Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War[1] (1948–1960), was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces of the Federation of Malaya, British Empire and Commonwealth. The communists fought to win independence for Malaya from the British Empire and to establish a socialist economy, while the Malayan Federation and Commonwealth forces fought to combat communism and protect British economic and colonial interests.[2][3][4] The term "Emergency" was used by the British to characterise the conflict in order to avoid referring to it as a war, because London-based insurers would not pay out in instances of civil wars.[5]
The war began on 17 June 1948, after Britain declared a state of emergency in Malaya following attacks on plantations,[6] which had been revenge attacks for the killing of left-wing activists.[7] Leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) Chin Peng and his allies fled into the jungles and formed the MNLA to wage a war for national liberation against British colonial rule. Many MNLA fighters were veterans of the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), a communist guerrilla army previously trained, armed and funded by the British to fight against Japan during World War II.[8] The communists gained support from many civilians, mainly those from the Chinese community.[9] The communists' belief in class consciousness, and both ethnic and gender equality, inspired many women and indigenous people to join both the MNLA and its undercover supply network the Min Yuen.[10] Additionally, hundreds of former Japanese soldiers joined the MNLA.[11] After establishing a series of jungle bases the MNLA began raiding British colonial police and military installations. Mines, plantations, and trains were attacked by the MNLA to gain independence for Malaya by bankrupting the British occupation.
The British attempted to starve the MNLA using scorched earth policies through food rationing, killing livestock, and aerial spraying of the herbicide Agent Orange.[16] British attempts to defeat the communists included extrajudicial killings of unarmed villagers, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.[17] The most infamous example is the Batang Kali massacre, which the press has referred to as "Britain's My Lai".[a] The Briggs Plan forcibly relocated between 400,000 and 1,000,000 civilians into concentration camps called "New villages".[22][23][24] Many Orang Asli indigenous communities were also targeted for internment because the British believed that they were supporting the communists.[25][26]
Although the emergency was declared over in 1960, communist leader Chin Peng renewed the insurgency against the Malaysian government in 1968. This second phase of the insurgency lasted until 1989.
Communist guerrilla strategies[edit]
The Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) employed guerrilla tactics, attacking military and police outposts, sabotaging rubber plantations and tin mines, while also destroying transport and communication infrastructure.[36] Support for the MNLA mainly came from the 3.12 million ethnic Chinese then living in Malaya, many of whom were farmers living on the edges of the Malayan jungles and had been politically influenced by both the Chinese Communist Revolution and the resistance against Japan during WWII. Their support allowed the MNLA to supply themselves with food, medicine, information, and provided a source of new recruits.[37] The ethnic Malay population supported them in smaller numbers. The MNLA gained the support of the Chinese because the Chinese were denied the equal right to vote in elections, had no land rights to speak of, and were usually very poor.[38] The MNLA's supply organisation was called the Min Yuen (People's Movement). It had a network of contacts within the general population. Besides supplying material, especially food, it was also important to the MNLA as a source of intelligence.[39]
The MNLA's camps and hideouts were in the inaccessible tropical jungle and had limited infrastructure. Almost 90% of MNLA guerrillas were ethnic Chinese, though there were some Malays, Indonesians and Indians among its members.[8] The MNLA was organised into regiments, although these had no fixed establishments and each included all communist forces operating in a particular region. The regiments had political sections, commissars, instructors and secret service. In the camps, the soldiers attended lectures on Marxism–Leninism, and produced political newsletters to be distributed to civilians.[40]
In the early stages of the conflict, the guerrillas envisaged establishing control in "liberated areas" from which the government forces had been driven, but did not succeed in this.[41]
Casualties[edit]
During the conflict, security forces killed 6,710 MNLA guerrillas and captured 1,287, while 2,702 guerrillas surrendered during the conflict, and approximately 500 more did so at its conclusion. 1,346 Malayan troops and police were killed during the fighting.[74] 1,443 British personnel died, in what remains the largest loss of life among UK armed forces since the Second World War.[75] 2,478 civilians were killed, with another 810 recorded as missing.[76]
An Iban headhunter wearing a Royal Marine beret prepares a human scalp above a basket of human body parts.
An Iban headhunter posing with a human scalp
The Daily Worker exposes the practice of headhunting among British troops in Malaya. 28 April 1952.
Commonwealth soldiers pose with a severed head inside a British military base in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency
Two corpses and a severed head belonging to guerrillas killed by the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
In popular Malaysian culture, the Emergency has frequently been portrayed as a primarily Malay struggle against the Communists. This perception has been criticised by some, such as Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin, for not recognising Chinese and Indian efforts.[109]
A number of films were set against the background of the Emergency, including:
Other media: