Books on Malaysia and Singapore
Gerard Kohl

Gerard Kohl[

Second hand books via (

New books via

Southeast Asia:

  • Thomas Davis & Brian Galligan (eds), human rights in Asia (2011)

Dawn Farnham, the hills of Singapore – a landscape of loss, longing and love (2011)

  • Donald J. Young, final hours in the pacific (2011) – on the Japanese defeat 1941-1942

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey – 150 new recipes evoking the flavours of the Far East (2009) – on TV shown by BBC2 2009

  • Peter Borschberg, the Singapore and Melaka straits – violence, security and diplomacy in the 17th century (2010)
  • P.L. Pham, ending east of Suez – the British decision to withdraw from Malaysia and Singapore 1964-1968 (2010).By 1964 the British presence in Malaysia/Singapore was the most expensive and biggest in the world, but within 4 years, it’s role east of the Suez was diminished to almost zero.

Kishore Mabhubani, New Asian hemisphere, the irrestistible shift of global power to the east (2008).Applauded in Asia, critisized in Europe and the US

Maya Khemlani David e.a., Language, identities and education in Asia: Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (2007)

  • K.S. Sandhu & A Mani (eds), Indian communities in Southeast Asia (2006)

Derek Tait, Sampans, banyans and rambutans – a childhood in Singapore and Malaya (2006) mid 50s

  • Stefan Eklof Amirell, pirates in paradise: a modern history of Southeast Asia’s maritime marauders (2006) piracy in the straits of Malacca
  • Christopher Bayly & Tim Harper, Forgotten armies, the fall of British Asia 1941-1945 (2005) –the effect of the Japanese attack of nationalist feelings of local Asian societies
  • Thomas de Angelo, Infinity and the South China Sea (Fourteen Stories) (2004)
  • Richard Nisbett, the geography of thought: how Asians and Westerners think differently…. And why (2004)
  • Peter Carey, my life as a fake (2003). novel.
  • G.W.H. Davison and Chew Yen Fook, A photographic guide to birds of peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (2003)
  • James Fahn, A land on fire: the environmental consequences of the Southeast Asian Boom (2003) – with examples of Thailand
  • Kishore Mahbubani, can Asians think? Understanding the divide between East and West (2002).
  • Ann M. Sabath, international business etiquette: Asia [print on demand] (2002)
  • Amitrav Ghosh, the glass palace (2000). Novel, a 100+ years of historyin the region van India till Malaysia.
  • Dean Foster, the global etiquette guide to Asia (2000)
  • Jonathan Rigg, more than the soil - Rural southeast Asia (2000). scientific
  • Victor Mallet, trouble with tigers, HarperCollins (2000). On the Asia crisis of 1998
  • Tiziano Terzani,: a fortune teller told me – earthbound travels in the far east (2002).
  • Louise Williams, Wives, mistresses and matriarchs: Asian Women today (1998)
  • Sanjyot P. Dunung, doing business in Asia: the complete guide (2nd ed) (1998)
  • Christopher Patten, East and West (1998). One chapter on Asian Values. In the 90s a popular concept to explain Southeast Asian economic success.
  • Ian Buruma, the Missionary and the Libertine, (1996)mostly on Japan, but one chapter on Singapore
  • V.S. Naipaul, Beyond Belief – islamic excursions among the converted people (1997). A sequel to ‘among the believers: an islamic journey (1979). Both with a large chapter on Malaysia .
  • Jonathan Rigg, Southeast Asia – the human landscape of modernization and development (1997). scientific
  • J.M. Gullick (ed), adventures and encounters: Europeans in South-East Asia (1996)
  • J. Naisbitt, Megatrends Asia. The eight asian megatrends that are changing the world.(1996). Asia optimism before the Asian crisis of 1998.
  • Chin-Ning Chu, Thick face, black heart: the Asian path to thriving, winning & succeeding (1995)
  • Stan Sesser, Lands of charm and cruelty: travels in Southeast Asia (1994) Not a typical travel book, this work goes to the heart of Southeast Asian politics, i.e.Burma, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and Borneo.
  • Chin-ning Chu, the Asian mind game (1991) unlocking the hidden agenda of the Asian business culture – a westerner’s survival manual
  • Ian Buruma, God’sdust – a modern Asian journey (1989). Buruma travelled through Asia and one of the 5 chapters of this erudite book is on Malaysia and Singapore.
  • Andrew Eames, crossing the shadow line (1986). A young englishman on his travels in Southeast Asia.
  • Charles Allen (ed), tales from the South China seas – images of the British in Southeast Asia in the twenthieth century (1983). Memoires of the last British colonists. Rajattitude with every day pathos.Real oral history.
  • V.S. Naipaul, among the believers, (1981) a must readl.
  • G. MacBeth, the Katana (1981) WO II thriller basedon the war diaries of John Beeby
  • C. Mary Turnbull, a short history of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (1980)
  • Syed Hussein Alatas: the myth of the lazy native (1977). Study on the image of Malays, Filipino’s en Javaneze from the 16th to the 20th century and the function of that concept in the ideology of colonial capitalism
  • Paul Theroux, the great railway bazaar (1975). Travelling by train in Asia, with a stopover in Kuala LumpurTreinreis door Azië, met een stop in Kuala Lumpur.
  • Joseph Conrad, Youth (1902) growing up in the Far East.

