British Colonial History in Malaya

Radicals tells the story of a group of radical Malay men and women from ordinary social backgrounds who chose to oppose foreign rule of their homeland, knowing full well that by embarking on this path of resistance, they would risk imprisonment or death. Their ranks included teachers, journalists, intellectuals, housewives, peasants, preachers, and youths. They formed, led, and contributed to the founding of political parties, grassroots organizations, unions, newspapers, periodicals, and schools that spread their ideas across the country in the aftermath of the Great Depression, when colonialism was at its height and evident in all areas of life in their country. But when their efforts to uproot foreign dominance faltered in the face of the sanctions the state imposed upon them, some of these radicals chose to take up arms, while others engaged in aggressive protests and acts of civil disobedience to uphold their rights. While some died fighting and hundreds were incarcerated, many lived to resist colonialism until their country attained its independence in August 1957, all of these Malay radicals were devoted to becoming free men and women and to claiming their right to be treated as equals in a world riddled with prejudice and contradictions.

Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied’s innovative study brings to light the less charted and unanalyzed terrain of the radical experience—becoming and being radical. He argues that the experiences and histories of radicals in colonial Malaya can be elucidated in a more nuanced way by interrogating them alongside evolving local and global circumstances and by analyzing them through the lenses of a set of overarching and interconnected mobilizing concepts—a set of ideas, visions, and notions that the radicals used to reason and justify their advent—that were internalized, lived, and utilized in the course of their activism. These mobilizing concepts were their weapons and armor, employed to organize, strategize, protect, and consolidate themselves when menaced by the tentacles of the colonial state as they embarked upon the agonizing path towards independence. Those interested in Malaysian history, colonial history, radical movements, and resistance groups will enjoy this fascinating study.

The importance of military leadership remains constant in peacetime,
war, or a counterinsurgency operation. To develop better leaders
for the current counterinsurgency fight, let us look back at two highly successful leaders of the past. T.E. Lawrence, always a controversial figure, lived the life of an insurgent when he was posted as an advisor to the Arab forces fighting the Turkish Army during the Arab revolt of 1916-1918. General Sir Gerald Templer possessed the ideal leadership qualities necessary to defeat an insurgency and thus was able to shift the balance of power in favor of the British during the Malaya Emergency. Although both were great leaders, the two figures could not be more opposite. Lawrence was the eccentric misfit and Templer the essence of a proper British officer. Both, however, possessed a timeless trait our current leaders need in order to win in a counterinsurgency environment—bold leadership. We can evaluate the quality of the leadership these two officers had using the Army framework of “Be, Know, Do” found in FM 22-100, Army Leadership.

A review of one of Singapore's earliest tourist guidebooks which offers a glimpse into the 19th century landscape and landmarks of Singapore, giving unique perspectives such as colloquial place names in Malay of colonial buildings. A profile on the author, the Rev. George Murray Reith, a resident minister of the local Presbyterian Church is appended.

在马来西亚研究中，“马共研究”应该属于一个重要的研究领域，但因资料取得有所困难、研究对象不易安排、研究课题有所禁忌等原因，造成相关的研究人员稀缺和研究成果不够完整，进而导致“马共研究”的发展进度缓慢。作为意识形态上对手，殖民地政府不但掌
握了大量马共的情报资料，也对马共进行了深入的分析和研究，相信这便是“马共研究”的开端。之后，学术界和民间才逐渐展开与马共相关的研究。这些研究主要涉及了马共的历史研究、策略/军事研究、组织结构/特色研究等层面。无论如何，许多早期的研究成果因仰赖于官方的解密档案，欠缺了马共自身档案和观点，因此内容或有偏颇，或是无法深入探讨和分析马共及其相关的事件。如今，随着和解后，许多前马共成员透过出版相关回忆录，或公开档案资料，或出席公开活动等各种方式，逐渐释出马共过往的种种是与非，为后来的马共研究者提供了更加有利的研究条件。本文尝试粗略回顾并探究1930年代以来“马共研究”的发展状况和研究意义，希望能够引发更多人对“马共研究”的关注和重视。

