Malaya: The Communist Insurrection, 1948-1953

British Documents on the End of Empire #B3b

by A.J. Stockwell (Editor)

Part two of this three part volume deals with the worst five years of the emergency from its origins and declaration in June 1948, to the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney, the high commissioner, in October 1951, and finally to the decision at the end of August 1953 to designate part of Malacca a white area. The documents show how the setbacks experienced in the first years of countering insurgency heightened tensions between Malays and Chinese, between military, police and administrative authorities on the spot, and between different department in Whitehall. They also disclose the results of the visit to Malaya by Oliver Lyttelton, the colonial secretary, which led to the appointment of General Templar as the new high commissioner in February 1952.

3 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Anthony Stockwell is Emeritus Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London. He was joint editor of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (1989-2007) and his publications include British Policy and Malay Politics during the Malayan Union Experiment (1979), Malaya (1995) and Malaysia (2004) in the series, British Documents on End of Empire. A Fellow of the Society since 1990, he was President in 2000-03, Vice-President in 2003-06 and President in 2006-09.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are collected documents, not an ordinary book, and my neutral rating is intended to reflect that.