Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia, 1961–1965

In the early 1960s, Britain and the United States were still trying to come to terms with the powerful forces of indigenous nationalism unleashed by the Second World War. The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation - a crisis which was, as Macmillan remarked to Kennedy, 'as dangerous a situation in Southeast Asia as we have seen since the war' - was a complex test of Anglo-American relations. As American commitment to Vietnam accelerated under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Britain was involving herself in an 'end-of-empire' exercise in state-building which had important military and political implications for both nations. In this book Matthew Jones provides a detailed insight into the origins, outbreak and development of this important episode in international history; using a large range of previously unavailable archival sources, he illuminates the formation of the Malaysian federation, Indonesia's violent opposition to the state and the Western Powers' attempts to deal with the resulting conflict.

Review of the hardback: '… this book is a highly commendable and competent piece of original research. It is an important record of the contemporary events which have shaped modern Southeast Asia, throwing light on a period of flux and conflict that the present can relate to given recent events in Indonesia.' International Affairs, Review of the hardback: 'Seldom, I believe, can a reviewer by accident have the opportunity to confirm that the quotations and other details are accurate, and that the analysis is sound. Readers will find a fresh and revealing account of the conflict between Malaysia and Singapore as well as the uneasy relations between the leaders of the two countries, the Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew. … As a study in international history, Conflict and Confrontation is worthy of Thorne's own Allies of a Kind.' The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Review of the hardback: '… it is hard to see any treatment of British and American strategies surpassing this excellent study.' Diplomacy and Statecraft, Review of the hardback: 'Jones has written a readable, well-researched piece of work, with an intelligent and convincing line of analysis and a good eye for detail.' The International History Review, Review of the hardback: 'This is a massive and important work of scholarship.' Near Eastern Studies