Abstract
The Malayan Emergency. Essays on a Small, Distant War , by Souchou Yao
Highlights
Bringing in multiple perspectives to the conflict, including those of his own family and those of ex-insurgents, Yao fills the missing gaps of the larger, and certainly more complex, picture of the human hopes and struggles experienced in that ‘small, distant war’ at the edge of the British Empire
The book opens with the chapter, ‘On Empire’, which argues that the postwar, debt-ridden and crumbling British Empire took up arms not just to protect its imperial assets and interests and to defend its ‘prestige and influence’ (p. 11) in a bid to maintain the fantasy of imperial pride and power
Like Yao, I grew up hearing tales of the Malayan Emergency and had to study it at school
Summary
Malaysian-born anthropologist Souchou Yao debunks the popular myth of British generosity and competency in the way the post-war Empire handled Malaya’s decolonization through the re-examination of the Malayan Emergency (1948–60) in his latest book here under review. Bringing in multiple perspectives to the conflict, including those of his own family and those of ex-insurgents, Yao fills the missing gaps of the larger, and certainly more complex, picture of the human hopes and struggles experienced in that ‘small, distant war’ at the edge of the British Empire.
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