关键词：马来亚共产党（马共）、马共研究、史料、解密档案
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Abstract
Study on the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) should be an important part in the Malaysian Studies.  However,  due  to  difficulties  in  accessing  the  related  documents  or  target  group,  certain restrictions in the study and so on, lead to the slow development of CPM Studies, either in numbers of researcher or its research outcomes. As an ideological enemy, British colonial government in Malaya not only obtained large amounts of data and intelligence information of CPM, but also conducted lots of in-depth analysis and researched on CPM. It’s believed that is the beginning of the CPM Studies. Since then, the CPM Studies were gradually expanded to the academia and civil sector. The CPM Studies mainly focused on CPM history, military strategy, organization structure, characteristic and so  on.  However,  most  of  the  early  CPM  Studies  were  relied  to  the  declassified  documents  which
possess the official perspective, make the CPM research results a bit biased or unable to conduct in-depth  discussion  and  analysis  on  certain  issues  related  to  CPM. After  the  historical  Hadyai  Peace Accord signed on the 1989, many former CPM members started to publish their memoirs, released some important documents or even attending public events, etc., try to explore their past gradually to the public. Their efforts have provided more favorable conditions for the coming researchers. This paper attempts to give a brief reviews on CPM studies since 1930’s and its research development and significance to Malaysian history, in order to raise more interest and attention among our community.

Key Words:  Communist  Party  of  Malaya  (CPM),  CPM  Studies,  historical  materials,  declassified documents

By the late 19th century, a number of Straits Chinese, or Peranakans, had acquired status, wealth and academic standing. With their community riding on a wave of economic success and a renaissance in knowledge and culture, these educated anglophile Straits Chinese also sought to have a voice and began "The Straits Chinese Magazine" in 1897. The quarterly was the first English serial edited and published by Malayans, and addressed the concerns and interests of all the Straits-born

讀書是極其私人的活動，但讀左派書籍卻極易變成公共行為，以化作鐵與血的吶喊。遠在南方的馬來亞，左派作家深具煽動力的文學語言，一再讓南洋青年傾倒。這當然也引起馬來亞緊急狀態下的反共反赤，政學兩界的警惕。將四九年後染紅左傾的筆桿子，一概掃蕩為壞社會風俗，亂人心的根源。隨即受當地警備部門針對的抽查出版品，中共左派書籍查禁自是首當其衝。本文寫作所選定的時段，緊急狀態及其後的效應是書史研究的絕佳背景，尤其遭遇世變之時，所展現的槃根錯節與豐富細節，正是最好的範本。懲治機構試圖抄檢一切被認為威脅，擾亂或批判既有政治權力的一方，這使我們重新審視查禁政策施行之時，隱含的歧視與偏見。因此，從禁燬書史角度，關注知識人的回應，結合憲報上的書目撮其要義，探討書史意義上，如何聯繫著極其廣泛的在地與週邊的活動，反映的馬來亞社會文化裂變，特別是知識界對當時不同政見「左」閃「右」躲的態度，同時也映照出文化和思想界人物，對於寒夜閉門讀禁書「問題」的衝擊與反應。

關鍵詞：馬來亞緊急狀態；冷戰；中共；左派；禁書史

Reading normally is a private activity. However, reading leftist books will turn private activity into public. In order to keep left books from inciting young people to engage themselves in revolutionary work, publication censorship was tightened up. British authority kept a close watch on the leftists as they were prime mover in the revolt against the government, especially during the Malayan Emergency. Leading figure of Chinese leftist writers always become the top list of the selective examination. The selected research period, the Malayan Emergency and its subsequent effects, are the perfect background for the study. Malayan Emergency will be the main focus of this paper as it provides the most complicated and richest information in this case study. Discrimination against leftist books were common in that time. This paper hopes to unfold on the one hand the British Malayan and Malaysian publication censorship, with special examination of its policy to the communist printing. On the other hand, it analyses the ways intellectuals convey their "revolt" to the rigid policy.

Keywords: Malayan Emergency；Cold War；Chinese Communist Party；Leftist；History of Banned Books

#左翼 #馬共 #魯迅 #Darurat Tanah Melayu

壹、是不是禁書？
貳、解碼遊戲
叁、謔而虐
肆、反（中）共
餘論：馬共對罵

Artikel ini mengupas mengenai senario politik semenanjung Tanah Melayu selepas Perang Dunia Kedua yang digerakkan oleh dua buah pertubuhan politik yang sangat berpengaruh iaitu Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) dan juga United Malay National Organisation (UMNO). Penulisan ini juga merungkai sebuah perbandingan yang cukup menarik daripada kedua-dua pihak iaitu perbandingan dari segi kepimpinan mereka, strategi dan juga matlamat politik. Sentuhan perjuangan PKMM dan juga UMNO dalam arena politik Tanah Melayu meninggalkan kesan yang mendalam dalam lipatan sejarah negara kita

