Autorentext

Leon Comber is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.

Klappentext

The Malayan Emergency lasted from 1948 to 1960. During these tumultuous years, following so soon after the Japanese surrender at the end of the Second World War, the whole country was once more turned upside down and the lives of the people changed. The war against the Communist Party of Malaya's determined efforts to overthrow the Malayan government involved the whole population in one form or another. Dr Comber analyses the pivotal role of the Malayan Police's Special Branch, the government's supreme intelligence agency, in defeating the communist uprising and safeguarding the security of the country. He shows for the first time how the Special Branch was organised and how it worked in providing the security forces with political and operational intelligence. His book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the Emergency and will be of great interest to all students of Malay(si)a's recent history as well as counter-guerrilla operations. It can profitably be mined, too, to see what lessons can be learned for counterinsurgency operations in other parts of the world.

Inhalt
Malaya's Secret Police 1945-60: The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency Preliminary pages; 1. The Nature of the Malayan Emergency; 2. The Malayan Security Service and the Evolution of the Special Branch; 3. The Special Branch Takes Over (1948-49); 4. The Principles of Intelligence Collection; 5. Agents of Change (1949-52); 6. The Rise of the Special Branch (1950-52): Sir William Jenkin; 7. The Special Branch and the Briggs Plan; 8. General Templer, Colonel Young and the Special Branch: The implementation of the Briggs Plan; 9. The Special Branch comes of age (1952-56); 10. "The weather has been horrible" -- the Special Branch and Communist Communications: A Case Study; 11. The Special Branch on the Malayan-Thai Frontier (1948-60): A Case Study; 12. Conclusion: The End of the Emergency (1957-60); Abbreviations, Acronyms, Glossary and Note on Transliteration; Bibliography; Index; Photo Plates.