Conflict And Violence In Singapore And Malaysia 1945 1983

Is there a risk that Malaysia's racial mixture and its weighted political and economic structures could again explode into the kind of violence which, in 1969, was only just prevented from setting the whole country on fire? And has Singapore's success been bought at a price in civil liberties too high for its health in the future? Four years of th

At the height of the Cold War in Southeast Asia, the foreign relations between the United States and Singapore demonstrated the interplay between America’s strategy of containment and Singapore’s efforts at a non-aligned foreign policy. But there is a deeper story. American involvement in the Vietnam War not only held back the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, but also catalysed economic and strategic cooperation between the United States and Singapore. The author argues that Singapore might not have achieved its success so rapidly without the support of the US. As the war in Vietnam raged on, Singapore became a critical refueling point, also providing ship and aircraft repair for the US military. Commercial and strategic support from the United States lifted Singapore out of the economic doom predicted for the city-state after secession from Malaysia, cessation of Indonesian trade during Konfrontasi and Britain’s military withdrawal. By considering the importance of the US’s role in Singapore’s nation-building, this book provides an important supplement to the well-trodden narrative that attributes Singapore’s success to good governance.

The history of communism in Malaya (including Singapore) almost coincided with the rise and fall of communism worldwide, best epitomized in Europe by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Operating through the Malayan Communist Party, communism posed an existential threat to Malaya. While the communist threat in peninsular Malaya was manifested dramatically in armed struggle with guerrillas in the jungle, in Singapore it was primarily in the form of united front subversive activities, interspersed with episodes of violence and assassinations. This new book examines the MCP’s quest for political power in Singapore in the midst of a raging Cold War between communism and the free world, with particular focus on events in the 1950s and 1960s. From its close collaboration with the two leading communist great powers (USSR and China) to its united front strategy of infiltrating student, trade union and political organizations, the MCP’s activities are related here in a clear and engaging manner

As the first comprehensive study of its kind, this book analyzes the dynamics, processes, mechanisms, and consequences of socio-economic and political changes in Singapore Chinese society from 1945 to 1965. By employing a wide range of primary materials that have been rarely used before, the authors have demonstrated the multi-dimensionality and complexity of the Chinese society in postwar Singapore, which was full of vitality and politically active. They argue that the combination of the internal dynamism and the changing socio-political framework shaped the nature and characteristics of the Chinese community and its fundamental role in the making of modern Singapore. This study is essential reading for an understanding of not only the Chinese politics and business networks in postwar Singapore, but also the historical evolution of the newly independent Republic.

The author analyses the development of postwar Malayo-Japanese rapprochement from the resumption of unofficial economic relations to establishment of formal diplomatic relations, which happened along with the return of British administration in Malaya and Malayan decolonisation. The focus is placed on the role of Britain as the suzerain of Malaya, in facilitating Japanese return to Malaya. The motivations behind the keen promotion of rapprochement by Malayan and Japanese leaders through the exchange of Prime Ministerial visits are also closely discussed.

This fascinating work draws together a lifetime of research by highly regarded scholar Ralph Bernard Smith, who at the time of his death in December 2000 was examining the post-war changes in East Asian politics, economics and society.

Nationalism and Decolonisation in Singapore analyses Singapore’s decolonisation movement between 1953 and 1963 and provides a framework to understand the deepest and most important unresolved conflicts in Singaporean society. This book demonstrates how these conflicts stem from four unresolved schisms dating from the decolonisation period: race, class, language, and the meaning of self-determination. The author argues that these schisms drove the events of decolonisation, the creation of Malaysia, and Singapore’s separation and continue to actively shape Singapore today. Using contemporary English- and Chinese-language sources from a wide array of perspectives, as well as numerous declassified official documents, this book provides a new approach to the most formative period of Singapore history. It explains in detail the different ideologies, institutions, and conflicts which shaped Singaporean politics and society during decolonisation. In particular, the book focuses on the leaders of the main groups which most heavily influenced Singapore’s anti-colonial nationalism – the Chinesespeaking, the working class, and left-wing intellectuals. It looks at Singapore in the context of global movements of nationalism, socialism, and decolonisation and provides a framework which can offer insight into similar attempts by postcolonial governments to construct new nation-states from plural societies. A novel study of Singapore’s independence struggle that incorporates and analyses multiple linguistic, socioeconomic, and political viewpoints, the book will be of interest to researchers of Southeast Asian history and politics and those interested in decolonisation, nationalism, identity, and the politics of race, class, and language.

United Plantations Berhad, an innovative Scandinavian firm, entered the plantations sector in Malaysia prior to World War One. Their approach to Malaysia differed greatly from the British imperial style and they continue to grow. Susan Martin examines their success.