This study, based mainly on local documentary materials in the National Archives of Malaysia and its various branches, focuses on Malay-Muslim social life and the religious bureauracy in selected Malay states such as Johore during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya between 1941 and 1945. The study also looks at the memories of Malay-Muslims about various aspects of the occupation and the emotive issue of resistance and collaboration within this society. In presenting the Japanese policy towards Islam and the Malay-Muslims, the author shows that it was mainly a propaganda machinery to win a war in which neither Islam nor Malay-Muslims had any vested interest.

The Author:

Datuk Professor Dr Abu Talib Ahmad is Dean of the School of Humanities at Universiti Sains Malaysia and teaches modern Southeast Asian history, Japanese history and the Japanese Occupation in Southeast Asia. His research and publication interests include modern Burma, Japanese history, the Japanese Occupation of Malaya and Malaya’s social history.

Contents:
Acknowledgement
Tables
Plates
Figures
Glossary
Abbreviations

1. Introduction, Issues, Sources, Malay-Muslim Populations, 1941 – 45
2. Malay-Muslims and Memories of the Japanese Ocuupations, Memories of Japan and Japanese before 1942, Remembering the Invasion and the British Defeat, Remembering Wartime Economic Life, Malay-Muslims and Japanese Artocities, Memories of School Days, Rembering Watime Songs, Black Memories of Forced Labour, Memories of the Jikeidan and Village Mobilization, Rembering the Occupation in Yan District
3. Resistance, Collaboration and the Malay-Muslims, Loyalty and the Malay-Muslims before 1942, KMM and the Collaboration with Japan, Collaboration and Resistance during Wartime, The Malay Left and Collaboration, The Malay Right and Collaboration, The Malay Resistance, Popular Perceptions of Collaboration and Japan, The Who’s Who and the Biodata Balackout Syndrome
4. Marriage, Divorce and Religious Life among Malay-Muslims, Marriage and Divorce in Johore, Divorce Patterns, Divorce: Its Causes and the Reaction of the Religious Elite, Religious Life among Malay-Muslims, Religious Malaise: Reactions of the Religious Bureaucracy
5. The Religious Bureaucracy and Japanese Propaganda, The Johore Religious Bureaucracy in Wartime, The Reliogious Elite and Japanese Propaganda, The April 1943 Islamic Conference, The December 1944 Islamic Conference, The December 1944 Islamic Conference, Mosques, Surau and Japanese Propaganda

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index