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The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya. By T.N. HARPER. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. xviii, 417 pp. $69.95 (cloth).
The preface to this book opens "modern Malaya was born in a time of war and revolution," alerting the reader to the dominant themes of a book that takes an indepth look at the twelve years between the Second World War and the granting of independence in 1957. Insofar as the British were able to leave behind a viable nationstate, they met their objective, though not altogether according to their design.
The war provided the conditions for new demands and directions to emerge. The war made clear to the people of Malaya that the "white man" was not invincible. Further, the war depleted Britain's ability to administer a vast empire, a circumstance that eventually enforced British withdrawal from its various colonies. Additionally, America, the leading superpower, now championed calls for decolonization, the raison d'etre of the Trusteeship Council (designated as one of the key organs of the newly established United Nations) reflecting the preoccupations of the times.
The revolution referred to in the preface is the Communist insurrection that broke...