Customer Reviews

The War of the Running Dogs: The Malayan Emergency : 1948-1960: Malayan Emergency

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I was hesitant about purchasing this book but there really is nothing out there on the Malayan insurgency. What makes this even worse is that this is the most often cited counter-insurgency success, and there is nothing written about it. So unfortunately there seems to be no one that knows why it was a success. Here is where this book comes into play, and a good reason to purchase the book.

The book does a wonderful job on breaking down all the players in this war, what they did and why. He also looks at the different ethnicities and their motivations for supporting the Communists or British. I have to disagree with the other reviewer this book was a wonderful read and not boring at all, even for a history book. I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next (i.e. it was addictive to read).

On the negatives, this book was written in the '60's (so a little dated), and it is written with an nostalgia tone of the old imperial Britain and its greatness. It ruffled my feathers a bit in the begging but later he tries to correct this tone and for the time period the author really goes out of his to make a case for the other people that were living in this country at the time, their plight and living standards.

Overall this book does a wonderful job showing why the counterinsurgency in Malaysia was a success. It is unfortunate the circumstances that brought this book back into circulation, but it is a forgotten work that deserves to be recognized for its contribution to the counterinsurgency, insurgency, terrorism and Malayan history. A very good read.

Noel Barber's fantastic book, one
of the absolute best on counterinsurgency,
ever, is a profound explication of one of the
historical truths of guerrilla war:
In guerrilla war, political superiority defeats military superiority.
The Chinese communists never could have prevailed--the Brits forged
a strategy for victory in guerrilla war in Malaya from day one
that reinforced the already-formidable political power which the
Malay Muslims had from jumpstreet.

The many bold, pragmatic lessons won in blood in Malaya from 1948-1960
are laid out left, right and center in this great book, which should
be required reading at West Point, the US Naval Academy, the US Air Force
Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, and at every war college.

It is also just a damn fine read, and would be a welcome addition to any
History Department and English Department, worldwide. Bravo, Noel Barber.

long life and blue skies,
Mike Tucker
Counterterrorism Specialist and Author
Logar, Afghanistan 18 April, 2009

First published in 1971 (the year of my birth), The War of the Running Dogs is a history of the battle between communist insurgents in Malaya and the British government of the time. The timeline of the book runs from 1948-1960.

The text is dry, to say the least, which made the book less than palatable to me. I had a hard time reading this book, but felt that it was an important piece of history that I should digest.

I was right. Many of the ideas expressed by administrators and progenitors of The War of the Running Dogs are still in use today. A perfect example of this is found on page 179 when author Noel Barber discusses a slogan that became famous during the war, "The battle for the hearts and minds of the people."

It is a slogan I've heard bandied about more than once during my own war here in Iraq.
One of the central characters in War of the Running Dogs is Bob Thompson, a highly placed government administrator who comes up with the idea that common people should be able to receive tours of how the war is being conducted. The idea is a very successful one - one that should work again and again throughout the ages. Modern wars are won or lost now based on public opinion more than any other single factor.

Often times, this book is less of a war novel than it is an ode to competent bureaucracy. While bureaucracy is a necessary evil, it isn't a glamorous thing, and I find reading about the exploits of bureaucrats rather boring. On the other hand, the struggle between colonial imperialism leading to a form of capitalism versus communism leading who knows where is historically significant.

The War of the Running Dogs reiterates a point that has been made personally clear to me in recent years - while I might have disagreements with the government in charge, I certainly wouldn't want to trade it for a bunch of murdering thugs who don't even pretend to care about rule of law. Terrorism is not a valid or morally sound form of political expression, and is not a realistic method of toppling a government unless it can maintain popular support from a large majority of the citizenry.

The Communist terrorists in Malaya fail on many levels by combining wanton brutality with bribery, blackmail and bombastic bamboozlers as representatives. This makes it almost impossible for the British government working in conjunction with Malayan sultans and Chinese locals to fail.

Both the insurgents and the reigning bureaucrats promise independence for the nation and in the end, British bureaucracy wins the day. One point that author keeps reiterating is that the British masterstroke was insisting on civilian rule even in wartime (this despite the fact that Churchill chooses a general to run the war).

