Scholars commonly regard the Comintern as having played a critical role in the emergence of the communist movement in late-colonial Malaya. When discussing the Comintern’s early influence, existing scholarships often use the arrest of Joseph Ducroux — alias Serge Lefranc, a French agent of the Comintern — in Singapore in June 1931 to illustrate the Comintern-China-Malaya connection. Additionally, historians have attached special meanings to the Ducroux Case, primarily because of the more significant repercussions it caused internationally. Laurent Metzger has conducted detailed research on Ducroux’s arrest in and eventual exile from Singapore between 1931 and 1932. While such an account is useful in demonstrating the incident’s international significance, little is known as to what immediate impression it created in the cosmopolitan port city. Moreover, it is also unclear how Singapore’s general public perceived communism when communist organizations had yet firmly established themselves in the British colony. This article seeks to make sense of such issues by investigating how the Singapore press reported on the Ducroux Case.

Geoffrey Robinson’s The Killing Season is one of the most-awaited books by the Southeast Asian studies community in 2018. The 456-page monograph explores in great detail the anti-communist massacres of Indonesia in 1965-66 and the long-term repercussions in the following decades. As one of the worst human atrocities in the 20th century, the mass killing led to the death of some half a million real and alleged communist members and sympathizers. After more than 50 years, however, reflections on this tragic event are far from sufficient. Although academic work in recent years spurred growing discussions within small circles, the mass violence has not received adequate attention from the international audience. Worse still, a troubling silence permeates Indonesia even today, as many of those who committed the atrocities have stayed in power. While victims struggled to find viable ways to pursue justice, numerous murderers managed to get away with impunity.

一些研究者常常把东南亚共产主义运动的起源与中国及华人群体对该地区的影响联系在一起,但"中国向东南亚输出早期共产主义"的简单论断是存在严重谬误的。在有关东南亚早期共运的讨论中,种族问题极具争议,突出表现为海外华人在共产主义革命中扮演了多样且矛盾的角色。本文以多层次的"中国性"为切入口,探讨早期东南亚共运的复杂性,其中既包括中国革命对东南亚革命者的思想启发,也包括华人在其中所扮演的马克思主义传播者的角色。本研究将共产主义运动在中国的兴起作为基本的参考坐标,就荷属东印度群岛、法属印度支那、英属马来亚,以及从未被欧洲殖民的泰国进行对比。本文不遵循严格的时间顺序行文,也无意对上述地区逐个展开分析,而是着重探讨以下三个相互关联的主题:（1）东方殖民地与半殖民地相似的反帝斗争路线;（2）东南亚对中国革命经验的借鉴与变通;（3）民族主义运动与"中国性"及"华人性"之间的矛盾。