The Books That I Want It!

War of the Running Dogs: Malaya, 1948-1960

Only three short years after the end of the Japanese occupation, war came again to Malaya. The Chinese-backed guerrillas called it the War of the Running Dogs - their contemptuous term for those in Malaya who remained loyal to the British. The British Government referred to this bloody and costly struggle as the 'Malayan Emergency'. Yet it was a war that lasted twelve years and cost thousands of lives.

By the time it was over Malaya had obtained its independence - but on British, not on Chinese or Communist terms. Here is the war as it was. Here are the planters and their wives on their remote rubber estates, the policemen, the generals and the soldiers, the Malays, Chinese and Indians of a polyglot country, all fighting an astute, ruthless, and well organized enemy.

Japan's Greatest Victory/ Britain's Greatest Defeat

The fall of Singapore was the worst defeat ever suffered by the British Empire; this dramatic account emphasizes the initiative and tactics that enabled 60,000 Japanese to defeat 130,000 British.

Singapore, the Battle that Changed the World

When Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, it was a blow to the Allies, the British Empire and a significant turning point in history. James Leasor's story begins as far back as the early nineteenth century, with imperialism and the settlement founded by Sir Stamford Raffles. He charts the years leading up to Singapore's defeat and the realisation that the West was not invincible.

Britain's Greatest Defeat: Singapore 1942

The surrender of Singapore on February 15, 1942, was the greatest and most humiliating defeat in British history and the high-point of Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia. It graphically exposed the military weakness of the British Empire and its inability to defend its Far Eastern colonies. Based on original records, Singapore, 1942 shows what went wrong and how an outnumbered and poorly equipped Japanese invasion force swept to victory against a mixed army of British, Australian, and Indian soldiers, changing Britain’s imperial destiny and the course of World War II.

CONFRONTATION THE WAR WITH INDONESIA 1962 - 1966

For over four years in the 'Swinging Sixties' the armed forces of the UK were engaged in a little publicized but crucial jungle war against communist aggressive on the vast island of Borneo.

At any one time up to 50,000 troops (half of the Army's strength today) were deployed along a 1,000 mile front. Their enemy were the communist led Indonesians whose leaders were determined to seize the states of Sarawak, Sabah and the oil rich Brunei, all of whom for their part wished to maintain their Commonwealth links. The catalyst for the war was the 1962 uprising in Brunei which was quickly crushed by the bold intervention of British army units.

The arrival of Major General Walter Walker, himself a controversial figure, gave the subsequent campaign a clear direction. Indonesian incursions were rigorously defended and ruthlessly pursued. Top Secret 'Claret' operations took the fight to the enemy with cross border operations initially using Special Forces and later with Chindit-style long range patrols. The outcome was a text book military victory thus avoiding a British 'Vietnam' debacle.

Malaya's Secret Police 1945-60: The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency

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.

Source: Amazon.com

*Ada orang mengatakan, sebagai seorang mahasiswa Islam, mereka wajib untuk mengetahui sejarah Islam. Hukumnya fardhu ain. Sejarah ketamadunan Islam, para khalifahnya, taktik dan teknik peperangannya, manhaj pembinaan tamadunnya dan kejayaan mereka dalam membentuk ketamadunan manusia. Lebih-lebihlah mengenai sejarah hidup dan dakwah setiap individu Rasul yang diutuskan oleh Allah SWT dalam membimbing manusia ke arah jalan yang benar dan diredhai-Nya.

Walaubagaimanapun, pada saya perlu juga seseorang manusia untuk mengetahui sejarah negaranya dan bangsanya sendiri. Bukan semua umat Islam ini sama bangsa dan negaranya kerana Islam ini syumul. Mungkin di dalam novel-novel ini akan terselit juga fahaman orientalis dan fakta yang berat sebelah. Namun, ia tidak menghalang kepada sesiapa yang meminatinya untuk membaca lantas mengkajinya. Umat Islam tidak boleh hanya mengetahui selok-belok sejarahnya sahaja tanpa mengambil peduli langsung sejarah negara dan bangsanya. Maka, bolehlah saya istilahkan mengetahui sejarah-sejarah ini sebagai fardhu kifayah ataupun harus. Bila sudah tahu, maka tahu untuk bertindak. Andai ia dapat menolong ke arah kemenangan Islam, dapatlah pahalanya lagi.

Semoga saya berpeluang untuk memperoleh buku-buku ini kelak. (^_^)

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