Kejayaan British mengalahkan Perancis dan menguasai laluan lautan perdagangan menyebabkan negara tersebut muncul sebagai sebuah kuasa imperialis dan kapitalis terkuat dunia pada abad ke 19. Kesan daripada politik Eropah turut memberi impak kepada seluruh dunia termasuk Tanah Melayu. Diakui dengan teknologi yang dibawa oleh British telah memajukan ekonomi Tanah Melayu pada waktu itu terutama sekali dalam bidang bijih timah yang menjadi komoditi utama Tanah Melayu pada waktu itu. Selain itu hasil bumi Tanah Melayu juga turut menarik perkembangan pelbagai industri di Eropah yang turut menyebabkan kemasukan imigran Cina dan India ke seluruh pelusuk Tanah Melayu. Oleh itu British telah memainkan peranan yang besar terhadap kemajuan ekonomi Tanah Melayu pada abad ke 19.

Lim Chin Siong was the undisputed political leader of the anticolonial and Malayan left-wing in Singapore until his detention without trial in 1963 ended his political career. That he had a major impact on Singapore’s decolonisation is beyond dispute – indeed, both Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew formulated their merger policy specifically in response to Lim’s politics and his values. Yet Lim remains a poorly understood figure because of a lack of sources and a historiography written almost entirely from his opponents’ perspectives. Reassessing existing literature in view of recently declassified British archives, this essay pieces together Lim’s articulation of three tenets in the political thinking that guided his tactics for social mobilisation: anticolonial unity, non-violence, and popular sovereignty. Lim put these principles into practice with great success, becoming the leader of the largest and most formative nationalist movement Singapore has ever known. Understanding Malayan nationalism in Singapore – and its successor, Singaporean nationalism – is thus impossible without understanding Lim Chin Siong.

The story of the Jewish community in Penang has hitherto remained hidden within the footnotes of local history, known only to the few who have been acquainted with its past due to hatred, radical racist ideology and persecution by the dictatorship government passed down to the new generation.

Sadly enough the Gaza-Israeli war is barely political cause and yet being politicize and canonized as religious war. However there are country of their kind enslaved with civil war and far much worse but the people of this nation remaining silent.
Hypocrite yes?

Though it has warranted occasional curious mention in the contemporary press, little effort has been made to conduct a comprehensive study on the establishment, growth and subsequent migration of the former Jewish community in Penang.

This brief paper will merely provide a preliminary discussion on the subject, via a survey of an important historical landmark relating to their past, namely the Jewish Cemetery on Jalan Zainal Abidin (Jahudi Road). But it is hoped that by evaluating its history within the shared context of Penang's historical environment, due attention may be drawn to preserve and protect this site as a tangible reminder of Penang's rich communal identity and unique cultural diversity. " The greater part of this community are but sojourners for a time, so that the population of the island is continually shifting as to the individual members of whom it is composed "

Features the Gibson-Hill Collection, a Malayan treasure containing rare titles on birds, boats and ships, travels and voyages, and accounts on early Malaya.  Dr Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill was the last expatriate Director of the Raffles Museum from 1958 to 1962  and acquired a valuable collection of books on history, art, archaeology, zoology and ornithology.  The collection was donated to the National Library in 1965 by Mrs Loke Yew who had purchased it from Dr Gibson-Hill.  Mrs Loke Yew was the mother of Dato Loke Wan Tho, the first Chairman of the National Library Board from 1960-1964.

‘Lady Templer’ was the honorary title bestowed upon the wife of British Army Officer, Field Marshall General, Sir Gerald Templer (1898 - 1979), who was appointed by Winston Churchill in 1952 as High Commissioner for Malaya towards the end of the Malayan Emergency. Lady Templer was not only an invaluable support person to her husband during his time in Malaya, she also handed down a legacy of giving through her community and charity work in England, Malaya and modern-day Malaysia. This paper is a short biography of her life and charity works in Malaya and England.

The British colonial practice of divide and rule of Singapore’s major ethnic communities plays a prominent role in the colonial historical studies of Malaya and Singapore. The persistence of such concepts and practices has covertly implanted ideas in the contemporary mindset that Singaporean communities inherently lived separately and did not interact in any meaningful way. Except for the various Peranakan communities which predated British colonialism, there is little evidence in current scholarly research to show that consistent interaction, friendships, and even intermarriages took place in the first few decades following 1819. This article will examine new evidence about multiracial Roman Catholic communities, starting in the early 1830s, showing how intermarriages were extremely commonplace and possible reasons behind this development. This research also inadvertently uncovers the creation of a native Peranakan bloodline starting from 1833, specific to Singapore.

