my fictional characters. Red Star Over Malaya is an important and very even-handed piece of work for anyone wishing to understand the seeds of racial conflict in Malaysia.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews