科研成果 by Year: 2018

2018
Xie K. The Netherlands East Indies 1926 Communist Revolt Revisited: New Discoveries from Singapore’s Digital Newspaper Archives. In: Chapters on Asia. Singapore: National Library Board; 2018. pp. 267-294. 访问链接Abstract
Many historians consider the 1926/27 PKI Uprisings as important precursors of Indonesia’s nationalist movement, which ultimately led to the country’s independence. When it comes to the actual course of events, however, existing narratives tend to describe the abortive revolts as ill-prepared, poorly organised and easily suppressed – and consequently, of limited impact in shaking the foundation of the Dutch colonial regime. It is also commonly understood that in the aftermath of the rebellions, dutch authorities dealt a crushing blow to the pki and its associated organisations by carrying out large-scale arrests, imprisonments, executions, and banishments. Beyond these facts, however, very little attention has been paid to the deeper meanings that the revolt revealed. as the following sections will demonstrate, the movement created enormous anxiety in the NEI which forced the Dutch colonial government to act with a strong hand. moreover, with frequent exchanges of information and personnel across the Malacca Straits, the NEI uprisings also generated considerable uneasiness in British Malaya.
Xie K. Review of The Men Who Lost Singapore, 1938-1942, by Ronald McCrum. Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia [Internet]. 2018;174(1):36-37. 访问链接Abstract
Britain’s loss of its Southeast Asian colonies during World War Two (WWII), especially the fall of Malaya and Singapore, is a relatively well-studied topic. While existing scholarship has covered the military failure in great detail, researchers have not paid equal attention to the disorganization of the colonial administration, which played a no less important role in the years leading up to the defeat. Based on his meticulous research in British archives, Ronald McCrum has filled the gap by scrutinizing the ‘irresponsible and incompetent’ behaviors of the civilian authorities. He argues that by pursuing different priorities, the colonial government failed to take necessary measures to counter the growing threat of the Japanese. Besides the fact that the British civilian administration was in disarray within itself, their poor relationship with the military also greatly hindered joint efforts to augment the defense against the imminent invasion, which ultimately led to astonishing casualties when the war broke out.