The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya

Abstract

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.

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

“…As a result, they have not been very keen, generally, on criticizing the ethnicized model on which the Malaysian political system rests. In Malaysia, with its entrenched system of communal politics (rooted in the complex negotiations accompanying the decolonization process; see Harper 1998;Roff 1967), any discussion bearing on the relationship between Islam and citizenship should engage, one way or another, with the issue of ethnicity. While the dakwah movement takes a central place in the struggle for citizen rights, to make their voices heard, activists generally have complied with the racialized approach to politics that was cultivated by umno and the Barisan Nasional in the first place.…”

Inter-Ethnic Tolerance And Communalism In Pre-Independence Malaysia

“…http: //dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.02.11 Corresponding Author: Wan Norhasniah Wan Husin Selection and peer-review under (Harper, 1999). The win was acknowledged by the British as the success of a multi-ethnic party that could guarantee harmony in a plural society (Milne & Mauzy, 1986).…”

Beyond Empire and Nation; The Decolonization of African and Asian societies, 1930s-1960s

“…For scholars such as Robinson dealing with East Timor,7 In the case of Harper 1999, a book arguing for the primacy of social forces in Malaya emerged from a thesis supervised by Christopher Bayly, a South Asianist of the 'weak Raj' mould.…”