This article is about the late Brigadier John Humphrey Montagu (1919-2014) and his Kukri (Khukuri) knifes. I´ve focused on his military career (Part 1) and the two Kukri knifes (Part 2) he acquired during his service in India and the Far East between 1939-1968.
John Humphrey Montagu rarely spoke about his military career though he had served almost 30 years in the Army, with the Gurkhas across half the world, with distinction. The late Brigadier Montagu followed his father into the Army and joined the Armed Forces at a time when the sun never set over the British Empire, prior to the 2nd World War (WW2). He was commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall´s Light Infantry in 1939 and during WW2 served in the 8th Gurkha Rifles on the frontiers of India and Burma. After the War and Indian Independence he served a short period in Royal Army Service Corps and 7th Gurkha Rifles, before transferring to 10th Princess Mary`s Own Gurkha Rifles.
He saw the British Empire at its height and over the years how it crumbled and former colonies became independent sovereign nations by the time he retired. During 30 years he served in WW2, Indian Independence, Malayan Emergency, Borneo Confrontation and Hong Kong.

There is no secret that the United States has experienced nothing but setbacks in its attempt towards a successful counterinsurgency strategy. From the United States’ failures in Vietnam to the current battles against jihadist networks in the Middle East, the United States continues to struggle with an implementation of strategy. Britain’s experience combatting the Malayan Communist Party in the 1950’s should be used as a model example for successful counterinsurgency strategy due to the timely and effective pacification of the communist insurgents that threatened Malaya’s stability. This thesis utilizes a case study approach to explore whether it was successful counterinsurgency strategy that influenced Britain’s quick success, or whether there were other factors at play that influenced the pacification efforts in Malaya. These factors will then be compared to the United States’ continual efforts over time to master the art of counterinsurgency, shedding light on the failures of the U.S. and where strategists went wrong. This study suggests that the United States is in dire need of re-evaluating its current strategy, and must learn to adapt to new threats by learning from others and branching from its conventional mindset.

在马来西亚的历史进程中，陈平一直是充满神秘感的人物。他于1940年成为马来亚共党（马共）正式党员，并在抗日时期因党中央领导层出现真空而被马共总书记莱特委派为抗日军及抗日同盟代表，负责接应联军136部队。此后不久，陈平就被委任成为霹雳州党书记，成为马共的高层领导之一。1947年，当莱特被怀疑是间谍而卷款遁逃后，时年23岁的陈平正式被推选为马共总书记。在陈平的领导下，马共从1948年6月和英国军方及后来的马来（西）亚政府进行了长达41年的武装斗争，对马来（西）亚的政治发展影响极深。自1987年起，马共和泰国军方开始进行了多次的和平谈判。1989年12月2日，陈平在泰国南部的合艾市代表马共同泰国和马来西亚政府签署“合艾和平协议”。和解后，陈平屡次曾就回实兆远祭拜父母并和家人团聚的心愿，向马来西亚政府提出了回国申请，最终还是被驳回。

Willis’ Singapore Guide — written for budget travellers of the 1930s, particularly sailors — serves as a time capsule of life in Singapore through British eyes. This review highlights the books detailed descriptions of historical landmarks such as the Satay Club and the Singapore Zoo as well as long-gone shopfronts, businesses and institutions.

This article revisits the Dusun Nyoir rebellion of April 1948. My primary objective is to fill gaps missed by others whom I have learnt much from. Few familiar with the wider geography of violence in South Thailand are unaware of connections between this and the coordinated attacks on April 28 2004, which included the employment of Malay magic. This article demonstrates the importance of commitments to both conducting fieldwork in conservative rural communities and interacting with the secondary literature. The former revealed connections between Haji Mat Karae (who led the Dusun Nyoir rebellion) and Kyai Salleh active in Batu Pahat before the return of the British in 1945. Equally importantly, engaging in both ethnographic fieldwork and the relevant secondary literature brought into focus case studies of Malay rebellion having occurred during epochs of geo-political chaos throughout the Thai-Malay Peninsula, which those concerned with the political chaos caused by Thailand's disorderly state have missed.

Emily Innes’ "The Chersonese with the Gliding Off" (1885), was written in contrast to Isabella Bird’s "The Golden Chersonese" (1883). This two-volume publication by the wife of a minor British official conveys details of her life as a resident in Malay States from 1876 to 1882.

