Malaysia Books

This book has been a tremendeously useful guide for my diving in Malaysia. The detail is exceptional and the fold-out spread sheet is my constant source of info. The photography is awesome with very helpful tips in the chapter on UW photography.
A must have for anyone diving in Malaysia.

An excellent book from "The Encyclopedia of Malaysia" series, the authors have come up with a suprising resource on a historical overview of Malaysia, with emphasis on the British colonial era... The material is well researched and documented. This book is an eye opener both for Malaysians and those interested in Malaysia....!!!

This is a highly recommended book for those who wish to know a level deeper about the Malaysian Education system than just a mere superficial observation of this issue. It provides a very accurate historical background as well as contemporary issues affecting the Malaysian Education system. I was a Malaysian government teacher myself for a number of years before I officially resigned last year. When I read Dr Bakri Musa's book, everything that he wrote was applicable to my own experience as a government teacher. Malaysia needs more intellectuals like Dr Bakri Musa to give an honest and constructive view of what's happening in our system. There are just too many Malaysian teachers out there who would agree with what Dr Bakri Musa had said in his book, but would be too afraid to admit out of fear. We should be able to evaluate our education system without fear I think. And fear should not be the obstacle for us to move forward.

I bought this book in 2005 but I believe this book will continue to be of high relevance to the current state of our situation. "Terima Kasih Dr Bakri Musa. Bukumu umpama pelita lampu yang menyinari dan menerangi dunia pendidikan kita." (Translation: Thank you Dr Bakri Musa. Your book is a lamp that enlightens our the world of our education.)

I am a person that traditionally really dislikes phrasebooks, but this book is an excellent example of how a phrasebook should be written. Most phrasebooks just recite words or sentences, and the learner has no idea what each part of the sentence means. While a typical phrasebook may teach someone how to recite something verbatim, the learner will have no idea how the language works grammatically and thus cannot communicate effectively. This book is excellent because it provides a very good grammatical foundation for the phrases. It also has helpful, but not too complex, explanations for the phrases in the book. Moreover, there is a small English-Malay/Malay-English dictionary in the back.

Unfortunately, I was not in Malaysia long, and since I was only in KL, getting by in English was not too difficult. However, I found this book while I was there and tried to get as much out of it as I could in a couple days. I recommend buying this and studying it for a month or so before going to Malaysia. That way, you'll get the most you can out of it. Give it a shot.

This book is about the phenomenology and political economy of class relations in a rural Malay community embraced by state-sponsored 'social engineering' projects. Itis also about nepotism and corruption at the grassroots amongst the Malays explained and elaborated remarkably without once using either of the word 'nepotism' or 'corruption'. A path-breaking work on subaltern studies in Malaysia. A joy to read. It reads like a novel. Splendid work of great importance!

As a participant in several aspects of this book, having lived in Brunei and Singapore for some seventeen years, I can only admire the considerable research needed to compile such a work.

Whilst being very readable, it is also an eye opener as to the various political involvments and relationships during the post war period in South East Asia.
This is a must read for anyone looking to understand the lead up to the December 1962 rebellion in Brunei.

Although a bit dated, I found this book very helpful and informative.

I have tried several of the recipes and can say that it does represent authentic Malaysian hawker food in its taste and appearance. Highly recommended. I was lucky enough to have purchased this gem before it went out of print.

Books that cover the military history of irregular warfare campaigns are plentiful. Most will provide great insight or not so great insight into tactics and military strategies for counterinsurgency. Very few seem to take a more holistic approach to discuss the grand strategy of a campaign at the political, social, and military level combined. This broader view is more helpful to citizens and political leadership than are the microcosm of only the military aspects. Counterinsurgency is more often a political and social problem fed by political or social injustices that serve to promote insurgent support in the form of material supply and fresh recruits. The absence of good texts providing case studies has doomed us to repeat the same learning process in each new conflict. Hearts and Minds in Guerrilla Warfare is a classic case study of the 1948-1960 Malayan Emergency which provides the broader view needed in all aspects of a counterinsurgency grand strategy. We would do well to return to it as a study in one success story and what was learned from that experience. It would also serve well as a model for more studies of its kind.

Hearts and Minds begins with a study of how the communist insurgency sprang from the insecurities and uncertainties of a near anarchy at the sudden end of Japanese dominance in the area after the second world war. It demonstrates how lawlessness creates a vacuum that charismatic guerrilla leaders can fill with their own brand of security. The book covers various phases in the conflict from the inception and growth of the insurgent forces through outside influences out of the control of the local authorities such as the economic boom of the Korean war period. It also covers the policies that led to failures and even fed the rebellion in the early stages then picks up on key points of the philosophy that led to the eventual defeat of the guerrilla forces. It is a study of the conflict that gave rise to the "hearts and minds" philosophy talked about so often with regard to counterinsurgency and provides us with a success we can study for key elements that provided that success.

This is a very well-written work that provides the political and social backgrounds to the conflict without overpowering the reader with the multitude of acronyms and abbreviations of the political movements and parties involved. Other books have focused on the military aspects or political aspects of this and other conflicts. This book covers a wider, more meaningful view of the political, social, and military aspects that can be considered in how we approach similar conflicts. It is an important work that can provide great insight to political and military leadership in current and future conflicts. Very highly recommended.

A rich literature dating back to the seventh century which reflects Sanskrit and Islamic elements and forms, Persian and Sufi poetics, and philosophical concepts of Plato and Aristotle as these were filtered through various Middle Eastern and Asian lands, Malay literature is nonetheless ethnically and geographically confined so that it is possible to "embrace at a single glance...the relative completeness of its forms and themes." Braginsky, Professor of Southeast Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of London, does so; although for him to refer to his voluminous, impressively scholarly study ranging from generalizations to meticulous examination of lines of poetry as a "glance" is an understatement if ever there was one. Practically speaking, Malay literature as a distinct literary tradition is no more, having been effaced by the social and cultural forces of the modern world. Besides, the Malay culture of Southeast Asia never had the vast population and large geographical reach of the dominant regional powers of China and India. Yet Malay literature managed to exert an outsized, though limited, influence on the incomparably more widespread, lasting regional literatures for its richness from the way it "fused, adapted, transfigured, and indiginized" the varied influences it came into contact with as well as for the complex forms it worked over the course of its periods defined by Braginsky. One wishes for more samplings of Malay writings. But more would have made a large and dauntingly complete and learned book with an 80-page bibliography larger, though perhaps less daunting. No matter--ones solidly motivated to learn about Malay literature will gain from the work what they need to know for a full appreciation of its historical background, subjects, and forms, and for Western readers, its exoticism.