The Special Operations Executive in Malaya - World War II and the Path to Independence

During World War II, agents of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) infiltrated Japanese-occupied Malaya. There they worked with Malayan guerrilla groups, including the communist-sponsored Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), regarded as the precursor of the communist insurgent army of the Malayan Emergency. This book traces the development of SOE''s Malayan operations, and analyses the interactions between SOE and the various guerrilla groups. It explores the reasons for and the extent of Malay disillusionment with Japanese rule, and demonstrates how guerrilla service acted as a training ground for some later Malay leaders of the independent nation. However, the reports written about the MPAJA by SOE operatives just after the war failed to draw out the likely future threat posed by the communists to the returning colonial administration. Rebecca Kenneison shows that the British possessed a wealth of local information, but failed to convert it into active intelligence in the period prior to the Malayan Emergency. In doing so she provides new insights into the impact of SOE on Malayan politics, the nature of Malayan communism''s challenge to colonial rule, and British post-war intelligence in Malaya.>

Product details

• Authors: Rebecca Kenneison, Kenneison Rebecca
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 23.01.2025
• EAN: 9781350539433
• ISBN: 978-1-350-53943-3
• No. of pages: 270
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 232 mm x 18 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Malaysia, British Empire, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage, HISTORY / Asia / Southeast Asia, Second World War, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Asian History, Espionage & secret services, Espionage and secret services, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), National liberation & independence, post-colonialism, National liberation and independence, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General