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British Planning for Post-war Malaya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

C. M. Turnbull
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Extract

There is perhaps no more startling example in the history of the British Empire of a casual, almost imperceptible shift of attitude in the Colonial Office having such dramatic repercussions as in Malaya in 1874. Authorised to “enquire and report” into conditions in the western Malay states, the new Governor, Sir Andrew Clarke, found himself carried away by forces on the spot, which had been building up for twenty years while the British government maintained a strict policy of non-involvement. Within weeks of arriving in Malaya, Clarke made agreements with three Malay rulers for British Residents to be attached to their states, and laid the foundations for the relentless spread of British protection over the whole peninsula. These repercussions mystified Colonial Office officials at the time and left future generations of historians to unravel the mystery of what had happened and why.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 5 , Special Issue 2: The Centenary of British Intervention in Malaya , September 1974 , pp. 239 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1974

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References

1 Stockwell, A. J., ‘The Development of the Malayan Union Experiment, 1942–1948’, unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of London, 1973Google Scholar; Allen, J. de V., The Malayan Union, New Haven, 1967.Google Scholar

2 SirThomas, Shenton, ‘Suggestions on Post-War Malaya’, Formosa, 29 Feb. 1944Google Scholar, (presented to the Colonial Office in Sept. 1945), 50984, CO 273/677.

3 Memorandum by Tunku Mahydeen, in McKerron (Malayan Planning Unit) to W. B. L. Monson (Colonial Office), 3 Dec. 1943, 55104/13B, CO 825/42A.

4 Straits Budget (Singapore), 5 June 1941.Google Scholar

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7 Thomas to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 20 Aug. 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

8 W. B. L. Monson (CO) minute, 1 July 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

9 Moyne (Secretary of State for the Colonies) to Amery (Secretary of State for India), 12 July 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

10 Moyne to Thomas, July 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

11 Thomas to Moyne, 20 Aug. 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

12 CO Notes for guidance of Secretary' of State for the Colonies, Feb. 1946, 50823/35, CO 273/676.

13 E. Gent, minute, 23 Sept. 1941, 50429, CO 273/667.

14 A. T. Bowdike (CO) minute, 18 Jan. 1946, 50984, CO 273/677.

15 55104/42, CO 825/35.

16 Stockwell, p. 60.

17 55104/1/1942, CO 825/35/1

18 Gent to Gater, March 1943, 55104/1, CO 825/35/1.

19 Colonial Office, ‘Future Constitutional Policy for British Colonial Territories in South East Asia’, C.M.B. (44) 3 of 14 Jan. 1944, 55104/15/44, CO 825/43B.

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25 J. J. Paskin (CO) minute, 20 June 1944, 55104/1/7, CO 825/42A.

26 55104/1/4, CO 825/35/II.

27 Abu Bakar to Gent, 14 Oct, 1943, 55104/1/8, CO 825/35/II.

28 Windstedt to Gent, 11 April 1943, 55104/1/3, CO 825/35/I.

29 CO Draft, Jan. 1944, 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

30 Monson (CO) minute, 6 Dec. 1943, in 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

31 McKerron to Monson, 3 Dec. 1943, 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

32 J. J. Paskin (CO) minute, 7 Jan. 1944, 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

33 H. T. Bourdillon (CO) minute, 24 July 1944, 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

34 Monson (CO) minute, 21 Jan. 1944, 55104/1/8, CO 825/42A.

35 1 Nov. 1943, 55104/1/3A, CO 825/42A.

36 Monson minute, 12 Dec. 1943, 55104/1/3A, CO 825/42A.

37 A. T. Bowdike, (CO) minute, 11 July 1945, 55104/1/3A, CO 825/42A.

38 Laycock, John, Memorandum on Proposals for Political Changes in Malaya, Bombay, May 1944Google Scholar, enclosed in 55104/1/3D, CO 825/42A.

39 H. T. Bourdillon (CO), minute, 29 July 1944, 55104/1/3D, CO 825/42A.

40 55104/1/8, CO 825/42A.

41 Monson minute, 6 Dec. 1943, 55104/1/3B, CO 825/42A.

42 E.g. ‘Appreciation on Probable Position in Singapore on Reoccupation’, by O. W. Gilmour, Malayan Planning Unit, former deputy municipal engineer Singapore, 4 May 1944, Gen/5/33/CA(MPU), 50744/7, CO 273/673.

43 Hone to Gent, 7 July 1944, 55104/24, CO 825/43B.

44 Bourdillon to Paskin, minute, 24 July 1944, 55104/24, CO 285/43B.

45 55104/24, CO 825/43B.

46 War Cabinet, 9 Jan. 1945, 55104/15, CO 825/43C.

47 War Cabinet 8 (45), 15 June 1945, re CO, W.P. (45) 287, 55104/15, CO 825/43C.

48 55104/15, CO 825/43C.

49 A. T. Bowdike, 27 June 1945, 50908, CO 273/677.

50 Foreign Office (FO) to CO, 2 Aug. 1945, and Gent minute 7 Aug. 1945, 50908, CO 273/677.

51 A. T. Bowdike (CO) minute, 22 Aug. 1945, 50908, CO 273/677.

52 Supreme Allied Command Southeast Asia (Dening) to FO, 3 Sept. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

53 Bowdike minute (CO), 6 Sept. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

54 50823/46, CO 273/675.

55 C.M.B. (44) 3 of 14 Jan. 1944, 55104/15/44, CO 285/43B.

56 Shenton Thomas Memorandum, Formosa, 29 Feb. 1944, para. 62, 50984/45, CO 273/677.

57 Thomas to Gent, 20 Oct. 1945, 50823/17, CO 273/675.

58 1 May 1945, 50823/17, CO 273/675.

59 Secretary of State minute, 19 Sept. 1945, 50823/17, CO 273/675.

60 McKerron to Gent, 30 Nov. 1945: Bartley to McKerron, 4 Dec. 1945, 50823/17, CO 273/675.

61 50823/46, CO 273/675.

62 Paskin to Sir George Gater (Permanent Under Secretary Colonial Office), minute, 16 Nov. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

63 Gent, minute, 24 Nov. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

64 Paskin (CO) minute, Nov. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

65 MacMichael to Gent, Tel. 20 Oct. 1945, 50823/46, CO 273/675.

66 MacMichael to Gater, Kuala Lumpur, 22 Oct. 1945, 50823/7/45, CO 273/675 (2).

67 CO notes for guidance for meeting on 26 Feb. 1946, 50823/35, CO 273/676.