In the end, the war was won largely because the British offered a better more benevolent method of rule than their would be competitors who time and again proved that they would resort to brutality and horrific acts of violence against the general population of Malaya in order to try and achieve power.

The same cycle seems to be playing out again here in Iraq. The most interesting aspect of War of the Running Dogs has been the parallels between what happened 50 years ago and what is happening now while I watch and participate.

Dry reading, but historically significant, The War of the Running Dogs will appeal to history buffs and government administrators but not many others.

"Running dogs", in this context, was the Communist epithet for the British, or the police, or, more generally, anti-Communists. ("Dog" is an insult in China, and "capitalist running dog" became a favorite Maoist curse.) "The War of the Running Dogs" was the Communist insurgency in Malaya, which lasted from June 1948 to July 1960, first against the British protectorate and then, after August 1957, against the newly independent Federation of Malaya.

The War of the Running Dogs is now little-known in the United States, in large part because here it was eclipsed first by the Korean War and then by Indochina. It should be better known. Among the Communist/nationalist insurrections of South-east Asia of the 1940's and `50s, the Malayan one arguably had the greatest strategic significance, given the geopolitical importance of Singapore. Second, unlike what happened in Indochina, in Malaya the Communist challenge to Western democracy was repelled. And third, in doing so, the British developed and employed principles of counter-insurgency that contrasted with how the French and Americans proceeded in Viet Nam.

In THE WAR OF THE RUNNING DOGS, British journalist Noel Barber tells the story of the Malayan insurrection in a lively, moderately journalistic fashion. On a few occasions he underscores the contrasts between Malaya and Viet Nam, insinuating that the British were smarter than were the Americans (but without ever really discussing what the differences between the two situations might have been).

The Communist insurgency was a guerilla war, waged by at most 5- to 8,000 "liberation" troops operating out of jungle camps. In the first few years, the guerillas employed savage terrorist tactics against native Malays and Chinese as well as British planters, miners, and police, as they tried to bully and intimidate civilians into supporting them and resisting the British and the Malay sultans. (As a result, the guerillas became known as "CTs" - i.e., Communist Terrorists.) And even though the campaign of the CTs lasted twelve years, the conflict never was officially called a "war" or "civil war". Instead, it was known among the British as the "Malayan Emergency". Had it been declared a war, losses incurred by commercial interests (primarily rubber plantations and mining operations) would not have been covered by Lloyd's of London insurance.

Among the counter-insurgency measures or policies that Barber discusses were 1) the British determination that "on no account must the armed forces have control over the conduct of the war," inasmuch as this was "a war of political ideologies" and it was imperative that the normal workaday government be perceived as stable and functioning; 2) a resolution that it was "better to police villages than to destroy them"; and 3) a general policy that as many citizens as possible be given a direct and tangible economic stake in successfully repelling the Communists (a major example of this being the relocation of 600,000 ethnic Chinese squatters from land on the fringes of the jungle, where they were highly vulnerable to the CTs, to newly constructed villages on arable land to which they held leasehold interests and had access for the first time to schools and Western medicine). But the practice that to me was the most interesting was the determination to "tell the truth" in "propaganda" - something that proved to be instrumental not only in engendering and strengthening the loyalty of the non-combatant citizenry but also in encouraging defections among the CTs.

THE WAR OF THE RUNNING DOGS constitutes my education on the Malayan Emergency. It is squarely within the genre of "popular history." I would be interested in reading something more analytical that compares the situation that the British faced in Malaya with what the French and the Americans faced in Viet Nam. If anyone has any recommendations, I would be grateful.

A fascinating account of the war against Communism in Malaysia (1948-1960). How the heroic Malays, Chinese, Philipino, Indian, and British forces defeated the Communist Terrorist incursion on the Malay Peninsula. Win the hearts and minds of the people and you'll win the war. Well written, interesting, exciting. Never a dull page.

I got this on time and the seller was very good in getting it to me.

A book that should be read by any national policy maker before placing our noble women and men of our armed forces in harms way!