The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya

This 1999 book is one of most important contributions to the history of decolonisation to appear in the past generation.

T. N. Harper (Author)

9780521590402, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 September 1999

436 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.824 kg

'It is without doubt a very significant piece of historical writing. The amount of detail collected and meticulously referenced, is impressive.' Bijdragen

Modern Malaya was born in a period of war, insurrection, and monumental social upheaval. Tim Harper's acclaimed 1999 study examines the achievement of independence in 1957, not primarily through the struggle between Imperial Britain and nationalist elites, but through the internal struggles that late colonial rule fostered at all levels of Malayan society. It contains research on the impact of the Second World War in Malaya, the origins and course of the Communist Emergency, and urbanisation and popular culture, and charts the responses of Malaya's communities to more intrusive forms of government and to rapid social change. Dr Harper emphasises the various conflicting visions of independence, and suggests that although the experiments of late colonialism were frustrated, they left an enduring legacy for the politics of independent Malaya. This book sheds light on the dynamics of nationalism, ethnicity, and state-building in modern Southeast Asia.

List of tables
Preface
List of abbreviations
Glossary of non-English terms
Introduction
1. 'On the ruins of Melaka fort'
2. The Malayan spring
3. The revolt on the periphery
4. Rural society and terror
5. House of glass
6. The advent of the 'Bumiputera'
7. The politics of culture
8. Making citizens
9. The colonial inheritance
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Asian history [HBJF], British & Irish history [HBJD1], General & world history [HBG]