Internet Southeast Asia

  • of the Asian Tigers in 2008, according to The Economist
  • the Economist ( regurarly Southeast Asia articles
  • country information via Amnesty International( for example human rights reports on Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia
  • the Asian Crisis on the site of R. Roubini (What caused Asia's economic and currency crisis and its global contagion? (
  • Asian times
  • Time, Asia edition online
  • Asiaweek doesn’t exist anymore, but the archive 1995-2001 still online
  • ; online bookstore with Asian countries section

Malaysia:

  • Heide Munan e.a., Cultures of the World: Malaysia (2012)
  • Rani Manicka, the japanese lover (2010) from the author of the Rice Mother. Again a WOII book
  • Francine Linssen-Jansen & Jennifer Heal, Penang portraits (2010). Photobook with life stories
  • G.W.H. Davidson & Yeap Chin Aik, A Naturalist's Guide to the Birds of Malaysia and Singapore: including Sabah & Sarawak (Naturalists' Guides) (2010)
  • Milton E. Osborne, Southeast Asia: An Introductory History (2010)
  • William Eleroy Curtus, Egypt, Burma and British Malaysia (2010) from a end 19th century view
  • Susheela Raghavan, Flavors of Malaysia: A Journey Through Time, Tastes, and Traditions (2010)
  • Cecilia Tan, The Penang Nyonya Cookbook (2010) – on the spicey Malay-Chines cross over cuisine of Penang
  • Yeoh Seng Guan e.a., Penang and its region – the story of an Asian entrepot (2010)
  • Restaria F. Hutabarat, Commoditization of Migrant Domestic Workers: A Case Study of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia (2010)
  • Shamini Flint: Inspector Singh investigates: a most peculiar Malaysian murder (2010) | the Singaporeschool of Villainy (2010) locale detective
  • Aihwa Ong, Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia (2010)
  • Ghillie Basan & Terry Tan, Malaysian Kitchen (2010).
  • Shahid Yusuf and Kaoru Mabeshima, tigers under threat: the search for a new growth strategy by Malaysia and its southeast asian neighbors (2009)
  • Poh Yin Eng, Malaysia: the business traveller’s handbook (2009)
  • Kin Wah Chin, the defence of Malaysia and Singapore – the transformation of a security system 1957-1971 (2009)
  • Wong Seng Chow, rice wine & dancing girls: the real life drama of a roving cinema manager in 50s Malaysia and Singapore (2009)
  • Heide Munan, Culture shock! Malaysia – a survival guide to customs and etiquette [3rd edition] (2008).
  • Yoji Akashi (ed), new perspectives on the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore 1941-1945 (2008)
  • Victor King, Malaysia - the essential guide to customs & culture (2008)
  • Ooi Kee Beng, lost in Transition. Malaysia under Abdullah (2008) (39 essays)
  • Preeta Samarasan, evening is the whole day: a novel (2008) – Malay-Indian family saga in the 60s-80s. Impressive structure
  • David Chanderbali, Indian indenture in British Malaysia: the politics of policy and practice in the straits settlements (2008)
  • Aiden Glendinning, the changing face of Malaysia (2004) – an introduction of Malaysia, for 11 years onwards
  • Alberto Gomes, Modernity and Malaysia (2007) Edmund Gomez, politics in Malaysia, the Malay dimension (2008)
  • Kirk & karen Endicott, the headman was a moman, the gender egalitarian Batek of Malaysia (2007)
  • Ghillie Basan, the food and cooking of Malaysia and Singapore (2006). Basan wrote several books of the kitchen of Malaysia but also of a loot of other countries
  • Tan Twan Eng, the gift of rain (2007). Moral dilemma’s during WOII
  • Walter francois, presents Malaysia via
  • Salleh Hood, People and traditions - the encyclopedia of Malaysia (2007)
  • Tan Beng Hui, feminism and the women’s movement in Malaysia – kindle edition (2007)
  • Voyager Series (CD): Malaysia – Ghazal (2007) local music
