Malaysian history might well have been very different if any of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leadership had studied military history. Had they done so they would have learned that a guerrilla war can only hope to succeed if it is strongly supported by an outside power. In the first Malayan Emergency of 1948-1960 the CPM leadership based their strategy on the absurdly inappropriate example of China in the 1930s and 1940s and were soundly defeated. In the Second Emergency in the 1970s, still without the strong support in arms, equipment and trained military manpower from an ally that...

In this book he has had the benefit of access to secret Special Branch records and it will certainly take its place as the first, and at present the only, account of the revived Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) attempt to subvert, undermine and terrify a firmly established Malaysia. The role of the Special Branch in defeating every Communist move in this twenty year campaign was of paramount importance and Dr Leong himself played a leading part in all the operations that gradually strangled every twist and turn of Communist planning and active operations. He begins by contrasting the...

"China is a sleeping Dragon - let her sleep" is a saying attributed to the ever prescient Napoleon, though one cannot find the saying amongst the Emperor's judgments. True or not the dragon is now certainly awake and China, vast, mysterious and potentially all-powerful is the background to Scorpio's most recent adventure. Essentially this is the story of how he located two relatives living in an obscure village in the extreme south of China and managed to bring them safely to Malaysia despite all the difficulties and dangers of an epic escape. But as background of the story is his impressions...