Despite the emphasis in doctrine and academia that counterinsurgency is in its essence political, these operations are all too commonly discussed and approached as primarily military endeavors. Informed by the need to refocus counterinsurgency studies, this article revisits a foundational case of the canon—the Malayan Emergency—to discuss its political (i.e. not military) unfolding. The analysis distinguishes itself by emphasizing the diplomatic processes, negotiations, and deals that gave strategic meaning to the military operations underway. In so doing, the article also generates insight on the use of leverage and elite bargains in creating new political settlements and bringing insurgent conflicts to an end.

In 1948, the British colonial authorities promulgated the Emergency Ordinance, banning Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) activities and arresting its members, forcing the CPM to launch its armed struggle earlier than expected. Under British colonial authorities’ formidable encirclement strategy, the CPM gradually retreated to southern Thailand in 1950 to set up new bases. The CPM in its retreat began to scale down military force and personnel. With the evolvement of international affairs in mid 1950s, the CPM further suspended its military activities. In the early 1960s, the issue of the Malaysia Project and the change of international circumstances prompted the CPM to declare the New Directive in which it redefined its direction of struggle and persisted in the path of armed struggle. While the New Directive enabled CPM to gradually revitalize its military strength, Malaysia’s internal political conflicts were also worsening, which allowed the CPM to take further action. In 1963, in preparation for its southward advance, the CPM identified clearly “neo-colonialism” and its agent, the “Malaysian” regime, as its new targets of struggle. In mid 1960s, the Struggle against the Counter-revolution incidents broke out within CPM, triggering a political and military crisis in the party, which split into three factions. When the first Struggle against Counterrevolution ended, the CPM issued “Raise High the Great Red Flag and March on with Courage” on 1 June 1968, an important statement announcing officially its readiness to send troops southward. It took the CPM seven years (1961–1968) to adjust and prepare itself before officially launching its assault teams southward on 29 March 1968, which marked a new milestone in CPM’s historical development. This article is of the view that the CPM’s southward advance strategy is significant and impactful for the CPM in three aspects: (1) it extended the history of the CPM’s armed struggle; (2) it provided the CPM’s armed struggle with momentum; and (3) it reinforced the authoritarian regime in Malaysia.

Colonial understandings of pre-war Malayan Communism entail more contestations, anxieties and idiosyncrasies than the scholarship would care to concede. The Special Branch’s bravado, glimpsed only perfunctorily in the colonial record, conceal a far more contingent process from which the colonial establishment and various institutions and individuals under its ambit contended, arrested but never arrived at an unequivocal appreciation of the Communist threat in its midst. In this sense, the British and their formative encounters with Communism in the aftermath of the Great War are meritorious of scholarly attention. Colonial officials came face-to-face with a revolutionary ideology still revelling in its newfound, post-war international prestige and understandably, located its insidious influence in the local Chinese diaspora. That set the stage for the British and their showdown with their pro-Communist Hainanese subordinates at Kreta Ayer. The colonial government was disgraced there, and only then was anti-Communist policy placed firmly under the Special Branch’s purview. Yet, the rot did not stop there. The Special Branch consistently agonised in the early 1930s over the fledgling Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and its international affiliations and only through due diligence, emasculated it. The rest of the colonial government, on the other hand, was increasingly privy to Malayan Communism and its local grievances. The sheer complexity of local problems in the run-up to the Second World War, of which Communism was integral, finally threw into sharp relief these differences in appraisal of the Communist threat within the colonial government. The story of the British and their rendezvous with pre-war Malayan Communism, indeed, was one of liminalities and ambiguities, directed not only towards the Communist follower but at the heart of the colonial edifice as well.

1950年代，马来亚共产党（马共）逐渐往北撤离以化解英国殖民地政府军的军事打压。1955年，马共和以东姑阿都拉曼为代表的“华玲会谈”失败以后，马共便选择在马泰边区建立根据地。虽然这样做会使到国内的民运及群众逐渐疏离马共。1960年以后，马来西亚国内的局势骤变，加上当局的强力打压，留守国内的民运分子和边区的马共失去了联系。为了继续反殖斗争，马来亚民族解放阵线（解阵）于1968年11月25日成立并成功和马共取得联系，成为了马共的地下组织。解阵的出现，适时提供了马共最基本的补给。马共在1960年代以后的武装斗争得以延续至1989年，解阵可说是扮演着极其重要的角色，这一点值得我们进一步去深究。
Abstract
The Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) gradually withdrew to the north in the 1950’s as a strategy to overcome the British Military Administration of Malaya suppression. In 1955, after the “Baling Talks” held between the CPM and the Malayan Government headed by Tunku Abdul Rahman failed, the CPM opted for building bases in the Thai-Malaysian border, even though such a move would cut off its contact with the Ming Yun and the masses. After 1960, the political situation in Malaysia changed dramatically. This change coupled with the relentless suppression of the government, the underground organisations lost contact with the CPM. To carry on their anti-colonialism struggle, the establishment of the Malayan National Liberation Front (MNLF) on 25 November 1968 and its successful link up with the CPM as the CPM underground organisation had timely provided the CPM the basic and significant supply line, the strength of CPM expanded rapidly, although after 1960 the CPM had reestablished its contact with some people in Malaysia. Consequently, the armed struggle of CPM since 1960’s could sustain up to 1989. It can be said that the MNLF contributed and played a very important and tremendous role. It is the point which is worth the researchers carrying out further study.

