Decolonisation Process

This select bibliography that highlights books and journal articles relating to post-war Malaya and its path to Independence.

Books

Please check the availability of items via NLB’s online catalogue.

Title: Conflict and violence in Singapore and Malaysia, 1945–1983
Author: Clutterbuck, R. L.
Publisher: Singapore: G. Brash, 1984.
Call no.: RSING 959.57 CLU
This book examines people’s responses during times of instability in Singapore: the Emergency, confrontation with Indonesia, and the race riots of 1964 and 1969. It is a revised edition of “Riot and Revolution in Singapore and Malaya, 1945–1963”.

Title: Decolonizing the history curriculum in Malaysia and Singapore
Authors: Blackburn, K. & Wu, Zonglun Publisher: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, [2019].
Call no.: RSING 372.8909595 BLA

Title: Defence and decolonisation in Southeast Asia : Britain, Malaya and Singapore 1941-1968
Author: Hack, K.
Publisher: London : Routledge, 2014.
Call no.: RSING 959.504 HAC

Title: From Malayan Union to Singapore separation: Political unification in the Malaysia Region, 1945–65
Author: Mohamed Noordin Sopiee
Publisher: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University Malaya Press, 2005.
Call no.: RSING 959.5 MOH
The author refers to cabinet papers, memoranda and other primary documents to track the various political developments in the post-war Malaysian region, including Singapore. He studies the causes and development of the Malayan Union, the Federation of Malaya, the Federation of Malaysia and the separation of Singapore in 1965.

Title: Imperial policy and southeast asian nationalism 1930-1957
Authors: Tønnesson, Stein & Antlöv, Hans
Publisher: London : Curzon Press, 1995.
Call no.: RSING 959.05 IMP

Title: Singapore: An illustrated history, 1941–1984
Publisher: Singapore: Information Division, Ministry of Culture, 1984.
Call no.: RSING 959.57 SIN
Presents the history of Singapore in black and white photographs, with an accompanying short narrative for each.

Title: The Open United Front: The Communist struggle in Singapore, 1954-1966
Author: Lee, T. H.
Publisher: Singapore: South Seas Society, 1996.
Call no.: RSING 959.5703 LEE
Provides an account of the struggle of the Malayan Communist Party in Singapore in the years 1954 to 1966. This publication serves as an essential reference for anyone interested in the history and significance of Communism in Singapore.

Title: Violence and emancipation in colonial ideology : Hong Kong and British Malaya
Author: Price, R.
Publisher: Kowloon, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong Press, [2019].
Call no.: RSEA 959.5104 PRI

Full-text journal articles available in Ebscohost academic search premier.

Please access the database via NLB’s eResources page.

Disguised anti-colonialism: protest against the White Australia Policy in Malaya and Singapore, 1947–1962.
By: Blackburn, Kevin. Australian Journal of International Affairs. Apr 2001, Vol. 55 Issue 1, p101-117

The left‐wing movement in Malaya, Singapore and Borneo in the 1960s: ‘an era of hope or devil’s decade’?
By: Boon‐Kheng, Cheah. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. Dec 2006, Vol. 7 Issue 4, p634-649

‘The people need civil liberties’: trade unions and contested decolonisation in Singapore.
By: Curless, Gareth. Labor History. Feb 2016, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p53-70.

Transnational Governances in Higher Education: New Universities, Rhetorics, and Networks in Postwar Singapore.
By: Ai-Ling Chou, Grace. European Education. 2015, p260-273.

Violent civic nationalism versus civil ethnic nationalism: Contrasting Indonesia and Malay(si)a.
By: Kreuzer, Peter. National Identities. Mar 2006, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p41-59

Full-text journal articles available in JSTOR.

Please access the database via NLB’s eResources page.

Australia, the ‘Marshall experiment’ and the decolonisation of Singapore, 1955-56
Andrea Benvenuti
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2 (June 2012), pp. 257-279

Bringing the International and Transnational back in: Singapore, Decolonisation, and the Cold War (pp. 215-234)
S.R. Joey Long
From: Singapore in Global History, Amsterdam University Press (2011)

Chinese Newspapers in Singapore, 1945-1963: Mediators of Elite and Popular Tastes in Culture and Politics
Thum Ping Tjin
Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 83, No. 1 (298) (June 2010), pp. 53-76

Decolonization and the nation in Malay film, 1955–1965
Timothy P. Barnard
South East Asia Research, Vol. 17, No. 1, SPECIAL ISSUE: BRITAIN AND THE MALAY WORLD: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS OF FILM, THEATRE AND LITERATURE (MARCH 2009), pp. 65-86

The Settlement of Decolonization and Post-Colonial Economic Development: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore Compared
Nicholas J. White
Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Vol. 173, No. 2/3 (2017), pp. 208-241

Full-text journal articles available in Proquest Central.

Please access the database via NLB’s eResources page.

Indigenizing the Cold War in Malaysia and Singapore: Interethnic Decolonization, Developmental Syntheses and the Quest for Sovereignty
Chong, Alan. Asian Perspective; Seoul Vol. 44, Iss. 2, (Spring 2020): 179-208.

Spaces of Autonomy, Spaces of Hope: The place of the university in post-colonial Singapore
Holden, Philip. Modern Asian Studies; Cambridge Vol. 53, Iss. 2, (Mar 2019): 451-482.

Student movements: Malaya as outlier in Southeast Asia
Gungwu, Wang. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies; Singapore Vol. 44, Iss. 3, (Oct 2013): 511-518.

The Socio-Political Context Behind the Malayan Insurgency, 1948-1960
Murad, Dina. Intellectual Discourse; Kuala Lumpur Vol. 27, Iss. 2, (2019): 397-411.

THE UNIVERSITY SOCIALIST CLUB AND THE CONTEST FOR MALAYA: Tangled Strands of Modernity
Koon, Wong Soak. Pacific Affairs; Vancouver Vol. 88, Iss. 1, (Mar 2015): 226-228.

Materials available in the National Archives of Singapore.

A curation of articles from Off the Record and Singapore Policy History Project, giving insights into the various facets of Singapore history relating to the decolonisation process.

ALL MUST VOTE, 1959
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/all-must-vote

External threats: Storm Clouds over Indochina
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/external-threats

David Marshall: Singapore’s First Chief Minister
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/david-marshall

S. Rajaratnam on Singapore’s State Symbols
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/s-rajaratnam

PROCLAMATION OF SINGAPORE, 1965
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/proclamationofsingapore

INDEPENDENCE DAY?
https://corporate.nas.gov.sg/media/collections-and-research/independenceday

Keeping Communist Propaganda At Bay - Regulation Of Media Content
https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/policy_history/card?id=3