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

by Rebecca Kenneison

Overview

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 returbaning 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

ISBN-13:	9781788313896
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/11/2019
Series:	International Library of War Studies
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Rebecca Kenneison is Associate Fellow in History at the University of Essex. She holds a PhD from the University of Essex and is the author of Playing for Malaya: A Eurasian Family in the Pacific War (2012).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgements x

List of Abbreviations xii

Note on Spelling xiii

Key Characters xiv

Introduction: The Special Operations Executive, Malaya And The Historical Debate 1

Chapter 1 Oriental Mission And Malaya, 1941-1942 15

Chapter 2 Malayan Country Section, Force 136; Recruitment, Composition And Training 31

Chapter 3 'A Deal With The Devil': Force 136 And The Mpaja 51

Chapter 4 'Expect To Meet You Shortly': Force 136 And The Malay Resistance 71

Chapter 5 'The Kuomintang State': Force 136 And The Ocaja 89

Chapter 6 'Revolutionary Spirit': The Post-War Period, August 1945-April 1946 109

Chapter 7 'The Tangled Mass Of Unspun Fibres': Information And Intelligence In The Lead-Up To The Malayan Emergency 129

Conclusion 147

Appendix A The Blantan Agreement 153

Appendix B The Second Agreement 155

Appendix C Targeted Killings Prior to the Declaration of the Emergency 158

Notes 161

Sources and Bibliography 223

Index 239

Editorial Reviews

Kenneison’s book represents an important and welcome contribution to the history of wartime and post-war Malaya … [It] should be required reading for any student of wartime Malaya or the Malayan Emergency." - Jourbanal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

“[A] timely and vital addition … Based on her meticulous archival research, Kenneison presents a nuanced understanding of the Special Operations Executive’s operations and the intricate relationships among the local resistance forces that the agency supported … Overall, this is a well-written book with solid archival research, accessible language, and fascinating details.” - Jourbanal of British Studies

“Rebecca Kenneison has succeeded in her aim of using the SOE archive to further our understanding of the origins and development of the Malayan Emergency of 1948. The role of the Special Operations Executive in developing the postwar insurgency is compellingly argued, and her conclusions will necessarily become part of any further work in the area of decolonization, intelligence, and SOE studies.” – H-War

From the Publisher