The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small Distant War by Souchou Yao (review)

According to author Souchou Yao, The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small Distant War is an attempt to present the Malayan Emergency (1948–60) in a wide context. The book contains nine chapters. It begins with a chapter on the British Empire, followed by a chapter on communism entitled ‘On Communism; New Person in a New Era’. The two subsequent chapters discuss imperial policing and British counterinsurgency and the Revolutionary War. In the fifth and sixth chapters the author concentrates on British propaganda, strategies and approaches during the Malayan Emergency. Discussion of the leftists, the most crucial group involved in the insurgency, is delivered in the seventh chapter. In line with the author’s intention to present the Malayan Emergency from a new perspective, Chapter 8 presents stories of the British who were protected by the communists during the Japanese occupation. A desire for a reassessment of the communists is hinted at in the final chapter, ‘On Writing People’s History: Home Grown Revolution’.

Throughout the book, the author underlines the need for a closer scrutiny of aspects of the Malayan Emergency in addition to the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) uprising, the success of British High Commissioner Sir Gerald Templer and the government’s victory in 1960. This approach allows the author to offer a fascinating argument on the Malayan Emergency and reveals to readers another side of the story, especially on the British Empire and MCP during that period. The book undoubtedly contributes to the substantial existing works on the Malayan Emergency by presenting a fresh perspective.

The foci of the discussion are the British authorities and the communists in Malaya. Yao begins his discussion on the rhetoric of British decolonization, arguing that instead of divestment, Britain was eager to protect her interests and prestige. In the case of Malaya, the Malayan Emergency was used as a platform to demonstrate British commitment to the anti-communist war, which was seen as a good way to mollify United States resentment against the British. Furthermore, Malaya had its own economic significance for the British. The price of tin and rubber soared following the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, resulting in Malayan exports increasing from US$226 million to US$406 million (p. 16). Britain direly needed to maintain its power in Malaya to secure that huge financial resource for its empire. In summary, Yao convinces the reader that the British undertaking in Malaya during the Emergency was calculated and carried out with a strong political will of self-interest (p. 18).

P. Deery (2003) suggests that the British authorities were in a conundrum about the communist insurgency and grappled with the issue of political terminology in 1948–51. Subsequently, the event was treated as acts of thugs and criminals. Nevertheless, Yao affirms that the British employed a fierce approach against the communists from the beginning of the Malayan Emergency, using brutal force to punish and terrorize them. This approach was combined with the policy of control of the masses, such as by requiring identity cards and implementing emergency laws and regulations. Yao has a similar view to Low Choo Chin (2016) that the British practised physical control over contested segments of the population. Yao mentions the relocation of residents of Batu Arang in 1948 and the deportation of 26,000 people. Emergency regulations provided the British with a judicial framework that made their various counterinsurgency measures legal (p. 55). These included the execution of ‘draconian measures’ such as curfews, food control and restriction and collective punishment, which were seen as unfair and unjust. Collective punishment was used as a means to collect information about communists. Yao presents two cases that took place in Tanjong Malim and Permatang Tinggi (pp. 109–11). Residents of Permatang Tinggi suffered a huge loss when their houses and shops were demolished because they refused to cooperate with the British authorities. They only regained their freedom after a year. Prior...