  • Moviesof Amir Muhammad, o.a. the big durian (2003) and the in Malaysia forbidden movie “the last communist” (2006) and “village people radio show” (2007)
  • Movies of Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009), for example sepet (2004), mukhsin (2007)
  • Syed Ahmad Jamal, Crafts and the visual arts - the encyclopedia of Malaysia (2007)
  • Lonely Planet, Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei. Allround handbook
  • Victor King, Customs & Etiquette of Malaysia (2006)
  • Joel S. Kahn, other Malays: nationalism and cosmopoplitanism in the modern Malay World (2006)
  • Robert Porter, the Kuala Lumpur connection (2006) thriller
  • Hassan Osman Rani, the Economy - the encyclopedia of Malaysia (2006)
  • Francesca DiPiazza, Malaysia in pictures (2006) youth photo book
  • Ooi Kee Beng, era of transition, Malaysia after Mahathir (2006) 2 years of newspaper opinions
  • Ooi Kee Beng, the reluctant politician, Tun dr Ismael and his time. Biography of Abdul Rahman (1915-1973)
  • T.K. Taylor, sunset of the Empire in Malaya - A New Zealander's Life in the Colonial Education Service(2006).
  • Saw Swee-Hock & K Kesavapany, Singapore-malaysia relations under Abdullah Badawi (2006)
  • Peter Neville, the rose of Singare (2006, in 1999 verschenen als Awakeing of the Lion: Singapore). On the emergency period (1948-1960) in Malaya andSingapore)
  • Francesca di Piazza, Malaysia in Pictures (visual geography series) (2006). 80 pages for $28
  • Paul McGillick, 25 Tropical Houses in Singapore And Malaysia (2006
  • Tash Aw, the harmony silk factory (2006). WOII
  • Peter J. Schoomaker and John A. Nagl, learning to eat soup with a knife, counterinsurgency lessons from Malaya and Vietnam (2005),
  • John Chynoweth, hunting terrorists in the jungle (2005). Memoires of the Emergency (1948-1960)
  • The movie ‘puteri gunung ledang’ (2004on the Malay worrier Hang Tuah (15th century)
  • Andrew Greig, in another light (2004). Penang in the 30s
  • Wendy Moore, the magic of Malaysia (2004) 80p
  • Agnes Khoo, Life as the river flows (2004). 4 decades of oral history of female communistic guerrilla.
  • Virginia Matheson Hooker, ashort history of Malaysia - linking east and west (2004).
  • M. Bakri Musa & Karen E Musa: with love, from Malaysia (2004). 70s letters from a Canadian woman married with a Malay.
  • Wendy Khadjijah Moore, Malaysia, a pictorial history 1400-2004 (2004). Beautiful picture book
  • Margaret Shennan: out in the midday sun: the british in Malaya 1880-1960 (2004 new edition; orig. 2000). 80 years of British rule
  • Rani Manicka, the rice mother, (2003) a WOII novel
  • Mahbob Abdullah, Planter’s tales (2003)
  • Tim Bunnell, Malaysia, Modernity and the Multimedia Super Corridor, the construction of a high-tech city-region (2003) – scientific
  • Richard Gough, the jungle was red, SOE´s force 136, Sumatra and Malaya (2003) WOII
  • Wendy Khadijah Moore e.a., Malaysia: Portrait of a Nation (2003).
  • Ramesh Kuma Biswas (ed), Malaysia: riches from the golden lands /Rechtümer aus dem goldenen (2003) catalogues `
  • Catherine Lim, the song of Silver Frond (2003). novel
  • K.S. Maniam, between lives (2003)
  • Culture briefing: Malaysia – your guide to Malaysian culture and customs (2003). E-book via
  • M.BakriMusa, seeing Malaysia my way – essays (2003).
  • Alias Chin Peng, my side of history (2003). WOII, Malayan emergency en pre-1989 memoires of the guerilla leader Chin Peng
  • Tunku Halim, a children’s history of Malaysia (2003). Also a must read for adults
  • Karim Raslan, Ceritalah 2, journeys trough Southeast Asia (2002). Articles for Malaysia Abdul Razak Baginda, Malaysia in transition (2002)
  • M.BakriMusa, Malaysia in the era of globalization, 2002.
