The present paper examines Timothy Mo‘s rendition and analysis of the discourses of decolonization politics in his novel The Redundancy of Courage (1991), which fictionalizes the drama of the newly independent nation of Danu, actually a thinly disguised version of East Timor. The novel presents the colonial and postcolonial history of the island of Danu, focusing on the factionalist nature of post-independence politics which leads to chaos and civil war. The author is particularly concerned with the linguistic, psychological and emotional potency of the discourses of nationhood, self-government and socialism propounded by the prevailing governing force of Danu, and dissects the symbiotic relationship between language, stance and image in ideological argumentation and persuasion. Even if the narrator is a sympathizer of the fledgling socialist government of the island, he ironically comments on the manipulation tactics and discursive strategies of nationalistic utopianism, often disingenuously meant to conceal the crudity of mere power politics. However, the discourse of the nation is favourably compared and contrasted with the far more pernicious manipulations of the neo-colonial discourses deployed to justify the invasion and re-colonization of Danu by the neo-imperialistic forces in the region, supported by the vested interests of Western capital.