If the long-term economic fundamentals behind tropical agricultural production generally favor small-scale family-run farms, why have oil palms in Southeast Asia been dominated by large-scale farming arrangements since their introduction? This article explores various reasons for the anomaly through evidence drawn largely from recently unearthed archival material in Johor, Peninsular Malaysia's southernmost state. Historians have usually stressed post–harvest coordination challenges stemming from a combination of quality requirements, processing cost economies, and crop-specific time sensitivity. On balance, evidence suggests that crop coordination challenges were the chief obstacle to Malayan smallholder involvement in oil palms before the 1950s. Unlike for estates, however, coordination problems for smallholders were more likely underwritten by the draw of competing crops, labor demands, and subsistence cultures. Given these challenges, local dealer participation was critical to fostering workable smallholder oil palm initiatives.

This paper traces the development of company law during the colonial era in British Malaya, providing details on the laws of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. It also presents an account of economic development and the use of the limited liability company form in these two interlinked jurisdictions. The paper notes the lack of connection between the evolution of company law in Malaya, local economic and political developments and the actual local use of the law. We
situate this material within three current debates about the nature of colonial company law: whether the law was more a product of the “transplant effect” than of legal family; whether the dispersal of company law to the colonies was as straightforward as is often assumed; and whether the law was
best characterised as “imperialism”.

This article aims to recover the background to the post-Second World War growth of local art activities, art education and the rise of the professional artist on the island of Singapore and peninsular Malaya. It examines how the transitional period spanning the dissolution of British colonialism and the establishment of two independent nations stimulated unique conditions for the development of local art education and created an amateur–professional artist divide. The promotion and support of fine arts and related activities were in tandem with nation-building strategies that sought to construct a common ‘Malayan’ culture and identity.

Colonial race relations are regularly portrayed in light of the attempts to divide and rule colonialised Asian communities. While this article does not challenge this view, it attempts to uncover a hitherto hidden level of interaction and even intermarriage at the grassroots level in colonial Malaya and Singapore. With the exception of the various Peranakan communities that predated British rule, little to no evidence exists to show that interaction and especially intermarriage existed within early first-and second-generation migrant communities during the British colonial period. The findings show how colonial attempts to encourage a heightened sense of race and its frail-ties may have fallen short among some sections of the Asian community.

Racial Difference and the Colonial Wars of 19th Century Southeast Asia. Ed. Farish A. Noor & Peter Carey. Amsterdam: AUP, 15 January 2021

The colonisation of Southeast Asia was a long and often violent process where numerous military campaigns were waged by the colonial powers across the region. The notion of racial difference was crucial in many of
these wars, as native Southeast Asian societies were often framed in negative terms as 'savage' and 'backward' communities that needed to be subdued and 'civilised'. This collection of critical essays focuses on the colonial construction of race and looks at how the colonial wars
in 19th-century Southeast Asia were rationalised via recourse to theories of racial difference, making race a significant factor in the wars of Empire. Looking at the colonial wars in Java, Borneo, Siam, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula and other parts of Southeast Asia, the
essays examine the manner in which the idea of racial difference was weaponised by the colonising powers and how forms of local resistance often worked through such colonial structures of identity politics.

