‘“Independence or Death”? Rank and File Recruitment, Ideology and Desertion During the Wars of Decolonization in Indonesia and Malaysia, ca. 1945-1950’

This chapter’s main aim is to reintroduce dynamism into debates on insurgent recruitment and desertion by highlighting insurgents’ temporary alliances with the forces of both incumbent and insurgent forces. It analyses peoples’ motivations to take up arms during the wars of decolonization in Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite insurgent leaders’ insistence on ubiquitous anti-colonial fervour, insurgents’ personal experiences show the motivational limits of ideology. Access to food or personal advancement equally placed ‘normal’ people alongside long-time nationalists and revolutionized youths. In this context, violence made sense: it, too, pushed into activism people in search of safety. Lastly, the chapter examines insurgent organization cohesion. Circumstances that prompted recruitment caused desertion, too, but when insurgent cells were threatened by colonial forces. The motivation to desert was multiplied where insurgents fell out with their superiors.