  • Asma Abdullah and Aric H.M. Low (eds) – Understanding the Malaysian Workforce – guidelines for managers (rev. ed) (2002)
  • Susan Keeney, Malay phrasebook (2002) – handig taalboekje
  • Barbara Watson Andaya, Leonard Y. Andaya, history of Malaysia (2001)
  • Julian Davison, one for the road – recollections of Singapore and Malaya (2001).
  • Richard Balkwill, Discovering Malaysia (1997) –youth book
  • Kon Yit Chin & Chen Voon Fee, Kuala Lumpur_ a sketch book (2001)
  • Vincent B.Y. Ooi (ed), evolving identities: the English language in Singapore and Malaysia (2006)
  • Johathan Moffatt ea, Moon over Malaya, a tale of Argylls and Marines (2001). On the british defence of Malaya en Singapore in WOII.
  • Lynn Witham, Culture Shock! Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at your door (2000).
  • Ziauddin Sardar, consumption of Kuala Lumpur (2000). On the transformation of KL to a postmodern metropool.
  • Yang-May Ooi, Mindgame (1999). thriller.
  • M.BakriMusa, Malay Dilemma, 1999.
  • Eric Lawlor, murder on the verandah: love and betrayal in British Malaya (1999). Half blood woman kills her lover. Based on a true story in 1911.Somerset Maugham ’s the Letter is also based on this same story.
  • The movie “Entrapment” (1999) with Sean Connery has been shot arount the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
  • Edmund Terence Gomez and K.S. Jomo, Malaysia’s political economy: politics, patronage and profits (1999)
  • Kok Wing Lim, hidden agenda (1998). How Malaysian politics really works (privatisations)
  • The movie ‘return to paradise’ (1998) has been shot on the isle of Penang.
  • Yang-May Ooi, the flame tree (1998). thriller
  • Hans Morgenthaler, impressions of the Siamese-Malayan jungle. Tin prospector’s adventures in Southern Thailand (1999)
  • Catherine Lim, The teardrop story woman (1998).
  • Abdullah Ali, Malaysian protocol & correct forms of adress (1997)
  • Copeland Marks, the exotic kitchens of Malaysia (1997)
  • Karim Raslan, Ceritalah – Malaysia in transition (1996). Collected columns (time bound).
  • Boo Teik Khoo, paradoxes of Mahathirism: an intellectual biography of Mahathir Mohamad (1996). Best book on dr M.
  • Richard Setlowe, the Black Sea (1991). cruise boot - thriller
  • K.S. Maniam’s short stories are to be found in haunting the tiger – contemporary stories from Malaysia (1996), Arriving and other stories (1995), Plot, the aborting, parablames & other stories (1989)
  • Jacqueline Pascarl-Gillespie, van once I was a princess (1995),. True story.a 17 year old ballarina marries a Malay prince in 1981.
  • Beth Yaph, the crocodile fury (1992), semi autobiographical
  • Joseph Lynch ea, Legends of Langkawi (1994) –photo book
  • Rehman Rashid, a Malaysian journey – the best available guide to the complexes and complexities of modern Malaysia (1993).
  • Ken Yeang, the architeacture of Malaysia (1993)
  • K.S. Maniam, in a far country (1993). Novel. Cultural friction beneath the Malaysian surface
  • Jean Falconer: woodsmoke and temple flowers: memories of Malaya (1992)
  • Beatrice Saubin, the ordeal: my ten years in a Malaysian prison (1992) translation of l’épreuve – condamnée à mort à 20 ans en Malasie . Autobiography . The 1995 sequel quand la porte s’ouvre.
  • Victor J. King and Michael J.G. Parnwell (eds), marings and minorites – the peripheral areas and peoples of Malaysia (1991)
  • Kay Kim Khoo, malay society. Transformation and democratisation. A stimulating and discerning study on the evolution of Malay society through the passage of time (1991)
  • G.E.D. Lewis, out east: in the Malay peninsula (1991). British teacher in Malaya
  • Junaidi Payne, Wild Malaysia: the wildlife and scenery of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, and Sabah (1990). Beautiful photobook