新加坡過去半世紀外交政策的成功，很大程度上是歸功於一連串巧合的國際形勢和善用這些形勢的措施。隨着新加坡邁向第二個50年，其外交上的最大挑戰莫過於是如何妥善應對今後國際政治格局的轉變。要處理好這個問題並不容易，也許決策者們需要回顧過往和鄰國的關係，並檢視自身的區內地位以獲得新啟示。新加坡能否適應新國際形勢，暫時仍是未知之數；目前新加坡國內對於今後外交政策方向的公開討論仍不多。

新加坡的第一代領袖，包括李光耀、拉惹勒南及吳慶瑞等人，向來被視為是星洲外交政策成就的功臣。不過，過去幾十年來新加坡的客觀外部環境，顯然亦令他們的工作變得相對容易。本文嘗試以超越「強人」因素的視角，來剖析新加坡過去外交政策的成功之道，並展望未來。

新加坡早在獨立前便具有先天優勢：鑑於她扼守馬六甲和巽他海峽，位處東南亞的心臟地帶，地理位置優越，造就她成為東西方貿易的樞紐。早在1965年，新加坡的人均收入便高踞東南亞之首，在亞洲僅次於日本和香港。

印尼變天越戰爆發 擠出生路

新加坡優越的地理位置，亦使她具有重大軍事戰略價值。早在1939年，英國人便在這裏建造了當時全球其中一個最大的海軍基地；其後日本在1942年初佔領新加坡後，亦以此作為跳板，進一步侵佔當時的荷屬東印度（即現今的印尼）。直至1971年前，英軍一直是區內的一支重要軍事力量；而美軍則一直視新加坡為連接太平洋與印度洋的門戶。隨着美國在1992年關閉菲律賓的克拉克空軍基地和蘇碧灣海軍基地，美軍更把隸屬西太平洋地區的海軍後勤司令部和地區空中支援指揮部移往新加坡。

六十年代，新加坡兩大鄰國政局的緩和，大大減輕了獨立後新加坡的外交壓力。馬來西亞在1960年解除緊急狀態，而印尼在蘇哈圖發動政變後，局勢也在1966年轉趨平靜，新加坡面對的即時外部威脅因而消失。同一時期，美國介入印支半島衝突，令局勢升溫，亦間接促使區內非共產政權彼此之間達成默契，加強合作，並互不干涉對方內政，讓新加坡有了相對穩定的發展空間。這種默契最終促成了東盟（ASEAN）的誕生，讓區內國家能有一個和平解決爭議的平台。

美國在二戰後所建立的自由主義國際秩序也深刻影響新加坡的外交部署。國際自由經濟體系讓新加坡能充分受益於美日的龐大市場和資本。國際貿易和投資市場因強勢美元，以及如IMF、世銀等國際金融機構監管而相當穩定；駐守全球的美國海軍亦令國際環境穩定，並保障主要貿易航道暢通無阻。這些因素，對於仰賴貿易的新加坡來說至為關鍵。總括而言，美國在冷戰時期所建立的國際體系，造就了包括新加坡在內的亞洲四小龍戰後的經濟成果。戰後的法規化國際秩序，也有助新加坡這類小國在外交上取得較為平等的地位。關稅及貿易總協定（General Agreements On Tariffs and Trade）和及後成立的世貿組織（WTO），讓主權國之間能較平等地解決貿易糾紛。同樣地，聯合國海洋法公約（UNCLOS）亦保障各國的海洋權益和航道使用權，對依賴海上貿易的新加坡十分重要。

東盟加強合作 抵消兩強壓力

新加坡的外交方針和其他新興獨立國家不同之處，在於它靈活把握和善用國際形勢，能夠在大國之間維持適當的外交平衡，實現最大的國家利益同時避免在任何方面過分依賴單一鄰國，也是其外交成功的重要原因。此外，新加坡具有高瞻遠矚的眼光，早早便發展煉油業，成為區內提煉高質燃油的中心，鞏固其區內龍頭地位之餘，亦拓展其國際影響力，保障其外交地位。

儘管新加坡在過去半世紀締造了非凡的外交成就，但今後將面臨更多挑戰。新加坡的外交決策人員必須尤其慎重觀察和應對中國崛起對現有國際秩序的衝擊：近期中國在外交上轉趨高調和積極，包括帶頭成立亞洲基礎建設投資銀行（AIIB）、提出「一帶一路」戰略，以及積極尋求設立海外軍事基地等，勢必改變今後國際政治的遊戲規則。新加坡現在可說是處於兩難局面：一方面要積極維持現有國際格局，因為這個格局多年來令新加坡獲益不少；另一方面亦要適當自我調節，以適應國際形勢的轉變，而這種轉變對新加坡而言相當陌生。

新加坡今後將很難再維持外交上左右逢源的路線，無可避免要在超級大國之間作出選擇。另外，為了應對國際格局轉變和保障自身利益，新加坡還可能需要調整和鄰國的合作關係，加強東盟成員國之間的合作和互動，打破過往互不干涉的做法，以抵消中美博弈所帶來的壓力。新加坡今後能否適應這種角色轉變，暫時難以預料，畢竟這是她過去50年來從未面對過的新課題。

