The collection’s editor writes:
Southeast Asian history and historiography would be greatly handicapped if the writings of Nicholas Tarling were removed from the increasingly expanding literature. The reading list has increased several folds since the early 1950s when Southeast Asian history was beginning to emerge as a serious area of scholarly research and writing. Nonetheless the works of the pioneering batch of scholars have remained relevant more than half a century since their publications. These books and articles have attained ‘classic’ status, never failing to be listed in students’ ‘required reading lists’.
Peter Nicholas Tarling (b. 1931), currently emeritus professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, figured among those whose works possessed a long shelflife. By mid-2009, the indefatigable Tarling had authored or edited close to forty books and more than ninety scholarly journal articles. By critically scrutinizing and analysing British imperial designs on the region, Tarling has contributed significantly to the historiography of Southeast Asia as Great Britain was a major player, if not the dalang (puppeteer) of events and developments on the geopolitical stage.
Tarling’s corpus of works, specifically his papers published in scholarly journals, is an essential guide to all those seeking to understand the politics and history of Southeast Asia.
Volume I: The Superintendence of British Interests in Southeast Asia
Part 1: Empire and Nation States
1. ‘The Superintendence of British Interests in South-East Asia in the Nineteenth Century’, Journal of Southeast Asian History, 1966, 7, 1, 97–110.
2. ‘The Establishment of the Colonial Regimes, in The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, Vol. II, ed. N. Tarling (Cambridge University Press, 1992), pp. 5–78.
3. ‘Imperialism and State-building in Southeast Asia’, The Eleventh James C. Jackson Memorial Lecture, 5 July 2000, Malaysia Society of Asian Studies Association of Australia.
4. ‘British Attitudes and Policies on Nationalism and Regionalism’, in The Transformation of Southeast Asia: International Perspectives on Decolonization, eds. Marc Frey, Ronald W. Pruessen, and Tan Tai Yong (M. E. Sharpe, 2003), pp. 127–41.
Part 2: Wars and Occupation
5. ‘The World Wars and the British in Southeast Asia’, New Zealand Journal of History, 1993, 27, 1, 3–15.
6. ‘The Japanese Occupation of Southeast Asia’, Sejarah, 2001, 9, 1–19.
7. ‘The Impact of the Korean War on Southeast Asia’, in Reflections on Southeast Asian History Since 1945, eds. Richard Mason and Abu Talib Ahmad (Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2006), pp. 94–108.
Part 3: Historians and Historiography
8. ‘The British Empire in South-East Asia’, in The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol. V (‘Historiography’), ed. Robin W. Winks (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 403–15.
9. ‘The Historians of Southeast Asia’, in Seeking Alternative Perspectives of Southeast Asia, eds. Andrew T. H. Tan, Michael L. R. Smith, and Khoo Kay Kim (Perak Academy, Malaysia, 2004), pp. 33–51.
10. ‘Some Perspectives on Southeast Asian Historiography’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1995, 68, 2, 53–7.
Volume II: Diplomacy and Pragmatism: Britain and the Kingdom of Thailand
Part 4: Britain and Siam in the Mid-Nineteenth Century
11. ‘Siam and Sir James Brooke’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1960, 48, 2, 43–72.
12. ‘The Mission of Sir John Bowring to Siam’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1962, 50, 2, 91–118.
13. ‘The Bowring Mission: The Mellersh Narrative’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1975, 63, 1, 105–26.
14. ‘Harry Parkes’ Negotiations in Bangkok in 1856’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1965, 53, 2, 153–80.
Part 5: Britain and Thailand in the Mid-Twentieth Century
15. ‘King Prajadhipok and the Apple Cart: British Attitudes Towards the 1932 Revolution’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1976, 64, 2, 1–38.
16. ‘Atonement Before Absolution: British Policy Towards Thailand During World War II’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1978, 66, 1, 22–65.
17. ‘Rice and Reconciliation: The Anglo-Thai Peace Negotiations of 1945’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1978, 66, 2, 59–111.
