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.

Table of Contents:
List of Abbreviations Note on Spelling Key Characters List of Maps List of Tables List of Figures Introduction The Special Operations Executive, Malaya and the Historical Debate 1. Oriental Mission and Malaya, 1941-1942 2. Malayan Country Section, Force 136: Recruitment, Composition and Training 3. ‘A Deal with the Devil’: Force 136 and the MPAJA 4. ‘Expect to Meet You Shortly’: Force 136 and the Malay Resistance 5. ‘The Kuomintang State’: Force 136 and the OCAJA 6. ‘Revolutionary Spirit’: The Post-War Period, August 1945 – April 1946 7. ‘The Tangled Mass of Unspun Fibres’: Information and Intelligence in the Lead-up to the Malayan Emergency Conclusion Appendicies Sources and Bibliography Notes Index

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).

Review :
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. [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.