Grand exhibitions of commerce and manufacture were key events for the British Empire’s economy. The British Empire Exhibition of 1924–1925, for example, was expressly intended to reinvigorate British and colonial markets after the First World War by encouraging inter-colonial trade. This exhibition shaped appearances of wealth, industry and development throughout the empire with its regionally styled pavilion architecture, model villages, craft and industry displays, and ephemera. However, this event, and others like it, also drew prominent attention to the relationships between the peoples within the empire, shaping imperial subjecthood and proto-nationalism, and revealing conflicting ideas of identity construction. This paper examines the representations of British Malaya and North Borneo at the British Empire Exhibition, comparing them to those of the Malaya-Borneo Exhibition, a lesser-known event held in Singapore in 1922. It discusses how British administrators portrayed the material and cultural values of the region in relation to their wider economic and developmental programmes.

The British Empire Exhibition’s Malaya and Sarawak pavilions collected a number of separate colonies, states and companies together as two distinct entities, beginning a process of unifying the region and defining the identity of its peoples. In placing this exhibition alongside the localised Malaya-Borneo Exhibition, we see how these territories adapted their economic and cultural identities between different regional and global scales. These events show the shaping of a Malay identity alongside the effects of British modernisation, and how raw materials, regional crafts, and inter-colonial relations were re-cast for an international stage. The paper contributes to our understanding of how early twentieth century exhibitions sought to transform regional economies and identities, and how value was ascribed to the material culture of British Southeast Asia.

This bibliography highlights the rich holdings of resources on the Baba community and culture in the Singapore National Library. Included in the bibliography are thesis and rare items in the collection of the National University of Singapore Libraries. The bibliographical listing is organised according to socio-cultural subject headings together with bibliographic citations, library location code and abstract. An introductory chapter on the definition of the Baba community and its unique culture is provided together with author-title indexes and a glossary of abbreviations.

Drawing on materials from the National Archives of Malaysia, newspapers, literature on historical metrology and the colonial history of Malaya, this article weaves a social history of Malaya’s colonial metrological reform by taking into account the roles of both European and Asian historical actors. Prior to the 1894 reform, people in Malaya used customary scales and weight units, which varied across districts, for commercial transactions. Initiated by colonial administrators, the reform was both welcomed and resisted. In 1897, a riot against the Sanitary Board broke out in Kuala Lumpur for its attempt to mandate that previously exempted traders use only government verified and stamped scales. The colonial government managed to maintain order and restore its authority at the end of the riot, but four types of merchants – goldsmiths, silversmiths, opium dealers and drug sellers – managed to remain exempted. Metrological reform continued to be contested in the following century, but the central concerns of the regulation moved from easing taxation, facilitating cross district trade and taming Chinese traders to protecting consumers. More emphasis was placed on educating the public to be able to read scales, in addition to using police force to raid businesses. The enforcement was, however, compromised due to inadequate fund. The reality on the ground contradicts the image of an omnipresent colonial authority and reveals the fragility of colonial administration.

Probably no one had any clear idea about what's happened during Japanese-occupation era,and mostly what we heard of or what we have been reading,are biases and horrifying tragedies during that era,especially for the chinese descendants, no doubt of it.But there was a person named #TokugawaYoshichika, a Marquis, one of an offsprings of the famous Shogunate of Japan, being designated and sent to Malaya as advisor to the Gunsei(Japanese army administration) government in Syonan (present day Singapore) as his wishes to. A noble and a notable botanist,with enthusiastic all kinds of interests such as arts, musics, and hunting etc,and since his first met with the Sultan of Johor during 1920s, his life was destined to tied his attention with the Malayan affairs, the love of hunting, the politics, the museums，the Malay languages and history，and he tend to make a change.

The Buitenzorg botanic laboratories on Java made a global career during the age of colonialism. They not only had the reputation of improving cash crops, but also seemed to provide a model for a modern and more "liberal" agricultural production that would replace the inefficient plantation industry of slavery era. Colonies around the world emulated the Buitenzorg model. This article shows that things were more complicated and the "liberal" Buitenzorg model was acutally a more subtle way to establish a system of compusory labor across the colonized world https://www.routledge.com/Agrarian-Reform-and-Resistance-in-an-Age-of-Globalisation-The-Euro-American/Regan-Smith/p/book/9781138483194