18. ‘An Attempt to Fly in the Face of the Ordinary Laws of Supply and Demand: The British and Siamese Rice’, Journal of the Siam Society, 1987, 75, 140–86.
Volume III: ‘A New and A Better Cunning’: British Policy towards Indo-china and Burma
Part 6: On Indo-China
19. ‘British Policy Towards Siam, Cambodia and Vietnam, 1842–1858’, Asian Studies, 1966, 4, 2, 240–58.
20. ‘British Relations with Vietnam, 1822–1858’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1966, 39, 1, 19–51.
21. ‘The British and the First Japanese Move into Indo-China’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1990, 21, 1, 35–65.
22. ‘Vietnam: Some Historical Viewpoints’, World Review, 1965, 4, 3, 3–12.
Part 7: Post-war Burma
23. ‘"A New and A Better Cunning": British Wartime Planning for Post-war Burma, 1942–3’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1982, 13, 1, 33–59.
24. ‘"An Empire Gem": British Wartime Planning for Post-war Burma, 1943–4’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1982, 13, 2, 310–48.
25. ‘Lord Mountbatten and the Return of Civil Government to Burma’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 1983, 11, 2, 197–226.
26. ‘The British and the Kuomintang Troops in Burma, 1950–1952’, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 2000, 2, 1, 40–64.
27. ‘The British and the Kuomintang Troops in Burma, 1952–1954’, Kinabalu: Journal of Business & Social Sciences, 2003, 9, 1–19.
28. ‘Aung San and Burma (Myanmar) Fifty Years On’, Southeast Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2001–2, 3, 1–2, 65–70.
Volume IV: ‘The Merest Pustule’ and Other Concerns: Britain and the Malay Peninsula
29. ‘British Policy in Malayan Waters in the Nineteenth Century’, in Papers on Malayan History, ed. K. G. Tregonning (Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 73–88.
30. ‘The Prince of Merchants and the Lion City’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1964, 37, 1, 20–40.
31. ‘Malaya in British History’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1989, 62, 1, 11–20.
32. ‘Intervention and Non-intervention in Malaya’, Journal of Asian Studies, 1962, 21, 4, 523–7.
33. ‘The "Kim Eng Seng"’, Journal of South East Asian History, 1963, 4, 1, 103–14.
34. ‘Pirates and Convicts: British Interest in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Mid-century’, Journal of Indian History, 1960, 37, 3, 505–26.
35. ‘"The First Pharos of the Eastern Seas": The Construction of the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1994, 67, 1, 1–8.
36. ‘"The Merest Pustule": The Singapore Mutiny of 1915’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1982, 55, 2, 26–59.
37. ‘Miss Upcott Not at Home’, Kabar Seberang, 1992, 23, 105–22.
38. ‘Malaysia and the Early Years of ZOPFAN’, Sarjana, 2009, 24, 1, 1–12.
Volume V: ‘The Burthen, the Risk, and the Glory’: Britain and its Territories in Borneo
Part 8: Britain and Borneo
39. ‘Sir James Brooke and Brunei’, Sarawak Museum Journal, 1963, 11, 21–2, 1–12.
40. ‘The Entrepot at Labuan and the Chinese’, in Studies in the Social History of China and South-East Asia, eds. J. Ch’en and N. Tarling (Cambridge University Press, 1970), pp. 355–73.
41. ‘Britain and Brunei in the Nineteenth Century’, Journal of the University of Singapore Historical Society, 1970, 12–18.
42. ‘Borneo and British Intervention in Malaya’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1974, 5, 2, 159–65.
43. ‘Britain and Sarawak in the Twentieth Century: Raja Charles, Raja Vyner and the Colonial Office’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1970, 43, 2, 25–52.
44. ‘Sir Cecil Clementi and the Federation of British Borneo’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1971, 44, 2, 1–34.
45. ‘The Brookes and the British Government’, in From Buckfast to Borneo: Essays Presented to Father Robert Nicholl on the 85th Anniversary of His Birth, eds. V. T. King and A. V. M. Horton (University of Hull, 1995), pp. 253–9.
46. ‘Brooke Rule in Sarawak and its Principles’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1992, 65, 15–26.
