#32 - Arc of Containment: UK & US engagement in cold war Malaya & Singapore (with Ngoei Wen-Qing)

The Historyogi Podcast

When we think about Southeast Asia during the Cold War, we usually think just about Indochina and the Vietnam War. But British counterinsurgency strategies and engagement with nationalist elites in Malaya and Singapore also influenced America’s anti-communist policies in the region. Today, we speak to Associate Professor Ngoei Wen-Qing from the Singapore Management University about his book Arc of Containment. We discuss why Britain and America shared ideas on containing communist threats in Southeast Asia and how Singapore and Malaya managed the transition from British imperialism to American hegemony during the Cold War.