  • Ruud Spruit, the land of the sultans: illustrated history of Malaysia (1997).
  • Graham McEune, Sad Dogs and Englishmen (1987)
  • Denis Walls en Stella martin, in Malaysia (1986) – they were living 3 years in a Malay kampung
  • Jessie Wee, we live in Malaysia and Singapore (living here series) (1985) - presents various aspects of life in Malayasia and Singapore through interviews with twenty-six people representing different age groups, occupations, and regions.
  • David J. Banks, Malay Kinship (1983)
  • Claude Ollier, mon double à Malacca (1982)
  • Shahnon Ahmad, the third notch and other stories (1982) – daily life stories from Malaysia
  • Blanche d’Alpuget, turtle beach (1981).Winner Age book award 1981.
  • K.S. Maniam, the return (1981). Tamil plantatation youngster in the 50s (independence years) semi autobiographical
  • James Barclay, A Stroll Through Borneo (1980). a delightful tale of a long walk and river trip through Sarawak, Sabah and Kalimantan.
  • Lat, Kampung Boy (maleisië 1979), comic vertaald als Kampong Boy (2008). Klassiek stripverhaal dat het plattelandsleven uit de jaren 50 laat zien. sequel Town Boy (US 2007) is moving to the big city (ipoh)
  • Shannon Ahmad, no harvest but a thorn (1966) on the life of a small farmer in Malaysia
  • Paul Theroux, the consul’s file (1977)
  • East of Elephant Rock (movie of Don Boyd, 1977). Based on Somerset Maugham’s “the Letter”
  • Pat Barr, taming the Jungle; the men who made British Malaya (1977).
  • Iskandar Carey, Orang Asli (1976) detailled book on this indiginous people of the peninsula
  • Margaretha Ratnam, Penang (1973) with a lot of pictures
  • Sandokan 2010 rereleases: the two tigers, the tigers of Mompracem, the pirates of Malaysia, the king of the sea.
  • Anthony Burgess, the Malayan trilogy (1972), a.k.a. the long day wanes: a Malayan trilogy (1981). 3 early novels on Malaya in the 50s: time for a tiger (1956), the enemy in the blanket (1958), beds in the east (1959)
  • Noel Barber, the war of the running dog – the Malayan emergency 1948-1960 (1971). novel
  • Rosemary Firth, housekeeping among malay peasants (1966 2nd edition)
  • William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) wrote several short stories on British colonial life in Malaya and Borneo, prior to WOII : collected short stories, vol. 4 (1951/1975), Far eastern tales (1993) en more far eastern tales (2000). “the Narrow Corner” (1932)
  • Rampage (movie of Phil Karlson, 1963).
  • Judith Djamour, Malay kinship and marriage in Singapore (1959)
  • Frederick Spencer Chapman, the jungle is neutral (1949).
  • The Letter (movie of William Wyler, 1940).
  • James S. Lee, the underworld of the east: being eighteen years of actual experiences of the underworlds, drug haunts and jungles of India, China and Malaya (2000 re-print, orig: ca 1935).
  • Henri Fauconnier, Malaysia (translation of Malasia 1931) . Autobiography of 51 year old French rubber plantation owner.
  • Joseph Conrad, lord Jim (1900). Classic novel based on the life of Sarawak’s James Brooke
  • Isabella Bird, the golden chersonese and the way thither (oorsp 1883). 1879 Journey in the Malayan jungle
  • Alfred Russel Wallace, the Malay archipelago (1869). Journey in Malaya and Indonesia 1854-1862. Classic
    Internet Malaysia:
  • The Economist on 50 years of Malaysian Independence (2007):
  • over de positie van de ethnische Indiërs (2008)
  • Bahasa Malaysia
  • Malaysian food
  • online community for expats
  • Government controlled newspapaer The new straits times online
  • Opposition online newspaper Malaysia Kini online
  • Human Rights NGO Suaram
  • Malaysian NGO
  • Malaysian human rights organisation
  • media in Malaysia
  • – site on Temiar and Orang Asli (indigious groups)

Malaysian Borneo: Sarawak/Sabah