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POSTMORTEM ON MALAYA by Virginia Thompson

POSTMORTEM ON MALAYA

By

Publisher: Macmillan

The author of Thailand does an important book for background and reference in this appraisal of Malaya. But its value today is definitely for the student, as there is no news value in the material, no attempt to present the problems of today and tomorrow. It is a serious study of this country of many peoples, many administrations, whose fundamental weakness lies in lack of homogeneity. Inhabitants, geography, crops, tin and rubber (both previously over-produced and over-capitalized, bringing the country prosperity and poverty); the wartime trade boom, militarization, and the passive -- and inadequate -- defense measures. Proof here of English apathy, of the anchronistic crown colony system, of arbitrary administration. Limited market.