Conclusion — the Legacy and Price of Rapprochement without Reparation

Abstract

Postwar rapprochement of Malaya with Japan took place in a very different context from the rapprochement of most of the other SouthEast Asian countries with Japan in the following three ways. First, during the war, while the Japanese Military Administration at least promised to grant nominal independence to other occupied areas of South-East Asia, it was determined to keep Malaya under its direct control because of her strategic and economic importance. After the Japanese surrender, the British administration returned and, as explained in Chapter 3, was even more determined to retain Malaya as the South-East Asian stronghold of the British strategy, economy, and prestige once lost to the Japanese. Especially after the independence of India and Burma, Malaya’s importance for Britain as her remaining Asian stronghold grew even greater. Moreover, Malaya’s rubber and tin made her the biggest dollar earner in the Sterling Area. The British presence in Malaya was also prolonged by the Emergency and the need for economic and political stability as a prerequisite for ‘safe’ decolonization for Britain to maintain influence in and informal control of Malaya and South-East Asia.