47. ‘Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak: An Imperial Legacy’, in IAHA 2000 Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia, eds. Ahmat Adam and Law Yew Meng (Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 2003), pp. 173–83.
48. ‘Mat Salleh and Krani Usman’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985, 16, 1, 46–68.
Part 9: Memoirs, Biographies, and Historiography of British Borneo
49. ‘St John’s Biography of Sir James Brooke’, Sarawak Museum Journal, 1990, 41, 62, 255–76.
50. ‘Sir James Brooke: A New Biography. Some Comments’, Sarawak Museum Journal, 1981, 29, 50, 137–41.
51. ‘Spenser St John and his "Life in the Forests of the Far East"’, Sarawak Museum Journal, 1975, 23, 44, 293–305.
52. ‘Some Notes on the Historiography of British Borneo’, in Southeast Asian History and Historiography: Essays Presented to D. G. E. Hall, eds. C. D. Cowan and O. W. Wolters (Cornell University Press, 1976), pp. 285–95.
53. ‘Further Notes on the Historiography of British Borneo’, Borneo Research Bulletin, 2005, 26, 213–28.
54. ‘Perspectives and Problems in the Historiography of Brunei’, in Constructing A National Past, ed. Putu Davies (Universiti Brunei Darussalam, 1996), pp. 68–77.
Volume VI: ‘When the Old Lady Dies’: Britain, the Netherlands East Indies, and Indonesia
Part 10: Britain and the Malay Archipelago, c. 18th–19th Centuries
55. ‘The Relationship Between British Policies and the Extent of Dutch Power in the Malay Archipelago, 1781–1871’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 1958, 4, 2, 179–92.
56. ‘The Annexation of the Cocos-Keeling Islands’, Historical Studies, 1959, 8, 32, 400–4.
57. ‘The Palmer Loans’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 1963, 119, 2.
Part 11: Britain, The Netherlands East Indies, and Portuguese East Timor
58. ‘"A Vital British Interest": Britain, Japan and the Security of Netherlands India during the Inter-war Years’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1978, 9, 2, 180–218.
59. ‘"When the Old Lady Dies": Britain and the Security of Netherlands East Indies, 1939–1941’, The Southeast Asian Review, 1977, 2, 1, 51–81; 1978, 3, 1, 41–72.
60. ‘Britain, Portugal and East Timor in 1941’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1996, 27, 1, 132–8.
61. ‘"Some Rather Nebulous Capacity": Lord Killearn’s Appointment in Southeast Asia’, Modern Asian Studies, 1986, 20, 3, 559–600.
Part 12: Britain and the Republic of Indonesia
62. ‘"Ah-Ah": Britain and the Bandung Conference of 1955’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1992, 23, 1, 74–111.
63. ‘Towards West Irian?’, World Review, 1962, 1, 1, 17–26.
64. ‘"Cold Storage": British Policy and the Beginnings of the Irian Barat/West New Guinea Dispute’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2000, 46, 2, 175–93.
65. ‘Indonesia after Soeharto’, in Indonesia after Soeharto (New Zealand Asia Institute, University of Auckland, 1999), pp. 11–14.
66. ‘Suharto: Father of Development?’, New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 2002, 4, 2, 183–92.
67. ‘From Machiavelli to Soedjatmoko’, Satadal, 1961, 3, 19–24.
Volume VII: ‘A Prompt Gesture of Goodwill’: Britain and the Philippines
68. ‘Some Aspects of British Trade in the Philippines in the Nineteenth Century’, The Journal of History, 1963, 11, 3–4, 287–327.
69. ‘Consul Farren and the Philippines’, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1965, 37, 2, 258–73.
70. ‘Rizal, Aguinaldo and North Borneo’, The New Zealand Journal of History, 1975, 9, 2, 179–83.
71. ‘Quezon and the British Commonwealth’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 1977, 23, 2, 182–206.
72. ‘"A Prompt Gesture of Goodwill": Anglo-Philippine Relations after the Second World War’, Filipinas, 1985, 27–51.
