Publisher's Synopsis
This study provides an account of the origins, course, and outcome of the Malayan Emergency, which pitted the Malayan Government against the Malayan Communist Party, its rural-based guerilla army, and their supporters. Drawing on the widest set of sources used to date, the study goes well beyond traditional analyses of the Emergency and examines not just the military but also the administrative, economic, political and social aspects of the guerrilla war.;Taking a cue from the hearts and minds approach to counter-guerrilla warfare, which was popularized by its success in the Emergency but which has not been understood, the study examines the hypothesis that the battleground of any guerrilla war is the general population whose actions are crucial in deciding how the war unfolds.;The author sets out in some detail the evolution of the policies of the Malayan Government and the Malayan Communist Party and plots the fortunes of each side as the sympathies, allegiances, and actions of the people of Malaya were influenced by the constantly changing circumstances in which they found themselves.
