| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Conflict and Confrontation in South East Asia, 1961–1965: Britain, the United States, and the Creation of Malaysia. By Matthew Jones. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. xxii, 325 pp. $60.00, ISBN 0-521-80111-7.)

Shortly before the state of Malaysia (formed from Malaya, two British-administered areas of northern Borneo, and Singapore) was officially proclaimed in September 1963, British prime minister Harold Macmillan confided that it was "much more difficult ... to get rid of an Empire than to win it" (p. 192). He was right. Macmillan was reacting to the complexities involved in the creation of Malaysia, as the British tried to forge the conditions that would allow them a graceful withdrawal from Southeast Asia. Instead, the establishment of Malaysia led to a low-level war with neighboring Indonesia, accusations of neocolonialism, and tensions with the United States.

As might be expected in a work by a student of the late Christopher Thorne, Matthew Jones's book is based on substantial archival research, is eminently fair to all sides, and is unusually well written. The lengthy introduction provides an excellent overview of British and American postures toward (predominantly insular) Southeast Asia from World War II to 1960. Jones then explores Indonesia's efforts to obtain West Irian from the Netherlands. John F. Kennedy, influenced by Averell Harriman, reversed his predecessor's position and supported Indonesia, hoping to mitigate Indonesia's shrill anti-Westernism.

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