ABSTRACT

The nationalist movements in Cambodia and Laos gained momentum in the last months of Second World War. By 1942 the Buddhist institute had become the hotbed of the Cambodian nationalist movement, organizing demonstrations and distributing political literature. Shortly after the war, reaction to a new British policy created a strong Malay nationalist movement. In June 1948, the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), consisting overwhelmingly of the ethnic Chinese and under the leadership of Chen Ping, began an insurgency, attacking miners, planters, and officials irrespective of their ethnic origin. The Communists were partly successful in achieving the first stage of the three-part revolutionary plan and were able to rule over some territories for a while. The MCP's strategy was to destroy the British economic base, occupy certain areas, and raise an army, which would then lead the masses in a countrywide revolution. The MCP may have been inspired to launch the revolt by the Communists on mainland China.