The Terminology of Terrorism: Malaya, 1948-52

Deery, Phillip

doi:10.1017/s0022463403000225

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Many other non-state, Indigenous, and anti-colonial revolts have been referred to as 'terrorism' by Europeans in the early 20th century. 69 This primacy of the state, prevalent in IR scholarship, is also colonial. As noted above, the Westphalian state system as we know it today emerged at the same time as European colonial expansion.…”

Section: The Coloniality Of 'Terrorism'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The coloniality of the religious terrorism thesis

Khan

2023

Rev. Int. Stud.

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A dominant narrative, produced and reproduced especially by terrorism scholars, holds that terrorism in its worst form is religious. The most dangerous and non-negotiable form of terrorism, in other words, is the religious kind. At the same time, there is a recurring implication, proposed by many terrorism scholars and reflected in public discourse, that terrorism, no matter its official designation, is always inherently ‘religious’ or ‘religious-like’. Both this implication and the dominant narrative about the uniquely dangerous character of ‘religious terrorism’ – which I summarise as the Religious Terrorism Thesis – builds on colonial knowledge and assumptions about ‘religion’. Religion is also, as I argue, written into the category ‘terrorism’ and enables its negative discursive power and the colonial imagination of ‘terrorism’ as racialised and a system-threat to (Western) modernity. Terrorism, therefore, can never constitute a neutral signifier of a specific kind of political violence. Instead, it functions as a negative ideograph to Western societies, which means it functions to uphold the project of Western modernity/coloniality. The Religious Terrorism Thesis, which I identify as the foundation for the dominant discourse on terrorism today, is a crucial element of coloniality and justifies many controversial and contemporary counterterrorism practices.

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Section: The Coloniality Of 'Terrorism'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The coloniality of the religious terrorism thesis

Khan

2023

Rev. Int. Stud.

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“…50–51). By the early twentieth century, Europeans commonly used the term “terrorism” to describe indigenous revolts (Deery, 2003; Ghosh, 2017, pp. 2–3; McQuade, 2021, esp.…”

Section: Colonial‐era Muslim Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Liberalism's distinctive policy for governing Muslim populations: Human rights, religious reform, and counter‐terrorism from the colonial era until the present

Nakissa

2022

History Compass

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During the colonial era, liberal Western states established vast empires which came to encompass almost all of the world's Muslims. Western states worked out specific methods for governing Muslims, which were often referred to as "Muslim policy". Recent scholarship on Muslim policy exhibits several key trends. One is expansion of geographical scope, leading scholars to produce more comprehensive global accounts of Muslim policy. Another trend is expansion of temporal scope, leading scholars to systematically link colonial Muslim policy with the governance of Muslims in the post-colonial era. A final trend is the reevaluation of liberal governance. Accordingly, scholars argue that, contrary to conventional assumptions, liberal ideology allows for -or even encourages -imperialism, authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, and racism. The present article makes several new contributions. It provides a synthesis of recent studies on Muslim policy -giving special attention to the key trends mentioned above. Moreover, the article proposes a novel way of conceptualizing Muslim policy. It is argued that Muslim policy centers on three overlapping projects: (1) a "human rights" project (2) a "religious reform" project and (3) a security project akin to what is now known

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“…In addition, the British viewed the Communist threat as inspired by the international Communist movement and considered it critical to the whole security of Southeast Asia (Bevin, 1949). In 1949, a paper prepared for cabinet by the Permanent Under-Secretary of State stressed the danger that would affect the whole security of Southeast Asia from a powerful Communist Fifth Column, corroding it from within (Deery, 2003). The Soviet Legation at Bangkok was clearly designed to be the centre of Soviet activity in the whole region and Soviet couriers passing through Singapore en route for the Far East or Australia were a constant source of danger.…”

Section: How Far Mcp Is Internationally Instigated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Soviet Legation at Bangkok was clearly designed to be the centre of Soviet activity in the whole region and Soviet couriers passing through Singapore en route for the Far East or Australia were a constant source of danger. L. L. Sharkey, the general secretary of the Soviet leaning Communist Party of Australia, stopped in Singapore, and persuaded the MCP to adopt a policy of violence (Deery, 2003). Despite this however, the driving force to the MCP was held by the British to be the Chinese Communist Paty (CCP), not Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU), even though links with the CCP were very tenuous and there was no evidence of direct assistance (Minutes of Meeting Russia Committee, 1948) The Southeast Asia Department of Foreign Office also articulated that the increase of Communist activities was also linked with the Communist International Conference held in Calcutta in 1948 and the inauguration conference of Cominform (Outline of Communist Strategy in Southeast Asia, 1959).…”

Section: How Far Mcp Is Internationally Instigated?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Malaysian Communist Party (MCP): Internationally Lack of Support and Locally Disoriented

Yaakop¹,

Ali²,

Ali³

et al. 2020

IJARBSS

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An early communist movement in Malaysia (formerly Malaya) was a reaction to the emergence of the ideology and its movement in Indonesia and China. Malaysian Communist Party (MCP) was established in 1930 as a political and militant movement -mainly inspired by the communist Party in the Republic of China -though we cannot fully admit that the party was fully controlled by China or other communist countries. MCP's aim was to gain independence from the British colonialization but at the same time also aiming at securing the Chinese community in the country. MCP was popular among the Chinese but not the Malays in Malaysia. The methodology of this research is based on declassified data gathered from British National Archive (which later footnoted as CAB, CO, WO etc) and various secondary readings. This paper argues that although MCP was inspired and instigated by international communist movement it was actually problematic at a local (or societal) level-the failure was mainly in domestic political sphere. In relation to this, it would appear that the MCP strategy to conjunct international (and regional) forces cannot meet its domestic needs. The lessons from outside were actually not consistent with developments from within; they not well fitted in with Malaysian facts.

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The Terminology of Terrorism: Malaya, 1948-52

Cited by 19 publications

References 1 publication

The coloniality of the religious terrorism thesis

The coloniality of the religious terrorism thesis

Liberalism's distinctive policy for governing Muslim populations: Human rights, religious reform, and counter‐terrorism from the colonial era until the present

Malaysian Communist Party (MCP): Internationally Lack of Support and Locally Disoriented

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