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 the counter-guerrilla warfare, 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 detail the evolution of the policies of the Malayan Government and the Malayan Communist Party and plots the fortune 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. The study concludes by assessing the extent to which the lessons from the use of the hearts and minds approach in the Emergency maybe applied in the conduct of other counter-insurgency campaigns and by examining the impact of the guerrilla warfare on the political and economic development of Malaya and Malaysia.
