> Couldn't this also be termed the Boer War concentration-camp strategy but
> with a smiley face?
Absolutely. They are kissing cousins. The proof is in the execution, so to speak. And unfortunately usually what you get are uprooting, destruction of beloved homes, and concentration camps/strategic hamlets.
As I understand it, one of the many things that makes the Malaysian case unique is that the population they were trying to isolate -- the Chinese living on the edge of the cities, forming a geographic bridge between city and jungle that they wanted to turn into a firewall -- were living in very crappy housing that they had only recently arrived in, in shanty-town slums that had grown up during the war. So when the British moved half a million of them to newly-made villages, they weren't uprooting them, they were upgrading them, and the majority were honestly grateful for the better places. This is an extreme exception to the rule.
Michael